You know how men, cishet men especially, prioritize themselves in conversations, in political action, in social theory, in culture, always need to inject themselves into anything, even when their input is redundant or worse, ignorant; overestimate their value in social movements and demand catering to their whims?
This article is not about that.
This article -- to be honest, rant -- is about how non-men knowingly or unknowingly center men into the discussions and how men somehow end up finding their way into the subjects they have nothing to do with, even when there are no men present in conversations. This isn't entirely surprising, because society centers cishet men, but it's still troubling how we end up reinforcing this, often as a weapon against each other.
Polyamory is not inherently queer, but it is deeply entangled with LGBTI+ communities, there are only spaces polyamory is practiced without ostracized. Polyamory is not enshrined within law, people can get into trouble concerning their social security, they can't talk about relationships without constantly getting bothered about how polyamory makes everything worse etc. However, whenever we see polyamory discussed, even among queer people the stereotype of "cishet men in open relationships" Realities of trans relationships, lesbian relationships etc. are made irrelevant, because we need to care about make extremely funny jokes about how horny and unfaithful men are.
Asexuality discourse is forever nailed into my head for this. It always comes to the same thing: Asexual people are always made to debate about how exactly oppressed asexual men are. We, non-men, have to defend the possibilities and cases that asexual men are troubled by society, instead of actually our problems. I shouldn't have to talk about men to validate my own struggles with asexuality, asexual women don't have to think about what men actually face to define their own identity. "Are cishet men queer?" is just politically correct way to dismiss asexual identity in general, it effectively misrepresents any arguments for asexualty to "CISHETS are not marginalized ksksksks!!", "Tumblr man thinks he is oppressed cuz he's a virgin lolll!!!" Even, cis asexual men did not face any problems at all, what should it effect the place of asexuality in my non-patriarchal identity?
Lesbians or even women's love in general just cannot evade men. There is a group of lesbians who think you can't call yourself a lesbian if you have ever thought a guy was cool. For something not about men, there are way too much talk about men and most comes from people who really pride how they are pure about being disinterested in men. On the other side of coin, whenever we get any kind of wlw representation, some very woke people always whine about "how this is made to pander to men." -- I still remember how people were so fast about these comments about over a kissing scene in a trailer -- or even just any female character, there are some who think it's any good to evaluate a visual design whether or not it would make straight guys horny. Sapphic women, non-binary folks, we can't just enjoy stuff. It's super progressive to always think about what men think about this, it is very cool to make men arbiters over media that is not even about men.
Sex work is exploitative and often deeply s, creating more avenues for giving power over men over anyone else. However, isn't there any emancipatory aspect to any kind of sex work ever, are there reasons why women might consider it anything other than last option? Perhaps they might even think their work is not all that bad and even something of value ? No, according to real materialists: These people does not exist, at all, literally everything exist for men. See, if they say women are victims here this becomes a progressive statement, even though they have deliberately erased all voices that might contradict the idea there is more to sex work than trafficking! Sex work exists only for men, "sexual liberation" is just another avenue for men, if you defend sex work you must be obviously a horny man. Sex work is bad because it removes agency of women, even though this outlook also cannot conceive a women's sexuality as legitimate anywhere outside of a formal relationship with a man. Sure, women can have affection together, but only when they make sure literally no one can see it, or else it's exploitative! Oh, it is just also a weird coincidence that a lot of men ranging from cranky socialist careerists to Mr. Pope man himself share the same opinions about sex work different vocabulary, and overtly reactionary groups were always behind crackdowns on sex work, but all critics of the "real-progressive-materalist-marxist feminism" must be horny men, or those liberal feminists who have no idea what they are talking about, because horny men defend something, and that's what it all matters.
It's pretty much same story with kink, it is always "misogynist men subjugates women". Kinks are not really my area, but I can see how many of my trans friends are into kinks at least a little, and it's clear it can be so much meaningful beyond "man horny", giving people spaces to explore their relationship with sex or even different part of their identities. It is just so convenient to act like things you are morally&aesthethically aganist are all done by "bad people".
There is an another sinister implication here. Look, I am usually not very fond of cis men either, but these rhetoric have a common rationale of men being categorically bad on the sole basis of being men, rather than society producing men in a particular way. How do you get to the conclusion "wlw is ruined because it makes them horny? Being a man is naturally worth moral condemnation, apparently, but see! It is progressive because we are criticising a privileged group, never mind the reactionary conclusions of such essentialism.
I actually don't have very deep points to make here, I definitely know I am super annoyed at talking about men at every random topic. I just have a simple wish: Shut up about men so much, we don't need to consider them at issues that are not really about them. Stop trying to link identities to maleness to discredit them, stop trashing sexual activities because men happen to be also involved with them, stop centering men on discourse just to earn woke points.
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
21 Ocak 2019 Pazartesi
15 Ocak 2019 Salı
Relaxing Lamentations of Rouge Warrior
Rouge Warrior(2009) is a military shooter where the player follows Dick Marcinko on his many adventures. It's based on self-insert novels of Richard Marchinko, an US Navy veteran. The game is remarked as unremarkable shooter by the most, but it's notable for Dick's one-liners and the credits theme which uses said one-liners
Regardless of how good the game is, I find the song to be deeply enjoyable and meaningful. Let us look at it deeper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVoyGUcXepc
The tune of the song itself confirms the same feeling. Dick might be a broken man, even his inner struggles became mundane. Despite the storms raging inside him, from outside he really is no different looking from an ordinary man, having a quiet day at his office; as if he had lived none of this, as he if he is just a grandfather trying to impress his grandchildren by telling adventures from bygone era, half-truth, half-fiction. Above all else, the adventures are fun to listen, despite whatever pain they hide inside, just like this very song itself; story of a broken man in a chill tune by colorful lines from a middle-aged man who is on a lunch break...
And, that's to me, what this song feels like!
Regardless of how good the game is, I find the song to be deeply enjoyable and meaningful. Let us look at it deeper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVoyGUcXepc
Fuckin ninja styleDick is a covert-op soldier, so stealth is the bread and butter of his job. However, although Dick is quite capable at it, he doesn't really like sneaking. From first lines, he makes the operations very personal as he is "gonna show what time it is" and "it is fun to bring the noise", despite having no connection to many faceless enemies he kills. Also notable is the "ninja style", a rather cheesy description from a professional soldier like him.
Im gonna bring it to em
Im gonna show em what time it is.
Its fun to bring the noise
AH
you morons'll love this
Hope you assholes like fireworks
OOHAlthough it contrasts with his deadpan voice, he is clearly having fun or at least does not really take the combat seriously. For him, this is often a game, just like US Army advertises itself as, but just as often, simple chores. There are two equally plausible readings. Either Dick sincerely enjoys war or as his cold voice suggests, he is too desensitized to see any pain and pretends to be in action flick to not get bored. However, it is pretty clear he takes particular delight in explosions, not even in a chauvinistic, or even masculine way, but more like the same way children enjoy doing mischief: "Hi ho hi ho", the childish search for a joy stands with a rather chilling contrast with a grizzly hyper-masculine warrior.
Fucking commies getting in my way
Well surprise mutherfuckers!
Happy fucking birthday
Thats right Nighty-night you sweet piece of shit
Enjoy the ride, cocksuckers Have a nice trip
Boom time baby
Trick or treat
Looks like a party,
C'mon I got places to go, people to meet.
Assholes are everywhere
Fuckers are out in force
Hi ho, hi ho This fuckers gonna blow.
Anytime Anywhere AnyplaceHe is the tough action hero, and in cartoonish way, but looking beneath, it's rather troubling. Because Dick actually doesn't really have a higher motive, an ideology or even blind patriotism. He just fights, "anytime anywhere anyplace". "Kicking ass, takin' names", but over the course of game, he just kills many, many nameless people. He, deep down, wants to find some meaning; so he inflates the importance of his actions. Unfortunately for him, his skills are rather unmatched, there are really no "names" to be his rival. Dick Mackenzie, is the ultimate subversion of edgy alpha hero. He is forever bitter, empty and tries to have some pleasure in the persona of a cheesy character and shiny "fireworks". Just like a child, he needs to constantly prove that he is the "hardest motherfucker around", he needs to get that affirmation, "HAH". Pay attention to the way he brings together random insults, he swears just for profanity itself, just like an adolescent child would do. Yet he is not a child, he is a middle-aged man, he can't truly act like one, he has only mere glimpses of that age "rock and roll". Perhaps, he never did a proper childhood himself, perhaps this is why he came to the path of killing nameless people in unknown places...
Kickin ass and taking names
Who's the hardest motherfuckers around
HAH
Rock and roll, motherfuckers Rock and roll
OOH AHHHHe feels so empty that he actively desires the rush of a physical injury, particularly blood. He yearns blood, but particularly his own, "Anybody home" is another cheesy line on surface, but it really reveals his search for a rival, someone who might bleed his own asshole. It is followed by a particularly striking line. "Your quite day at the office" is something he will never get. He has a heroic life many people will get jealous, he is held as a masculine icon, yet all he wants inside "a quite day". He has torn apart by this very conflict, his desire for "quite day" is so strong, yet he detest being quiet. This is why he hates stealth, constantly talks and is loud as possible. Explosions, gunshots, anyway to make him possibly get hurt are his way to keep the screams of "quite day"s at bay. This is a contradiction he can never get away, he hates silence, but also frequently finds himself in needlessly dangerous stunts, so he might can have some peace, the only "quite day" he can ever have.
Hide and seek, motherfuckers
Anybody home? Daddy's here c'mon, glad to see me fuckers? *bang bang bang*
Send me the bill Motherf*cking c*cksuckers
Im over here fuckface!! (gunshot)
<Theres gonna be fucking asses bleeding all over the place>
Sorry, assholes, but your quiet day at the office is about to get severely f*cked up
Anytime Anywhere AnyplaceYet, he is getting old. And it is are catching up to him more and more strongly. Each kill, each pointless operation crushes what remains of Dick Mackenzie. He requires stronger and stronger stimuli, just as one can require stronger painkillers if they are overly dependant on them. In every bomb he detonates, there is more explosions and less anything else inside Dick's heart. What could he do in any given moment? "F*ckin shit up". A true murder machine, the perfect soldier, but barely anything human...
Kicking ass and taking names
Whos the hardest motherf*ckers around, HAH?...
Gimmie a goddamn break!
But, he can't get an eternal rest normal ways, if he goes down, it needs to be epic and manly, "he is the hardest motherfucker", so he will continue to "kick ass and take names"
Good place to blow some shit up.
AH OOH MM AH HNNNGH
What the fuck was I doing again? Oh, yeah. F*cking sh*t up. (bomb sound)
Goddamn, cock breath commie motherfuckers!As typical of Cold-War era, his worldview is shaped by anti-communist propaganda. However, as I mentioned, he really doesn't care. The politics are just one-liners to him, he might just as well fight against USA, Nazis, zombies or his own parents and his ferocity, his cold demeanor would not change. In a way, he represents the players of shooter games. The main appeal of the shooters is shooting after all, we often don't care who we shoot. As we see here, this aversion to ideology can be just as, if not more dangerous than outright propaganda. Reducing "capitalism" to power of your army and "commie" to just another insult is a more insidious indoctrination than maintaining an illusion that capitalism is benevolent. Remember that, fascism often is also marketed as to be above ideology and purposes glory as the human achievement. Fascism expects you to carry about a lot of really abstract concepts, but is that really different than a man whom nothing matters besides some explosions, some epic kills, some badassary. Dick Mackenzie, the broken man, is really the model citizen of the class society under capitalism. And a true Edgy Manly Hero like him is really different the Great Man of the fascist ideal" . Notice that one of the insults Dick uses is "pig farmers". Not only "pig farmer" is a type of quiet life he can never have, but one also he seems himself above. He has a man destined for Greatness after all. But as we clearly see, the glory is just more and more of the same, to the point even being a Great Man loses its meaning. Perhaps being a nobody does not bring glory, but it does bring "a quite day in the office". Fascism promises many things, but never peace. Capitalism is also the natural enemy of the simple life. You can't be "a pig farmer", where you just work enough to feed yourself and your community. No, you have to be more and more productive, you need to optimize yourself, grow and grow forever, until we run out of everything it all gets empty. "Time to move", we have work to do. More people to shoot, it's just gun and a bad guy to blow. Personalities, emotions, thoughts, faith are all mere caricatures; just make things blow, get another kill, send another one to "Heaven". The place you can never reach, a quiet, peaceful place. But you are really cool at least, right?
You fucking asshole You fucking pig farmers!
Drop dead motherf*cker, you fucking amateurs
I own your fucking souls fucking commie bitch
Yeah, some capitalism for you, pussy shitty pig
Time to move
I got bad guys to send to Commie Heaven
...
The tune of the song itself confirms the same feeling. Dick might be a broken man, even his inner struggles became mundane. Despite the storms raging inside him, from outside he really is no different looking from an ordinary man, having a quiet day at his office; as if he had lived none of this, as he if he is just a grandfather trying to impress his grandchildren by telling adventures from bygone era, half-truth, half-fiction. Above all else, the adventures are fun to listen, despite whatever pain they hide inside, just like this very song itself; story of a broken man in a chill tune by colorful lines from a middle-aged man who is on a lunch break...
And, that's to me, what this song feels like!
6 Ocak 2019 Pazar
Bests of 2018 Clickbait Article
Yo! What's up readers? It's ya girl, nyxworldorder, dropping hottest, newest, the most original content™! 2018 was a big year for gaming, animation,,music, and other nerd stuff. So let's count down for our top... uhhhh, [insert a certain amount] lists of 2018.
Do you like difficult games? When I say difficult , I am not talking about fair challenge or anything of sort. No, I mean the kind of game that hates you, everything is out to get you, including the very world itself, but not just game is cheap --there is plenty of it too-- but it tries to mess with you as much as possible. It's still fun though despite, sometimes because of, its active trolling, the line between creative design and cheap difficulty -- saying "wow, this is smart" and destroying the keyboard -- is actually quite thin. It feels very pure in a way, other Mario games try very hard to be likable, this game just says: "Are you having fun? If so great, here is more goodness. If not, too bad." How much fun you will have depends on how calm you are when playing but it's worth trying out. Save states are recommended.
