npfehr

[npfehr]

I think I've heard this one before. How does it go again...

[npfehr]

Andrew Garfield talks to Elmo about grief and the passing of his mother

[npfehr]

[npfehr]

Recently Completed: Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders (PC)

This is a first-person shooter that answers the question: "What if Doom, but with wizards??" The story is barebones -- something about a bad dude named D'sparil who's bringing horrors into your plane of existence. But! Unlike Doom, the levels tend to have a more pleasing architectural consistency and symmetry. Castles, villages, temples, that sort of thing, rather than just twisty hell-labyrinths.

It's pretty great. The magic weapons are fun, the game doesn't rely too heavily on nasty traps, and some of the later episodes up the challenge level considerably. It also iterates on Doom by adding an inventory system and areas with wind, or flowing water that will push you around.

I have good memories of playing this as a kid and I'm not sure the last time I've run through it. Check it out!

[Note: I used a source port for Windows called "Crispy" to play the game at an updated framerate and in widescreen. Crispy does not have a lot of other bells and/or whistles to add, so it's pretty close to playing it as originally intended]

[npfehr]

Recently Completed: GRIS (Xbox Series X)

This is a gentle platforming game about a young girl exploring her world and recovering her voice. It has a gorgeous watercolor art style and no combat or violence, just environmental puzzles and satisfying gameplay.

My daughter and I played through this together and had a great time. Play it!

G R I S — [12/?]

[npfehr]

Macross Plus [マクロスプラス] (1994-1995)

[npfehr]

Recently Completed: Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists (PC)

This is an old-school Metroidvania about a plant woman smashing capitalism. You play as Alruna, a plant-based lady who must navigate four temples that have been consumed by The Rot, a metaphor for unchecked consumption of our natural resources.

It was short and compelling although a little clunky in places. I dug the graphics and enemy/boss designs, but the map was very barebones and there are a lot of shortcuts and secrets that you have to try and remember on your own. The Steam store page emphasizes that the game is built for sequence breaking and secret-finding, but remembering everything is a lot to keep in your head (unless you plan to become a speedrunner and deep-dive on this one specific title!)

I sort of accidentally got an ending to the game. I chose an alternative path before fighting the final boss and unfortunately the game locks your save after rolling credits. Boo! Let me NG+ or return to the spot just before I finished the game, so I can try the other ending.

Anyway I liked it overall and found it tough to put down. Try it!

[npfehr]

[npfehr]

Recently Completed: Lunistice (PC)

This is a retro-styled 3D platforming game about...something? I'm not actually quite sure. The backstory doesn't really matter. You play as Hana, who is not a fox but strongly resembles one, and you must jump and spin and platform your way through various themed levels while collecting paper cranes and finding secrets.

It's short and charming! I had some trouble coming to grips with the controls -- at first they felt too slippery, and I fell off the stages a lot -- but by the end I felt a satisfying mastery.

It's cheap and fun, and the music is really good. Play it!

[npfehr]

technically there’s a new decade starting every second and lasting ten years to the second after that second, so you’re good.  probably you’re good

[npfehr]

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

[npfehr]

There will be a lot of posts soon from people sharing how much they achieved in 2024. But in case someone needs to hear this, it's okay if the only thing you did this year was just get through it.... It's ok.

[npfehr]

Recently Completed: VVVVVV (PC)

This is a short retro-inspired precision platform game. You play as Captain Viridian, whose ship has run into a mysterious spacetime distortion and whose crew has been teleported to parts unknown. You must explore trap-ridden screens to find them (as well as some optional shiny trinkets) but here's the rub -- you can't jump. Your only move is to invert gravity and change the direction you fall. The game's challenge level ramps up gradually, and restart checkpoints are generously placed, but there's definitely some infuriating screens near the end. Fortunately, the cheery lil' face of the Captain and an absolutely killer chiptune soundtrack are there to keep you going.

This isn't my first time through the game and it probably won't be the last. Play it!

[npfehr]

Reflection on Winter

Here, I will share some of my works along with my trivial writings.

As this is a format where long texts are interspersed with "Unrelated" works, I hope it can be appreciated as such.

Please forgive the incomplete translation.

---

Since I was a child, I have been dominated by an insatiable desire for someone to listen to me and understand me.

Because of this, controlling my emotions has always been difficult, and creating serene Animations became the only way to suppress those feelings.

Through painting, I found work and gained a sense of self-worth, and I finally reached a point where I could remain calm enough to read books. (Come to think of it, it was Tumblr over a decade ago that appreciated my pixel art and built a bridge to my present!!)

However, at some point, I forgot who it was I wanted to understand me and why it mattered in the first place.

As I poured my thoughts into words and delved deeper into reflection, I realized that philosophy and reading could help me in this pursuit of being understood.

