#her ability to facilitate is why she's my favourite player

[aussie-wbb]

[theironbottomsound]

[REVIEW] Corpse Party: Blood Drive - The Finality

Makoto Kendouin has returned with yet another sequel of the Corpse Party series. The sequel known as Corpse Party: Blood Drive serves as the concluding tale of the Heavenly Host saga. New characters, new enemies, and a whole new Heavenly Host Elementary School await the unfortunate souls.

The game now comes with a full 3D rendered characters and environment, as well as new 2D sprites. New mechanics have been introduced which isn’t found in the previous games. Some mechanics also returned to full enhance the player experience.

Corpse Party: Blood Drive follows the story from Book of Shadows’ final chapter (it is highly recommended to play the first two games). Ayumi Shinozaki, stricken with grief and guilt at the loss of her dear friends and her sister, seeks out a way to revive her fallen friends. Armed with the Book of Shadows she found in the Shinozaki estate, Ayumi sets out on a journey to redeem herself and undo everything she’s done. But little did she know, a new curse is rapidly growing within the walls of Heavenly Host.

I tried to be as vague as possible with the synopsis to not spoil the story of the entire game to you. If you have no idea on the story of Corpse Party, I highly suggest you play at least the first game. Blood Drive is not an entry-game for players who are new to the series to pick up.

Story

The game is composed of 10 main chapters as well as 8 extra chapters. This is an upgrade from the previous games who only sort 5 and 8 main chapters respectively. Each chapter will give the players the ability to control certain characters and navigate their way into the halls of Heavenly Host. Ayumi is stricken with guilt at being responsible for the death of her friends: Suzumoto Mayu, Sakurato Morishige, Shishido Yui, and Shinohara Seiko, who all died during the events of the first game. It is said that those who died in Heavenly Host, their existence in the real world will be wiped out. It means that no one would be able to remember them except for the survivors.

New characters were introduced in Blood Drive. While they “may” be new to the main games, most of them have appeared in a spin-off game called Corpse Party: Anthology~ Sachiko’s Hysteric Birthday 2U.

Some of these new characters include Niwa Aiko, an intelligence agent and a student of the Paulownia Academy. As one of the characters who accompanied Ayumi in her journey, she is a cheerful person whose real intention is to extort information with the people around her. Her sister, Niwa Kuon, served as the homeroom teacher for Ayumi’s class into the game.

Another one would be Magari Mizuki, a transfer student from the Paulownia Academy. A girl who’s a part of an occult and has vast knowledge of the Book of Shadows. She helped Ayumi traverse the halls of the school in search for a way to revive her fallen friends.

The game also now sports a new antagonist under the name of Sachi. Sachi roams the halls of Heavenly Host. She poses a grave threat to those unfortunate souls who traverse the halls of the school.

It is also said that Blood Drive a lot of references from the other Corpse Party Media. It references heavily from the first two games, Corpse Party Cemetery0, and the anime OVA, Corpse Party Tortured Souls. If you have any idea on what the story of the mentioned media is, then I do hope you’d immediately get the reference after encountering them in the game.

I’d probably talk more about my insights of the story later in this post.

Gameplay

The gameplay vastly improved compared to the first two games. After the backlash that was Book of Shadows, the devs listened to the cries of fans and reverted back to an adventure-type of game. With the enhanced technology of the Playstation Vita, it gave Team GrisGris, the company responsible for the series, new abilities and mechanics that they can incorporate into the game.

Puzzle-solving has returned from the first game. Players get to solve the puzzle behind the story to unlock new areas, new CGs, and progress into the story. The puzzles have been fairly difficult compared to Blood Covered. Each action of the player will have its consequence whether it is good or bad.

The flashlight mechanic has been introduced to the player in this game. Players can use it in order to navigate the school safely. It comes with battery lifespan so players need to scavenge around for batteries to keep the light going. Upon the fans’ requests, the devs also placed in an “endless battery mode”.

Characters can now move diagonally into the world. This is really helpful when dodging traps, enemies, and other entities inside the school. Phantoms are also incorporated into the game to chase you around the school until you have successfully hid from them or purify them with talismans. This posed a problem because the game lags EVERY TIME a phantom appears. This kinda ruins the overall player experience for lagging on a console. Plus, they can be pretty annoying because they follow you wherever you go.

