Prophets & Players

Narrative Nerd

Category: Reviews Page 1 of 3

[ROUNDUP] February, March, and April/May to Come

By

On 17/04/2023

In Comics, Fandom, Personal, Reviews

I hope you’re all doing well <3

I’ve been working on a few things and it’s tough because a lot of them are just behind the curtain and I can’t show them to you for a little while, but I’m very very excited for the moment when I can.

February

I feel like February was a lot of working on things that will be due to come out soon, and nothing that I can actually show off. I drew some stuff that I posted on social media and I will collect to post here at a later time! I would like to have all my fandom art in a pile, isolated for convenience.

March

Young Lady Albert is Courting Disaster Volume 2 is complete, and you can now buy the ebook!

Young Lady Albert is Courting Disaster Volume 3 is now being serialized!

I started taking driving lessons!

Beloved friend of the show Ashley Lauren Rogers has a play available for purchase at Next Stage Press. Check out and pick up Chasing the Ghost here! Ashley also has her own Patreon here!

Another beloved friend of the show, Kai, has been working hard on their comic, Ukiyo! They have a Patreon as well where you can support them, here!

April

Fujoshi Guide to Web Development Kickstarter launched. I helped!

Finding God in No Man’s Land—Christian Influence in Trigun: Essay posted on Easter 2023! Because I thought it was funny. I’ll be writing up a few elements that I didn’t get to work into the essay itself for Patreon that I also hope to make available on ko-fi.

More stuff to come?? Maybe??

May

Hideo Kojima’s Memes and Torquil Campbell’s DNA – Artists on Art as Genetics: Coming out on Unwinnable Exploits on May 1st. Might only be available for subscribers right away, so keep your eyes peeled. I’ll post it as soon as I see it!

Also on May 1st, playerprophet friend and supporter Mirth Turtle is having a very special livestream. Details to come.

I have another Author Spotlight Interview coming out soon with Nightmare Magazine. I believe it’s out in May but it could be June. They don’t tell me these things (but I also don’t ask).

I’ve signed up for a course to learn about making TTRPGs late in May: Designing Games that Matter with Avery Alder. I wanted to go last year, but full-time work left me very little room for fun. Looking forward to it this time! I bet I’ll have some fun things to share afterward. :)

I also now have a discord server that you can join with extra perks for patrons!

Also I’ll probably be working on a Trigun doujinshi (as short as possible) because the fandom is on fire and I have more stuff I want to say. Now’s as good a time as any, right?

20 Stories that Changed Me in 2022

By

On 02/01/2023

In Books, Games, Personal, Reviews, Shows, Stories

This is the last thing I write about 2022 I hope.

For Christmas I asked for and received (thanks to my mom and brother Jeff, thanks guys) Hideo Kojima’s The Creative Gene. The book (so far) is mostly Kojima’s account of stories that have influenced him, why they mattered to him, and sometimes how we can see their effects in his work.

I keep a yearly planner — a hobonichi techo — which has a “my 100” list in the back where you can chronicle 100 things. I never knew what to do with it, but in 2022 I kept a chronicle of media I consumed, whether I liked them or not, or other special memories of new places or things. So for the first time I had a reliable, localized collection of the things I read/watched/saw that were new to me. After starting The Creative Gene I thought it might be nice to share with you, like he shared with me, the things that I believe I learned something from that will help me go into the future.

So here are 20 of the stories that changed me in 2022, in no particular order.

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Yakuza Games Ranked by How Much I Liked Them

By

On 28/12/2022

In Games, Reviews

As I mentioned recently, 2022 was tough for me.  Some of my friends were excited about Like a Dragon, but I didn’t want to play it until I played all of the other Yakuza games because that’s what I’m like. I hate skipping things.

During this stressful year I found it easy to move from one Yakuza game to the next without having to apply new and unique brain power to an entirely new game. As such, I played almost only Yakuza series games. I’m afraid to find out how many hours I spent on them when I turn on my ps5 to install Like a Dragon. It’s going to be a lot.

