Does anything remotely successful

Slippi: ᵀʰᵃᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵉˢᵗ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍ ᴵ’ᵛᵉ ˢᵉᵉⁿ ᶠᵒˣ! ʸᵒᵘ’ʳᵉ ˡⁱᵗᵉʳᵃˡˡʸ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜᵒᵒˡᵉˢᵗ ᵍᵘʸ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʷᵒʳˡᵈ!!

Falco: Yeah anyone could’ve done that you little bitch. Do us all a favour and die you imbecile

Peppy: Good job. Your father is dead

The sunset that permeates throughout 1985 Japan is meant to invoke a sense of nostalgia, and even if you haven’t had any experience in that setting, the invocation of certain well-worn otaku media tropes will encourage a feeling of familiarity. Yet, you’ll never settle into a state of complacency within even the most innocent of scenes. The constant displacement in time forced by the necessary narrative-switching results in this world feeling alien and uncertain. Even within character’s narratives, scenes will play out the exact same way only to diverge midway through, leaving you unsure as to whether this is truly the next in a sequence of events, or some parallel timeline, or maybe even somehow both? Even the tropes that 13 Sentinels deals with are so heavily interconnected and draw from so many different genres, from shoujo romance to psychological horror to historical drama, that results in a rather distinct feel even if one is experienced with otaku media.

You could just forget, indulge in the mindless delicacies like crepes and kaiju movies of bubble-economy Japan without paying to mind just how unnatural capitalist luxuries really are, that our way of life is so far displaced from humanity’s origins. The usage of puzzles during the narratives prevent that, forcing you to be actively thinking about the world you’re presented with and manipulating it for your own progression to demonstrate an understanding of its artificiality. This romanticization of an era of false peace calls into question what it means to truly be forward-thinking for a better society. The convenience of a pre-existing image to base an ideal world on does not negate the many failures that have been proven through history, but the question looms “is it even possible to imagine a realistic post-capitalist society with how deeply entrenched capitalist realism is now?” 13 Sentinels doesn’t have a solid answer, but I’d rather that over pretending that there is an easy answer.

“he’d love to spend the night in zion / he’s been a long while in babylon / he’d like a lover’s wings to fly on / to a tropic isle of avalon” - digital man, rush

dense, layered, and easy to get lost in all the same as its island centerpiece, flower sun and rain endures as personally-tailored perfection in a video game.

some years ago when i was working my way through kill the past, a good friend of mine advised me to not bother with the completely optional and not at all mandatory lost & found puzzles, as “they suck and they ruin the pacing of the game”. as a matter of pride i simply decided to not heed that advice and go through the game solving as many of the lost & found puzzles as i possibly could. in doing so i’ve made the playthrough likely much longer and more drawn out than it should have been, but it’s only until as of writing this in 2023 that i’ve realized that doing these puzzles actually held some value to me.

flower sun and rain is a game of multifaceted allegory and metaphor, where no ‘truth’ is singular (despite what sumio initially says) and just about any way of reading into it is a valid reading. to me, flower sun and rain is a metaphor about a man unwilling to acknowledge the past and move on to the future; a man eternally stuck in the present. the titular hotel claims its stake on being a paradise to forget about time in, and like a moth to a flame, sumio does as much as he can to waste away in paradise for as long as he possibly can. he lets himself get distracted with the denizens and their issues, letting paradise pull him deeper into itself so sumio doesn’t have to think about the airport and everything outside of this paradise. 25th ward puts a wrenchingly satisfying end to this thread as his life outside of paradise has become completely void of enjoyment. in the end he lets paradise subsume him, never to move on again.

paradise as an idea is something i had touched upon earlier in my thoughts on kaizen game works’ paradise killer, which for anyone who’s played a decent number of suda51 games, can very much see the unabashed ktp cribbing it proudly flaunts. it is rooted in a need to escape human problems ironically caused by humans and the societies they’ve built up. in building these paradises, it comes down to exploitation of resources and people to cultivate these getaways and romanticizing a world fundamentally incompatible with the systems that even lets a vacation spot like this exist in the first place. vacation spots like the flower sun and rain hotel are inextricably linked to colonial structures thriving off of that exploitation. this brings flower sun and rain close to an idea proposed by writer mark “k-punk” fisher known as capitalist realism, in which he proposes that due to the sheer widespread influence of global capitalism, it’s believed that it is the only viable political and economic system and that it would simply be impossible to even begin to imagine any viable alternative. in that sense there’s no such thing as a true-to-definition paradise; it is at best only a temporary state of mind, but it’s one that a person can find themselves unfathomably lost in.