Graphics

The graphics of this game have improved. Gone were the days of pixel sprites and now comes the age of 3D models in the series. Blood Drive is the second game of the series to ever support 3D models (first being 2013 Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient). While the upgrade from pixel-art to 3D models is good, I think it doesn’t seem to fit well with the overall theme of the game. They looked cute but they’re supposed to be running for their lives, right?

The CGs returned to facilitate better experience for players upon reaching crucial parts of the story. I want to note also that the game is very very brutal. They took the liberty of not putting up CGs or torturing the character models for the sake of narrative execution of the story. This can be their way of “censoring” brutal moments that may deem unfit for their target audience.

Audio

The audio of the franchise is something that I really really enjoyed hearing. Each has been recorded and cued to play at important moments in order to provide the overall atmospheric feel of the current situation in the game. Even if the game doesn’t provide a CGI on some of the brutal murders, you couldn’t help but cringe at what the character is going through with the use of carefully executed sound effects.

The BGM feels great although for me, it doesn’t seem to sit well with the game. BGM now sports more techno-feel at some parts, unfit for a horror game. Kinda ruins the immersion that I have while playing the game. Unlike in the first two games, where the BGM can subtlely provide context on what’s the next thing that would happen, in Blood Drive, it’s almost impossible to decipher what’s next because of how the BGM is played. This isn’t a bad thing since it keeps players in their toes with what’s happening story-wise.

This time around, there are two opening themes that players can listen to. “In the Rain”, sung by Hara Yumi, is played all throughout the first 6 chapters of the game. I couldn’t help but feel that the song reflects Ayumi’s desire to regain her friends from the curse of the school.

The second opening theme is called “Keshin” (Trans: Incarnation) sung by Ayumi’s voice actress, Imai Asami. The song will start to play from Chapter 7 until the final chapter. The song basically reflects Ayumi’s determination and resolve after finding out the truth behind Heavenly Host. Knowing the dangers that she has to face, she steeled herself to face them head on and not run away anymore.

Note: The following below will contain MAJOR SPOILERS to the entire Corpse Party series. If you haven’t had any idea about the overall story of the game, turn away NOW.

Overall Insights

Blood Drive is (in my opinion) the scariest game out of the Corpse Party franchise. I was really scared while playing this game. Aside from the darkened view of the hallways, phantoms will start to chase you out of nowhere and I, as a player, really really hate things that chase you around in horror games. I’m fine with jumpscares just not something that will chase me around.

The story for me feels a bit weird. The inclusion of more depth in the occult-theme of the series kinda threw me off-guard. It kinda became a fantastical thing compared with Blood Covered. Though I’d admit, it was this storyline that gave answers to my questions ever since finishing the first two games. But upon clearing the game’s main story, it just popped out a lot of questions from me once more.

I hated Ayumi ever since the first game. Whiny, crybaby, and disregards other people’s feelings, she was the reason why my favourite character in this series is dead. However, in Blood Drive, I can see the toll of the stress from dealing with black magic have an effect with the blue-haired girl. Having lost her friends in the school, her sister in the Shinozaki estate after her meddling with a forbidden spell, with Naomi’s left eye being damaged because of it. She also tried to deal with everything’s that’s happened on her own so that her friends wouldn’t worry. She became desperate. It turns her into someone who’d trust anyone who has knowledge crucial to Heavenly Host. It was because of her willingness to trust anyone at this point that kickstarted the events of the game.

Her friends, the other survivors of the first game, are all worried about their beloved class-rep. So when they learned that Ayumi went back to Heavenly Host alone in order to atone for her wrongdoings, they took it upon themselves to bring her back to the real world. I felt each of the character’s struggle into thinking of coming back to the place where their friends met their demise once more.

I get to see Ayumi, distressed and emotionally unstable, which was used against her. Her distraught made me easily manipulated by some of the characters to do their goal. I think that Blood Drive expounded more on Ayumi’s character development as she comes to terms with what she has done. Her naiveness paved way for her to be more determined and resolved after going through harsh challenges and emotional stress.

So over the course of this game, I slowly started to like Ayumi. Her coming into terms and doing whatever it takes to bring the dead back to life amazes me. It keeps me on my toes on what’s the next thing that would happen. I was also secretly hoping she’ll be able to revive Seiko and the others and have the happy ending that they all so deserve.  For the first time in my playthroughs of the games, I hoped that finally, Ayumi’s desires would see the light.

