#no i havent read sympathy crime yet i need to get on that

[tumblunni]

OH MAN Why Am I Dead At Sea is SO FUCKIN GOOD

god I’m full of FEEEELS and THEORIES and GAHHHH I cant talk about ANYTHING about this game without spoiling stuff!! So I’m gonna make a spoilery ramble post woo! I havent actually finished it yet so this is spoils for like... up to the very last bit before the start of the final chapter. And I’ll try and talk about stuff in order so like, if you dont mind seeing a few spoils then you can read halfway thru i guess?? I just really wanna be able to reccommend this game and gush about characters without having to talk spoils!! GAHHH!!

ANYWAY U CAN BUY IT HERE Its really cheap and really worth it! Its even on sale right now so its £1.50 instead of £3! DOUBLE CHEAP!! But absolutely remember to backup your savefiles frequently, there’s a pathfinding glitch that can make the game unwinnable. And its a damn shame cos that nearly made me stop playing before I got to any of the good bits! Its easy to avoid once you know about it, at least.

Man, I’m so sad the gameplay has that one big glitch cos its really cool aside from that?? Its super basic and probably not everyone’s cup of tea though, this is a game that you’d only enjoy if you’re the sort of people who like when a game has like.. a codex of extra info you can collect.  There’s not as much ‘control people to affect the world’ as you’d expect, its 99% controlling people to unlock different dialogue options. All word puzzles and stuff! And the easiest way to get out of being stuck is just to methodically possess everyone you havent possessed yet, and talk to everyone and click on everything using them. I can imagine that’d be frustrating for people who like.. weren’t already doing that anyway. I Wanted to do that instantly cos I wanna find all the optional insights into everyone’s character! And some funny moments and sweetheart moments and AAAA I care about these people too much already... Oh, and its even more reason to love Paulo cos he gives you tips if you chat to him, and can even outright tell you the solution if you get really stuck. So for players who dont like being all completionist on the dialogue, he’s a very useful helper! I just wish that the ‘outright give you the solution’ option was better labelled so you dont click it by accident. Its just ‘tell me more’, I didnt know itd ruin the current puzzle for me :P

And MAAAAAN this game gets really trancey and atmospheric and I cant even really explain why?? You spend the whole game within this one small area but stuff gets opened up over time and things are revealed about seemingly innocent areas when you gain the new abilities of different people you possess. And how the player character is just this ethereal floaty flame, and how you get used to all the rules of how it works, and how neat the lil animations are. And how you start memorizing the place and all the details about everyone and getting REALLY DETERMINED to protect them GAHHH And the soundtrack is REALLY GOOD

PAULO IS MY SMALL SON PLEASE TELL ME I CAN PROTECT HIM FOREVER tiny necromancer boy aaaaaa he’s so lonely aaaaa he’s on this ship cos he has to ride it all the time on his own to get back from boarding school, his parents cant be bothered to pick him up and he’s just SO YOUNGGGG aaaa he’s like a child prodigy, he’s going to this big scary boarding school several grades above him and his parents are so distant and everyone thinks he can just handle everything because he’s smart and on top of all that he has to keep the secret that he can see ghosts, and theyre like his ONLY FRIENDS even though he only gets to talk to them for a little while before they pass on. YET HE STILL KEEPS HELPING THEM! He says all ‘oh im only summoning you for selfish reasons, I want you to save everyone else on the ship’ but he still helps you resolve your own death even when he knows it means he’ll never see you again. He has to mourn his best friend every damn time he makes one! Aside from that all he has is his teddy bear, showing just how young he really is and how much he FUCKING NEEDS GOOD PARENTS no matter how damn smart the poor kid is and AAAAA... And when you start getting clues about who you maybe are, it gets even sadder cos he’s like... “I didnt know her well but... I liked her. She helped me with my geometry homework.” God he had just ONE MOMENT of incredibly ordinary minimal friendship with this lady and then as soon as he’d got his hopes up THIS SHIT HAD TO HAPPEN! No wonder he locked his door for the entire cruise and refused to be near anyone except his new ghost friend. And gahhh he must have had his suspicions from the start about who it was that died, as soon as she didn’t come back to help with his homework. From his perspective this was just like an inevitable conclusion and he was begging you to find any other answer...

