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So, haven’t been here in a while. There isn’t really any particular reason why lol, just nothing I’ve felt like writing other than a review or two on my Backloggd. I’ve mentioned a game in the past couple posts and ummm that’s still coming probably? It was basically in a finished state last July but I haven’t felt motivated to bug test or polish it for release. But I know I’ll just sit on it forever unless I release it, so I will.

I’d like to make these more regular again though, so how about I talk about some stuff? This one’s probably going to be less structured but screw it.

Ludological Logorrhea

Touhou

I’ve been trying to get back into Touhou! I still know very little about what the plot/lore of these games is supposed to be? Idk to what degree it’s just me but the translations I’ve been playing feel kind of stiff but there’s still a lot of charm to the dialogue. Of course, the music is impeccable and the gameplay is also mesmerizing with much appreciated, if often infuriating, difficulty. I’ve been playing games 6-8 and honestly despite what people say I might find 6 to be the easiest??? On normal at least, and by no means is it easy. The most frustrating part I find is limited lives in practice mode and no spell practice, though of course the lack of a visible hitbox is another obvious flaw. Imperishable Night is probably my favourite but dear god stage four… It makes sense that Marisa and Reimu would be challenging opponents but some of these spell cards I just Cannot Do. It’s fun though! I just feel like every time I try to play Touhou it’s really fun for a while but then I hit a wall at maximum velocity and get pulverised into a fine red mist. Then again I do feel I’ve been making *some* progress.

But honestly I wonder, do the majority of people getting into Touhou try to focus on practicing one or two games in the hopes of 1cc’ing them or do they just jump around at random. Because I feel like the former would be more fulfilling, but it gets demoralizing when you hit a wall which causes me to bounce between the games a lot.

Mainly I’m writing about Touhou because most of my Gaming has been Library of Ruina since September, but I want to wait until I finish that game until I talk about it (spoilers: I love it). Like Touhou, the music is incredible which is a big motivator for my progress.

But yeah, the music of Touhou really makes me want to check out the others games and media, as well as fan stuff. I recently listened to Sinen ni nozomu ga gotoshi by Demetori and it really brings me to back to the vgm cover metal that honestly greatly influenced my burgeoning music taste. To this day I really love this kind of stuff yet have a hard time finding ‘real’ metal that suits my tastes. I’ve tried to push through the harsh vocals and often personally unappealing aesthetics in some more acclaimed metal, but idk. I just feel like the particular combination of features in the metal music I’ve enjoyed are kind of hard to find outside of very specific contexts (games/anime/covers of that stuff). But Demetori scratch that itch perfectly, so I’m glad to have found them. It still would be cool to find some original material that’s similar though.

Extra(neous) Thoughts

Writing these has been very fun, but I’m kind of torn between wanting to practice more structured writing and my preference for unfocused rambling. The latter definitely gets my to write more though, so all apologies but I’m going to continue with this logorrhea until I get comfortable enough to start refining it. Also I'd like to add some other stuff to this site and change the layout. Hope to see you all again in not eight months!