Anyway here’s the list in reverse order to build suspense. This list is ordered to my own tastes and therefore you cannot judge me.

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Manga Recommendation: Pompo: The Cinéphile

By

On 26/03/2022

In Books, Comics, Reviews

No fun screenshots of panels for this recco because I apparently didn’t save any of the PDFs.

I LOVE comics and zines that can entertain me while also teaching me stuff. A good diary comic like My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness can really scratch an itch of introspection, but my favorite are manga that go further in what an industry or hobby is like, such as Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star or the upcoming I’m a Terminal Cancer Patient, but I’m Fine. (I recommend both of these, by the way. I hope you’ll also join me in preordering Kate Beaton’s Ducks as well.)

Pompo: The Cinéphile isn’t a diary comic, but the amount of education involved in its creation is similarly as compelling. It’s a fictionalized tale that ruminates on an industry or culture from someone who clearly knows a thing or two about it. Similar recommendations for this kind of story from Seven Seas would be Blue Giant, BL Metamorphosis (both which will get their own post at a later date), Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, or even My Brother’s Husband, Tokyo Revengers, or Bride’s Story. Either based in personal experience or thorough education, these books speak like a teacher, and it rules. (At least, I think so.)

If you are into any of the above titles, you might also enjoy Pompo: The Cinéphile, which is a story where the titular Pompo (a producer) starts her assistant, Gene (an aspiring director) on the road of his dreams. The story walks the journey of the creation of a film from casting actors, shooting on location, cutting trailers, and witnessing a complete film as the culmination of all the work done by everyone involved.

It helps that the adaptation of the manga was done by Jay Trust, who I’ve been told is a director in their own right… though it appears they may be doing their manga adaptations under a different pen name than their directorial ones, as I can’t find them anywhere.

If you’re a nerd about filmmaking, I recommend reading Pompo. There are two volumes of the manga released so far and a third one on its way. It’s a dense read, but a joy.

The manga takes place in Nyallywood, which is obviously a fictional stand-in for Hollywood, but there are a lot of funny little Japan things all over the story. This manga has also been made into an animated film, which I haven’t seen! But maybe that is more your speed.

Either way, this is a definite recommendation from me. These are books I’m proud to have in my collection. I hope you check them out.

2017 Top Ten – Don’t Miss These!!!

By

On 30/12/2017

In Games, Reviews

Everyone else is doing these so I guess I could do one, too.

This list is by no means comprehensive. I caught up on a lot of 2015-2016 games this year, and I missed a lot of releases I really wanted to get into. My list is also very biased this year toward triple-A releases, and I would love to talk about why before we get into it. Feel free to skip this if you want and scroll down.

1. I Have a Connection.

I’m rather infamous around Halifax because I sell stickers at conventions, and you can also get them at local business The Last Game Store. If you live around here, it would mean a lot to me if you could support them!

The stickers are pretty popular, so I often don’t bother asking for cash. I just go ahead and trade them for games. This way I get new games pretty easily, although I do tend to prefer old things that I need to fill out my collection.

2. My Computer Sucks.

I say this with all the endearment in my heart since my wife bought it for me, but it was an emergency purchase when my previous laptop died and it doesn’t keep up very well with modern games. This makes me more inclined to pick up games on my consoles when possible (PS3, PS4, Vita, 3DS)

3. I Still Buy A Lot In Steam Sales.

…Because it’s cheap. But I can’t pick up ones that run in 3D because they strain my poor laptop. Playing Firewatch early in the year was an Ordeal. I’ve been sitting on a copy of The Witness that I have no faith in this machine to play.

If you like my reviews and would like to help me out in my gaming thirst, please take a look at my Amazon or Steam wishlists, or even my Patreon.