there’s probably not a lot of people who went out of their way to do the ds port’s lost & found puzzles, as they’re technically not really rewarding the player with any juicy lore or narrative revelations, just some stuff to look at in the game’s model viewer and maybe the satisfaction of solving esoteric puzzles that have nothing to do with anything. or so one thinks they have nothing to do with anything relevant. for the player to deliberately seek out the lost & found puzzles and forget about time solving them, it is, to me, the perfect way to reinforce the narrative flower sun and rain presents. sumio is a man who lets frivolous people distract him and seeks out these meaningless problems to solve for others, and for the player to do these lost & found puzzles, they act as an extension of sumio to drag out every second possible to indulge in paradise. one of the most potent executions of a ludonarrative tool i’ve seen in a video game, and it’s entirely done through optional puzzles that a good deal of the people who played this game likely did not do.

i don’t regret doing the lost & found puzzles. i think they’re the best part of the game.

In the beginning, the Waddle Dees' numbers are limited. Maybe around a dozen of them. Civilization must be rebuilt. What's the first thing they build? A movie theatre. I've waited all my life for a video game that truly gets me and I'm very happy it's the Kirby game where Kirby's swallowing cars and vending machines. A wonderful, wonderful game. Ending, the first one (as much as I love this I'm not sure if I'll go any further past the credits, asides from more Waddle Dee Café), is an all-timer. Would've played this forever when I was younger, had more time, and didn't have an entire backlog of games.

Final Fantasy XVI definitely exceeded my expectations and I couldn't be happier about it. I like how the game falsely leads you to believe it's going to be yet another revenge narrative but it swerves into oppression and revolution after they solve that issue. Some people might be disappointed if they go in expecting a complex political thriller, but what we get instead is a compelling narrative revolving around destroying a divine foundation and return mankind its freedom.

I also really like what they did with Clive. He is actually not half as edgy or bloodthirsty as I expected him to be. He never dives into blind murder territory, so excellent choice. Sadly, the same cannot be said about Jill. Don't get me wrong, I like her and was really hype for her after her arc, because I feel we learn why she was so muted before and placed priority on Clive's emotional needs over her own. But after her revenge they slipped her back into the role of Clive's love interest and echo of kindness. I hoped to see her be more of her own character than Clive's emotional crutch, so I'm bummed they didn't deliver on Jill's potential. Seeing strong female characters reduced to that is just a waste and a huge pet peeve of mine.

But overall, I'm glad I got to experience a highly immersive, mature and dark Final Fantasy game filled with phenomenal visuals, stunning cinematics, an immaculate soundtrack and a simplified but fun DMC like action gameplay featuring epic Eikon fights. You could tell the developers really cared about making this game great, which they did.

On a sidenote, it's interesting to see people try to define what a "true Final Fantasy" game is, because I feel like it's a franchise that has recreated itself on multiple occasions. There are some common threads of course, but gameplay style, plot style, etc. seem to always have morphed.

more than anything else, the silver case is one of the most endearingly cool games i've ever played. every change of the interface the reflect the themes of the chapter at hand, every swing-for-the-fences plot beat, every gruff toothpick-sucking one liner, every new order song title drop, everything we're shown and just as important the deliberate anticlimax of what we're NOT given and NOT shown - it all blends together to create this early masterwork that's still every bit textbook suda51 as killer7 or no more heroes, but so much more subtly grounded (in comparison) to any of his succeeding work i've played.