Dating in video games are very common, but imagine you had a dedicated game where you can get not one, but four h̴̘͖͂ồ̵̡̩t̵͉̒̀ ̶̻͘͝w̵̲̏̐ā̸͉̚ȉ̴͚̜f̶̙̯̉ŭ̶̘͌s̷̡̈͝, Natsuki, the short tsundere c̷̺͍̟̲̊h̷͇̎i̶̟͓̍ͅć̸͙̙k̴̙̒̃ who can cook cute deserts. Yuri, a shy,bookish, elegant, eccentric girl with h̷̠̞̫̗͔̝͌̍̀͝u̵̧͔̤̫͉͔͈̅̔̀̔̋̑̎͝ͅg̶̡̞̖̗̮̩̩͕̎́͑̆͗̽̏e̶̤͕̩̒͊ ̸̪̠̥̙̘͖͓̖͑̈́͆̓͠b̶̡̛̛͈̟̠̮̜͋̉̿ȏ̴̜̦̱̙o̸̢̯͈̗̗̭̓͠b̶̢͇̌s̷̡̤̠̟̈́̐͜͝. Sayori, your cherful childhood friend who is always r̷̯̝̣̦͚̹̣̃̓̏͂̅͒̀̾̎̍͘͝͝͝ȩ̸͉̼̤̦̔ằ̷̑͐͌̂̽̐̕̕͜ͅd̸̡̠̼̻͉̠̘̗̙̹̤̼̮̮͛͌͂͗͛̊̍̂̆̐̕͘͝͝y̵͕̱͕̤̭͖̪͙̱͖̝̟̖̓̎͋͊͘ͅ ̵̥̖̞̳̞̼̈́̿̇͆͛̀̕ṯ̵̡̝͕̟̖̥̩̫̖̦̻̄͑͘͝ͅǫ̶̡̝͔̝͉̩̭̲͖̞͒͂̾͗̀̀͜͠ ̵̩̰́̓̌̊͗̈s̶̲̞̩̑̿͑̈́̐̂́̔̾̍͌̔̚͘ȩ̴͚͇̈́̀͑̅̀͑̄͋̚͘͝͝͠r̸̢̛͔̦̤͕̳̫͍̈́̉̎̑͆̃̔̈́͑͒̍̚͝v̴͈͔͕̔͑̔́̿͘̚ë̴̢̟̺̘̳̬̪͙̝͕͙͈̀͐͐̒̓̌̓͛̊̓̕͜͝͠ ̴͇͎͇̲͍͈̻̮̼̲̯͗͜y̸̧̨͔͓͇͇͙͊͋̀͌̉ͅȯ̵̧̬̺̥͉̼̟ũ̶̡̢̧̗͚̖̪̬̳̟̐̽̈́̕̕. And of course Monika, a shining star who aces at everything but who takes a liking in you, and you, a rather unremarkable teenager man, win her d̸̨̨̧̛̬͍̺̺̯̮̳̣̘͍̠͙̙̪̆̎͛́̆́̐̌̾̉̅͋̽͂̏̕͜͝͠e̴̻͖̱̮̫͎̳̓͐͐͑̉̉̏̆̆̽̌̅͊̈̈́͘̕̚͜͝v̶̰͒̍̈́͛́̍̒̊͊͑͂o̵̮͌͑̀̿̽̋̿̀͑̂̈́̌̔͌̏̚͝ͅt̵̠͈̭̦̣̹͈̥̫̦͈̪̙̹̜́į̵̡̧̗̯̣̬͚̻̩̺̙̠̙̯̮̓̚͜o̵̧͙̜͖̬̼͐̀̚n̴̗͕̫͍̻̈́. It's always amazing when girls argue, and p̴̧͓̫̗̰̲̦̼̬̎͑͗̑̃̓̀̏̑͐̒a̵̢̘̯̹͍͉̪͇̾̃͋͌̓̓̃͛̒́̾̓͑̈̈́̉̕͠͝s̵̢̰͚̔̒̇́̽̈́̈̏̆͌̌͊̑̐͂̈́̉̾͜͝͝ͅs̵̡̢̟̝̙̪̯̭̥͋̐̊͋͑̍̉̎̇̐̑̓̆́̈́̇̊͐̿͐͛̽̑̕i̸̡̡͕̲̬͔̻̞͉̥̳̠̰͍̳͖̟͎̗͙̗̯͕̐̀̎͑̉̈́̒̆͂͝ô̴̺̲̦͐́́̚͝n̸̬͍̪̓̏̔̃͛̀̕͘͝a̶̛̛̩͐̍̍̔̇̓̒̿̇̊̀͆̒͐͊́̾͗̕͝ţ̷͙̰͖͕̰̥̰̐ę̶̨̛̖͉̠̹̜͇̰̭̺̱̦͔̊́́̄̎̊̇͌̃̀̒̆͂̅l̷̢̫̯͖̤̝̙̪̼̺̳̫̗̱͔̿̎̃̂͌̃͐̎́̉̌̑̅̀̀̆́̍̔͒̓̈͜y̷̪͈̰͎͚͎̞̗̮̠͈̝͖̪͉̯̒̈̽͘ͅ ̶̲̬̳̀̏̊̏̆͆͆͋͆͌̓̃̌̚̚f̴̧͙̳̱̗͉̪̹͓̮̔͆͛̈́͜i̵̢̮̤͉̩̳̣̰̦͚͚̭͙̔͋̅̑͜ģ̴̛͓̤̱̖̮͓̺͈͖̥̜̼͉̤̘̱͓̖̝̟͓͈̏̉͐̕h̵̢͈̙̙̾̈́̽̑̇̈̅͗̏͋͗̎͂̆̔̄͊̓̽̆̓̂͛͝t̴͍̹͈̪̞͎̫̹̖̥̥̘͍̤̮̅̿̒̌́̒͑̓̃̎͒͆̍̆̐͋͛̔̂͘͘ each other for you. especially in the end, things get real intense.
You might wonder why this game is classified as scary? Well, of course, this game is certainly scary to politically correct, social justice warrior feminists who can't stand the site of an r̴̡̡̨͎͍͚͖̖̖̬̰͍̰̟̖̹͕̤͎̣͙͛̑̑͋̈̐͌̊͐̈́̌̾͗̑̓̽̾̾̾́̾̎̂͜͜͝͝͝ę̸̡̨̢͕̺̺͓̻͕͕͍̮̭͓̻̮͉̮͂͋͛͗̉̈́͒̽̂͛̓̋̎́͐̽̎̀́̅̔̓̎̍͌̐͘a̵͈̖̖̮̭̯̖͕̲̼̜̙̮̺̥̝̥̼͔̙͕̜͊̎͒͒̽͐̔͗̾̇͘͝l̸̢̛̹̰͍̠̖̖̮͕̹̜̦̻̲̹̥̥̻̮̳͈̗̻͔̻̪̈́̇̑̄͛̅͂̐̂̓̿̀̃͑̌̚͝ ̷̧̧̢̨̛͍̬͔̘̫̙͉͍̺̖̫͙͍̳͎̜̦̘͔̝͍̜̇̊̈́̋͗͗̅̐͛̍͋̑̎̉͘͜͝͠͠͝ͅã̶̧̡̧̛̱͚̙͍̝̰̙͖̪͖̊͐̿́͑̅̾̃̄́̀̓̕͘͠͠l̸̨̲͔͍̟͍̟̝̦̙̳͎̤̬͉̖̝͍͍̫͈̘͖̲̻̹̈́̃̔͌̎̎̿̀̽̅͠͝p̷̧̧̛͚͉͓̬̲̝̟̩͍̯̤͔̬̟̜̫̥̲͖͉̜̪̝̪̍h̶̢̡̛͙̱̹̱͎̦̹͉̪̄͛͌̎̏̑͗̇̆͗̉̌ḁ̷̛̾̽̆͒͆̃̈̅̔̀̑̍̋̇́͊́̆͑̒̎́͊̽͘͘ ̶̡̨͖͙̼͍̺͍̫̩̰̝̦̱̫̰̘̜̙̠͉̘͕͚̂̒͊̿̄̀̀̆̈́̅̈́̄͆̇̕͜͜m̵̡̨̦͉̣̤̙̹͙̪̞̹͍̺̪̠̬̙͕̯̳͎̞̩̱͗͑͐̿̉̋́̏̓͛͑̈́͗̀̈̓͊̈̑͠ͅạ̷̧͑͑̄̉̀̒͊͛͒̀̂͝l̸̨̢͉̰̠͔͕͍͎̮̬̼̦̟̪͙̯͖̻̜̊̾̔͂̾͊͐͛̓̽͝ę̴͙̪͇̮̳͇̤͎͎̼̩͚̟͑̀̀̅͛͐̌̍͌͒̽͌̓̈̀̎̌͜͝. Have f̵̘͇̻͚̤͉͈͎͚͖̘̬̼̬͎̗̗͙̥͗̈́̒̿̄̍͑̽͜͝͠ų̸̛͓͎͈̲̜̰̼̭̭̘͈̦̼͕̥̺̫̻̱̫̖͕̪̮̏̏͆́͐̑̓̓͒̌̽͑̓̃͊̕n̵͇͉̠̩͓͚̮̥̹̗̟̼̬̗̰̝͙̓̓̇̀͜
What can you think of as a fun topic to video games? Unemployment, debt, lost teenager years, dysfunctional families, uncertain future, crushed dreams, classism, mental disorders, and good bit of humor? Yes, yes, please all of it. You can also hop on electric vires, badly play music, look at stars and enjoy a 8-bit dungeon crawler. Also the game has the principled position on cops (ACAB) so please give the attention it deserves.
This game offers an incredible range of options for role-playing. For example, you can be a leather clad lesbian with a nerdy technician girlfriend and punch Roman-costumed fascists together. Or you can be a gun lesbian for your punchy lover. Of course you can also play as a boy and you can enjoy a pacifist geek boy as your companion. You can also sleep with the man who shot you in the head, defeat a bald and slightly old Elon Musk who is in he charge of socialism with New Vegas characteristics, send zombies to the Moon, stop a narcissist walking brain who is really obsessed with his highschool crush, watch 1950's futuristic robots roam in Wild West, get a robo-dog from post-apocalypse Elvis Presley, enjoy mission-breaking glitches and much more! Also, there is an orc grandma, she is really sweet.
If nothing else, if you want a shooty game in a wasteland; it's cheaper than Fallout 76, works without an internet connection, has less glitches, freely moddable, not cursed by Hodd Toward and most importantly, it has NPCs.
A game actually from 2018 on this list? How did this happen? Well, the game is free, that made it much faster to obtain. Yes, a game with this level of excellence is totally free, in an age where games try their hardest to take your money away. It's like Undertale, but with more party members, somewhat short but packed with tons of good ideas.
In fact, this game is really similar to Undertale... You know why? There might be some hints... now hold tight, because according to our exclusive scoop, Deltarune is an anagram of Undertale! Surprised, aren't you? This is the level of content I offer here, folks! That Game Theory guy has nothing on me...
Truth to be told, I have started to play this game in 2017, yet finished in 2018. So, where the game actually belongs to? See, the answer doesn't matter, because the sheer goodness of the game just bends the time. It can be the best game of 2017, 2018, 2019 or 3000! I will step outside from my usual review style; which is objective, factual, logical and rational and show emotions like a female I am, because It's probably kinda obvious that I like these series a bit, I wrote many articles on it, have 328 hours for three games in total. So don't mind me acting like the no-life weeb gamer girl with feet I truly am.
If you wanna join the adventure, you should actually start from the beginning. If you are willing to sacrifice at least 150 hours and like to read a lot in video games, Trails in the Sky games and Trails series as a whole are just for you, and this entry is the high-point of series in some ways.
Guardian Legend(Fceux Emulator On PC) - Compile
You are a cute robot girl who can turn into a space fighter. You are tasked with self-destruction of a spaceship overran by aliens. And there are a lot of aliens to shoot, missiles to evade and power-ups to collect, either in a top down in a shooter mode or during walking in the ship. It is challenging, tight, has a good aesthetic and soundtrack, and able to give the feeling of fighting in a spaceship full of aliens. The game may get a little stale towards the middle though, it is a bit too long for the variety it offers.
LOTR: Battle for Middle-Earth 2: Rise of the Witch King(PC, Not Officially Sold Anymore) - EA
Don't worry, (orrr, do?..) I am not done talking about this game yet. Because, really, it's my favourite RTS title that is not played on a map, excellent when you just want to play something in a short burst. It's smooth, easy to pick up, chill, oozes Middle-Earth, you can make purple-armored orcs that throw bombs What else one can ask really?
Battle City(Famicom emu.) - Namcot
This game is notable because it shows how fun you can be with absolute minimum. Turn tanks into dust with white bullets, make bricks vanish bit by bit and move around pitch black ground and evergreen trees that never touch tanks.
Europa Universalis 4(PC) - Paradox Entertainment
Grand strategy games are weird because I have only two moods regarding to them. Either I want to play them without end, losing my sense of time or cannot stand looking at them for a single second, none in between. While it is hard to justify spending much time on it nowadays, eventually I find some justification and find myself staring at the colorful map.
Sid Maier's Civilization 5(PC) - Fraxis Games
This game requires even more of a specific mood to enjoy it but for what it is, I enjoy chill games where I see my cities grow, dominate culture and launching a space expedition. Combat? Not so fun, but nukes are cool. Seeing citizens getting happy because they get enough salt, making the annoying AI beg me for peace, archers damaging the planes are the cherry on top. The idea Aztecs, Ottomans and USA fighting against one other is the kind of abstract fun only strategy games can offer.
Knights of Honor(PC) - Black Sea Entertainment
In this game, as an invisible hand you rule over a medieval kingdom, day and night. You control knights to lead your armies, your king too can be a knight, but not his wife. Your mouse icon is a hand of a knight, so perhaps you yourself are a ghost knight. And you can be an honorable knight. Shine upon your people like light. Let bards song your deeds at sight. At the harshest of storms, be their master shipwright. Or, be a dishonorable, malevolent knight, a blood knight, spreader of blight, who burns villages at cold night, betrays their enemies when out of their sight, trembles even the haughtiest lords with their might. With honor or not, create an empire whose stories told by hundreds of generations at night, to the tides of time, test your might
Also announced are Pokemon Let's Go: Eeeve and Pokemon Let's Go: Yellow Abomination. It's different than handheld line in many ways: Mechanics from Pokemon Go and simpler systems; It's more focused on catching over battling or narrative. Seems interesting.
For PCs we have Celeste. It looks like a difficult platformer, which doesn't immediately captivate me, I have seen so many praises of it. It apparently has a really good story and also has an easy mode, so it might worth to checking out, you might need a controller to enjoy properly.
I haven't watched too many anime this year, but yeah, this is the one I recommend heavily. It has really gorgeous animation, an incredible soundtrack, just long as it should be, knows how to pull your heart strings, and ties its misery up to something really uplifting. If you are ready to get happy,,sad, sadder, sadder, then happy again and cry a lot, this is your Japanese animated picture television series.
Zombiland Saga: It looks like a wholesome anime with a good trans character in it. That alone is as good as a reason as, if not better than "cool fights","just wanting to pass time", "boobs" or "robots".
Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: From many a fan artwork I have seen, this show has gay girls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zhKt9iyXDs
Very philosophical, big thonk song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJvjaKsGz4
It's calming and blood-pumping at the same time in a weird and good way.
FF. 718 Suite (Part 2) - Kplecraft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsaeDAdWT3E
This song is really really fun. All these different instruments and sounds create a song with a really unique vibe and boundless energy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdKOW3ToI_o
This slaps yo!
Let's be honest, Youtube occupies a nontrivial part in time we spend viewing media. (Orrr is it just me??? Oh no...) So here are some channels that might be worth your time.
Jenny Nicholson makes incredibly chill videos that can be easily listened in the background, mostly about movies She is actually the probably the nest sarcastic deadpan reviewer ever. It's amazing how she can absolutely rip apart things without feeling toxic, pretensions or annoying in slightest. And videos are just what they are with zero gimmicks.
donoteat1 is in the group of Youtube channels that are actually informative. Interested in city planning, logistics, American history from a socialist perspective? Well this is your channel. I really love the videos where people bring in information you can't gather easily combined with their life experiences.
ThePedanticRomantic is a one great anime channel that is insightful, constructive and its creator which is not a weird creep. It owns that the creator is a trans woman. More trans creators, especially in areas that is not about trans issues is happily welcome.
A webcomic really captivated me this year, Aztec Empire, which is about the history of... the Aztecs and Mayans in the years of Spanish Arrival. It provides so much information in an easily digestible manner. I am eagerly awaiting new issues.
And of course, who can forget about LE EPIC MEMES!!! This year, "the guy looking at the girl instead of the girl on his side" really got viral as a comparison meme. Also "two Spidermen pointing at each other" is still going strong. My favourites are:
Memes generated from this clip from American Chopper. They are really good as a discussion format, and I don't think nothing has been replaced it on that front. The original video itself is practically burned on my mind now.
"They did surgery on a grape" Finally folks. The humanity is now advanced enough. They did surgery on a grape! A surgery has been performed on a grape. The grape was subjected to a surgery. Very carefully. And precision technology. Grape.. folks, they sure did a surgery. On a grape. A surgery. Skillfully. They did...
Moth memes are really good, is that a lämp?
Yeah, folks, I have just made a countdown for viral internet macros, no, I did not have any dignity anyway, so it's fine.
But still, trash can smell from far away. Fallout 76 sure stinks a lot, I mean, I expected Bethesda's usual glitchy work would cause a lot of problems when carried online but wow... by all reports this game gets more and more unplayable each day. It's actually amazing in its own way.