MORE SPOILERY SPOILER I was so fucking terrified when his door finally opened, and all you see inside is empty space. I mean it was a punch to the gut indeed that someone else died that we only really just met, but I’m WAY more terrified that the main sidekick for the whole game is potentially gonna die! He’s just vanished though, so I’m hoping that whether you save him or not is what determines the bad endings? So it IS possible to save him right?? SPOILER ENDDDDDDD

I’m still really confused how to feel about Xu though. I mean she’s such a huge jerk but I still cant help but feel sympathy for her?? And I feel like.. if I am supposed to hate her then its kinda annoying that the game brings up all these sympathetic concepts just to sorta discard them, they only exist to be her failed excuses for her actions. I dunno, its just sorta messed up. But it also means that if I AM supposed to agree with her actions then its messed up too?? And either way its frustrating cos she’s the only chinese character in the cast and her plot is so... gah. She’s this jerkass to everybody and she steals from the customers and then her excuse is ‘but I’m so poor and I’m a minority, how dare you yell at me for stealing’ and then she NEVER GIVES THE STUFF BACK and you never have any option to tell anyone?? And its so messed up cos like.. Anton actually IS a privilaged guy and I can see why she’d be mad that he’s in this job because he ‘wants to travel’ whereas she has to take it because she’s literally homeless. I mean if they actually discussed that then it’d be a good plot. And its a shame you cant bring up the secrets you find about Anton even when you get full possession of him, you find out he also had a meltdown and flunked out of college cos he just couldnt handle it, they could have been able to bond over that and realise they were both having misconceptions about each other’s motives for things. Like, she saw him as some guy who just chose to drop out of the education she wishes she could go back to, because he’s soooo rich and he can do whatever he wants. And he’d never considered how good he’s got it, and how other people are denied the same opportunities, and how he can use his privilage to help make the world fairer for these other people! Its just.. like.. you dont even find out that Anton IS rich until AFTER the conversation about Xu stealing his stuff, so it comes out of nowhere and feels like the game is saying privilage is a stupid concept thats not real and its being used as an excuse for her to be horrid. Either that or its on Xu’s side and its saying shoplifting is fine as long as you steal from white people?? And like.. Anton didnt do ANYTHING to make it seem like he deserved it, as far as we see. He’s never even rude to her?? He doesnt seem to do anything racist or classist. Its just like she assumes he;s that way because he’s a rich white guy but the game shows him to be Super Innocent so is it saying that everyone who ever accuses anyone of racism is always lying or.. gahhh?? It just feels like its trying to make a statement but I have no clue what it is! And this is the only time racism is ever discussed so it kinda stands out?? Also.. like.. NOBODY ever discusses the name issue?? Its really confusing, cos even her steam trading card calls her ‘Xu/Sue’. Ingame EVERYONE calls her Sue except herself and the interface. But its never drawn attention to, or explained?? So like, am I actually meant to assume that everyone is mispronouncing her name? But there’s no option to not do it! Or to bring up the subject! Anyway I just CANNOT stop feeling sympathy for her every time I see the damn wrong name in all these text boxes. Even if she’s an abrasive asshole half the time she feels like she has some sense of morality deep down, and that she’s been pushed to this extent by a terrible life rather than just choosing to become this sort of person. She’s just kinda like the ‘token evil good guy’ on the team. Even though she’s committing petty crimes it pales in comparison to the bigger horror that’s going on here :P

MAN it felt so damn good to finally get the reveal on Donavan and play as him for the first time! I mean whoa what a good climactic moment! What an uplifting! And what a downlifting when it gets cut short by tragedy, lol I TOTALLY KNEW IT that he was a cop! I mean seriously he was such a clear red herring, he was being pushed so heavily as the killer and we never got to know anything actually about him. And when you read his mind the ‘I WILL FIND YOU. I WILL EXTERMINATE YOU.’ struck me as something that could easily have a double meaning if he was a detective looking for the real killer! It was just SO BADASS when you finally get to control him and you have the power to enter every room and find clues that were locked off for ages! And it feels like you’re finally making progress so it was such a great story decision that the killer gets him immediately afterwards. And how their last taunt to him is that he was NO WHERE NEAR solving the mystery! Its just a taste of power and then its all thrown away and it makes you SO FUCKING DETERMINED to finish what donovan started with your weak lil protagonist hands NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES GAHHHHH