there's a deliberate feeling of monotony and repetition in the world and gameplay of the silver case that becomes an essential part of its narrative - whether it reflect on the beeline nothingness that is the life of tokio morishima, the scale's juxtaposing shift which grows literally larger but equally smaller and more intimate... there's just this grinding, menial feeling to all of the tasks and days gone by in the silver case. it feels as if nothing really happens until the right pawns are on the board and properly in play. you learn to love basically every person in this game to the point that you look forward to the next mundane conversation with them; you anticipate morishima going home and talking to red, or getting cyberbullied on chatrooms by teenagers, or the ballbusting stakeout chats between kusabi and sumio. so when even the slightest change occurs, it's going to take your heart for a spin. it's by design.

one of the other fine juxtapositions of the silver case is its dialogue, one of the finest localizations i've ever seen. everything about the silver case feels deliberately plastic at first; you're thrust into the world of hardened police officers spouting badass quips and insults - it's almost pastiche. the one-liners will stick around, the cool designs will stick around, but ultimately the story becomes that of broken, aging men who are being asked to examine their world and how it really works for the first time. the story of tetsu kusabi - potential candidate for my favorite character in ANY video game - carries this idea home the hardest. it's the story of a man pure in his mind of absolutes and superlatives essentially waking up for the first time, seeing the world for the pollockian quagmire of intentions, reasonings, and deliberations it actually is. the silver case is a game about hearts and minds connecting in the looming presence of y2kism, a story about the old guard and the new world on the horizon. i'll get more into the thematic underbelly of this game at a later date, because this is far from the only piece i want to make on this game - but its core structure and analysis of the dotcom era, masculinity and what we define that as, grief and trauma, isolation and abandonment, it all rings pretty true now as it did in '99, and i daresay this game even tackled concepts that it would take 2 years for mgs2 to get to earlier and perhaps equally as memorably. i see a lot of influence on death note down the line too, and as far as contemporaries, i'd say silver case is like 1/3 cowboy bebop, 1/3 ghost in the shell, and 1/3 serial experiments lain. it's memorable, powerful, important stuff.

the silver case’s ultimate resolve is pretty simple - the mysteries, the secrets, the twists, it’s all a load of bullshit anyways. it existed in a moment and that moment is gone. it’s in the past. the only way you're going to push through the pain, the grief, the trauma, the anticlimactic goodbyes, the old flames, the words left unsaid, the last memories of people and places you can't ever go back to or relive, is to simply refuse that darkness which cultivates in your past to manifest itself anymore. you have to grow and reflect and move on to become your true self. you HAVE to kill the past if you want to find that first ray of light; hope for yourself, hope for the future.

"Seize that fucking light, Akira."

THE SILVER CASE COMPLETE.
FLOWER, SUN & RAIN IS COMING...

🌕 Dreams Never End
https://youtu.be/WS1X0EBlQ3Y

Note: This is going to be a largely personal and reflective piece of writing similar to my piece regarding Higurashi When They Cry’s first half - so if an intimate conversation about myself just as much as it is about this game isn’t your thing, totally valid and understandable. Oh, and this is going to talk about the “Saikoroshi” chapter of Higurashi Rei as well, as I feel it’s best discussed in tandem with the Answer Arcs here - so spoiler warning for all of Chapters 5-8 and Saikoroshi. Also, a content warning for topics of mental illness, self-harm, abuse, and all that entails. I love you and I cannot thank you enough for your time in advance. You aren’t alone.