Aside from Ayumi, my fondness of Yoshiki also grew in this game. It is still clear that he truly cares for Ayumi, even to the point of following her blindly into Heavenly Host. The girl used to brush off his antics and concerns but in the course of Blood Drive, the two of them managed to settle their differences...slightly. Ayumi still brushes off Yoshiki at times but acknowledges his presence more over the course of the game.

As for Heavenly Host itself, my first reaction to it is “what the hell happened in here?!” Red patches of blob are scattered all over the school. Tentacle-like tendrils wrap themselves in doors, preventing entry to those who wish to enter. When they say that the school is currently unstable, I was expecting jumbled dimensions and all but not those tentacle...things. It’s disgusting.  It doesn’t help that later in the game, the school will once again change its layout, making it even more disgusting! There’s even a poop-shaped thing in the middle of the room!

Another thing I really loved about this series is that the game leaves what is happening to your imagination. Certain parts of the game do not have anything going on in them but the descriptive narrative and the audio enhances the story for the player. While this may be their way of censoring “brutal” happenings in the story, it is also a way for players to let their imagination run wild as to what is currently happening to the game. If you have a wild imagination then I hope you’d be able to sleep at night.

The phantoms are the only thing that I really hate with the new Heavenly Host. I tend to suck at the hiding mechanic of the game so I mostly avoid places with phantoms lurking around unless I have a talisman for them. They also made my game lag so much every time they spawn, which incites panic to me. The lag is a result of poor optimization on the developers’ end since it happens 100% of the time.

Speaking of development, there was a game-crashing bug that I encountered in between chapters 3 and 4. Upon reaching a certain part of the game, it will crash. This is a known bug in the Japanese release and the developers made a patch to fix it. But I’m not sure if the patch got carried over to the West when they did their localisation.

All in all, Corpse Party: Blood Drive serves as a sick, twisted, but overall the best way to end the Heavenly Host saga once and for all. The ending of Blood Drive has been referenced in Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient. The game is set 5 years after the events of Blood Drive and for those who have seen or played the game, the introduction of the game finally made sense once you’ve completed Blood Drive. I highly highly recommend this title for anyone who is a fan of the horror genre as well as a fan of the Corpse Party series. Setting aside the technology problems, its well-written story and characters will be enough to keep you up at night.

Make sure to play this at night with your headphones on for a much better and thrilling experience!

[garp19-alexgorcik]

Quotes from Girl Gamers and their Relationship with the Gaming Culture

“At the heart of academic understanding of computer games and games consoles is the widely held conviction that technology embodies a culture which is expressive of masculinity. Male designers who have developed games have traditionally preserved male dominance within the gaming industry based on their own taste and cultural assumptions. Computer games such as ‘sport simulations’, ‘beat ‘em ups’, ‘shoot ‘em ups’ and ‘adventure games’ that incorporate fantasy and human violence are said to maintain gender differences in play and affect the degree of female participation in computer play”

“In the early 1990s Eugene Provenzo’s content analysis of games available on the Nintendo platform revealed that games contained a small number of female characters in mostly submissive and marginal roles. For Provenzo, stereotyped portrayals of gender embody the culture in which games exist as well as reveal its’ prevailing attitude towards women. ”

“Although gender representation has altered during the last decade, game developers openly state that their rationale for the inclusion of female characters is based upon the premise that they appeal to the average boy gamer than equivalent male character.”

“The first section of the interviews sought to discover how girl gamers gain access to gaming, that is, whether girl gamers own or merely have access to a console. With girl gamers only representing a comparatively small proportion of the gaming market, it was important for us to explore whether girl gamers are unaccounted for or representing a comparatively small proportion of the gaming market, it was important for us to explore whether girl gamers are unaccounted for or unrepresented in game content, primarily because their access to the gaming culture is achieved secondary access to consoles owned by others.”

“Respondents also indicated that they believed gaming was strongly biased in favour of males. In explanation of this supposition, it was argued that:

Adult Gamer: They’re very boyish in fact that they tend to be football games or rugby games, and even the driving games tend to be rally racing type stuff, they are quite aggressive aren’t they?

Interviewer: Yes, perhaps they are.

Adult Gamer: I mean I like Spyro… he’s a very gentle little dragon.”

