September Monthly Metabolism

I guess it’s time for the first Lambdalot Monthly Metabolism, which I am hesistant to actually claim as monthly. Time will tell.

I haven’t really worked on any personal projects in detail besides the website, but I’m starting to pick up the pace on planning for my Long Term Project (thus denoted LTP). Starting to get back into digital art is difficult, but I want to be able to at least make decently representative mock-ups, so hopefully it will be worth something.

Anyways, time for this month’s assorted media opinions! (Is this going to be a thing now...)

Ludological Logorrhea

This month I did not play as many games as I had wished to, but I still got around to some stuff.

Ib

A neat little RPG Maker horror game that I’m surprised I didn’t get around to until now. I don’t think it outclasses the titans of RPG Maker for me quite yet, but I thought it had some interesting ideas which paid off well. The idea of endings based on hidden counters representing relationships between characters is something that I feel has a lot of potential to make your choices feel like they actually matter. However, I think it would have been a lot more effective had the game simply been longer and had more ways of subtly reflecting the current relationship between the characters. Otherwise, it ends up feeling a bit arbitrary, but given the game’s length I respect its attempt at something more nuanced. Back to the game’s strengths, I like that the art gallery isn’t merely a gimmick of a setting, but the art pieces are actually often interesting in their own right. Oh, and the soundtrack is definitely one I’ll need to return to, particularly the guitar focused tracks. I love Garry’s Theme.

To the Moon

Another RPG Maker affair. I watched a playthrough of To the Moon some years ago, but with the self-proclaimed ‘Beach Episode’ releasing and the game being on sale, I thought it’d be a good time to replay it. I have to say, it was worth it. People will call this game sappy or cheesy or whatever, and there are a couple of points where I think the writing can be to the game’s own detriment, but overall I think it held up a lot better than I had expected. The pixel art is all quite beautifully done, the soundtrack has some fantastic emotional pieces in it, and the story raises some genuinely interesting questions about how we choose to spend our lives. I should probably check out Finding Paradise again since I remember that being my favourite of the trilogy.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

Okay I haven’t actually played it, but two years I started watching a playthrough. This was the month I finally finished it. I think it’s pretty much safe to say that this is currently my favourite story in MegaTen. The exploration of how people’s perception can subtly warp reality and themes of nostalgia I find were done really well. I love that the whole rumour concept isn’t a gimmick but rather permeates the whole story and game mechanics. It really feels like the developers wanted to see what they could do with such a concept, instead of just having it thrown in when it’s convenient. Likewise, whilst the cast is smaller, the characters don’t ever feel like they’re just filling a space. The dynamic of the main party in general feels a lot tighter than later Persona games. It’s in no way flawless, though. The pacing could use some work to make sections go a little faster and give some characters more development, but I’d say it’s still ahead of the other Persona games in these respects. Nevertheless it’ll undoubtedly prove an immense influence on my personal projects. I have to play EP as soon as I finish the Persona 1 manga.

Yeah, the games gooded this month.

Musical Malarkey (Please Make A Better Name I Am Begging Myself)

I listened to a lot fewer albums than I had wanted to, but I also relistened to a lot this month.

I primarily explored more of the Animal Collective Discography. In particular, Ark, Fall Be Kind, and Time Skiffs.

Ark is probably the weirdest AnCo record I’ve heard so far. Most of it feels like it has this strange quality of not sounding ‘musical’ but having the emotional potency of a lot of their best work. Infant Dressing Table was probably the stand-out track for me. It just manages to completely wash over me and puts my soul at ease, much like Visiting Friends and Loch Raven do. I’m not sure if I’ll return to it frequently, but this is a great record to shatter my idea of what music is or has to be.

Fall Be Kind was a fun album that I should probably listen to more in the coming weeks. I don’t know if I’ve listened enough to fully formulate my opinion on it, but it was quite enjoyable. I thought the production was pretty great at least, but my appreciation of the songs will probably increase with time. The songwriting actually kind of reminded me more of Strawberry Jam than Merriweather Post Pavilion for the most part, particularly the breakdown in Graze, but it definitely follows up the pop songwriting of Merriweather nicely.

Time Skiffs will probably take some more time (hahahahaha… *cough*) for me to fully digest, but I thought it was a pretty good offering from AnCo for the most part. Stand-out tracks for me on first listen were probably Prester John and Cherokee. Prester John is quite straightforward for an AnCo track, perhaps a bit too much, but I quite enjoy the breakdown. Cherokee is a fun track to just kind of get lost in. Overall quite a lot of nice synth textures here, but I’m not fully won over.

Oh, and here are a couple songs I liked this month.

Extra(neous) Thoughts

That’s all I really have for this month. Going forward, I want this to be more than just media opinions, but I really just need to get a hang of writing down my random ideas so I have something to talk about. Hopefully next time I’ll have some more interesting stuff to say, but this is mostly for my sake anyways.