And then finally regaining a humanoid ghost form and being able to unlock the last two people’s tragic backstories by visiting their dreams!! And gahhh it was so interesting and sad that you have to lie and pretend to be the ghost of someone else they care about, in order to get through to them and say what that person would have said if they had got the chance to be the protagonist instead of you. It was actually a genuine huge surprise to learn that Gwen wasnt remotely involved with the murder! Like, she spent the whole game being paranoid that someone is coming after her, and everyone was saying she’s JUST paranoid, and then it turns out she WAS just paranoid! But I love that the game is actually sympathetic to her paranoia and shows how it’s a legitimate mental illness. Its left more mysterious than a lot of the other backstories, but it seems that her father or uncle or someone abused her and her sister when she was a child, and her sister was killed while she escaped. And even though its over she’s been haunted by the belief he’ll find her any second now, causing her to destroy her own life through reckless decisions, jumping up and running away every time things start getting good in her life. She doesnt even know where she’s running to! And GOD I really liked how you resolve it, you dont just cure people’s mental illnesses by giving them a  motivational speech. But you help them feel like they’re able to endure it, that they’ll get better someday and that they should accept help from therapists. And NOT BLAME THEMSELVES for being sick! I just really liked the line “yes, this is a living nightmare, but if you’re awake you can change things”.

And when you do the similar dream sequence for Darryl there’s an even better climactic line! Its like, after a whole game of him blaming himself for his wife’s suicide, going over a bazillion different scenarios of how he could have prevented it, you just say... “I was sick, there was nothing you could do.” There isnt some magical REASON why she became depressed, her life with him was as happy as he could have given her. It wouldnt have just stopped if her life was perfect, she had to get treatment, its an illness. It wasnt anyone’s fault, it was just a bad stroke of chance that she never told anyone about it and never got a chance to be treated, or even to talk it through with her husband at all. Her diary is just full of her feeling guilty that she must be making it up because she loves her husband so much and it’d be like insulting him to admit she isnt happy within her own skin, when he does everything to be the best husband he can. Goddd.... its so sad that its BECAUSE THEY WERE HAPPY that she was in this position where she never sought help! Where she just shouldered it herself and hoped it would go away on its own! And god, you get to see that Darryl does indeed have antidepressants in his room, unlike her he did seek therapy and its just because of his guilt that he isnt fully accessing that help. And he’s taking these drugs instead of his proper medication, and he’s planning his own suicide at the end of the trip. And god, you get to talk him down from it and say what his wife wanted to say, and save him from meeting the same fate as her! You’re just sick, Darryl. She was sick too. Its not anyone’s fault that someone stays depressed, nothing can magically make depression go away, you have to see a doctor like with any other illness. You cant just talk it away by telling yourself that you ‘should’ be happy and youre somehow choosing to feel this way...

GODDDD I hope poor mr stubble grandpa is okay after the end of the game And I hope him and Quella stay in touch as friends! Her backstory made me cry too, goddddd She’s been diagnosed with cancer and has anywhere between three and seven months to live, because she was too poor to afford treatment until it was already too late. And she’s just so positive and okay with it?? Everyone else are the only ones crying for her.. She just wants to finish her final novel before she runs out of time, she’s crying more about not having enough inspiration for this. She just wants to be remembered, she knows she cant change her own death and this is the only thing she CAN change... I want Darryl to be her friend and help beta read her novel aaaa And dear god can everyone please be okay and stick together and GOD why can’t protagonist stay T_T I want you all to be safe when I’m gone, my friends. God I get to know them so closely yet never be able to really even talk to them, they’ll just remember me as someone they talked to only once before I died... And DEAR GOD let me rescue Paulo please!!!! everyone be safe please I don’t want to be able to hug Paulo and stay with him forever There is no way this can happen unless the worst possible thing happened I have to say goodbye okay i HAVE TO SAVE EVERYONE if all goes well I’ll never see any of you in person, okay? just let me be a shadow on this boat and pass away with no regrets knowing all of you will live a lot longer than me THIS GAME GETS ME SO EMOTIONALLLLL