“It was commonly stated that more boys play because so many of the games are in fact ‘blokey games, y’know things like shoot ‘em ups’. Referring to the disproportionate amount of games that are released with only male gamers in mind, girl gamers highlighted the lack if real choice available to them:

Child Gamer: There are like more boy games coming out for the Playstation, I get Crash Bandicoot because they are my favourite games and because there’s not much girl games out like. The only games I’ve actually got is the ‘Spice Girls’ [reference to Spice World the dancing game].

Interviewer: Would you like to see more games which have more for you as a girl?

Child Gamer: Yes, I think there should be more girl games coming out because there is a lot of boy games and they like , … you don’t understand them because they are like for boys. Like there’s football games and everything

Interviewer: But I see you have football posters on your wall, why don’t you play football games?

Child Gamer: I don’t like the football games that are out, because it’s hard to play because you’ve got to… try and get it off another player, and if you don’t really know what the rules are … it’s hard.”

“This girl gamer not only recognised that gaming culture has direct links to existing male culture, but also there are ways in which such games presuppose a certain level of cultural competence. This and other similar comments were notable for the way computer games are not perceived as neutral artefacts by girl gamers, but an embodiment of the knowledge and practices of a male culture. Thus, with reference to the range of games played by females, girl gamers revealed that their experiences outside the context of gaming did not in any way facilitate their ability to ‘learn how to learn’.”

“Questions relating to the Tomb Raider series were used to address girl gamers’ attitudes and opinions towards the highly gendered images within games. Although one of the most successful and popular games of the 1990s, Tomb Raider is a good example of a game that appears to offer more for males than females. Indeed, the game‘s protagonist, Lara Croft, was featured in The Face magazine as one of the most popular twentieth century icons. Conforming to stereotypical perceptions of female beauty, its popularity with males is not only documented by the selling power of the product, but also exemplified by Playboy’s attempt to feature the human Lara Croft representative in their magazine”

“Inevitably, the exaggerated physique of Lara Croft also figured in girl games’ explanations for their dislike of the game:

Adult Gamer: Her boobs are too big, huhuhuhu well the Lucozade advert, I don’t think anyone looks at the Lucozade, well the men don’t, but I mean It is pathetic really, I mean I have played the games … but her as an individual is a bit over the top.

Interviewer: What do you mean pathetic?

Adult Gamer: Well it’s like, Lara Croft is very curvy and everything whereas the blokes she’s shooting are straight figures … they’re all ugly. Anyway, I prefer the games you don’t have to just keep shooting.”

“It is also important to point out that the unpopularity of Lara Croft as a protagonist, within our sample, did not rule out female characterisation as something that girl gamers would like to see in places in games. Interestingly, one member of the child sample revealed that she was in the process of designing her own game, using the co-star of Crash Bandicoot (SCEE), Coco Bandicoot as her heroine. Currently, Coco is not an interactive character, but one that appears in the animated clips between levels. She declared that:

Child Gamer: I’m trying to design a game, but I haven’t finished it yet.

Interviewer: Can you tell me about what you’ve done so far?

Child Gamer: I’ve started to draw the characters … because everybody knows about Crash Bandicoot, so I’ve started a game Coco Bandicoot. I’ve drawn the characters, I’ve got one or two, I’ve got them in my file over there.

Interviewer: Can I have a look? [finds a blue file and pulls out a folded piece of paper with pencil illustrations on it]

Child Gamer: That man is called Neo Cortex, and he’s starred in Crash Bandicoot one, two and three, and Wooky Witch is our new character we’ve tried to design.

Interviewer: Tell me about Wookey Witch

Child Gamer: Well she’s when Coco Bandicoot’s gonna try and get past her, she’s gonna like either have a magic cloak or something and you’ve got to try and steal it off her, and she fires her magic lightning bolts at you.

Interviewer: What made you want to have new characters then?

Child Gamer: They’re always men, the baddies and goodies and I like Coco but you can’t be her.”

“Attention was given to the nature of girls’ gaming activities, in particular alternative locations for their gaming. When asked whether they try out new games on playing-posts in shops, none of the respondents reported that they did. The responses indicated that shops, like arcades, are a male preserve. This attitude is perhaps best summarised by one of the young gamers, who stated that she sometimes watched boys play new games in shops, but has never had the courage to participate in that particular setting. Adult gamers, however, revealed that gaming occasionally occurs in the company of friends. However, it was commonly stated that they rarely instigate social gaming, neither do they actively participate when it does occur. Again, the process of play were revealed as affecting female playing practices with male involvement typically leading wither to the exclusion of girl gamers, or girl gamers to exclude themselves.”

