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Unkindness

Close-ups / Description under cut

Godzilla was born in fire and pain, never knowing any semblance of true compassion. He can’t understand why Mothra would choose to help him, nor does he see any reason to be anything but cruel to the world that scarred him. No matter what, he won’t let the world forget him. He won’t be the only one suffering.

Some close-ups. I chose to depict Mothra as more hazey and dreamlike, showing the disconnect between the two, and how Godzilla views her words as idealistic and unattainable. He brings her down to his level in the second piece, trying to force her to accept that his rage and pain is what’s true.

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a throwback to LOKtober in celebration of the HD remaster

"Despair"

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I don't usually care for nostalgia, but playing the Soul Reaver remasters has me swimming in a sea of it.

Raziel's journey was the first I experienced as a young gamer that really pulled me in, thrilled me, moved me even, and seeing that Soul Reaver 1 opening once again, traversing the ruined world of Nosgoth and immersing myself in that world over 20 years after the last proper entry in the series...well damn, y'all...that made me feel like that old nerdy teenager locked in his room and living this game for the first time.

I couldn't be happier.

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Everyone else on the Wukong side of Tumblr: horny for the monkey.

Me, an intellectual:

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It warms my heart to see the dozens of lore videos for Black Myth: Wukong and Journey to the West showing up in my YouTube feed lately.

For many people this will just be a game, but for a sizable portion of the Western audience, Black Myth is a window onto a mythology, culture and religious landscape that they might have had, at best, a passing familiarity with. Sales of Journey to the West have already increased, and aspects of the mythology and the religious backdrop of the game are becoming topics of conversation when they might otherwise never have come up.

Perhaps the most exciting part for me is that many of the people posting these videos are Chinese, and so not only the story, but also the language and cultural context that birthed the game can be represented in a meaningful and informed way, and I dunno, that just tickles me, I guess.

Sure, some of the Western fanbase for the game is toxic, loving the game for not being "too woke", gamer and game development culture still remains a boys club that treats women poorly, and y'all can fight forever about what the devs did or did not say if you want to, but all of that can be true and it can still be a win for an aspect, however small, of another culture suddenly becoming popular and familiarizing those who interact with it with aspects of the cultural zeitgeist of another nation.

A small win, maybe. But a win is a win, and I think it's worth being excited about.

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Happy 1st Anniversary to the game that gave me mega brain rot and let me discover old gen :)

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Spoilers for Black Myth: Wukong

I know Erlang Shen kicked the shit out of most of us when we went back to Chapter 3 to fight him, but if you think about the design of the Erlang/Four Heavenly Kings fight, it's basically perfect.

Assuming you're not a dodge god, you're probably super hyped when you realize you've FINALLY beaten Erlang, only to ride that high all the way through the kaiju-esque Four Heavenly Kings/transformed Erlang phase of the battle. You go from a high difficulty fight that gets your heart rate up to a low difficulty spectacle battle that keeps the adrenaline high going until you finally claim victory.

PEAK fucking boss design, man. By the time it's over all you want is MORE.

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😂

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Black Myth Wukong Hot Take:

Zhu Bajie is the real protagonist of the game, and no, you can't change my mind.

I couldn't care less if the Destined One collects Wukong's relics or not, I just wanna see my man Bajie be HAPPY.

That Chapter 4 ending had me cryin', y'all.

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It came to me in a fever dream

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Black Myth: Wukong Spoilers

Aside from a few fights from Bloodborne and Elden Ring, Black Myth: Wukong is taking a dump on boss fights across the gaming sphere, especially multi-stage boss fights, particularly those that change scenery as the fight goes on.

Fighting Yellowbrow in Chapter 3, being sucked into his weird bag of holding and fighting the Macaque Chief, then being tossed onto Yellowbrow's lego set and battling it out with him once again: awesome.

Going up against Zhu Bajie and not just fighting him, but the wild and crazy muck monsters: awesome.

Dueling with the Keeper of Flaming Mountains and the Yin-Yang Fish/my favorite horse guy: awesome.

There's some jank in this game and some weird hitboxes (looking at you Hundred-Eyed Daoist), but many of these fights have been a thrill, even if not particularly challenging.

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While there's a bunch of stuff that Nier: Automata did better than Stellar Blade, it definitely wasn't enemy and boss design.

Sure, I get it, the cutesy robots were thematically appropriate for a game that was trying to subvert expectations and make you feel for the adorable murder-bots you were slaughtering, but literally every enemy in Stellar Blade is a sleep paralysis demon and I absolutely love it.

Every time a boss cutscene played I was like "oh HELL yeah!", and then spent more time gawking at the design than actually fighting it.

I...may have died a lot because of that...

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I've heard some people describe Stellar Blade as derivative, video game "junk food", etc.

Is it derivative? Maybe. The Nier: Automata inspiration was openly expressed and worn proudly on the metaphorical sleeve of the game, and many of the story beats closely mirror Yoko Taro's magnum opus, but if you look at some of the most highly-praised works of fiction they're just as derivative. Everybody loves Tolkien, but most of his big story beats and characters are directly lifted from Norse mythology, Beowulf, etc., and I don't see anyone calling him "derivative".

Also, running with the "junk food" comparison, we all LOVE junk food, don't lie. While Nier: Automata might be the $200 steak dinner that changes your life, that steak doesn't take away from the party sized bag of Doritos at the grocery store, does it? We've all eaten an entire party bag of Cool Ranch and felt plenty fulfilled, yeah?

Nerd rant over. Stellar Blade was great. Go play it.

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I blame @saucycentipede

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My boy Ansbach!

Pureblood Knight Ansbach 🩸🌹