Other than that, I am pretty sure there are usual stuff on Steam: Asset flips, some child abuse games, low-tier bait porn; but they are not really that interesting. There is Detroit: Become Human, which is lambasted for its ripped-from-headlines appropriation of civil rights moment and writing of women characters. But none of these is truly worthy of being the bottom.
Similar story in anime, there is goblin rape anime, some incest stuff, y'know, the usual. As bad as these can get, they are not bad enough. they have some quality that makes them at least watchable to some degree. No, what we search is true garbage.
And it comes from... our beloved author Just Kidding Rofling delivered something truly awful. Crimes of Grindelwald. From now on, spoilers here but whatever:
All visuals are either mine on from official Steam page. Which one is which is left as an exercise for the reader.
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
Video Games
6. Super Mario Bros 2: The Japanese Edition - Nintendo
Played On: (Fceux Emulation of Famicom Disc System on Windows 10 PC)Do you like difficult games? When I say difficult , I am not talking about fair challenge or anything of sort. No, I mean the kind of game that hates you, everything is out to get you, including the very world itself, but not just game is cheap --there is plenty of it too-- but it tries to mess with you as much as possible. It's still fun though despite, sometimes because of, its active trolling, the line between creative design and cheap difficulty -- saying "wow, this is smart" and destroying the keyboard -- is actually quite thin. It feels very pure in a way, other Mario games try very hard to be likable, this game just says: "Are you having fun? If so great, here is more goodness. If not, too bad." How much fun you will have depends on how calm you are when playing but it's worth trying out. Save states are recommended.
5. Doki Doki Literature Club - Team Salvato
Played On: Windows 10 P̷͙̠̔̓̓C̶͉̣̐͋Dating in video games are very common, but imagine you had a dedicated game where you can get not one, but four h̴̘͖͂ồ̵̡̩t̵͉̒̀ ̶̻͘͝w̵̲̏̐ā̸͉̚ȉ̴͚̜f̶̙̯̉ŭ̶̘͌s̷̡̈͝, Natsuki, the short tsundere c̷̺͍̟̲̊h̷͇̎i̶̟͓̍ͅć̸͙̙k̴̙̒̃ who can cook cute deserts. Yuri, a shy,bookish, elegant, eccentric girl with h̷̠̞̫̗͔̝͌̍̀͝u̵̧͔̤̫͉͔͈̅̔̀̔̋̑̎͝ͅg̶̡̞̖̗̮̩̩͕̎́͑̆͗̽̏e̶̤͕̩̒͊ ̸̪̠̥̙̘͖͓̖͑̈́͆̓͠b̶̡̛̛͈̟̠̮̜͋̉̿ȏ̴̜̦̱̙o̸̢̯͈̗̗̭̓͠b̶̢͇̌s̷̡̤̠̟̈́̐͜͝. Sayori, your cherful childhood friend who is always r̷̯̝̣̦͚̹̣̃̓̏͂̅͒̀̾̎̍͘͝͝͝ȩ̸͉̼̤̦̔ằ̷̑͐͌̂̽̐̕̕͜ͅd̸̡̠̼̻͉̠̘̗̙̹̤̼̮̮͛͌͂͗͛̊̍̂̆̐̕͘͝͝y̵͕̱͕̤̭͖̪͙̱͖̝̟̖̓̎͋͊͘ͅ ̵̥̖̞̳̞̼̈́̿̇͆͛̀̕ṯ̵̡̝͕̟̖̥̩̫̖̦̻̄͑͘͝ͅǫ̶̡̝͔̝͉̩̭̲͖̞͒͂̾͗̀̀͜͠ ̵̩̰́̓̌̊͗̈s̶̲̞̩̑̿͑̈́̐̂́̔̾̍͌̔̚͘ȩ̴͚͇̈́̀͑̅̀͑̄͋̚͘͝͝͠r̸̢̛͔̦̤͕̳̫͍̈́̉̎̑͆̃̔̈́͑͒̍̚͝v̴͈͔͕̔͑̔́̿͘̚ë̴̢̟̺̘̳̬̪͙̝͕͙͈̀͐͐̒̓̌̓͛̊̓̕͜͝͠ ̴͇͎͇̲͍͈̻̮̼̲̯͗͜y̸̧̨͔͓͇͇͙͊͋̀͌̉ͅȯ̵̧̬̺̥͉̼̟ũ̶̡̢̧̗͚̖̪̬̳̟̐̽̈́̕̕. And of course Monika, a shining star who aces at everything but who takes a liking in you, and you, a rather unremarkable teenager man, win her d̸̨̨̧̛̬͍̺̺̯̮̳̣̘͍̠͙̙̪̆̎͛́̆́̐̌̾̉̅͋̽͂̏̕͜͝͠e̴̻͖̱̮̫͎̳̓͐͐͑̉̉̏̆̆̽̌̅͊̈̈́͘̕̚͜͝v̶̰͒̍̈́͛́̍̒̊͊͑͂o̵̮͌͑̀̿̽̋̿̀͑̂̈́̌̔͌̏̚͝ͅt̵̠͈̭̦̣̹͈̥̫̦͈̪̙̹̜́į̵̡̧̗̯̣̬͚̻̩̺̙̠̙̯̮̓̚͜o̵̧͙̜͖̬̼͐̀̚n̴̗͕̫͍̻̈́. It's always amazing when girls argue, and p̴̧͓̫̗̰̲̦̼̬̎͑͗̑̃̓̀̏̑͐̒a̵̢̘̯̹͍͉̪͇̾̃͋͌̓̓̃͛̒́̾̓͑̈̈́̉̕͠͝s̵̢̰͚̔̒̇́̽̈́̈̏̆͌̌͊̑̐͂̈́̉̾͜͝͝ͅs̵̡̢̟̝̙̪̯̭̥͋̐̊͋͑̍̉̎̇̐̑̓̆́̈́̇̊͐̿͐͛̽̑̕i̸̡̡͕̲̬͔̻̞͉̥̳̠̰͍̳͖̟͎̗͙̗̯͕̐̀̎͑̉̈́̒̆͂͝ô̴̺̲̦͐́́̚͝n̸̬͍̪̓̏̔̃͛̀̕͘͝a̶̛̛̩͐̍̍̔̇̓̒̿̇̊̀͆̒͐͊́̾͗̕͝ţ̷͙̰͖͕̰̥̰̐ę̶̨̛̖͉̠̹̜͇̰̭̺̱̦͔̊́́̄̎̊̇͌̃̀̒̆͂̅l̷̢̫̯͖̤̝̙̪̼̺̳̫̗̱͔̿̎̃̂͌̃͐̎́̉̌̑̅̀̀̆́̍̔͒̓̈͜y̷̪͈̰͎͚͎̞̗̮̠͈̝͖̪͉̯̒̈̽͘ͅ ̶̲̬̳̀̏̊̏̆͆͆͋͆͌̓̃̌̚̚f̴̧͙̳̱̗͉̪̹͓̮̔͆͛̈́͜i̵̢̮̤͉̩̳̣̰̦͚͚̭͙̔͋̅̑͜ģ̴̛͓̤̱̖̮͓̺͈͖̥̜̼͉̤̘̱͓̖̝̟͓͈̏̉͐̕h̵̢͈̙̙̾̈́̽̑̇̈̅͗̏͋͗̎͂̆̔̄͊̓̽̆̓̂͛͝t̴͍̹͈̪̞͎̫̹̖̥̥̘͍̤̮̅̿̒̌́̒͑̓̃̎͒͆̍̆̐͋͛̔̂͘͘ each other for you. especially in the end, things get real intense.
You might wonder why this game is classified as scary? Well, of course, this game is certainly scary to politically correct, social justice warrior feminists who can't stand the site of an r̴̡̡̨͎͍͚͖̖̖̬̰͍̰̟̖̹͕̤͎̣͙͛̑̑͋̈̐͌̊͐̈́̌̾͗̑̓̽̾̾̾́̾̎̂͜͜͝͝͝ę̸̡̨̢͕̺̺͓̻͕͕͍̮̭͓̻̮͉̮͂͋͛͗̉̈́͒̽̂͛̓̋̎́͐̽̎̀́̅̔̓̎̍͌̐͘a̵͈̖̖̮̭̯̖͕̲̼̜̙̮̺̥̝̥̼͔̙͕̜͊̎͒͒̽͐̔͗̾̇͘͝l̸̢̛̹̰͍̠̖̖̮͕̹̜̦̻̲̹̥̥̻̮̳͈̗̻͔̻̪̈́̇̑̄͛̅͂̐̂̓̿̀̃͑̌̚͝ ̷̧̧̢̨̛͍̬͔̘̫̙͉͍̺̖̫͙͍̳͎̜̦̘͔̝͍̜̇̊̈́̋͗͗̅̐͛̍͋̑̎̉͘͜͝͠͠͝ͅã̶̧̡̧̛̱͚̙͍̝̰̙͖̪͖̊͐̿́͑̅̾̃̄́̀̓̕͘͠͠l̸̨̲͔͍̟͍̟̝̦̙̳͎̤̬͉̖̝͍͍̫͈̘͖̲̻̹̈́̃̔͌̎̎̿̀̽̅͠͝p̷̧̧̛͚͉͓̬̲̝̟̩͍̯̤͔̬̟̜̫̥̲͖͉̜̪̝̪̍h̶̢̡̛͙̱̹̱͎̦̹͉̪̄͛͌̎̏̑͗̇̆͗̉̌ḁ̷̛̾̽̆͒͆̃̈̅̔̀̑̍̋̇́͊́̆͑̒̎́͊̽͘͘ ̶̡̨͖͙̼͍̺͍̫̩̰̝̦̱̫̰̘̜̙̠͉̘͕͚̂̒͊̿̄̀̀̆̈́̅̈́̄͆̇̕͜͜m̵̡̨̦͉̣̤̙̹͙̪̞̹͍̺̪̠̬̙͕̯̳͎̞̩̱͗͑͐̿̉̋́̏̓͛͑̈́͗̀̈̓͊̈̑͠ͅạ̷̧͑͑̄̉̀̒͊͛͒̀̂͝l̸̨̢͉̰̠͔͕͍͎̮̬̼̦̟̪͙̯͖̻̜̊̾̔͂̾͊͐͛̓̽͝ę̴͙̪͇̮̳͇̤͎͎̼̩͚̟͑̀̀̅͛͐̌̍͌͒̽͌̓̈̀̎̌͜͝. Have f̵̘͇̻͚̤͉͈͎͚͖̘̬̼̬͎̗̗͙̥͗̈́̒̿̄̍͑̽͜͝͠ų̸̛͓͎͈̲̜̰̼̭̭̘͈̦̼͕̥̺̫̻̱̫̖͕̪̮̏̏͆́͐̑̓̓͒̌̽͑̓̃͊̕n̵͇͉̠̩͓͚̮̥̹̗̟̼̬̗̰̝͙̓̓̇̀͜
4. Night In The Woods - Infinite Fall
Played On: Pe Ce Ten WindowsWhat can you think of as a fun topic to video games? Unemployment, debt, lost teenager years, dysfunctional families, uncertain future, crushed dreams, classism, mental disorders, and good bit of humor? Yes, yes, please all of it. You can also hop on electric vires, badly play music, look at stars and enjoy a 8-bit dungeon crawler. Also the game has the principled position on cops (ACAB) so please give the attention it deserves.
3. Fallout New Vegas - Obsidian
Played On: 57H 69H 6EH 64H 6FH 77H 73H 20H 31H 30H 50H 43HThis game offers an incredible range of options for role-playing. For example, you can be a leather clad lesbian with a nerdy technician girlfriend and punch Roman-costumed fascists together. Or you can be a gun lesbian for your punchy lover. Of course you can also play as a boy and you can enjoy a pacifist geek boy as your companion. You can also sleep with the man who shot you in the head, defeat a bald and slightly old Elon Musk who is in he charge of socialism with New Vegas characteristics, send zombies to the Moon, stop a narcissist walking brain who is really obsessed with his highschool crush, watch 1950's futuristic robots roam in Wild West, get a robo-dog from post-apocalypse Elvis Presley, enjoy mission-breaking glitches and much more! Also, there is an orc grandma, she is really sweet.
If nothing else, if you want a shooty game in a wasteland; it's cheaper than Fallout 76, works without an internet connection, has less glitches, freely moddable, not cursed by Hodd Toward and most importantly, it has NPCs.
2. Deltarune: The First Chapter - Toby Fox
Played On: Wowdisn: 10th PCA game actually from 2018 on this list? How did this happen? Well, the game is free, that made it much faster to obtain. Yes, a game with this level of excellence is totally free, in an age where games try their hardest to take your money away. It's like Undertale, but with more party members, somewhat short but packed with tons of good ideas.
In fact, this game is really similar to Undertale... You know why? There might be some hints... now hold tight, because according to our exclusive scoop, Deltarune is an anagram of Undertale! Surprised, aren't you? This is the level of content I offer here, folks! That Game Theory guy has nothing on me...
1. Trails In The Sky: The 3rd - Nihon Falcom
Played On: ウィンドウズ 十 パーソナルコンピュータTruth to be told, I have started to play this game in 2017, yet finished in 2018. So, where the game actually belongs to? See, the answer doesn't matter, because the sheer goodness of the game just bends the time. It can be the best game of 2017, 2018, 2019 or 3000! I will step outside from my usual review style; which is objective, factual, logical and rational and show emotions like a female I am, because It's probably kinda obvious that I like these series a bit, I wrote many articles on it, have 328 hours for three games in total. So don't mind me acting like the no-life weeb gamer girl with feet I truly am.
If you wanna join the adventure, you should actually start from the beginning. If you are willing to sacrifice at least 150 hours and like to read a lot in video games, Trails in the Sky games and Trails series as a whole are just for you, and this entry is the high-point of series in some ways.
69. Honorable Mentions and Revisits
These are some of the games that impressed me but didn't make the cut, because either I have not finished it, I have played them before or they are not stand-alone releases.Guardian Legend(Fceux Emulator On PC) - Compile
You are a cute robot girl who can turn into a space fighter. You are tasked with self-destruction of a spaceship overran by aliens. And there are a lot of aliens to shoot, missiles to evade and power-ups to collect, either in a top down in a shooter mode or during walking in the ship. It is challenging, tight, has a good aesthetic and soundtrack, and able to give the feeling of fighting in a spaceship full of aliens. The game may get a little stale towards the middle though, it is a bit too long for the variety it offers.
LOTR: Battle for Middle-Earth 2: Rise of the Witch King(PC, Not Officially Sold Anymore) - EA
Don't worry, (orrr, do?..) I am not done talking about this game yet. Because, really, it's my favourite RTS title that is not played on a map, excellent when you just want to play something in a short burst. It's smooth, easy to pick up, chill, oozes Middle-Earth, you can make purple-armored orcs that throw bombs What else one can ask really?
Battle City(Famicom emu.) - Namcot
This game is notable because it shows how fun you can be with absolute minimum. Turn tanks into dust with white bullets, make bricks vanish bit by bit and move around pitch black ground and evergreen trees that never touch tanks.
Europa Universalis 4(PC) - Paradox Entertainment
Grand strategy games are weird because I have only two moods regarding to them. Either I want to play them without end, losing my sense of time or cannot stand looking at them for a single second, none in between. While it is hard to justify spending much time on it nowadays, eventually I find some justification and find myself staring at the colorful map.
Sid Maier's Civilization 5(PC) - Fraxis Games
This game requires even more of a specific mood to enjoy it but for what it is, I enjoy chill games where I see my cities grow, dominate culture and launching a space expedition. Combat? Not so fun, but nukes are cool. Seeing citizens getting happy because they get enough salt, making the annoying AI beg me for peace, archers damaging the planes are the cherry on top. The idea Aztecs, Ottomans and USA fighting against one other is the kind of abstract fun only strategy games can offer.