“In answer to the question, ‘Who girl gamers?’ this study firstly identified girl gamers as a group that are drawn from a broad age range. This was a group that enjoyed gaming as a secondary activity, in the sense that their absolute playing time was constrained by several self-imposed sanctions. Despite the wider availability of gaming consoles, the restrictions placed upon playing time were caused by interactions between several factors. Factors included the presence and dominance of male gamers, the salience of contrasting female/familial social roles and the self-efficacy levels of girl gamers in relation to their playing style and gaming preferences.”

“Girl gamers also revealed their awareness of the sexism in games and claimed to desire a more balanced portrayal of males and females in games, as well as greater flexibility in character choice. Thus, in gendering the technology, this study revealed that girl gamers require a specific combination of characterisation and game-play.”

[thesffcorner]

Dishonored Retrospective Part 1: World Building and Characters

If you know me at all (or if you came here from my main blog), you know that I’m a huge fan of the Dishonored franchise. For all intents and purposes, the original Dishonored is what got me into mainstream gaming; I played it for a Video Game Writing and Narrative class in my senior year of college, and I’ve loved and played each game since.

It’s an excellent series, and while there is some debate around this, in my opinion, every single expansion of the game has been an improvement on the original. So I wanted to do an overview and talk about how the series changed and improved, and the overall story that it tells. I will touch upon every aspect of these games, including story, characters, world-building, mechanics, and gameplay.

So, what better way to start than with a quick overview?

Story and Overview:

Dishonored is a 2012 first person stealth/action-adventure game developed by Arkane and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was followed by 2 pieces of DLC released the following year, the Knife of Dunwall and the Brigmore Witches, and then a sequel game, Dishonored 2 in 2016. The final piece of the franchise was Dishonored: Death of the Outsider that came out summer 2017 and for now concludes all the plot-lines and character arcs from the characters we have been following since the first game.

Dishonored is set in the fictional Empire of the Isles, a fantasy world loosely based on the UK. The setting is a mix of late 18 century politics and aesthetics, combined with early 20 century costuming and technology. The Isles are ruled by the Kaldwin family from the capital of Dunwall.

In the first game you play as Royal Protector Corvo Attano, Empress Jessamine Kaldwin’s closest ally and lover. When Jessamine is murdered by the Whalers, assassins lead by Daud and her daughter Princess Emily is kidnapped, Corvo is framed for the murder and set for execution.

The game proper starts 6 months after the assassination. Corvo is broken out of prison with the help of the Loyalists and the rest of the game follows his quest to save Emily, clear his name and thwart the plan of the people who orchestrated the whole thing from taking over Dunwall.

The story of the original Dishonored is, in my opinion both the weakest and the most ‘video game-y’ in the entire franchise. It’s not bad, but it’s a rather simplistic, straightforward revenge plot, the kind that you would find in the standard Liam Neeson/Jason Statham action films. Corvo gets framed for the murder of his family and spends the rest of the game trying to save his daughter and either kill or dispose of everyone who was involved in framing him. There are a few twists here and there, but the plot is otherwise indistinguishable from dime-a-dozen other action stories. Where the first game really shines is the world-building, gameplay and character writing.

World-building:

Like I said the world is very loosely based on the UK, and this much is apparent in the design of Dunwall. It’s an industrial port city, build on a traffic heavy river, with lots of grey, metal buildings that tower over the narrow, crime infected streets. It’s a city of factories, poverty, gangs, assassins, and disease. It’s a harsh world made even harsher by the backdrop of the Wheeper plague; the rich throw lavish parties while the poor are terrorized by supposed law enforcement as well as the gangs; corruption is rampant and we see this immediately with the scene where Corvo is tortured in the prison by his captors who, only a few minutes ago in game-time were his closest allies.

I absolutely love the setting. Dunwall is a gorgeous place that feels like a real city; it’s clear the developers spent a lot of time making sure the levels correspond to different parts of a city and fit together in a cohesive way. This is why most of my favourite levels are the ones that take place on the Dunwall streets.

Despite the abundance of grey and black industrial buildings, sewers, prisons and factories, the setting is still beautiful, and there are enough locations in the game that are bright and colourful to break up the monotony. You can enter random houses and apartments, and find letters and remnants of the people who inhabited or still inhabit Dunwall and even interact with random non-aggressive NPCs on the streets.