So yeah! That’s why I have a lot of triple-A games on this list. So here are my top ten 2017 games in no particular order:

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A Nobody’s Final Days – ENIGMA:

By

On 12/12/2017

In Games, Reviews

Today I’m reaching out to give you all a recommendation for a visual novel. The title is difficult to google because it’s a popular name for songs, bands, etc. It’s not even the only game on steam with this title, so to save you some trouble, the game is here.

ENIGMA: is about a man who washes to shore on an isolated island. His name is Chester, and Chester is going to die. He’s terminal with an illness called Enigma, and there’s nothing left for him except to enjoy what time he has remaining. He settles in on the island to spend his final days in peace, meeting a few new people and trying to let go.

The story reads like BL, with many of Chester’s meaningful relationships forming around other men. However, nothing seems to last long enough to become romantic, thanks to the limited time he has remaining.

If you want a lovely little story that will make you cry, check out ENIGMA:. If you’re not yet sold, feel free to continue reading.

The following steps a bit into spoiler territory, so read on at your own risk.

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_transfer – A Snapshot of Momentum

By

On 28/10/2017

In Games, Reviews

I had the pleasure of seeing an early build of _transfer at GDC2017, and I’m thrilled now that it’s gotten an official release. This is going to be a very short post about a game that you have to experience.

Screenshot, reading "From one there is nine. It took a bold mind, willing to do anything to save humanity from itself. The mind conceived, and two hands constructed. That is your origin. They are always talking about origins and destructions."

In science and science fiction, there are aspects that can be difficult to understand. There might be a moment of insight where between the trees you can see the sun, but as soon as it was there it’s gone and what you have is an impression of a truth that you almost knew.

In _transfer, that glimpse of the sun is the answer – it’s who you are. And the story is told in the moment of momentum where you can see it. You don’t have the origin and you don’t have the destruction, all you have is a little snapshot of time where you might see the truth if you know what you’re looking for.

If this sounds extremely bizarre and pretentious, this is just the only way I know how to explain it.

The game starts with you logging in to a conversation between AI. You don’t know who you are or where you’re going. It’s irrelevant, and many of them are quickly bored that you’re bothering them with questions about your identity. As you converse with them, memory files are recovered that shed light on the world of _transfer and the lives of these AI. As you start to piece together the themes and concepts at play, the system shuts down and forces you to start anew.

Every time you start a new round in _transfer, important concepts accumulate. If you want to take in all the information, you might want to take notes, but the AI designations change every time, so you can’t count on those. Soon you’ll discover the unimportance of linearity in the “lives” of these AI. They inquire about conversations that you had in previous rounds. You play in a circle, and every time you learn a little more.

The AI in _transfer are curious and confused about sex. “Humans are so obsessed with their own survival that they watch videos of other humans procreating,” reads one of the memory logs. “They are always talking about origins and destructions,” says another. I feel like this is what _transfer is about. Without creation or destruction, what are you at all? I think _transfer is saying that we’re in transit. We’re transferring, from one place to another, and that’s the sunlight through the trees that it’s attempting to express.

_transfer is a fascinating little thesis-statement of a game about AI and the transit of existence. It’s the kind of game that couldn’t have been anything but a game in order to tell this story as intended, and that’s the highest praise I can give anything. Check it out.

DATE THAT DAD! – Dream Daddy

By

On 27/07/2017

In Games, Reviews

I’ve played a lot of visual novels, and a good half of them or so have been dating sims of some kind. My experience with dating sims in North America has been rather disappointing, compared to some of the treasured stories I’ve read that come from Japan or South Korea, so when I saw Dream Daddy release with fanfare, I had very low expectations.

And I was pleasantly surprised!

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The Wrath of the Wronged – The House in Fata Morgana REVIEW

By

On 03/07/2017

In Games, Reviews

You’re lost. You’re tired. You’re hungry and you’re sick. You’re stumbling through a forest knowing that if you stop walking, someone will find you. Your life is in danger, be it from a misfortune, a mistake, or a vendetta. You call out to any god or spirit that might be listening to please have mercy and provide you refuge. That’s when you see it: a huge mansion in the woods. The House in Fata Morgana.