Knights of Honor(PC) - Black Sea Entertainment
In this game, as an invisible hand you rule over a medieval kingdom, day and night. You control knights to lead your armies, your king too can be a knight, but not his wife. Your mouse icon is a hand of a knight, so perhaps you yourself are a ghost knight. And you can be an honorable knight. Shine upon your people like light. Let bards song your deeds at sight. At the harshest of storms, be their master shipwright. Or, be a dishonorable, malevolent knight, a blood knight, spreader of blight, who burns villages at cold night, betrays their enemies when out of their sight, trembles even the haughtiest lords with their might. With honor or not, create an empire whose stories told by hundreds of generations at night, to the tides of time, test your might
420. Upcoming Stuff
This year is very bright in terms of future releases. A promising title coming to emulators around 2030s is Super Smash Ultimate. Various characters from lots of franchises like Mario, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Zelda are pit against one another in a trippy, fast-paced, colorful fighting game. There seems to be a lot of little touches. For example, you can choose to play as Robin and also her pre-HRT version. It's very cool to see trans representation in such large titles.Also announced are Pokemon Let's Go: Eeeve and Pokemon Let's Go: Yellow Abomination. It's different than handheld line in many ways: Mechanics from Pokemon Go and simpler systems; It's more focused on catching over battling or narrative. Seems interesting.
For PCs we have Celeste. It looks like a difficult platformer, which doesn't immediately captivate me, I have seen so many praises of it. It apparently has a really good story and also has an easy mode, so it might worth to checking out, you might need a controller to enjoy properly.
Animes
α. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - Shaft
I haven't watched too many anime this year, but yeah, this is the one I recommend heavily. It has really gorgeous animation, an incredible soundtrack, just long as it should be, knows how to pull your heart strings, and ties its misery up to something really uplifting. If you are ready to get happy,,sad, sadder, sadder, then happy again and cry a lot, this is your Japanese animated picture television series.
Σ. High Potentials
This year looks like a bountiful good for anime overall, two of them stand out in particular.Zombiland Saga: It looks like a wholesome anime with a good trans character in it. That alone is as good as a reason as, if not better than "cool fights","just wanting to pass time", "boobs" or "robots".
Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: From many a fan artwork I have seen, this show has gay girls.
Musics
The rule for this list is, it has to be something that is not made for video game, animation or something else, otherwise I would praise stuff I have praised again. It has to made for its own sake, y'know, like stuff normies listen to...FFFF. Rong - Röyskopp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zhKt9iyXDs
Very philosophical, big thonk song.
FFF. The Flight of Lulu - Possimiste
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJvjaKsGz4
It's calming and blood-pumping at the same time in a weird and good way.
FF. 718 Suite (Part 2) - Kplecraft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsaeDAdWT3E
This song is really really fun. All these different instruments and sounds create a song with a really unique vibe and boundless energy.
F. Poisoned Blade 2 – Metal - Sebastian Forslund
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdKOW3ToI_o
This slaps yo!
Other Nerd Stuffs
This is for anything I have found cool but not necessarily I would make a list or otherwise talk about at length.Let's be honest, Youtube occupies a nontrivial part in time we spend viewing media. (Orrr is it just me??? Oh no...) So here are some channels that might be worth your time.
Jenny Nicholson makes incredibly chill videos that can be easily listened in the background, mostly about movies She is actually the probably the nest sarcastic deadpan reviewer ever. It's amazing how she can absolutely rip apart things without feeling toxic, pretensions or annoying in slightest. And videos are just what they are with zero gimmicks.
donoteat1 is in the group of Youtube channels that are actually informative. Interested in city planning, logistics, American history from a socialist perspective? Well this is your channel. I really love the videos where people bring in information you can't gather easily combined with their life experiences.
ThePedanticRomantic is a one great anime channel that is insightful, constructive and its creator which is not a weird creep. It owns that the creator is a trans woman. More trans creators, especially in areas that is not about trans issues is happily welcome.
A webcomic really captivated me this year, Aztec Empire, which is about the history of... the Aztecs and Mayans in the years of Spanish Arrival. It provides so much information in an easily digestible manner. I am eagerly awaiting new issues.
And of course, who can forget about LE EPIC MEMES!!! This year, "the guy looking at the girl instead of the girl on his side" really got viral as a comparison meme. Also "two Spidermen pointing at each other" is still going strong. My favourites are:
Memes generated from this clip from American Chopper. They are really good as a discussion format, and I don't think nothing has been replaced it on that front. The original video itself is practically burned on my mind now.
"They did surgery on a grape" Finally folks. The humanity is now advanced enough. They did surgery on a grape! A surgery has been performed on a grape. The grape was subjected to a surgery. Very carefully. And precision technology. Grape.. folks, they sure did a surgery. On a grape. A surgery. Skillfully. They did...
Moth memes are really good, is that a lämp?
Yeah, folks, I have just made a countdown for viral internet macros, no, I did not have any dignity anyway, so it's fine.
Bottom of 2018
Now, when it comes to the media, I find actually difficult to dislike things. I don't get angry at a game unless it undoes my progress or I get incompetent and impatient, even more repulsive media makes me stare with blank at worst, and I usually know my tastes enough to not touch that anything I would find outright horrible.But still, trash can smell from far away. Fallout 76 sure stinks a lot, I mean, I expected Bethesda's usual glitchy work would cause a lot of problems when carried online but wow... by all reports this game gets more and more unplayable each day. It's actually amazing in its own way.
Other than that, I am pretty sure there are usual stuff on Steam: Asset flips, some child abuse games, low-tier bait porn; but they are not really that interesting. There is Detroit: Become Human, which is lambasted for its ripped-from-headlines appropriation of civil rights moment and writing of women characters. But none of these is truly worthy of being the bottom.
Similar story in anime, there is goblin rape anime, some incest stuff, y'know, the usual. As bad as these can get, they are not bad enough. they have some quality that makes them at least watchable to some degree. No, what we search is true garbage.
And it comes from... our beloved author Just Kidding Rofling delivered something truly awful. Crimes of Grindelwald. From now on, spoilers here but whatever:
- Its plot is all over the place, Rofling isn't a screenwriter and it shows.
- Movie is too black.
- Some characters does not need to be there like Nagini, Nicholas Flamel (although the several minutes with him was fun). There is just way, way too many characters.
- Hogwarts is 100% pandering
- Rofling tries to explain things we don't need and the explanation makes it worse(Nagini)
- She changes established lore for the worse(Credence is Dumbledore's brother now???)
- Newt now pursues a hetero romance for Lina out of nowhere because we couldn't just have a character who isn't interested in this oh no!
- The whole thing with Jacob doesn't make sense, he is one of few good things in the movie but his existences undoes the previous film's end.
- Queenie, oh my god Queenie arc, why??? She joins bad guys because Grindelfart promises her she will be free to romance with Muggles, but Jacob flat-out says he doesn't want her to join? And there is also fact that the Jewish witch joins to wizard-Nazis side aaaaaaaaaa...
- Johnny Depp. He is just the worst. Even if he was good, he would make the movie worse but he isn't even good! Maybe it's the character but the constant single tone voice does not usually make a compelling character.
- Grindelfart as a character is just a discount Voldemort, at least the latter was fun to watch. See, I would actually welcome a retcon here. Why always "attack Muggles?" Why another comically evil character? I could understand Voldi's obsession with pure blood but like there is no economic ruin here, no nation-building, no old hatred regarding Muggles, nothing that makes a fascist movement gain support?
- For a movie that is focused on action, wizard fights and magic in general are once again lackluster, expect for G-fart's fire magic in the end.
- For a "Fantastic Beasts" movie, there sure are not much magical beasts around.
- Dumbledore gay bait, gay bait, Ms. Rofling "Oh I am so woke ah ah ah"
- And now... the titan in the room... "Beating wizard-Nazis causes regular Nazis starting WW2" Just wow, Rofling, I mean you write pretty bad stuff but wow...
- Also, if G-fart can see the future, wouldn't he be more afraid of Muggles? What's their pew pew beam gonna do against modern weaponry and sheer number of Muggles? I would actually like to see wizards attacking Muggles and how quickly they get obliterated
- You know the bad part? There could be a great point about cop violence, but J.K could not help her neoliberalism..
The End
That was the Tops and Bottoms of 2018 folks! If you like my content, smash that like button and subscribe!!All visuals are either mine on from official Steam page. Which one is which is left as an exercise for the reader.
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
What is A Video Game? Ponderings on Night in the Woods
Spoilers for Night in the Woods
"Walking simulator" is quite a strange term. It started as a somewhat degratory name for games that are low on player ability with interact with the world, then it became an earnest term. The gaming world collectively forgot what "adventure game" meant. Video games that were primarily about going to one place to another, reading a lot of text, just enjoying the scenery without much interaction, and video games that were low on or completely bereft of player violence are very old, much older than today's action games like shooters, swing-your-sword-arounds or fighting games. Weirder is people applying such applying standards to define video games in the first place, erasing decades of culture in the name of unironically embracing the caricatures of video games in TV shows written by out of touch boomers.
Video games are a new medium, but games in general? They are quite old, perhaps goes back the time when humans got bored for the first time. There is chess for example, a couple of thousand-year old is chess. It's played to win, but it was also a way to make people engage with war without actually being in a war. We can see it in names of chess pieces in Turkish: Elephant, castle, horse, vizier, shah, peon. It's closer to original conception.
We can also look at childhood games. Some of them have a goal of winning but not many of them are. Playing toys for example, is not done for any particular goal in mind. However something like a toy car is a way to engage with the experience of living a real one. Dolls, playing house etc. similarly simulate aspects of life. When I played with toys, my favourite thing to do was to give each of them -- whether they were toy car, toy soldier or toy lego piece -- a personality and make them go through a story, often ripping off the plots of cartoons I watched. They would live in a town for example, elect mayors or kings, have drama and comedy and there would be recurrent villains attacking the town.
Another type of game is playing in sandboxes. As in, actual ones, like in the playgrounds. You sit there to make a sand castle, but that's not a concrete goal, it's a pretext for throwing sand around and watch it slide through your hands. You get a similar rush in destroying sand castles, or playing play-dough, the creation is secondary, you just want get that discharging feeling.
The easy answer is: "Video games are interactive", but I am not writing this much to just say that. The more interesting question is what is interactivity? The buzzwords like "walking simulator", "cinematic experience" or "interactive movie" are basically proposed answers to this question and all of them are wrong in different degrees.
Playing Night in the Woods make me think about his in particular, because, well, you do walk in the game a lot. However, why this game seem to be called a walking simulator but a myriad of open world games, or even platformer games would not? Well in a lot of those games, you shoot or hit things. So, this logic follows that if you could randomly fight people in NITW that would make it a more "game-like", despite it having nothing to do anything the game wants to accomplish. Violence in games is so popular because they are a very convenient way to show impact and change. Easy to show cool effects, easy to achieve that feeling of kicking sand castles. But seeing violence as fundamental to video games seriously misses what interactivity is.
The irony here unlike a lot of games, walking is actually an essential part of the game. If we merely shifted from place to place like in a visual novel the game would have lost a lot, the game would not be able to hit the feeling of spending days aimlessly in the small town as a college dropout. When Mae's movement slows down at towards the end, you feel the mood very every step, the slowdown feels much drastic after you pressed the same two buttons the whole game. Even a small thing like this is a unique way a video game can convey feeling.
Similarly, NITW does not have any lose-states. None of mini games throughout the game punish the player for losing. The game reacts to the state of failure differently: Your skill at rhythm the game becomes Mae's skill at playing guitar. Conversely, if seeing credits itself isn't a win state, there are none in the game. Because thematically there also aren't any. Sure Mae and her friends survived, their friendships got strengthened, and they got rid of the cult but all the problems in their lives are same: Mae has an untreated mental illness and unemployed, Bae is in a prison of crushing responsibilities, Gregg can't look after well himself and Angus has to worry about him, and none of them can escape the black-hole of capitalism and the wounds of pasts will continue to haunt them. However, they are still together, that means the band can go on. Win states are just another tool to convey feelings and not using tools are just as part of design as using them.
Most games don't have true, permanent states -- the ones that makes you start the entire game -- since mid 1990s. You are merely thrown back to the newest save point, your progress is not cancelled but merely halted. There are also a lot of games where you are expected to fail eventually like Faster than Light, or rouge-like games where the player character becomes stronger with each death. Here, "the fail state" is just a marker for the next iteration, a new chapter, or a new adventure. Conversely, many games do not have true win states. They may have a lot of small-scale win and lose states but for most games but as a whole the goal is seeing the end credits. And honestly, being challenging is not even the domain of video games, a movie, for example can challenge one's senses or worldview to change, just as a game can challenge you adjust your reflexes or tactics. When challenge viewed as a way of recreation, these two fundamentally don't look that different.
Of course, just with NITW example alone, we can easily see the whole premise as ridiculous as actually is. However, it's important to look at what's the philosophy behind this view. It is a particular blend of nerd nostalgia and toxic masculinity, feeling much in the spirit of Gamergate? This makes sense especially given the game that got the most visible reactionary backslash: Gone Home. It was game made by women, about women, and didn't have any concrete sign to make the game "masculine". People would not hate the game less if it had random platforming sections, these ridiculous standards are not actually relevant for no one. It is always about the reveration of challenge for the sake of challenge, yearning for days of the "games with real difficulty", endlessly complaining that games nowadays are "too easy". All of these are old as the nerd culture itself, and have been always myopic. The game that set the standards of much of 2D console gaming, the niche game called Super Mario Bros, was quite gentle with its difficulty curve, and most well-remembered games, even the more difficult ones pulled the players by myriad of their qualities. Developers have, unsurprisingly, always wanted "the casuals" to play their games, that's why cheat codes, console commands, easy difficulty options have been always there. And today is quite prosperous for challenging games; from quirky niche titles to Dark Souls inspired AAA games. All in all, "games exist to challenge" is a fake outrage for chasing away the wrong people from exclusive club for real men.
But it's sad to admit that this mentality have affected game design. It can be seen in quick-time events, ironically a thing the reactionary crowd was also complaining about. QTEs deserve a comprehensive look for their own, but for now it's sufficient to say they are often used in places where they are not necessary. Often, a part of the game that just would be just fine as a cutscene gets a QTE section just to make it more "game-like", it does not achieve proper interactivity but also break the pacing of the cutscenes, and can even feel like a chore on a section where you could relax your hands from controlling the game for a few seconds.
When you are not idle, you repeat things in video games. Repetition on micro scale; repetition of input, movement, animation, AI behavior patterns, music beats. Repetition on macro scale; repetition of goals, tactics, level structure. In Tetris, you can rotate the blocks around, when they line up the line will be cleared and there is new a new block falling after one reaches the ground. In NITW, each time you enter a place, the music changes. You can hop on trash cans indefinitely. For most of the game, a cycle of the day will be same: We start Mae calmly sleeping, she wakes up, changes her clothes, goes downstairs, talks to her mom, walks around town, goes through an evening event, comes back home, sleeping back, seeing a dream. Later events feel so impactful in part because this cycle breaks down, just has Mae's life slips away from her hand. Repetition is also a narrative theme for lots of characters, such as the banal hardships in Rae's life. Repetition can occur in other media obviously but in a video game, it can happen for the sake of itself.
On very basic terms, imagine a wheel or disk spinning. Watching it spin is not a game. But if you can stop the wheel, turn it when you want then it's a game, now watching is the feedback. Watching someone spinning the wheel is not a game, it's a Let's Play. If we tried to capture the feeling by visual transmitters, now that's a video game. Obviously, we are assuming here this act is done as recreation, not labor.
You can think this as akin to physics. In space, when the net force affecting you is zero will stand still indefinitely. If the force is not zeros you, you will move indefinitely But if you can apply a force to yourself so that net force is zero again, you will stop, this is controllable idleness. If you can apply forces to start moving and stop at will, you can repeat yourself freely, as long as you can generate kinetic energy.