The Wheeper plague is another incredibly effective way of linking you to the world. The first time I actually saw a Wheeper was terrifying; they mindlessly charge at you, scream and puke bile and flies at you and look like the first stage of a zombie transformation. Even the noise they make when they are close by and not aggressive is eerie, this quiet sobbing and retching. They are the final product of the rat plague that has swept Dunwall and are a pitiful and yet still horrifying enemy.

Many sections of the city are blocked off or seized by the government because of the plague and you even explore the district where the plague started, the Flooded District. Like its inspiration, the bubonic plague, this one too is carried by rats which are also aggressive enemies that will attack you in swarms. The sectioned off areas form natural boundaries to the levels and I found this a clever solution to keeping the player confined to where the developers wanted you to be.

Additionally, there are tons of notes, posters, books, journals and letters to discover that give even more character to the world. My favorite are the various posters, general notices and advertisements plastered all over the city. I especially love the smaller details like the cancelled signs over concert announcements or the plague warnings. Likewise, you get to hear the thoughts of both important characters and random NPCs by either listening to their audio-graphs or pointing the heart and listening to their secrets.

Speaking of the heart, the other thing that makes this world fascinating is the presence of magic in conjunction with the technology. Dunwall, and by extension the Isles are powered by the use of whale oil; in fact we spend an entire level in the Knife of Dunwall in a whale oil refinery. The oil is used as fuel for electricity, which in turn powers trams, tallboys, streetlamps, machinery and various weapons like arc pylons, guns, electric bolts and mines.

However, people also use whale bones to craft and collect bonecharms, which are supposedly blessed by a chaotic neutral demigod called the Outsider who marks people and gives them superpowers and lives in a place outside of time and reality called the Void. And the best part? It’s all true.

One of the very first things you do after escaping Coldridge Prison is meeting the Outsider who marks you, giving you a variety of superpowers. This also facilitates the collection of runes and bonecharms that upgrade these abilities and award you more of the same.

Fascinatingly, not only does the official religion, the Abbey of the Everyman know about the Outsider, both the Sisters of the Abbey and the Overseers also consider him a heretic and a tempestuous trickster. They aren’t entirely wrong; the Outsider marks very few people and those he marks are crucial to history in some way, but that way can be highly destructive. We see time and time again throughout the game that the poor and downtrodden turn to the Outsider often as they build shrines to him, but it’s hard to tell (at least in Dishonored) how much he responds, if at all.

Speaking of the Outsider, let’s quickly go over the characters, which also happen to be one of the point for which I have the most complicated feelings.

Characters:

Our silent protagonist is Corvo Attano, and he’s an excellent character. Depending on how you play him, he’s either a vengeful violent man who is willing to avenge himself in very violent ways or a clever if somewhat petty man who takes the violence the world dishes at him and doesn’t let it destroy him. Even though I love the fact that he gets a voice in the sequel, I think a lot is delivered about his character from how he reacts to certain things, or rather how you, as a player think he should react.

Like any silent protagonist, Corvo is what you want him to be which is a good thing in terms of the first game, because then the experience of playing as him feels better. But in terms of the franchise overall, it gets complicated, especially when we get into the games’ ‘canon’.

One thing I don’t quite understand is his relationship with Emily. In the first game, it’s pretty clear that Emily doesn’t know Corvo is her father; yet in the sequel it’s common knowledge that he is?

Likewise if Jessamine is unmarried and the Empress, and there is no law that forbids her from marrying commoners, why aren’t they married? And if it’s a secret that Corvo is her lover/Emily’s father, than how come no one thought it was super weird that the Empress suddenly has a child without a husband? I feel like I missed something.

Other important characters (some of which we’ll touch on later) are: Princess Emily Kaldwin; the Royal Spymaster/Lord Regent Hiram Burrows; High Overseer Campbell; the Pendleton siblings Custis, Morgan and Treavor; the assassin Daud; Admiral Havelock; Overseer Teague Martin; Granny Rags; the Bottlestreet Gang Leader Slackjaw; the Boyle sisters; and inventors Anton Sokolov and Piero Joplin.

Let’s start with my number 1 complaint; the female characters. There are 8 named female characters with speaking roles. Those are: Jessamine Kaldwin, Emily Kaldwin, Calista Curnow, Granny Rags, Lady Boyle, Lydia, Cecilia and Madame Prudence.