[stipulatedconflict]

Band interview with Purple-X(Oslo/Norway)

Pic is taken by My Scene Sucks(https://myscenesucks.com)

I got to know Turd through Skunk at the Lubricant show at Blitz. Skunk told me that Turd got a new(?) band called Purple-X and I grabbed the chance to get an interview for Purple-X. Their sound is like intricate emotional expression of depressive Norwegian winter. The guitar sound is remarkable which incites anxiety by its relentless riffs and vocal is groaning like from hell on sometimes quirky but very tight rhythm section.

They gonna release their demo by tape on Byllepest Distro. And they are having their release show on August 26th at Barrikaden. Listen to their songs and check their show.

Bandcamp: https://byllepestdistroofficial.bandcamp.com/album/bpd031-purple-x-demo-2017

BPD031 - PURPLE X DEMO 2017 by PURPLE X

The interview starts from below;

-So,who is in the band?is there any band which any of you have played
or been playing or currently playing beside Purple-X?

Turd:

I play with mathias in another band called Terrorstat been playing for some years.
me and adi been jamming for years but never had the time to play together, also been playing with tone in our old house-collective-band Internt Oppgj��r. so jee its like a big soup of incest.

Mathias:

Just to be clear: Turd plays guitar, Tone sings, Adi plays bass and I play the drums. Incest is good, because then you get to play with your friends.

-Is there anyone who is deeply involved in any DIY punk activities like running label,writing zines,taking pictures,designing,organising shows etc in Purple-X?

Turd:

hmm been working/living in barrikaden for some years now. fixing backline, making food, playing shows etc..

also been printing merch for bands ive played in.

-Is there anyone who is deeply involved in any activities which is not any relation to DIY/punk thing? Art, Other type of music, publication,extreme sports or any other?

Mathias:

I go to the swimming hall and jump from the diving board to practice stage diving.

-How did Purple-X start in the beginning?how did all of you get together?Did you know each others before it started?

Mathias:

We knew each other, yes. Can't remember how it started. I would guess it probably had something to do with alcohol.

Turd:

Known adi for maby ten years or somthing.. and we wanted to play together and mathias is a kick ass drummer soooo we started to jam. we had another vocalist for some time but did not work out.. then tone came along and it was perfect!! woooh

-Why did you want to form Purple-X?

Turd:

was abit tierd of playing shitty punky punk and wanted something that was a bit more challenging.

Mathias:

No shrink.

-Was there any specific idea of sound before Purple-X started?

Turd:

Hmm i was listening alot to nuke york stuff and wanted to make something that is not so traditional oslo..

but also been litsening to alot like post punk stuff.. dunno, hard to be so strict about how we should sound.

Mathias:

I read in a magazine that if you're a strange anti-social loser, you can just form a band and you will get attention and you will get laid. So that's what I did.

Pic is taken by My Scene Sucks(https://myscenesucks.com)

-How do you describe the sound of the band by your own words?

Mathias:

Native Americans chasing and killing cowboys. Not our own words though. Somehow I keep picturing people playing frisbee when I listen to our demo.

-Is there any specific bands gave influence/inspiration to Purple-X sound?

Turd:

too many good bands these days!

-What kind of elements/influences do individual members bring to the band to sounds like Purple-X?

Mathias:

For me, I take inspiration from different stuff. As a drummer I'm inspired a lot by jazz drumming and Zach Hill from Hella as well as US and Norwegian hardcore. I like to incorporate beats and rhythms from different genres like surf, jazz, salsa, 70's rock/pop, bossa nova and reggae etc. into punk.(not that we sound much like any of those genres though) Personally I don't believe punk or hc is limited to any type of beat. Just play it fast and hard and you're good.

-How did you decide the band name?is there any special meaning?

Turd:

its a wordplay on perplex

-I heard that you guys were staying in the practice studio for 2 years before you had first gig. It is very long! Why did it take so long?