Repetition for repetition sake and controllable idleness, two fundamental pillars of any video game, always looming. In Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, when at his castle, Ulfric Stormcloak makes a great speech about serving people and heroism, with scripted moves where he and his right-hand walks around the castle. But this isn't a cutscene, so you can walk over the table, throw plates around, stand in front of Ulfric to block his path and so on. You can interrupt him with dialogue but he will continue after finishing talking to you. What's more, this speech will be repeated anytime you enter the castle. Skyrim's dedication to make the player aways feel in the world is admirable but honestly this is one of the places where a cutscene would be better. Because it has the stiffness of a cutscene without the strengths of controlling the camera. You can't control it but it will happen forever. It has the repetition without the controllable idleness.
This is what players mean when "a game feels repetitive". Repetitive without an idle state. The radiant quests in Skyrim are perfect examples. They will indefinitely repeat themselves. They are aggressively in your face about the repetition, there are no small idle states as breathers during cutscenes. You can't ever cancel them or go away from your quest log. They are indefinitely will be with you, you don't have to mind attention to them, but they will be there, always. Even something small like quest log can make players idleness being taken away from them. Idleness is control. Video games are roughly about repeating things without feeling like repeating things, so players will be convinced they control and change things.
The opposite, idleness without repetition is older among arts. Drawings, sculptures are passively there, while you can just focus on or ignore any part of the work. Music, animation, and literature all try to control the senses into focusing into a direction. A drawing or photograph focuses on a frame before any viewer engagement. But a video game does both, often at the same time. In a turn-based battle system, you are shown the state of a particular turn, there might be idle animation and background music to give you a particular mood but the frame of the state itself is much like a drawing before you issue any command, after command you become passive for a few seconds, animations and sound ensue, numbers fly, then a new state, a new frame emerges. You are now active because you are granted idleness. Consider loading screens, the picture alone allows idleness, but the fact you have to wait makes it forced. Functionally they are not different from cutscenes, hence they are sometimes used to hide loading.
My point here is less about create a classification and more about find out what we expect and receive from media, why cutscenes and other not-strictly game parts feel so different. That way we can understand where cutscenes can be actually good and where they should be avoided. And we can truly explore what interactivity is. Consider how creative Doki Doki Literature Club is, where outside of the game window also becomes a part of the game, how the very files of the game is part of gameplay loop. Interactivity is not just making thing moves in the screen or deciding where story should lead, it's any where the player becomes part of the media.
You are watching a movie -- works with the books also -- and in the middle of it, the movie halts and you are expected to answer some questions, otherwise you won't be allowed to see the rest of the movie On false answer you are sent back and asked to watch the movie again. Now, can the program that facilitates this be considered a video game? Movie part or answering a question may not be games separately, but they create a loop of "watching movie + answering a question" together, which can potentially occur more than once. Watching the part of movie upon failure can be also can be considered repetition. But, just watching the movie more than once is not a repetition I care for, it's a loop outside of the work, so it doesn't connect to a meaningful idle state., but in our system it does. In my eyes, this is sufficient to make our system a game. Now consider if our systems allowed us to give false answers indefinitely and just kept us on an answer screen. Now, we have entering inputs as a smaller loop and "answer + movie" sequence as a larger loop. Perhaps the smaller loops can be also considered a game, a game within a game. What if instead of answering a question, we are expected to beat a more conventional game; a puzzle, a board game, a platforming level? What if these games narratively connected to each other and the movie shown? Well, we got a game just like an important portion of the games we play today!
What does this show us? There is a mentality that cutscenes and gameplay parts are wholly disconnected from each other. "You watch the movies, play the game" so it is said. As we explored before, this is an understandable feeling, cutscenes neither have repetition nor idleness, they feel completely different from game parts. However, how removed they might feel, they are still connected to the overall game. So, it's important to make them feel seamless and reduce overhead of transitions between cutscenes and gameplay. As glorious Final Fantasy 8's cutscenes are, they feel so tonally disconnected from rest of the game. Persona 3 is interesting here, because it's weird art style meshes well with 3D graphics of the game. There is also narrative problems; cutscenes and the controllable world should not feel distant, games have been trying to tackle these issue to varying degrees of success, but unfortunately for development large-budget games, the goals of writers and the goals of game designers often don't align. This is what makes me a game series like Uncharted appealing to me; there is a light year difference between its cool set pieces, high quality cinematics and its unimpressive shooter play.
The other thing I learn is, the term "interactive movie" doesn't really tell much either. This might feel like pedantry -- which is not that different from entirety of this article -- but when you choose paths for story, execute quick-time events or walk your character to certain points of interest, you are not interacting with movies, you interact with simple games which built on a lot of small movies. A better word for them can be "low-interaction games". "Interactive movie" brings different expectations to me.
Let's close with a word on NITW: Imagine, if Mae walked for you to everywhere, dialogue and examining objects happened moved on without your prompt, what would happen? It would stop being a game. The writing and nice art style would make it a decent work, but would it really be able to give the slow town feeling as the game does? No, video games are uniquely good at making you live feelings. This is the main reason why movie adaptations of video games don't fare well; they take away why games offer but don't replace it with anything movies do well. Hopefully, big budget games will realise they don't have to follow movies to achieve narrative excellence, they are usually better when they don't.
All screenshots are mine.
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
"Walking simulator" is quite a strange term. It started as a somewhat degratory name for games that are low on player ability with interact with the world, then it became an earnest term. The gaming world collectively forgot what "adventure game" meant. Video games that were primarily about going to one place to another, reading a lot of text, just enjoying the scenery without much interaction, and video games that were low on or completely bereft of player violence are very old, much older than today's action games like shooters, swing-your-sword-arounds or fighting games. Weirder is people applying such applying standards to define video games in the first place, erasing decades of culture in the name of unironically embracing the caricatures of video games in TV shows written by out of touch boomers.
Video games are a new medium, but games in general? They are quite old, perhaps goes back the time when humans got bored for the first time. There is chess for example, a couple of thousand-year old is chess. It's played to win, but it was also a way to make people engage with war without actually being in a war. We can see it in names of chess pieces in Turkish: Elephant, castle, horse, vizier, shah, peon. It's closer to original conception.
We can also look at childhood games. Some of them have a goal of winning but not many of them are. Playing toys for example, is not done for any particular goal in mind. However something like a toy car is a way to engage with the experience of living a real one. Dolls, playing house etc. similarly simulate aspects of life. When I played with toys, my favourite thing to do was to give each of them -- whether they were toy car, toy soldier or toy lego piece -- a personality and make them go through a story, often ripping off the plots of cartoons I watched. They would live in a town for example, elect mayors or kings, have drama and comedy and there would be recurrent villains attacking the town.
Another type of game is playing in sandboxes. As in, actual ones, like in the playgrounds. You sit there to make a sand castle, but that's not a concrete goal, it's a pretext for throwing sand around and watch it slide through your hands. You get a similar rush in destroying sand castles, or playing play-dough, the creation is secondary, you just want get that discharging feeling.
Nights on the Woods, In Fact, Is a Video Game
In the past, I have written about how art is about abstractions, and games are art because they do the same thing, and here we in fact see non-video games fundamentally exist to achieve the same thing. Challenges, competition or concrete goals are all catalysts for achieving a certain feeling. Yet, people often feel they are what makes them a video game. Perhaps that's their best answer to the lingering question: what makes a video game different among other arts? What makes something a video game, but not an animated movie, or what separates a text heavy game from an illustrated book or a comic? Games so often free-form borrow so much from other mediums, this question is worth thinking about rather than say, difference between picture and animation.The easy answer is: "Video games are interactive", but I am not writing this much to just say that. The more interesting question is what is interactivity? The buzzwords like "walking simulator", "cinematic experience" or "interactive movie" are basically proposed answers to this question and all of them are wrong in different degrees.
Playing Night in the Woods make me think about his in particular, because, well, you do walk in the game a lot. However, why this game seem to be called a walking simulator but a myriad of open world games, or even platformer games would not? Well in a lot of those games, you shoot or hit things. So, this logic follows that if you could randomly fight people in NITW that would make it a more "game-like", despite it having nothing to do anything the game wants to accomplish. Violence in games is so popular because they are a very convenient way to show impact and change. Easy to show cool effects, easy to achieve that feeling of kicking sand castles. But seeing violence as fundamental to video games seriously misses what interactivity is.
The irony here unlike a lot of games, walking is actually an essential part of the game. If we merely shifted from place to place like in a visual novel the game would have lost a lot, the game would not be able to hit the feeling of spending days aimlessly in the small town as a college dropout. When Mae's movement slows down at towards the end, you feel the mood very every step, the slowdown feels much drastic after you pressed the same two buttons the whole game. Even a small thing like this is a unique way a video game can convey feeling.
Similarly, NITW does not have any lose-states. None of mini games throughout the game punish the player for losing. The game reacts to the state of failure differently: Your skill at rhythm the game becomes Mae's skill at playing guitar. Conversely, if seeing credits itself isn't a win state, there are none in the game. Because thematically there also aren't any. Sure Mae and her friends survived, their friendships got strengthened, and they got rid of the cult but all the problems in their lives are same: Mae has an untreated mental illness and unemployed, Bae is in a prison of crushing responsibilities, Gregg can't look after well himself and Angus has to worry about him, and none of them can escape the black-hole of capitalism and the wounds of pasts will continue to haunt them. However, they are still together, that means the band can go on. Win states are just another tool to convey feelings and not using tools are just as part of design as using them.
Most games don't have true, permanent states -- the ones that makes you start the entire game -- since mid 1990s. You are merely thrown back to the newest save point, your progress is not cancelled but merely halted. There are also a lot of games where you are expected to fail eventually like Faster than Light, or rouge-like games where the player character becomes stronger with each death. Here, "the fail state" is just a marker for the next iteration, a new chapter, or a new adventure. Conversely, many games do not have true win states. They may have a lot of small-scale win and lose states but for most games but as a whole the goal is seeing the end credits. And honestly, being challenging is not even the domain of video games, a movie, for example can challenge one's senses or worldview to change, just as a game can challenge you adjust your reflexes or tactics. When challenge viewed as a way of recreation, these two fundamentally don't look that different.
Of course, just with NITW example alone, we can easily see the whole premise as ridiculous as actually is. However, it's important to look at what's the philosophy behind this view. It is a particular blend of nerd nostalgia and toxic masculinity, feeling much in the spirit of Gamergate? This makes sense especially given the game that got the most visible reactionary backslash: Gone Home. It was game made by women, about women, and didn't have any concrete sign to make the game "masculine". People would not hate the game less if it had random platforming sections, these ridiculous standards are not actually relevant for no one. It is always about the reveration of challenge for the sake of challenge, yearning for days of the "games with real difficulty", endlessly complaining that games nowadays are "too easy". All of these are old as the nerd culture itself, and have been always myopic. The game that set the standards of much of 2D console gaming, the niche game called Super Mario Bros, was quite gentle with its difficulty curve, and most well-remembered games, even the more difficult ones pulled the players by myriad of their qualities. Developers have, unsurprisingly, always wanted "the casuals" to play their games, that's why cheat codes, console commands, easy difficulty options have been always there. And today is quite prosperous for challenging games; from quirky niche titles to Dark Souls inspired AAA games. All in all, "games exist to challenge" is a fake outrage for chasing away the wrong people from exclusive club for real men.
But it's sad to admit that this mentality have affected game design. It can be seen in quick-time events, ironically a thing the reactionary crowd was also complaining about. QTEs deserve a comprehensive look for their own, but for now it's sufficient to say they are often used in places where they are not necessary. Often, a part of the game that just would be just fine as a cutscene gets a QTE section just to make it more "game-like", it does not achieve proper interactivity but also break the pacing of the cutscenes, and can even feel like a chore on a section where you could relax your hands from controlling the game for a few seconds.
What Is A Game?
Releasing yourself from controlling the game and game controlling you, a controllable idle state, is actually a fundamental part of gaming. Games either include a built-in pausing function, usually by bringing up a menu, or the game can just stop in the absence of player input, like a text adventure or turn based game waiting for commands. Or in general, any moment that player can stop a certain repetition can be idleness. Compare that to movies, they can be paused too, but they are not meant to be. It always feels a bit off, especially when they give long ad breaks on TV. They are called motion picture for a reason, you are expected to see them on motion, they build your attention for watching things move, otherwise they are just frames. (This is why analyzing movies with narrowly focusing on frame-by-frame mistakes is bad.) Watching a movie is passive, not idle, you are controlled. Video games aren't often frozen still when they are idle, sometimes there is an idle animation, a music in background, ambient voices, a clock moving, or input line flashing. A key difference in visual novels and regular novels is the former waits for your input before moving after each paragraph, theoretically novels can have a lot of visuals in them as well. NITW plays with this idea: At the beginning of the day, you can watch Mae sleep forever, it is up to you when to interrupt. It's a small touch that depicts how annoying waking up can be quite well.When you are not idle, you repeat things in video games. Repetition on micro scale; repetition of input, movement, animation, AI behavior patterns, music beats. Repetition on macro scale; repetition of goals, tactics, level structure. In Tetris, you can rotate the blocks around, when they line up the line will be cleared and there is new a new block falling after one reaches the ground. In NITW, each time you enter a place, the music changes. You can hop on trash cans indefinitely. For most of the game, a cycle of the day will be same: We start Mae calmly sleeping, she wakes up, changes her clothes, goes downstairs, talks to her mom, walks around town, goes through an evening event, comes back home, sleeping back, seeing a dream. Later events feel so impactful in part because this cycle breaks down, just has Mae's life slips away from her hand. Repetition is also a narrative theme for lots of characters, such as the banal hardships in Rae's life. Repetition can occur in other media obviously but in a video game, it can happen for the sake of itself.
On very basic terms, imagine a wheel or disk spinning. Watching it spin is not a game. But if you can stop the wheel, turn it when you want then it's a game, now watching is the feedback. Watching someone spinning the wheel is not a game, it's a Let's Play. If we tried to capture the feeling by visual transmitters, now that's a video game. Obviously, we are assuming here this act is done as recreation, not labor.
You can think this as akin to physics. In space, when the net force affecting you is zero will stand still indefinitely. If the force is not zeros you, you will move indefinitely But if you can apply a force to yourself so that net force is zero again, you will stop, this is controllable idleness. If you can apply forces to start moving and stop at will, you can repeat yourself freely, as long as you can generate kinetic energy.
Repetition for repetition sake and controllable idleness, two fundamental pillars of any video game, always looming. In Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, when at his castle, Ulfric Stormcloak makes a great speech about serving people and heroism, with scripted moves where he and his right-hand walks around the castle. But this isn't a cutscene, so you can walk over the table, throw plates around, stand in front of Ulfric to block his path and so on. You can interrupt him with dialogue but he will continue after finishing talking to you. What's more, this speech will be repeated anytime you enter the castle. Skyrim's dedication to make the player aways feel in the world is admirable but honestly this is one of the places where a cutscene would be better. Because it has the stiffness of a cutscene without the strengths of controlling the camera. You can't control it but it will happen forever. It has the repetition without the controllable idleness.
This is what players mean when "a game feels repetitive". Repetitive without an idle state. The radiant quests in Skyrim are perfect examples. They will indefinitely repeat themselves. They are aggressively in your face about the repetition, there are no small idle states as breathers during cutscenes. You can't ever cancel them or go away from your quest log. They are indefinitely will be with you, you don't have to mind attention to them, but they will be there, always. Even something small like quest log can make players idleness being taken away from them. Idleness is control. Video games are roughly about repeating things without feeling like repeating things, so players will be convinced they control and change things.
The opposite, idleness without repetition is older among arts. Drawings, sculptures are passively there, while you can just focus on or ignore any part of the work. Music, animation, and literature all try to control the senses into focusing into a direction. A drawing or photograph focuses on a frame before any viewer engagement. But a video game does both, often at the same time. In a turn-based battle system, you are shown the state of a particular turn, there might be idle animation and background music to give you a particular mood but the frame of the state itself is much like a drawing before you issue any command, after command you become passive for a few seconds, animations and sound ensue, numbers fly, then a new state, a new frame emerges. You are now active because you are granted idleness. Consider loading screens, the picture alone allows idleness, but the fact you have to wait makes it forced. Functionally they are not different from cutscenes, hence they are sometimes used to hide loading.