One of the most difficult things about depression centered around traumatic episodes is that they often chip away and rob you of the things you enjoyed most around those times. It’s been a very difficult journey to reclaim some of my favorite memories, experiences and works of art over the last few years, and I've found it harder than ever to commit to projects or engage with artwork and see it to completion on my own. Anyone who knows me can tell you that’s pretty out of character; I’ve got a penchant for dropping everything to fully embibe myself in some new fascination on a seeming whim, to completely commit to a new horizon and engage with it with a sincerity and passion I’d previously considered reserved only for that which came before it. That stopped a few years ago, and like I said, it’s been a long journey back up that hill. That would’ve been an impossible task without the support group of closest friends I’ve learned to rely and count on since the recovery process began. I’m fortunate to have a friend-group in which I have been positioned to host events and discussions around media - film, music, games, literature, the works - and show up for my ardently patient, curious and brilliantly kind and courteous friends and bring my a-game each and every stream, each and every discussion, each and every day. We’re more than just a hangout group, though - we’ve weathered trauma and pain, grief and loss together. It is a castle held up by each and every stone in the wall. That’s why I was even able to force myself through Higurashi in the first place - because of my friends, because of the fact that I owed them the responsibility to be myself, to express and to feel alongside them, and not to shut myself out and isolate, to mull and wade in my own self-destruction and pity. This was and has been, as I said, a period of recovery - this was the story of my atonement and my growth. Of course, I didn’t know that Higurashi would shed itself to me, Ryukishi’s arms extended, and that I would find my own answers somewhere in this nearly three-month experience. I didn’t know that I had the single most impactful and reflective experience of my adult life with a work of art in front of me. Strange how that happens - just when it’s needed.

It is a hurdle to be a traumatized person, yet to love and to be loved. There exists some paranoia and constant state of doubt that can, like a crack of lighting, strike down any moment of peace and clarity and bring about questioning, self-talk, and confusion. To hear and comprehend that you deserve what you have but, not unlike tasting something bitter, feel your body reject the notion and spit it back out. Sometimes this coagulates into anger, or resentment, sometimes into defensiveness and a desperate clawing-out of social situations. To be hung up on your thoughts in these times, and to believe the things you tell yourself creates a tunnel-vision in which your suspicions turn to truths, your doubt becomes your sword, and your world gets smaller, and smaller, and more and more hopeless without anything actually happening. It’s hard to understand that people outside of your fucked up little maze you’ve splayed out for yourself might perceive you as something more than your illness defines. You take everything at a second meaning. It’s amazing what we can do to ourselves; or, I guess, what our heads are allowed to do to us. It’s been a hurdle to know and understand deep, intimate love, to drop the shields and let that vulnerability show even when the results typically turn out rancid. God knows I’ve got scars. I’m sure a lot of us do. You can see some of them, some you can’t - and I really hope the former never ever come back by my own hands. It’s an impossible feat to comprehend that someone could find beauty around, and yes - even in - that scarred skin, that scarred heart… but this was always a story about miracles, even before we had the means to see that. Love conquers all. Trust and love are the blade and shield of absolute truth and miraculousness. Higurashi is not a story solved with all the guns, cleavers, knives, or baseball bats in the world - it’s the warm, tender feeling of fingers wrapping around one another and the pulling of muscles to form a ring of smiles.

When I retrace the memories and allow myself to step out of the first-person and look at the majority of my adult life thus far, I realize that so much of my time has been spent in the pursuit of absolvement - both from actions, attitudes and situations I have participated or acted upon, as well as - and equally as much - ones beyond my control or centered around my self-perceived place inside them and guilt squared around them. It has taken years to be able to look at situations I’ve carried guilt about - both punishing others just as much as those where the hammer fell down on me - and be able to say with a level of confidence and assuredness “this was not me, and it was not my fault”. If anything, that’s been the harder trial I’ve had to face than to accept accountability and own up to it where it counts. I’m lucky enough to have both grown up around people whose tremendous mistakes and self-centered actions had immediate and scarring ramifications on the lives of myself and others, but to understand those mistakes as well as my own and be taught the throughline of action to consequence and be shown that I’m capable of that the same as anyone else is. Accountability and the opportunity to amend are two of my key values - integrity interloping with both of them - and they’re the foundation of all of my most trusted and intimate relationships. I have made plenty of mistakes for which I’ve paid dearly, and I’ve had actions taken upon me that have left just as many marks. But it was through a series of steps towards recovery in the aftermath of someone else’s impacting decisions that tore my life apart where I began to understand that growth and acceptance can come from anywhere. I’ve been through things I wouldn’t wish upon anyone, but I’m glad some of them happened, because they became moments of introspection where I needed to whittle everything down to the basics and build myself back up with the spotlight of my caring, earnest, and worried friends cast on me - I needed to prove myself and earn my way into a new way of life, regardless of where that situation came from or how it came about. The cycles of manipulation and abuse continued to spin my trajectory and yet, with the hands of my friends who so often reached out, I was able to pull through and see the other side. In recovery from trauma I found a new lease on my existence and equanimity for so many roads I’d taken, so many lives I’d led, so many decisions I’d made, and so many times I’d considered what the cost and point and keeping up with trying even valued. It was my wake-up call and ironically something I’m honestly kind of glad went down. The cycle broke. Despite everything. No longer on the losing end - it was a miracle forged by extended hands. Mine became a game with no losers.