Prudence and Lady Boyle are killable NPCs who have about 2-3 lines. Lady Boyle is especially egregious as she is an assassination target without having done anything wrong; the alternative to killing her is actually EVEN WORSE than just killing her (Dishonored does that a lot).

Cecilia and Lydia are likewise characters that have about 10 lines total and though Cecilia does serve a purpose, neither is very necessary or interesting.

Calista is a lot more relevant, but she doesn’t exactly have a lot of personality. There is also a scene in which you can spy on her taking a bath (?) which like…. Isn’t a thing that Corvo would do? At all? Especially not to his daughter’s governess?

Jessamine Kaldwin is killed immediately, and spends the rest of the game as a LITERAL spirit guide to Corvo, her soul trapped in the heart by the Outsider. We never really get to see what she was like as Empress, only that she was ‘good’. She’s a pretty bad trope of a character.

Emily is the precocious child character who honestly could be quite annoying. The fact that she constantly needs to be saved and protected doesn’t help, and some of her lines are outright terrible (and Chloe Grace Moritz’s voice acting is… not good. She’s not good at playing a precocious child).

The only female character that I legitimately loved is Granny Rags. She is an old witch who in her youth was so powerful and impressive that lords and royalty fought for her hand, but she rejected everyone because of the Outsider. In the DLC we find out that her name is Vera Morley and she is one of the marked ones.

She is voiced by Susan Sarandon and has pretty entertaining dialogue. Her side-quests are quite good and fucked up (poisoning the entire Bottlestreet Gang?) and the fact that she turns out to be a pretty dangerous antagonist if you reject her was a nice twist.

So to recap, out of the 8 characters, one is actually good, isn’t in need of rescuing, isn’t sexualized, and isn’t killed immediately. Nice one, Arkane!

To be fair, a lot of the male characters are killable or even supposed to be killed, some in rather gruesome ways. However, the fact that literary every single person who is a villain is a man, and the one female target is on the list purely out of coincidence is really frustrating in a game series that’s otherwise pretty progressive. There are also no female hostiles, but both are moot points now, since even the DLC improves on this. I still feel like it’s worth mentioning.

Part 2 will be a breakdown of the gameplay and level design, as well as a closer look at the first three levels. 

> part 2 

[mystomachfeelsawful]

4:10 PM

I can’t say a lot of things for lots of reasons.

TOP 5 (which I can talk about). In no order.

PLAYS

The Last Wife was my biggest surprise of the year. I went into it thinking I’d hate it, but was charmed by the pace of the script, the quick staging, the ensemble and pretty much everything about it.

Passing Strange made me actually appreciate a musical which I’ve long hated. 

Prince Hamlet made me get Hamlet for the first time. 

Fish Eyes Trilogy was a masterclass in BAM.

Superior Donuts had one of my favourite fights I’ve ever seen on a Toronto Stage. Corner Gas meets violence. So much heart and an incredible set.

BONUS CREDITS: Delirium, Pearle Harbour’s Chataqua, True North Mixtape, Less, Dolphin, 

FILMS

3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Loved how you cared about every single character. 

Lady Bird - Coming of Age done right. So economic aside from a kind of extra ending.

Get Out - I’ve never seen Luke cry in a theatre before or an entire theatre cheer when a hero finally gets his justice. I’ve also never felt as relieved as I did when the ending came. So well thought out.

Baby Driver - Style for dayyys. Jamie Foxx, Eiza Gonzalez and John Hamm kill it.

The Disaster Artist - Made me sniffle a bit I loved how they didn’t go for the cheap laugh in making fun of Tommy Wiseau. You really get that he tried to make this movie in spite of his utter lack of ability.

Bonus Credits: It, The Florida Project, Ingrid Goes West, Coco, Shape of Water, Logan, Wonder Woman, A Silent Voice, Your Name

Games

Dragon Age Inquisition - I sunk 80 hours into this and still haven’t beaten it.My quinari mage will reign someday.

Persona 5(!) - Futaba’s social link is probably my favourite social link in all personas because it deals with anxiety, trauma and agoraphobia in a way that I dunno....just works for me. I also love how you’re actually an underdog in this one. Everyone hates you because you’re a criminal, so the bonds you form are actually REAL. Sure there’s a load of problematic stuff (which is IMO, more a problem with Japanese RPGs as a whole regarding the way they treat women and queer folk), and the villains are saturday morning cartoon characters, and the plot falls apart at the end, but I think the idea of a bunch of losers banding together will ALWAYS appeal to me. It’s the only Persona where i cared about the main story more than the social links. In fact, it’s also the only persona where I didn’t want to romance anyone because they seemed like real, cool, people.