My point here is less about create a classification and more about find out what we expect and receive from media, why cutscenes and other not-strictly game parts feel so different. That way we can understand where cutscenes can be actually good and where they should be avoided. And we can truly explore what interactivity is. Consider how creative Doki Doki Literature Club is, where outside of the game window also becomes a part of the game, how the very files of the game is part of gameplay loop. Interactivity is not just making thing moves in the screen or deciding where story should lead, it's any where the player becomes part of the media.
You are watching a movie -- works with the books also -- and in the middle of it, the movie halts and you are expected to answer some questions, otherwise you won't be allowed to see the rest of the movie On false answer you are sent back and asked to watch the movie again. Now, can the program that facilitates this be considered a video game? Movie part or answering a question may not be games separately, but they create a loop of "watching movie + answering a question" together, which can potentially occur more than once. Watching the part of movie upon failure can be also can be considered repetition. But, just watching the movie more than once is not a repetition I care for, it's a loop outside of the work, so it doesn't connect to a meaningful idle state., but in our system it does. In my eyes, this is sufficient to make our system a game. Now consider if our systems allowed us to give false answers indefinitely and just kept us on an answer screen. Now, we have entering inputs as a smaller loop and "answer + movie" sequence as a larger loop. Perhaps the smaller loops can be also considered a game, a game within a game. What if instead of answering a question, we are expected to beat a more conventional game; a puzzle, a board game, a platforming level? What if these games narratively connected to each other and the movie shown? Well, we got a game just like an important portion of the games we play today!
What does this show us? There is a mentality that cutscenes and gameplay parts are wholly disconnected from each other. "You watch the movies, play the game" so it is said. As we explored before, this is an understandable feeling, cutscenes neither have repetition nor idleness, they feel completely different from game parts. However, how removed they might feel, they are still connected to the overall game. So, it's important to make them feel seamless and reduce overhead of transitions between cutscenes and gameplay. As glorious Final Fantasy 8's cutscenes are, they feel so tonally disconnected from rest of the game. Persona 3 is interesting here, because it's weird art style meshes well with 3D graphics of the game. There is also narrative problems; cutscenes and the controllable world should not feel distant, games have been trying to tackle these issue to varying degrees of success, but unfortunately for development large-budget games, the goals of writers and the goals of game designers often don't align. This is what makes me a game series like Uncharted appealing to me; there is a light year difference between its cool set pieces, high quality cinematics and its unimpressive shooter play.
The other thing I learn is, the term "interactive movie" doesn't really tell much either. This might feel like pedantry -- which is not that different from entirety of this article -- but when you choose paths for story, execute quick-time events or walk your character to certain points of interest, you are not interacting with movies, you interact with simple games which built on a lot of small movies. A better word for them can be "low-interaction games". "Interactive movie" brings different expectations to me.
Let's close with a word on NITW: Imagine, if Mae walked for you to everywhere, dialogue and examining objects happened moved on without your prompt, what would happen? It would stop being a game. The writing and nice art style would make it a decent work, but would it really be able to give the slow town feeling as the game does? No, video games are uniquely good at making you live feelings. This is the main reason why movie adaptations of video games don't fare well; they take away why games offer but don't replace it with anything movies do well. Hopefully, big budget games will realise they don't have to follow movies to achieve narrative excellence, they are usually better when they don't.
All screenshots are mine.
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
The Battle For Longest Name 2: The Rise of the Game with Longest Name
Imagine, you have developed a game that covered War of the Ring, and then a sequel covering war in the north. If you need to stay within boundaries of Tolkien canon for some degree, where you can take your series? As it turns out, focusing on one specific group of events in the lore is the right idea. Specifically, the fall of Arnor and the rise of the Witch-King of Angmar.
The progression of the story fits the campaign really well. You start by building a country for yourself, then you get the loyalty of more soldiers, slowly advance your conquest, fall back and defend yourself, put plans in motion, destroy your enemy bit by bit, then achieve full destruction. It's quite different from the large battles of the regular campaign. And narrative-wise, it's pretty satisfying, there is much less dialogue compared to works like Warcraft 3, but it has a similar feeling of grandeur. You take a part in destruction of a proud kingdom and control cool looking people and monsters while doing it, and that's pretty satisfying as far as an RTS story goes.
Levels themselves are quite varied from one another, most of them actually fit for the game's micro-heavy[1] nature even better. There is a one level where it is better to avoid fighting enemies, one you have to defend your ground in small areas, one large map where you can destroy one city, block by block, wall by wall .Developers made a good job of introducing the new faction, having a decent level of difficulty and learning curve. And there is even an epilogue where you play as the Good side. Within the budget they have --you can see with cutscenes being entirely drawings -- they did as well as a job they could.
Of course, a campaign mode is only a small part of an RTS experience. What the expansion pack brought to the table in terms of gameplay changes is perhaps even more exciting. The base game is so important for its brilliance in combining LoTR flavor, easy to get in gameplay and a nice tactical depth, but it had some rough edges after playing a lot. The expansion smoothens these rough edges and plays into te base game's strengths even more. This is the reason I have left analyzing the gameplay here, as someone who researched quite a few mods -- this is probably as good as a Middle-Earth RTS game can get.
It fixes the main problem of the first game's campaign: the levels just don't get reduced to walking the entire map and destroying every single building, they are short encounters .There is a maximum unit size, money given to you is usually just enough for things you need. AI actively surrenders in battle or withdraws from encounters it knows it can't win. This is actually strategically sound as well, because if you drag the battle when you are at losing side, you are just giving enemy more time to build units and snowball into stronger armies. Although you get stronger with each province you control, comebacks are very much possible.
Overall, I don't think it's an unforgettable part of the game, but it is much better than I have expected and it's a very nice distraction if you don't just want to do skirmishes all the time.
The expansion adds the two balance changes. Now you are free to not pick powers for the heroes as much as you like (as opposed to having to select something for each level) and now the price of the hero scales up with the powers. So, a hero with an array of really powerful skill is more than 3000 gold like a true late game hero, but you can also make a basic hero for 1200 gold that only is useful for specific tasks. That means the best heroes are the ones that are as strong as possible while being cost-effective. These changes bring a tactical depth that was not in the main game. It also fixes the main game's problem of custom heroes being more overpowered on the Good side, because you have a really good mid-tier Evil hero that is just as useful.
A harmonious blend of post Red Alert 2 Command&Conquer games and Warcraft 3, spiced heavily with Middle Earth sauce. We saw this in BFME 1: Power of the One Ring a.k.a. field magic/bonuses that are unlocked by destroying enemy units, units interacting each other with actual physics (such as units getting scattered around when rocks fell over them), unit modes that are toggled on/off manually, units leveling up, automatic resource/army collecting points, feel quite C&C, heroes, caves for experience and gold, easy economy, a micro-focused command, naval units feel quite like Warcraft 3. Of course, the lack of ranged air units, most units being composed of one or two dozens of individuals, constant eternal resource generation, manual upgrades for each unit are the most unique to BFME 2.
Identity: is a thing I am frequently returning throughout this article, because I think it is a bit underrated in understanding what puts an RTS game above their peers. Balance, technical quality, tactical depth are all really important. However, you can still have so many space marine strategy games, so many DOTA clones, so many Age of Empire type games people can faithfully play at a time. Middle Earth background obviously helps but it has a risk of making the game predominantly feel a LOTR game before anything else. BFME 1 handled this by departing from RTS conventions significantly, BFME 2 on the other hand does this in little details, even playing for a several minutes, the game's identity oozes from every pixel. Let's discuss some of these details in particular:
This gives ranged units extra special because they can actually concentrate their full power easily and of course can attack from afar and inside the towers. This makes them a prime way to fight against enemy heroes. To balance these advantages, they don't hit too hard aganist buildings and they are especially weak aganist cavalry charges, unlike the first game. Also arrow upgrades are usually can be obtained only at highest level of building, and elite ranged units can't upgrade their armor.
Airborne units are uncommon, either found as heroes or temporarily summoned, their attacks are slow but strong and have an area of effect, which you can somewhat control for more efficiency. Their main advantage is traversing great ranges at a short time and having a great field of vision. Which makes them prime for harassing enemy units and resource or guarding an area but bad at attacking tankish heroes or anything involving strong ranged units. Thankfully, their super passivity from the first game is fixed in the sequel, which made them really borderline worthless.
Cavalry -- not just horsemen, any unit with crushing forward effect -- are very good for their mobility, their quick disposal of enemy units and high damage, but even mediocre ones are expensive, costs more command points and hard countered by pikemen. Of course, close attention is required to make their charges effective, as collisions with melee units also affect them a little bit. There is also cavalry archers, combining the power of mobility and range, but balanced with either low armor or not being able to upgrade armor.
Spearmen, prime defensive units, are always reliable. Generally cheap, a quick remedy for monsters and cavalry, good at pinning down heroes, good at holding a line, but kinda slow at damage. In contrast, non-spearmen melee infantry -- is jack-of-all-trades of units. They have either offensive charge or defensive shield wall, have good damage and get upgrades early but they don't have the utility of spearmen or tactical depth of archers, and tend to be food for heroes and monsters
Siege units, units specialized for destroying buildings are three groups: Melee machines, ranged machines and monsters. Melee machines like rams can destroy a building really quickly but obviously need to get close. Ranged machines have slow but steady projectiles from a very good range, but need a minimum distance to fire. All siege machines are very vulnerable against non close attacks.. Monsters are on the other hand, can usually both attack melee and from range with great damage but weak aganist spearmen and heavy archer fire. Siege units hold great place in BFME 2, while they are not crucial in most battles, they play a huge role in punishing turtling strategies, such as archer tower/wall spam.
Heroes, which can defeat any non-hero unit 1-on-1, are the cornerstone of the game. And in sequel, every faction has plenty of good heroes. The amount of heroes is not sequel, but that's fine, because they cost command points now. Realistically, you will see probably a maximum of three or four heroes from a faction at the same time, and that would be during a rather long game. This is where the game diverges from Warcraft 3, it's not expected to just slap a hero into your army, there are situations where a couple of battalions would be more useful than a level 1 hero. Another difference from Warcraft 3 is the heroes, even the ones who share tactical roles, feel unique thanks to the lore, the greater diversity in skills, and appearance, as opposed to generic heroes who get a randomized name.
One of the most unique aspects of the game is its loose use of rock-paper-scissor style counter mechanics. For example, it's theoretically true that:
Battle stances, standardized versions of various commands in BFME 1, control idle unit behavior. In aggressive stance, units will attack every enemy unit on their vision and will pursue them endlessly until they have doing so. In neutral stance, units will similarly engage units but will only pursue them for a certain distance, then will return to their original position. In defensive stance, the units will only engage when they are close enough for melee combat and will try to move as little as possible. They also get a slight increase and decrease in attack, defense and speed in stances. BFME 2 is a heavy on unit control so you are not supposed to leave them on their own, but units are fairly good at defending themselves. This level of automatic behavior actually eases the player into game's chaotic battles.
Upgrades for units need to be researched in its building first and have to be applied to each unit manually. The upgrades tend to cost a lot more than it does in most RTS games, but they also affect the unit more. They also visibly change the unit, I like that touch a lot.
The game does not have an elemental weaknesses system (which I think could work), but instead it has fire and poison as a prominent tool. Fire can be actively ignited on ground by certain units, causing area damage. Poison is applied to units individually and just causes health loss over time. It's generally not high enough to kill on its own but effective because it blocks over-time-healing.
Another way the game puts forward micromanagement over large economies is having lots of unit buffs and debuffs, almost to the degree of RPGs. With hero skills, ring powers, certain buildings, large amount of spells in the game is about temporary buffs. Warcraft 3 enforced small-scale combat by limiting the amount of units hard way. In this game you can theoretically have a really large army, but more often than not the skirmishes tend to be between small armies where larger buffs determine the outcome. Here we can see that a static counter system would be counterintuitive to such a design.
The Power of One Ring or The Power of Evenstar, as in first game, make everything more fun, but we get 25 over measly 10 in the first game. And there are more balanced this time all around. And they are effective, they can even change the fate of battle if cleverly used, which brings a real sense of dynamism to the game.
Lastly there is naval battles. The units are exactly the same for each faction functionally and built from open to all harbors. A transport ship that can't attack, a ship that attacks with arrows, a ship with ranged siege machine that can hit from far away, and a suicide ship that destroys a group of ships in contact. Naval battle is a nice thought, in Middle Earth lore sea is both important thematically and physically. Sadly, in execution we don't see really intense naval battles. I blame this on lack of good maps for emphasizing the naval combat. However, the ships themselves can be effective, especially considering they can be upgraded without any restrictions. The combat ship is a strong archer unit and bombardment ship is especially great since, it can really reach any place in the map. In fact, their command limit and price reflect their power, otherwise they could be somewhat game breaking, especially the bombardment ship.
For all factions, buildings can be built almost everywhere freely. This is not only a departure from a first game but a departure from most RTS games as they usually have some limitations on how to build a base. Building is a very simple process, as long as you have a builder and cash, you are free to go. Only resource buildings are subjected to some rules, the closer you build them to each other, the less money they will generate, and their command limit bonus will decrease. Flexibility of buildings brings another layer of tactical depth. You can actively place your buildings in a way to make the enemy fight more inefficiently, some secret buildings at the corners of map may change the fate of game, or you can retreat near your allies' base. As long as you have builders around, a comeback is possible.
One important building in particular is fortresses, the center of the base, to recruit builders, heroes, upgrade certain bonuses, to being able to use ring powers, and build some defenses to build your base. I am really pleased with the attention they have shown to fortresses, they really bring out the identity of a faction.
Resource buildings will generate money indefinitely -- except lumber mills -- as in first game, but having to build them at certain distances encourages aggressiveness. However, there is quite a few ways of getting more money; from skills, powers, outposts and so on. Making money in this game is not a very stressful affair, there isn't really optimal executions to get more resources so you can build the largest army possible. On top of that, resource buildings also control the command limit, which further simplifies macro management. And in most RTS games, you have at least two or three resources to control, but really in this game, it's effectively one. Command point exists more for discouraging spam and turtling rather than a real resource. This is one of the important design choices to make the game quite easy to get into.
That doesn't mean economy is trivial though. There are a lot of ways you can spend your money: Buildings, unit upgrades, castle upgrades, Unless you get absurdly strong in the map, your spending rate tend to be closer to the earning rate. It's not stressful but there is enough tension to encourage clever spending. Upgrading building or upgrading units or getting a hero, such decisions are the bulk of economical tactics and base building in the game.
You can set the starting money before battles. This is actually one of the things that forms a meta. 1000 gold starts are different from 2000 gold or 4000 gold starts. additionally, you can set handicaps which decreases a player's production if you are so inclined.
Caves are a feature that is expanded in sequels. Now there are six kinds of caves: Goblin, giant spider, warg, wight, trolls and drake cave, in the order of resource and experience gained upon defeating them. They will attack anyone nearby in a certain radius, including buildings, will rebuild and replenish unless completely destroyed. They function similarly to Warcraft 3's independent troll/ogre groups, as an experience farm and obstacle to capture outposts/build resource buildings. I have to say, outside of drake caves, I find them somewhat underwhelming. In Warcraft 3, these encounters are challenging as a major part of the game is about being able to level your heroe s and expand your base at an optimal pace. So, I understand why they wanted to keep it easy, it might have been too costly to try to defeat them. Still, instead of arbitrarily sprinkling them onto maps, one can design so that there are easy caves with measly loot near the player bases and tough caves with good loot towards the middle parts of the map or near resource outposts.