The resonance of these values and the wake and rebirth of these values and this lease on existence are found ubiquitously through the dynamic with the entire group of people I shared the experience of Higurashi When They Cry with. There is emanating selflessness and kindness and humility coming off of each of these people who I’m fortunate to have spent these 160 hours with - and knowing that this story and this experience left a lasting, profound impact on the group at large is something that is said without the need for words. There aren’t many times I can think of in my life where a totally world-altering experience like this that I’ve had has been shared with and immortalized with a group of people like this before, but it’s one of the most powerful feelings - or, perhaps waves of constant feeling - I’ve ever experienced. In a voice that speaks directly from screen to screen across over fifteen years, Ryukishi broke it down and provided the most succinct measures of our progress and our being to us - ours can be a game without losers; you don’t need to go to school, and it can’t teach you art; atonement is personal and internal first and foremost; your legacy isn’t defined by immediate attention to your craft; your communities and your relationships are your proof of your worth. All of these are takeaways we collectively needed to have and sit with. It’s a set of experiences which speaks to the heart of what our purpose in engaging with artwork as a collective is, with the people we do it with, the way we choose to do it. Atonement came and passed through this group all throughout the experience and continued to be a means for us to look towards our better selves - whether these were aspirations for the future or an unclouded look at what we already were.

Sitting at the heart of this story, or maybe more aptly, surrounding this story, is a girl in need of help. Her poems, her conversations, her defense mechanisms, her sifting of the fragments in search of her answer. She sits outside the realm of the fictional work of art she seeks desperately for her reflection in, still drowning in the drink of grief and isolation. Her eyes see only apathy and destitution - as she sees it, she was born into a life of constant sorrow and she might as well take the ride the ticket she was bought offers. She couldn’t possibly the hands she might’ve had extended to her, even as she watches Rika and Hanyū harden their resolve and attend their perfect June of 1983. When the show is over, when all is said and done, and even Takano gains a second chance, Bernkastel sits alone, staring at her reflection in the pool of wine and the fractals of art, fiction and life spread out on her empty floor. There came an understanding by the time Saikoroshi was said and done - for a moment, I was her. For just a slim period of time, I sat there, draped against the floor in her lonely witch’s lair, on the vast shores of destiny and causality, searching for myself. Higurashi When They Cry stared us both back in the face. The difference lies in my surroundings - my friends. My future. My willingness to change. My responsibility. My awakening. My atonement. The accompaniment of the keys to my next summer. My answer. Tears were shared, laughs were had, hugs and thanks and stories and reflections were made. A door to a brighter future, my true route, my perfect ending, was open. A fistful of fragments containing future lifelong memories, 160+ hours of intimate joy, mystery, grief, tears, smiles, gratitude, shock, pride, sorrow, and unending, limitless, borderless, time-transcending, and yes - miraculous love in hand; I clutch in my grasp my favorite period of my adult life, my now-most treasured and beloved work of fiction, and the most incredible experience this medium has yet to offer me, and with my other hand, I begin a daisy chain of holding hands, smiling through tears, from one friend to the next, hopefully reaching all the way from here to Hinamizawa, marching forever into the next perfect summer.

“The storyteller makes no choice;
Soon, you will not hear his voice.
His job is to shed light,
And not to master.”

I wouldn’t be here right now if this game didn’t exist. This game left the biggest personal impact on me. At the time, I was in a dark headspace, questioning my existence and wondering what was my place in the world. I couldn’t hold myself in high self-esteem for the longest time. I had no meaningful connection developed and was truly in a nihilistic mindset. I truly believed life was deterministic and free will was just an illusion. One day, I wanted to just get my mind off of reality and just play a game, any game. The game I chose to play that fateful day was Final Fantasy IX. This game truly saved me from my most troubling times. It probably is very cliche and over the top to say “I probably wouldn’t be here without this game,” but that’s exactly the case with FFIX.