Breath of the Wild (my first Zelda! - If Studio Ghibli and Skyrim had a baby. I loved how the story existed if you sought it out, but wasn’t there if you didn’t make an effort to find it. I loved Zelda’s character development. I loved how much PERSONALITY the world had and how sparse it was. I didn’t like the young female voice acting (why are they speaking in their headvoice). And that SCORE THOUGH.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mETAEJY_rk8 

Tales of Berseria - Combat was completely underwhelming and the backtracking sucked, but there was something so endearing about playing as antagonists that I really appreciated. Especially considering how in the first hour you burn half a bishonen’s face off. I also cried like a baby. Next to Abyss, one of the best Tales stories for me. Too bad the combat is broken and the world is boring af. If only they could have the world of Vesperia, the story of Abyss/Vesperia and the combat of Graces (which they almost did, but Velvet breaks the game), then we’d be set. Also, get Go Shiina back. Motoi needs a break.

Doki Doki Literature Club - Um. Yeah. I beat this 12 hours ago and can’t stop thinking about it. 2017′s undertale for me. I loved how not only it bent the game save file, but also fucked with the game files itself. One of the more interesting meta narratives I’ve come across. It also raises (though could be explored deeper) some of the problematic elements of moe visual novels, especially in that Monika seems to be unable to control how much she loves you due to her programming. Monika’s awareness that she’s in a game and her frustration toward her affection toward the player created some neat subtext in terms of female characters’ agency vs how they’re written. Super well thought out. 

Experiences 

2017 was a year of trust for me. Trusting myself, processes and knowing when to let things be. 

Silk Bath - continues to be an unexpected surprise. We nearly sold out our entire NSTF run and have a little residency through tarragon’s workspace program. I also think that we’re finally learning what the heart of the play is about and how to work together as a collective. 

Bathtub Girls/Weesageechak/Cahoots - I got my first pro dramaturgy gig this year and finally worked with artists who I’ve never met before. AHHH. Both experiences were illuminating in radically different ways. I think, if anything, working as a dramaturg has given me the ability to trust in other artists more. From the work with the foremen, to being in natural resources and now training as a dramaturg, I’d like to think I’m becoming a better collaborator and facilitator rather than dictator director. Madeleine Says Sorry this summer (an unexpected hit) had a very different directorial process because I feel I trusted the artists more than I usually do. I still have my usual rigor, but sometimes letting things happen and planting seeds is better than bluntly throwing someone down a corridor so to speak. 

Knife - continues to be developed at Factory. I’ve never been in development with a script this long, but it’s so informative to be in a process where a company is invested in it’s development first rather than rushing it to the stage. It’s been all sorts of challenging in ways where I feel I’ve almost got it, but then missed, or moments where I think I’ve blown it and it actually works. I think one of my biggest realizations from 2016 was that I can’t rush work out. And with Knife, I’m learning the benefits of taking my time, but also what a longer commitment feels like when the inside (does that sound gross). As it continues to shift and change, I’m excited to see where it goes. It’s good also knowing that someone has your back. I’m going into a workshop in April, but there’s still loads more work to do, which is both daunting and exciting.

I NOW KNOW HOW TO MAKE BEEF STEW WITH TENDER MEAT - So like not really an accomplishment, but fuck it, it’s actually a big one. Beef Stew is my favourite food of maybe all time. More than sushi, more than pasta, more than anything. My family on my mom’s side used to run the only Chinese restaurant in levack. They had to feed miners, so they learned how to make their food. It’s a family recipe that’s not really a secret, but no one knows how to make it as good as my Poi Poi. My version is a little different, but it tastes great! - and this is weird - it makes me feel more a part of my family than anything else. 

Knowing when to leave - I left two theatre companies I helped found this year. There are a lot of reasons associated with this (both personal and not so personal), but I think I’m figuring out what I want as an artist and my personal ethos in making work. And there’s some things I’m not willing to compromise.

2017 was a development year, but strangely enough by NOT putting out so much work, I feel even more connected to my community and my peers through my work. I feel like - if just a little - I’m more present in shows and conversations. But most importantly, I think I’m not trying as hard as I used to. I’m trying to let my work speak for itself and live a normal, beef stewy life.

Onwards!