While the maps could certainly use more spice, but they aren't all that barren. Mountain ranges, bridges, rivers, forests, high ground... quite a few stuff affects movement, especially considering the near lack of air units. Also admirable is having more than a few asymmetrical maps or one side of map being mountainous while other side being open ground. As an example, imagine two players being close to each other while being apart from third player. Symmetrical maps are good for competitive balance but sometimes asymmetry brings a fresh air and unique challenges.
There are some very elaborate special maps that are also used as campaign maps, they serve as a set piece as they do as a skirmish map. These maps have one player behind castle walls and other player(s) on outside the open ground. The defender side has plenty of pre-built defenses and usually have a really good amount of resources but often has limited room for buildings, cannot build castles or use castle upgrades and start with a fixed amount of 2500 gold, so they can't spam their best heroes from start. In both single and multiplayer, I have plenty of memories with these maps. Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul, Helm's Deep, Fornost... But some of them are plain broken. Dol Guldur map for instance, does not have outposts for defending side and its interior really cramped so you can get barely any resources, makes them disadvantaged even against single player. In the opposite end of spectrum is Isangard map, as the attacker side is only one player for some reason.
Another thing on the map you can encounter is Gollum. He is usually on stealth but when detected can be killed quite easily, doing so drops the One Ring. Once on ground you can carry it with a unit and bring it to your fortress, then you can recruit Ring Heroes: Galadriel for the Good side, costs 10000 gold, can summon a large thunderstorm. And Sauron for the Evil side, cost 20000 gold, can summon a barrage of meteors to fall. Both of them are quite powerful, hit multiple targets with knocking effect as normal damage, can scare enemies and take quite a while to recruit, but Galadriel is more fragile and fast, while Sauron is bulkier and slower. If they end up dead, the Ring drops to the ground and becomes open to grab once again. It's always nice to see the Ring and Sauron in a LOTR game, and they are fun to use for curb-stombing the enemy, but as you can guess, they are not a serious part of competitive strategies, as their price makes them bragging rights more than anything else. It could be more dynamic, perhaps it could bring a small bonus to the owner faction, or be used as a way of make your Ring Powers stronger, or you could buff your hero for a smaller price, but to spice it up, there would be ways to steal the Ring from a fortress. As it stands in the game, it's a fun gimmick.
Of course, this is not all there is to it to maps, because as all good RTS games, BFME 2 has a map editor. I have merely glanced it as a curiosity, I can't comment on how easy to actually use it, but looking at user-created maps online, it's fairly flexible. You can have stuff like Balrogs fighting against Saurons, classic fan-favourites like tower maps or really creative works with serious design effort behind them. When games not only allow but internally support user-creations, only good can come from it.
Next time, we will look at the game even deeper and analyze the faction design of ROTWK!
All screenshots are mine.
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
1. Campaign
The game and series in general is very good but this expansion was made in at the end of the great prosperity era of RTS games, and it shows. It is not a glorious, sprawling campaign similar to those in expansion packs of Starcraft and C&C games. It's length of a single campaign of a single faction, but in terms of content, it made me remember said grand campaigns in a lot of ways.The progression of the story fits the campaign really well. You start by building a country for yourself, then you get the loyalty of more soldiers, slowly advance your conquest, fall back and defend yourself, put plans in motion, destroy your enemy bit by bit, then achieve full destruction. It's quite different from the large battles of the regular campaign. And narrative-wise, it's pretty satisfying, there is much less dialogue compared to works like Warcraft 3, but it has a similar feeling of grandeur. You take a part in destruction of a proud kingdom and control cool looking people and monsters while doing it, and that's pretty satisfying as far as an RTS story goes.
Levels themselves are quite varied from one another, most of them actually fit for the game's micro-heavy[1] nature even better. There is a one level where it is better to avoid fighting enemies, one you have to defend your ground in small areas, one large map where you can destroy one city, block by block, wall by wall .Developers made a good job of introducing the new faction, having a decent level of difficulty and learning curve. And there is even an epilogue where you play as the Good side. Within the budget they have --you can see with cutscenes being entirely drawings -- they did as well as a job they could.
Of course, a campaign mode is only a small part of an RTS experience. What the expansion pack brought to the table in terms of gameplay changes is perhaps even more exciting. The base game is so important for its brilliance in combining LoTR flavor, easy to get in gameplay and a nice tactical depth, but it had some rough edges after playing a lot. The expansion smoothens these rough edges and plays into te base game's strengths even more. This is the reason I have left analyzing the gameplay here, as someone who researched quite a few mods -- this is probably as good as a Middle-Earth RTS game can get.
2. War of the Rings
While BFME 1 campaign style had its problems, it had its own charm. So it was actually not quite gone in the sequel, just turned into somewhat different. Instead of a scripted sequence, now it's a risk-style game between teams of Good and Evil. There are different scenarios that changes map sizes, team sizes, available countries and victory conditions, but the basic idea is the same. Build, create units, defeat enemies on the regular RTS map and conquer provinces from your enemies.It fixes the main problem of the first game's campaign: the levels just don't get reduced to walking the entire map and destroying every single building, they are short encounters .There is a maximum unit size, money given to you is usually just enough for things you need. AI actively surrenders in battle or withdraws from encounters it knows it can't win. This is actually strategically sound as well, because if you drag the battle when you are at losing side, you are just giving enemy more time to build units and snowball into stronger armies. Although you get stronger with each province you control, comebacks are very much possible.
Overall, I don't think it's an unforgettable part of the game, but it is much better than I have expected and it's a very nice distraction if you don't just want to do skirmishes all the time.
3. Create a Hero
This game mod is one of the things that give BFME 2 a unique place among RTS games. It easily adds at least a dozen of hours to play time by itself. You can make the most overpowered, the most silliest heroes, or try to cover a certain faction's weakness. It also helps appearance and that the skills of custom heroes are sufficiently different from normal ones, so having custom heroes actually adds stuff: Like you can have a Haradrim hero that converts enemy units into your cause or a wizard that turns people into cows.The expansion adds the two balance changes. Now you are free to not pick powers for the heroes as much as you like (as opposed to having to select something for each level) and now the price of the hero scales up with the powers. So, a hero with an array of really powerful skill is more than 3000 gold like a true late game hero, but you can also make a basic hero for 1200 gold that only is useful for specific tasks. That means the best heroes are the ones that are as strong as possible while being cost-effective. These changes bring a tactical depth that was not in the main game. It also fixes the main game's problem of custom heroes being more overpowered on the Good side, because you have a really good mid-tier Evil hero that is just as useful.
4. The Battlefield
BFME 1, for all its faults, had a strong foundation for a gameplay with a distinct identity. The sequel built on its strengths while fixing things that held it back. No fixed building slots, a tighter resource game, higher command limits, a much more balanced metagame. And... what will that end up us with?A harmonious blend of post Red Alert 2 Command&Conquer games and Warcraft 3, spiced heavily with Middle Earth sauce. We saw this in BFME 1: Power of the One Ring a.k.a. field magic/bonuses that are unlocked by destroying enemy units, units interacting each other with actual physics (such as units getting scattered around when rocks fell over them), unit modes that are toggled on/off manually, units leveling up, automatic resource/army collecting points, feel quite C&C, heroes, caves for experience and gold, easy economy, a micro-focused command, naval units feel quite like Warcraft 3. Of course, the lack of ranged air units, most units being composed of one or two dozens of individuals, constant eternal resource generation, manual upgrades for each unit are the most unique to BFME 2.
Identity: is a thing I am frequently returning throughout this article, because I think it is a bit underrated in understanding what puts an RTS game above their peers. Balance, technical quality, tactical depth are all really important. However, you can still have so many space marine strategy games, so many DOTA clones, so many Age of Empire type games people can faithfully play at a time. Middle Earth background obviously helps but it has a risk of making the game predominantly feel a LOTR game before anything else. BFME 1 handled this by departing from RTS conventions significantly, BFME 2 on the other hand does this in little details, even playing for a several minutes, the game's identity oozes from every pixel. Let's discuss some of these details in particular:
Combat
Unlike a lot of RTS games, there is a heavy amount of close combat. And, as I have mentioned, units fight in blocks( blocks made larger in sequel), these two affect how fights occur. If you order several battalions of units to destroy an enemy unit&building, you will see only a couple of soldiers are actually fighting at the same time. If you want them to fight efficiently, you have to flank and circle enemy units. Games like Starcraft encourage blobs or death balls, just a group of supporting units you can point somewhere and cause havoc. No, if you leave your units to their own, you will find them wither away in no time.This gives ranged units extra special because they can actually concentrate their full power easily and of course can attack from afar and inside the towers. This makes them a prime way to fight against enemy heroes. To balance these advantages, they don't hit too hard aganist buildings and they are especially weak aganist cavalry charges, unlike the first game. Also arrow upgrades are usually can be obtained only at highest level of building, and elite ranged units can't upgrade their armor.
Airborne units are uncommon, either found as heroes or temporarily summoned, their attacks are slow but strong and have an area of effect, which you can somewhat control for more efficiency. Their main advantage is traversing great ranges at a short time and having a great field of vision. Which makes them prime for harassing enemy units and resource or guarding an area but bad at attacking tankish heroes or anything involving strong ranged units. Thankfully, their super passivity from the first game is fixed in the sequel, which made them really borderline worthless.
Cavalry -- not just horsemen, any unit with crushing forward effect -- are very good for their mobility, their quick disposal of enemy units and high damage, but even mediocre ones are expensive, costs more command points and hard countered by pikemen. Of course, close attention is required to make their charges effective, as collisions with melee units also affect them a little bit. There is also cavalry archers, combining the power of mobility and range, but balanced with either low armor or not being able to upgrade armor.
Spearmen, prime defensive units, are always reliable. Generally cheap, a quick remedy for monsters and cavalry, good at pinning down heroes, good at holding a line, but kinda slow at damage. In contrast, non-spearmen melee infantry -- is jack-of-all-trades of units. They have either offensive charge or defensive shield wall, have good damage and get upgrades early but they don't have the utility of spearmen or tactical depth of archers, and tend to be food for heroes and monsters
Siege units, units specialized for destroying buildings are three groups: Melee machines, ranged machines and monsters. Melee machines like rams can destroy a building really quickly but obviously need to get close. Ranged machines have slow but steady projectiles from a very good range, but need a minimum distance to fire. All siege machines are very vulnerable against non close attacks.. Monsters are on the other hand, can usually both attack melee and from range with great damage but weak aganist spearmen and heavy archer fire. Siege units hold great place in BFME 2, while they are not crucial in most battles, they play a huge role in punishing turtling strategies, such as archer tower/wall spam.
Heroes, which can defeat any non-hero unit 1-on-1, are the cornerstone of the game. And in sequel, every faction has plenty of good heroes. The amount of heroes is not sequel, but that's fine, because they cost command points now. Realistically, you will see probably a maximum of three or four heroes from a faction at the same time, and that would be during a rather long game. This is where the game diverges from Warcraft 3, it's not expected to just slap a hero into your army, there are situations where a couple of battalions would be more useful than a level 1 hero. Another difference from Warcraft 3 is the heroes, even the ones who share tactical roles, feel unique thanks to the lore, the greater diversity in skills, and appearance, as opposed to generic heroes who get a randomized name.
One of the most unique aspects of the game is its loose use of rock-paper-scissor style counter mechanics. For example, it's theoretically true that:
spears > monster > non-spear infantry > spearsBut non-spearmen units does not mop the floor with spearmen as spears kill monsters. Monsters will often have a ranged attack and can run faster than infantry. BFME 2 does not have a great range of unit types, so the game relies more heavily on contextual weaknesses which can be mitigated by clever play over hard counters. So, keeping pricing in mind, a more general consistent rule for non-heroes seem to be:
The harder a unit can hit and the faster it can move, the larger its weakness getsThis somewhat works for heroes too; a cavalry form of a hero will be weak against spears, heroes that can inflict immense damage tend to be on the fragile side.
Battle stances, standardized versions of various commands in BFME 1, control idle unit behavior. In aggressive stance, units will attack every enemy unit on their vision and will pursue them endlessly until they have doing so. In neutral stance, units will similarly engage units but will only pursue them for a certain distance, then will return to their original position. In defensive stance, the units will only engage when they are close enough for melee combat and will try to move as little as possible. They also get a slight increase and decrease in attack, defense and speed in stances. BFME 2 is a heavy on unit control so you are not supposed to leave them on their own, but units are fairly good at defending themselves. This level of automatic behavior actually eases the player into game's chaotic battles.
Upgrades for units need to be researched in its building first and have to be applied to each unit manually. The upgrades tend to cost a lot more than it does in most RTS games, but they also affect the unit more. They also visibly change the unit, I like that touch a lot.
The game does not have an elemental weaknesses system (which I think could work), but instead it has fire and poison as a prominent tool. Fire can be actively ignited on ground by certain units, causing area damage. Poison is applied to units individually and just causes health loss over time. It's generally not high enough to kill on its own but effective because it blocks over-time-healing.
Another way the game puts forward micromanagement over large economies is having lots of unit buffs and debuffs, almost to the degree of RPGs. With hero skills, ring powers, certain buildings, large amount of spells in the game is about temporary buffs. Warcraft 3 enforced small-scale combat by limiting the amount of units hard way. In this game you can theoretically have a really large army, but more often than not the skirmishes tend to be between small armies where larger buffs determine the outcome. Here we can see that a static counter system would be counterintuitive to such a design.
The Power of One Ring or The Power of Evenstar, as in first game, make everything more fun, but we get 25 over measly 10 in the first game. And there are more balanced this time all around. And they are effective, they can even change the fate of battle if cleverly used, which brings a real sense of dynamism to the game.
Lastly there is naval battles. The units are exactly the same for each faction functionally and built from open to all harbors. A transport ship that can't attack, a ship that attacks with arrows, a ship with ranged siege machine that can hit from far away, and a suicide ship that destroys a group of ships in contact. Naval battle is a nice thought, in Middle Earth lore sea is both important thematically and physically. Sadly, in execution we don't see really intense naval battles. I blame this on lack of good maps for emphasizing the naval combat. However, the ships themselves can be effective, especially considering they can be upgraded without any restrictions. The combat ship is a strong archer unit and bombardment ship is especially great since, it can really reach any place in the map. In fact, their command limit and price reflect their power, otherwise they could be somewhat game breaking, especially the bombardment ship.
Economy and Base
The game does not have permanent walls, eliminating all balance problems it brings. Instead most countries can build non-deployable walls, that can be modified with gates, towers or ranged machines. They cost a non-trivial amount of money, are not very durable. So, they don't enable over defensiveness but instead add a tool for controlling key points. Battle towers are much similar, can be deployed efficiently for defense, but not really game-breaking at all. Some maps come with pre-built fortress with heavy walls and defences but they are meant to be played against a group of opponents. There are also maps with pre-built towers that anyone can use, but they are even more fragile than player-built ones.For all factions, buildings can be built almost everywhere freely. This is not only a departure from a first game but a departure from most RTS games as they usually have some limitations on how to build a base. Building is a very simple process, as long as you have a builder and cash, you are free to go. Only resource buildings are subjected to some rules, the closer you build them to each other, the less money they will generate, and their command limit bonus will decrease. Flexibility of buildings brings another layer of tactical depth. You can actively place your buildings in a way to make the enemy fight more inefficiently, some secret buildings at the corners of map may change the fate of game, or you can retreat near your allies' base. As long as you have builders around, a comeback is possible.
One important building in particular is fortresses, the center of the base, to recruit builders, heroes, upgrade certain bonuses, to being able to use ring powers, and build some defenses to build your base. I am really pleased with the attention they have shown to fortresses, they really bring out the identity of a faction.
Resource buildings will generate money indefinitely -- except lumber mills -- as in first game, but having to build them at certain distances encourages aggressiveness. However, there is quite a few ways of getting more money; from skills, powers, outposts and so on. Making money in this game is not a very stressful affair, there isn't really optimal executions to get more resources so you can build the largest army possible. On top of that, resource buildings also control the command limit, which further simplifies macro management. And in most RTS games, you have at least two or three resources to control, but really in this game, it's effectively one. Command point exists more for discouraging spam and turtling rather than a real resource. This is one of the important design choices to make the game quite easy to get into.