While I was having my negative existential dread, Final Fantasy IX gave a positive conclusion to existentialism that I have never seen done in a video game: “How do we rise above existential dread and accept a deterministic world? Though your individuality and sense of self may be an illusion, everyone has the ability to experience genuine moments that are specific to you. One’s that nobody else can or will experience. The connections you’ve made, the path you went, those are yours and yours alone. Nobody would feel the same emotions in the exact same way you felt. The only way to make your experiences beautiful is if you’re with someone else, someone who cares for you. That is what makes life worth living.” It poses such a simple yet unique solution to existential dread. How could I not get so emotional after hearing that? After the credits rolled, I was so moved; I didn’t know such a game can come into my life at the perfect time. I am tremendously grateful to have played this game and I am still profoundly moved by how many people were saved by this game and went through the same dilemma that I have gone through many years back.

For this reason, Final Fantasy IX is a masterpiece in every stretch of the word. I would do anything to play this game for the first time again.

I don't think I've ever played a game more empathetic to the struggles humanity faces in the wake of a world filled with systems that cause us to hurt each other. The pure fervor with which this game recognizes the value of life, connection, and legacy is heart warming in a way I don't think I can fully describe. It is understanding of humanity, faults and all, always choosing to approach its conflicts from a point of empathy. At the same time it isn't naive, it knows that in order to create true change for the betterment of humanity action must be taken. All this is conveyed excellently not just through its fantastically written, directed, and voice acted cutscenes but through the mechanics as well. Things like the affinity chart updating character relationships between every NPC in the game as you speak to and do side quests for them. The way in which you unlock new classes by completing hero quests in which you gain perspective on the various colonies that scatter the world allowing you to be empathetic to the struggles of the denizens of Aionios as a whole. The way in which both hero quests and regular side quests manage to expand on aspects of the game's themes and worldbuilding. This isn't even mentioning the cast who's lovable personalities and engaging character arcs manage to meld perfectly with the game's themes as well. There's so much about this game that speaks to me on a personal and emotional level far more than I think I could ever put into a backloggd review but it's safe to say that this is one of the most thematically consistent, life affirming games out there and my new favorite game of all time.

I got the good ending

I... I'm broken. Omori, while not being a perfect game per say, is a masterpiece in storytelling. A story of grief, loss, depression, trauma, and regret. There's so many different moods expressed here, whether it's the humor and whimsy or the otherworld, or the depressive nature of the real world. Despite any regrets we may have, we always have people that we can rely on.

"Remember, no man is a failure who has friends."
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Good morning.
This farewell is as sad for me as it is for you.

I’ve prepared a goodbye party for tonight. A game competition will be included as well, so please feel free to participate.

The difficulty is small, but not to be trifled with.
As this will be the last opportunity, why not take part yourself?

Written in 1928 by S. S. Van Dine, the article “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories” is a fascinating collection of 20 writing regulations that could, in theory, elevate a given investigation tale to its best possible iteration. Described by close friend and timeless author T. S. Eliot, as to one day having a nervous breakdown and spending the following 2 years in bed reading more than two thousand detective stories, the poet argues that during that time, Van Dine methodically distilled the genre’s formulas and began writing novels, to which he considered them to be masterpieces.

Out of his absurdly strict rulings, some may argue that most of them can in fact improve the narrative such as (10) stating that the culprit must play a role in the story and (15) stating that the truth of the problem must at all times be apparent, giving so a chance to the reader to decipher the story alongside the detective and not having to rely on hunches from time to time. The reception for his failed jurisdiction on the detective genre became a moderate success from the makers of such stories but not so much by the fans. It rejected possible clichés such as (11) servants not being able to be the culprits, and narratives that were not explored around enough at time such as (12) multiple culprits. People like clichés what can you do...