The House in Fata Morgana — or as I will call it from here on: Fata Morgana — is the visual novel debut by the group Novectacle, localized into English by Manga Gamer. It guides you by the hand with the help of The Maid as you learn the misfortunes of the people who lived in the mansion over a thousand years. There’s much more to it than that, but to say more would ruin the story for you. This VN is very hard to summarize and review without ruining things.

Fata Morgana, although written by a Japanese team, is a gothic story at it’s core about sin and forgiveness. It handles many themes of Christianity with thoughtfulness, tact, and a bit of the Japanese worldview mixed in. Fata Morgana stands on its own, without falling back on tropes and benchmarks like you often find in visual novels. Fata Morgana is like reading a book more than any visual novel I’ve read before.

If you’re interested, here’s a list of bullet point things that Fata Morgana does well, out of context to sell you on it without providing specific spoilers:

  • Lack of communication ruining relationships.
  • How not to cope with being a psychopath.
  • Toxic masculinity destroying everything.
  • Mistrust due to personal baggage.
  • Recovering from trauma.
  • Being a trans person in a shitty, shitty time.
  • People making stupid fucking mistakes intrinsic to their character flaws that ruin other peoples’ lives.
  • Acceptance.

I was waiting for things to fuss about over this story, but it is very well done. The narrative is tight. The localization is smooth as hell. The art is good. The music is good. Every character is a fully realized human. Some of the jokes were really dumb? So I guess there was that.

Fata Morgana had a perfect score on Steam by recommendation, and I believe it was well deserved.

Continue on for a summary just a little less careful about spoilers:

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Persona 5 is the JRPG we’ve been waiting for

By

On 11/05/2017

In Games, Reviews

Persona 5 has disgusting portrayals of gay men, and gross camera shots of female characters for fanservice. These aspects (especially the former) I won’t forgive. However, they weren’t enough for me to give up on Persona 5. The work it does in reestablishing what JRPGs can do is, to me, moving. The graphics, the gameplay, and everything that is included in the game justifies the release date delays. It was all worth it. It’s beautiful, it plays well, and most importantly to me: it establishes itself as a part of the larger Persona/SMT canon.

The troubles surrounding the translation is undeniable, and has been talked about at length in game journalism, so I don’t think there’s more I can offer to the conversation. For the sake of sparing spoilers to anyone, here’s a quick rundown:

Bad:

  • Localisation
  • Homophobia
  • Fanservice exploiting the female characters
  • Endless material made to pander to every (straight male) gamer’s fetish

Good:

  • Dungeons each have a unique design to enhance the narrative
  • UI is beautiful, battles are fun and slick
  • Enhances features that characterized the past two Persona games (school days timeline, stat generation)
  • The narrative design and plot arc structure is very good
  • Futaba’s mental illness is dealt with sympathetically and that is incredible

Persona 5 has a finely fabricated mystery. Character’s arcs, plot developments, and major reveals are telegraphed well enough that you can see them coming, but they build suspense. It isn’t perfect, which I believe are caused by how many storylines they juggle at once and the different ways the player might handle them. I don’t feel like I can fault the dev team for that. Writing games is hard.

Persona 5 makes me excited to see where the future of JRPGs is going to go. Anyone who loves RPGs or games should play it, even if you haven’t seen the series before. I feel like it understand what was created here would be an asset in a developer’s arsenal for the future.

As said above, the most I got out of the game was seeing it tie into the lore of it’s predecessors, specifically into the concepts of Persona 2. Although the allusions were vague, I believe the relation was deliberate. I hope to write a post on that in a year, when I don’t have to worry about spoiling anyone.

Persona 5 has been in development for years, but the themes of rebellion and breaking the shackles of society’s expectations appears to be globally relevant. Older SMT fans might be able to turn to Persona 5 to understand the feelings of today’s youth, while millennials like myself may be touched by the sense of worldwide solidarity, like I was. In the end, all we can do is inherit the earth, make it ours, and make it right.

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