That doesn't mean economy is trivial though. There are a lot of ways you can spend your money: Buildings, unit upgrades, castle upgrades, Unless you get absurdly strong in the map, your spending rate tend to be closer to the earning rate. It's not stressful but there is enough tension to encourage clever spending. Upgrading building or upgrading units or getting a hero, such decisions are the bulk of economical tactics and base building in the game.
You can set the starting money before battles. This is actually one of the things that forms a meta. 1000 gold starts are different from 2000 gold or 4000 gold starts. additionally, you can set handicaps which decreases a player's production if you are so inclined.
The Map and Gollum
There are static buildings in the game maps, they are controlled by capturing its flag by a unit. These buildings are:- A signal fire tower --inspired by the tower Gondor used for calling help -- that gives vision and decreases power recharge times.
- An outpost to build units: The units change by the map and produces Hobbits, Dunedain Rangers, or Dale Archers for Good side, focusing on defense, and Dunland Warriors, Corsairs of Umbar, and Haradrim Archers for the Evil side, focusing on building destruction.
- An outpost for generating money. This outpost produces equal to the output of several resource buildings, so it is a great advantage to whomever it belongs to.
- And a dock for building naval units.
Caves are a feature that is expanded in sequels. Now there are six kinds of caves: Goblin, giant spider, warg, wight, trolls and drake cave, in the order of resource and experience gained upon defeating them. They will attack anyone nearby in a certain radius, including buildings, will rebuild and replenish unless completely destroyed. They function similarly to Warcraft 3's independent troll/ogre groups, as an experience farm and obstacle to capture outposts/build resource buildings. I have to say, outside of drake caves, I find them somewhat underwhelming. In Warcraft 3, these encounters are challenging as a major part of the game is about being able to level your heroe s and expand your base at an optimal pace. So, I understand why they wanted to keep it easy, it might have been too costly to try to defeat them. Still, instead of arbitrarily sprinkling them onto maps, one can design so that there are easy caves with measly loot near the player bases and tough caves with good loot towards the middle parts of the map or near resource outposts.
While the maps could certainly use more spice, but they aren't all that barren. Mountain ranges, bridges, rivers, forests, high ground... quite a few stuff affects movement, especially considering the near lack of air units. Also admirable is having more than a few asymmetrical maps or one side of map being mountainous while other side being open ground. As an example, imagine two players being close to each other while being apart from third player. Symmetrical maps are good for competitive balance but sometimes asymmetry brings a fresh air and unique challenges.
There are some very elaborate special maps that are also used as campaign maps, they serve as a set piece as they do as a skirmish map. These maps have one player behind castle walls and other player(s) on outside the open ground. The defender side has plenty of pre-built defenses and usually have a really good amount of resources but often has limited room for buildings, cannot build castles or use castle upgrades and start with a fixed amount of 2500 gold, so they can't spam their best heroes from start. In both single and multiplayer, I have plenty of memories with these maps. Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul, Helm's Deep, Fornost... But some of them are plain broken. Dol Guldur map for instance, does not have outposts for defending side and its interior really cramped so you can get barely any resources, makes them disadvantaged even against single player. In the opposite end of spectrum is Isangard map, as the attacker side is only one player for some reason.
Another thing on the map you can encounter is Gollum. He is usually on stealth but when detected can be killed quite easily, doing so drops the One Ring. Once on ground you can carry it with a unit and bring it to your fortress, then you can recruit Ring Heroes: Galadriel for the Good side, costs 10000 gold, can summon a large thunderstorm. And Sauron for the Evil side, cost 20000 gold, can summon a barrage of meteors to fall. Both of them are quite powerful, hit multiple targets with knocking effect as normal damage, can scare enemies and take quite a while to recruit, but Galadriel is more fragile and fast, while Sauron is bulkier and slower. If they end up dead, the Ring drops to the ground and becomes open to grab once again. It's always nice to see the Ring and Sauron in a LOTR game, and they are fun to use for curb-stombing the enemy, but as you can guess, they are not a serious part of competitive strategies, as their price makes them bragging rights more than anything else. It could be more dynamic, perhaps it could bring a small bonus to the owner faction, or be used as a way of make your Ring Powers stronger, or you could buff your hero for a smaller price, but to spice it up, there would be ways to steal the Ring from a fortress. As it stands in the game, it's a fun gimmick.
Of course, this is not all there is to it to maps, because as all good RTS games, BFME 2 has a map editor. I have merely glanced it as a curiosity, I can't comment on how easy to actually use it, but looking at user-created maps online, it's fairly flexible. You can have stuff like Balrogs fighting against Saurons, classic fan-favourites like tower maps or really creative works with serious design effort behind them. When games not only allow but internally support user-creations, only good can come from it.
3. Conclusion
Battle for Middle Earth 2: Rise of the Witch King is a spectacular RTS. It's easy to get into, open to mastery in fine details, smooth to play, alive and chaotic, but manageable. Certain aspects are not utilized for their full potential, but in minute-to-minute play, when re-imagining the lore of Middle-Earth, when creating orcs with purple armor the game is consistently full of energy. Just as I played the main game, I come back to this game every now and then, the time fleets as I lose myself in the song of arrows, spears, explosions and magic. If you could play only one real-time strategy game, try this one out, as the base game it is not officially sold anymore so it is effectively free. Unless you passionately hate anything related to LOTR, you'd probably have at least a decent time.Next time, we will look at the game even deeper and analyze the faction design of ROTWK!
All screenshots are mine.
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
Garden of Eden, Chapter I
(This is the first chapter of an Europa Universalis 4 fanfiction of one of my saves. Please enjoy.)
January, late XIVth century, a village in Macedonia...
Snow storms were roaring with all their might. It was a cold day, cold enough to freeze the lakes. Mayhaps God had truly forsaken the Christendom? Crops did not yield well, most children under the age five died, finding people frozen to death in roads was not a rare occasion.
In one of the houses of a such village, a baby cry was heard.
"A healthy boy" shouted the poor farmer's daughter. She was all too excited to get a new brother!
Father was overjoyed too, but he was deeply worried, as he was looking into the Mother's weary eyes, this child too would not survive the harsh times, they thought quietly.
But... wait.. what was that? He was shocked and rushed to the outside to see it from close! The apple tree near the house was green as spring and it had even bore fruits! Clearly, this was a sign from Christ! This child was blessed!
The boy quickly rose up to be a model man of God, excellent in theology, administration, arts and virtue. He was eventually went to Constantinople, but he routinely denied higher positions of authority. Instead, he weaved the much-needed link between common man and clergy and the became a moral beacon in these hard times of Christendom.
But, a clergyman was not what he meant to be either... He was doing, weird things... Lighting candles by thinking, finding things he wants near him, not feeling cold, being able to understand animals on a deeper level? What was going on? Was he really a saint as some proclaimed? He certainly didn't know of any sorcery. Abnormalities did not cease there however.. He was seeing... a dark future. A world on fire. The servants of Satan killing the heart of the world... Lords, dukes, kings, popes, patriarchs, all of them... They were all leeches on the true believer. And, somehow... he was meant to be a leading figure, guiding people to heaven? How? It made little sense... But he very well knew of the history of the faith, such beliefs would easily brand him as heretic, all nobles and clergy who praise him as a saint would come after his head in an instant... He kept anything that would raise suspicion under the rug. No, the time for acting was not now, the time was for... discovery.
He gave up clergy robes, tagged along merchants and went to the east, west, north and south. He learned so much about people's and place's of the world. People were so different, but they were also quite similar. The heathen beliefs was not so foul after all. Everyone wanted to connect to the divine, everyone prayed, even the least believer of them. And his queer talents and dreams... went only stronger and stronger.
The priest did ever not return to Greece. It was said he reached the lands of Prester John, and reached to heavens there. But someone the most queer reached to the shores of Macedonia instead. A young woman, beautiful as the dawn , with a hair white as snow... Her words were truly magical, even pierced through the hearts of the most misogynist of men. She claimed to be a servant of God, promised servants of darkness would be defeated and by will of Christ, a Kingdom of Heaven on Earth will prevail. She rallied the people of Macedonia, and in the middle of the war between Crusaders and Ottomans, the Muslim rulers was driven out of Macedonia, with some of their folk converting to the Lord's cause.
Who were meant to be their lords now though? Governors from Constantinople? Genoese merchants? Venetians? A Serbian duke? Mayhaps they were to be a vassal of Hungarian kings? Or maybe they would seek protection from Frankish lords?
No! The Roman Empire was of a bygone era. Italian doges only cared about their pocket. Any ordinary lords were too quick to turns deviants in the pursuit of petty rivalries. East and West, their churches were crumbling apart, they were too slaves of vain ambitions. No crusader could save them, as Varna had proved once again, their age was coming to an end. No, no old order, no decadent duke, no backwards bishop could help. The past could not be returned, no kings of past was necessary, when they submitted to the Lord himself! With the guidance of the Saint-Lady, and the prayers from their hearts, no servant of Satan could prevail! But they were destined for even more, for being the Shepherds of the world, bringing the Garden of Eden on Earth!
The Saint-Lady was also destined for more. Although she styled a noble house name for herself, she was not meant to be just another tyrant or a great conqueror. Nor she was to be a Joan d'Arc figure for the East. She was to become something more queer, and more divine. Yet for now, she was Robin from house Aidios, first of Her name, ruler of Macedonia.
The Ottomans were furious. They were exhausted due to last war and something about this lady made them a little hesitant but they would not tolerate such insolence for long... And Italian lords were already taking an interest in the prosperous lands. The garden was small... yet it was surrounded by wolves...
And such 2as the year of the Lord 1444, the first year of the reign of Robin, the Saint-Lady of House Aidios...
(To be continued...)
Commentary and Footnotes:
I played the game on patch 1.27. Every DLC up to and including Rights of Man besides Mare Nostrum, American Dream and various Unit Packs. I also used Nation Designer Extender Unlimited and More Colors for Custom Nations mods.
While searching how to make more interesting Custom Nations, I have found Nation Designer Unlimited. The mod basically allows you to make really wild nations. So I have set out to make the most overpowered thing one can have imagine. The mod also allows you to play as religions from converted Crusader King 2 saves, so I have made some research on old heresies and come up with a fantasy lore for my overpowered nation idea. I have decided to turn it into a story, planning it that way made the game so much fun and it gave me an excuse to write fiction. I have used some elements from Fire Emblem and Trails in the Sky as well. If you didn't catch them, don't worry, references will become clearer in the next chapters... and I intend to do commentary and additional into what I have actually done in the game
Hope you enjoyed it! I have already completed the playthrough so the story will surely, if slowly continue, so please tune in for the next chapter!
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
January, late XIVth century, a village in Macedonia...
Snow storms were roaring with all their might. It was a cold day, cold enough to freeze the lakes. Mayhaps God had truly forsaken the Christendom? Crops did not yield well, most children under the age five died, finding people frozen to death in roads was not a rare occasion.
In one of the houses of a such village, a baby cry was heard.
"A healthy boy" shouted the poor farmer's daughter. She was all too excited to get a new brother!
Father was overjoyed too, but he was deeply worried, as he was looking into the Mother's weary eyes, this child too would not survive the harsh times, they thought quietly.
But... wait.. what was that? He was shocked and rushed to the outside to see it from close! The apple tree near the house was green as spring and it had even bore fruits! Clearly, this was a sign from Christ! This child was blessed!
The boy quickly rose up to be a model man of God, excellent in theology, administration, arts and virtue. He was eventually went to Constantinople, but he routinely denied higher positions of authority. Instead, he weaved the much-needed link between common man and clergy and the became a moral beacon in these hard times of Christendom.
But, a clergyman was not what he meant to be either... He was doing, weird things... Lighting candles by thinking, finding things he wants near him, not feeling cold, being able to understand animals on a deeper level? What was going on? Was he really a saint as some proclaimed? He certainly didn't know of any sorcery. Abnormalities did not cease there however.. He was seeing... a dark future. A world on fire. The servants of Satan killing the heart of the world... Lords, dukes, kings, popes, patriarchs, all of them... They were all leeches on the true believer. And, somehow... he was meant to be a leading figure, guiding people to heaven? How? It made little sense... But he very well knew of the history of the faith, such beliefs would easily brand him as heretic, all nobles and clergy who praise him as a saint would come after his head in an instant... He kept anything that would raise suspicion under the rug. No, the time for acting was not now, the time was for... discovery.
He gave up clergy robes, tagged along merchants and went to the east, west, north and south. He learned so much about people's and place's of the world. People were so different, but they were also quite similar. The heathen beliefs was not so foul after all. Everyone wanted to connect to the divine, everyone prayed, even the least believer of them. And his queer talents and dreams... went only stronger and stronger.
The priest did ever not return to Greece. It was said he reached the lands of Prester John, and reached to heavens there. But someone the most queer reached to the shores of Macedonia instead. A young woman, beautiful as the dawn , with a hair white as snow... Her words were truly magical, even pierced through the hearts of the most misogynist of men. She claimed to be a servant of God, promised servants of darkness would be defeated and by will of Christ, a Kingdom of Heaven on Earth will prevail. She rallied the people of Macedonia, and in the middle of the war between Crusaders and Ottomans, the Muslim rulers was driven out of Macedonia, with some of their folk converting to the Lord's cause.
Who were meant to be their lords now though? Governors from Constantinople? Genoese merchants? Venetians? A Serbian duke? Mayhaps they were to be a vassal of Hungarian kings? Or maybe they would seek protection from Frankish lords?
No! The Roman Empire was of a bygone era. Italian doges only cared about their pocket. Any ordinary lords were too quick to turns deviants in the pursuit of petty rivalries. East and West, their churches were crumbling apart, they were too slaves of vain ambitions. No crusader could save them, as Varna had proved once again, their age was coming to an end. No, no old order, no decadent duke, no backwards bishop could help. The past could not be returned, no kings of past was necessary, when they submitted to the Lord himself! With the guidance of the Saint-Lady, and the prayers from their hearts, no servant of Satan could prevail! But they were destined for even more, for being the Shepherds of the world, bringing the Garden of Eden on Earth!
The Saint-Lady was also destined for more. Although she styled a noble house name for herself, she was not meant to be just another tyrant or a great conqueror. Nor she was to be a Joan d'Arc figure for the East. She was to become something more queer, and more divine. Yet for now, she was Robin from house Aidios, first of Her name, ruler of Macedonia.
The Ottomans were furious. They were exhausted due to last war and something about this lady made them a little hesitant but they would not tolerate such insolence for long... And Italian lords were already taking an interest in the prosperous lands. The garden was small... yet it was surrounded by wolves...
And such 2as the year of the Lord 1444, the first year of the reign of Robin, the Saint-Lady of House Aidios...
(To be continued...)
Commentary and Footnotes:
I played the game on patch 1.27. Every DLC up to and including Rights of Man besides Mare Nostrum, American Dream and various Unit Packs. I also used Nation Designer Extender Unlimited and More Colors for Custom Nations mods.
While searching how to make more interesting Custom Nations, I have found Nation Designer Unlimited. The mod basically allows you to make really wild nations. So I have set out to make the most overpowered thing one can have imagine. The mod also allows you to play as religions from converted Crusader King 2 saves, so I have made some research on old heresies and come up with a fantasy lore for my overpowered nation idea. I have decided to turn it into a story, planning it that way made the game so much fun and it gave me an excuse to write fiction. I have used some elements from Fire Emblem and Trails in the Sky as well. If you didn't catch them, don't worry, references will become clearer in the next chapters... and I intend to do commentary and additional into what I have actually done in the game
Hope you enjoyed it! I have already completed the playthrough so the story will surely, if slowly continue, so please tune in for the next chapter!
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson, MasterofCubes, Makkovar, Otakundead and Spencer Gill.
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