Over time however, reception of it started to get even worse, not only because of what was mentioned before, but in no small part due to the release in the following year of a much more CHAD reasonable article dissecting the mystery genre and its inner workings, called Knox's Decalogue, written by Ronald Knox. In one of literature's biggest middle finger ever, his 10 points were almost 1 to 1 with half of the Twenty Rules, prioritized giving the viewer a fair challenge of a tale, but this time allowing cliché tropes and creative liberties about its possible cast. Imagine Van Dine’s reaction seeing that become overwhelmingly more praised from writers and viewers alike. Take this big fucking L, nerd.

And while we get gaslit into thinking that the viewers rights to “fight back” in the intellectual game wasnt started by Dine, he will probably keep seething in his grave over the fact that some rules are obviously made to be broken at times, simply for fun. Even looking at the books in "golden age", some break fundamental rules that are praised nonetheless for it's creativity, as sometimes you can fix this unfairness in the game by using foreshadowing effectively (hats off to Disco Elysium). I am here solely to add to his perpetual torment in the history books arguing that his ruling number 3 in particular, is fundamentally why people like me and other highly sexy and intellectual individuals preffer the CHAD reasonable Knox's Decalogue more.

COMMANDMENT 3:
THERE MUST BE NO LOVE INTEREST. THE BUSINESS IN HAND IS TO BRING A CRIMINAL TO THE BAR OF JUSTICE, NOT TO BRING A LOVELORN COUPLE TO THE HYMENEAL ALTAR

It’s easy to just stop here and think about how many great mysteries would have not existed or be less impactful had every writer followed up on that, but we have to remember that this comes from someone living in what was soon perceived as the “golden years” for said genre. While you could argue that love could bypass any resemblance of a logical reasoning to which it would be the ends but not the why’s (aka when love devolves into lunacy with the killer incessantly screaming “I loved her” while being taken away) these are far and few between to be argued on Van Dine’s favor. Human affection can and will lead to insanity, but if the ultimate end goal is also one, was it really love?

The important element about love as a reason that has failed to be comprehended here, is that it can take many forms that I simply wouldn’t have time to begin describing here, as with just the change of a simple word in “love for others” becoming “love of others” you can turn tragedy into fortune. While the advent of romantic love that is heavily implied here does mean that the amount of plausible given possibilities are diminished, lesser infinities are still endless.

Now I’m sorry, but will there EVER be a better motive to kill, murder and slaughter someone, than the reason that brings up the loss of reason itself?

I will go further. There CANNOT be a single plausible reason for a murder in a tale that values the life of its characters and doesn't treat them as pieces waiting to fall off the board, other than actions relating to the innate fondness of others that we so desperately need. A given character in a tale that has their own romantic life all figured out should never be the killer nor suspect, as the most impactful and sincere motivation, from the bottom of their hearts, cannot be present.

Van Dine’s precepts make it very clear that (17) crimes by house-breakers and bandits are the province of the police department, not of authors and brilliant amateur detectives. If you fail to treat your victims and killers with the same amount of respect for an action that isn’t guided by an illogical leap-of-faith that seeks adoration of some sort, was it really a murderer or an overly intricate common burglar?

Love is the reason we sin.

Love is the reason we go further.

Love is the reason we are humans.

And to put it extremely bluntly.

Love just makes us do some stupid ass shit.

“ Love is generous, love is merciful.
Love does not envy, it does not boast. “ - Zepar & Furfur

" At times, love can make the invisible visible. " - Featherine

“ The love we give away is the only love we keep. “ - Ushiromiya Ange

“ To fear love is to fear life, and vice-versa.
One must never embrace death as long as love persists. “ - Ronove

“ Without love, it cannot be seen. “ - Beatrice

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Welp, I’ve used all my pretentiousness for now.

I know someone really special will be reading this soon so I’ll be brief now.

Merry Christmas Audrey.

I love you so much.

Do you want to be my girlfriend?

As I found myself circling a zombified grunt at the tutorial area of Elden Ring in order to perform the classic Souls backstab, I subconsciously knew right then and there what game I would be playing for the next 100+ hours, and not even that first sight of the ethereal Erdtree and its expansive surrounding landscape managed to swat away that sinking feeling.