However, by the time I reached that realization, I had also acquired an unsettling awareness that language dulls the visual senses.

In fact, it imparted a slight sense of symbolism to my artwork, while dulling its intuitive qualities.

This conflict likely explains why my art oscillates between symbolic representation and intuitive visual expression.

It has grown more pronounced this year. It also explains why I’ve found myself engaging in this sort of self-reflection more often than ever before.

My works exist in a complementary relationship with my self-reflection.

However, this is by no means a teleological approach—it is rooted in intrinsic impulses.

I simply, purely, and genuinely enjoy things like Gas stations on winter nights, side entrances of public facilities, rural port towns, or the colors of 100-yen lighters. That’s all there is to it, and that’s why I paint.

Please don’t worry. Unlike in the past, I would never even consider taking my own life.

I’m too curious about what I’ll paint next. I love my art.

For that reason, I ask for your understanding regarding my extremely poor productivity and my reliance on your support.

Dear friends, thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to the next year together.

P.S.

If you'd like to support my work and activities, please consider becoming my $1 patron.v

Thanks.

[npfehr]

by petr.kosykh

[npfehr]

Osman (arcade) (1996)

[npfehr]

Recently Completed: Starfield (XSX)

This is a first-person RPG in which your blank-slate character starts as a lowly space miner, and gradually ascends to a person of some great importance to the whole universe! Along the way you can: make new friends! Become a cop in a couple of different ways! Or do some piracy??? But you'll definitely be shooting like a million people in the face, because violence seems to be the only option for resolving most of the major quest lines.

I've spent the last several weeks putting dozens of hours into this game because I found it oddly relaxing and easy-to-play, but I also have a lot of disconnected thoughts about it. So! We're gonna do this old-school bullet-point style:

My RPG-writing standards have been set much too high by Disco Elysium and I now require role-playing games to have more than 1, maybe 2 options for resolving a scenario. What is the point of calling your game an "RPG" if the answer to every problem is going to be "shoot your way out?" Just call it an action game with a skill tree, then.

For instance: midway through the main quest you must try to deal with a trader of rare goods in order to get a special piece of space metal that you need. Much to my chagrin (and the outrage of redditors, whose thread I found) the only way to get the piece you need is to attack him and steal it. There's even secret passages connected to his storage vault, but in the end they're no good, because you need him there so you can attack him and take the thing.

Now, I'm not one to say "lazy devs" or whatever. I think games with problems are failures of resource allocation, not made that way on purpose by people who Just Don't Care. (Call me a romantic). I have to believe that with a team as big as the one that worked on this game, SOMEbody knew the quest could be improved, and just didn't have the time or resources to do it.

Late-game, someone says something to the effect of "there's a huge amount of power amassed here. Be ready for anything" and I muttered aloud "I'm sure it's just more shooting" and it was more shooting

The creators of this game do not want to lock you out of any content whatsoever, often in a way that stretches believability. Choosing certain questlines should put you at odds with other factions but it never really materializes.

For instance: I completed the Freestar Ranger storyline which makes you the newest Sheriff in Space and gives you a pretty kick-butt ship. Then I got into some trouble with some OTHER cops and they recruited me to go undercover with the Crimson Fleet, notorious space pirates. I agreed and rolled up to the pirate base in my sweet Sheriff ship saying "hi can I have a job please" and nobody knew of me or recognized my ship so they were like "haha sure" and thus began a long quest chain. It's like driving up to a gang hideout in a cop car and saying "I'm definitely not a cop, let me in" and having that work? For some reason?

Overall I just keep thinking about how much time, effort, money, and craft went into making a game that is Fine. Eight years of development time! Millions of dollars! I guess there are no guarantees that just throwing resources at a project will eventually make it good, but it boggles my mind.

Last note. I was following a non-player character into a building. They reached the door, made no motion to open it, and yet the door opened and they faded from view, presumably now inside. For me sitting on the couch, something big clicked into place, and I realized this is essentially the same game I've been playing since The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind in 2002. All your 3D Fallouts and Elder Scrollses have been built on Bethesda's in-house Creation Engine and its iterations, and they arguably all have the same ups and downs as this game. It's 2002 and I'm scouring caves for lockpicks in Seyda Neen. It's 2014 and I'm scouring a bombed-out house for lockpicks in New Vegas. It's 2024 and I'm scouring an abandoned mech factory for lockpicks on Mars.

Maybe that's why I found the game oddly comforting and easy to slip into.

Anyway. Try it out, don't expect to fall in love. Maybe you will anyway!

Edit: I forgot to say that I really liked the sound design and general visual aesthetic! Also the cities had unique flavors that I felt the rest of the game lacked.