Turd:

jee we all had different bands and this was kind of a side project in the start and we did not want stress it

Mathias:

We had trouble finding a singer, so we basically made the first set list without vocals. Then Tone came in and changed our lives. She of course had to go through our special band ceremony where she had to eat a live baby goat. After we told her it was just a joke, she quickly left the band, but we kidnapped her back and so now she's a slave for rock n roll for all eternity.

-How was your first show at barrikaden?any good response from crowds?

Turd:

it was super fun! got a lot of good feedback! cant wait to play our next gig the 26 of august!

Mathias:

Very good. We were pretty good. Only good feedback and everybody liked us.

Pic is taken by My Scene Sucks(https://myscenesucks.com)

  -How's the punk scene in Oslo?

Turd:

it goes up and down. now its a lot of new good bands tho!

Mathias:

We are all happy and everybody's on welfare. We don't need to riot or squat houses because govt just gives it to us for free. It's just like Cuba only we can choose what we want to eat. And also our nazis make very low quality stickers, so they're easy to take down. It's basically utopia.

-How do you think about playing in a band in Oslo? comparing to playing a show in abroad?

Turd:

Its always nice to play abroad and meeting new people of the punkrock family and old friends. Also to see the reaction of people at the gigs. we havent played abroad yet with Purple-X but planning a tour in January. looking forward to freezing our ass off in the car.

Mathias:

I think I understand your question!

I haven't played that much abroad, but we were in Ireland with Terrorstat. Met a lot of good people and got to drink a lot of Buckfast which is an awesome and rare life-enhancer for us europeans.

-Which bands are you playing together a lot?any bands you feel sympathy as in a same scene?

Turd:

Haha only had one gig so far. but we been quite active with Terrorstat (me and mathias other band) and i like Båndtvang and Negativ maby the coolest new bands we have been playing with.

-Is there any bands you feel sympathy for the sound/attitude in abroad?

Mathias:

Dawn of Humans from NY is a good one. They played an unforgettable fucking brilliant show here in 2015. Crazy and good people as well!

I'm also looking forward to us playing with Urochromes in September - one of the better bands I've heard lately.

-Is there any good bands out there in Oslo or Norway which we should keep our eyes on in these days?

Turd:

Terrostat!! haha we are releasing a split 7" with Surge from ireland in september. just some shameless selfpromotion

Mathias:

Negativ and Båndtvang are two of the best hardcore bands from Oslo that are playing at the moment. Negative have an awesome energy and innovative playing as well as keeping it somewhat primitive. All good people. Båndtvang is like a mix between VOID and Die Kreuzen. The snarling vocals and fast chaotic instrumentals is the exact type of hardcore we need more of.

-How do you guys compose songs?some specific members are dedicated to it to bring completed song?or more like bring some riffs and developing it by jamming?

Mathias:

Usually Tord(guitar) or Adi(bass) bring some riffs to the rehearsal basement and we form the structure together. Tone writes all the lyrics and vocals. Everything comes very naturally and happens in between a cluster of bad jokes.

Turd:

I think its important to bring riffs to the rehearsal for jamming and improvement and also to get all the personalities in the band to the song.. we are all doing this together!

-You guys will release tape from Byllepest Distro. How did this happen?

Turd:

been playing with daniel (byllepest distro) in other bands before and also been partners in crime for some years. he heard our rehersal and wanted to put us out!

-Why do you choose tape as format of release? was there any attachment for tape?

Turd:

I LOVE TAPE! Also i think its a good format for releasing our first demo. And also just wanted to put out the songs we been playng to much for ourself in the gloomy basement of Barrikaden..

Mathias:

Turd loves tape.

-What is the further plan for Purple-X?

Turd:

We already started making plans for a 7" with new songs, a tour in January and print some merch!

Mathias:

Play good music, develop, release albums. I want to release a 12" LP, 'cause then you don't need to flip the record all the time and I'm lazy.

-Is there any specific goal/aim for Purple-X to achieve?

Turd:

Get weird or something. want to get evil as well.

Mathias:

Tour in north korea.