"Dark Souls but open world" is a fairly justifiable tag line that Elden Ring earns with distinction for many, but it's one I interpret in a less charitable way. Considering how cruficied Bloodborne was over its optional chalice dungeon content, it's a bit surprising now to see a map filled with it deal with such little critical scrutiny by its fanbase, having an overreliance in copy pasted settings, bosses and mysteries that ends up homogenizing the experience of discovery and reward.

These issues are par for the course when dealing with the open world genre, and they would be acceptable had the space inbetween them provided any semblance of evolution on the Souls formula to acommodate the shift in scope. Double jumping horse aside, the unaltered Dark Souls moveset doesn't really offer compelling exploration outside of the small pockets of dungeon content, and when most of the interesting and unique content is relegated to the main story dungeons of the game, it's hard not to question if Elden Ring really needed to be open world in the first place.

The obssession with Dark Souls 3 boss design places you into a strict familiar pattern where stat and weapon experimentation are heavily punished, as most bosses have at least one "fuck you" move that one hit kills you for no reason, and weapon crafting insists on being a time consuming and expensive endeavor that forces you to hold onto the same high damage boring greatsword. It's telling that in a roster of 100+ bosses, Renalla, Radahn and Rykard are the only bosses I fondly remember, as they provide a challenge that goes beyond constant I-frame dodge rolling and memorizing fake out attacks.

And make no mistake, Elden Ring is Dark Souls 4, not just in the way it plays but also in the way it tells its story. Despite taking place in a different universe with new gods and lore to learn of and decipher, it has become evidently clear by now that Miyazaki and his team really have only one story to tell. Sure, it is still a fascinating story, but when I'm once again learning about secret crystal magic, beasts and dragons preceeding humanity, golden orders that are built upon lies, or chaotic forbidden flames that threathen the status quo, through the same obtuse and obfuscated dialogue and storytelling that defines these games, I struggle to find reason to engage with it with the same enthusiasm I once had for it.

Concepts like the Scarlet Rot or Destined Death are interesting enough to have had been the sole creative well to take from, but are forced to share the spotlight with the ever increasing and convoluted list of ideas Elden Ring has to offer that unnecessarily overcomplicate its world with a vast number of uninteresting factions, outer gods and characters that dont have the space to develop and enrich the universe of the game, robbing Elden Ring of the opportunity to create a laser focused experience like Bloodborne. Is Rykard's house of horrors that much different from every other castle you end up in Elden Ring? Or can we agree that the Dark Souls 3 formula has sanitized the world design of theses games to a point that they no longer have the capability to put you inside a world in the same manner Demon's Souls once could?

It's an odd thing to be this critical of Elden Ring, considering it still manages to be one of the most compelling triple A titles of recent years, with amazing creative art direction, original storytelling and engaging challenges to overcome, maintaining the strengths of the series that makes it stand out from everything else in the market, then and now. Conveying how threathening Caelid is by the mere act of the player walking into it represents some of the best environmental storytelling you will see, and the confidence to make so much of Elden Ring's content optional and secret turns the nonchalant reveal of a whole hidden area to explore beneath the overworld map one of the highlights of the series. It contains some of the best tragedy filled NPC questlines that characterizes the franchise, with Ranni's being a standout in the way it presents the most tradicional story arc in a Souls game and Diallos' being a noted highlight that feels like it could have come straight out of a GRRM book.

But at this point in time, 10+ year of Souls games, Elden Ring ironically and unintendely further reinforces metatextually the themes of stagnation and extending the life of something that has long gone past its prime. In his pursuit to perfect the Souls formula into his idealized game, Miyazaki has instead dilluted the small quirks, nuances and idiosyncrasies that made the series so groundbreaking and revolutionary all those years ago, and has fallen into a cycle of redundancy and iteration that has quickly trapped the series into a niche of comfort food. Sadly, Elden Ring is not the game we have all been waiting for that dispels the notion that open world is an inevitable flawed genre with diminishing returns, and it is also not the promise of the evolution the franchise has been desperately in need of. Maybe it is time to extinguish this flame and usher in a new age once and for all.