Games of the Year 2023

Hey guys. I’m not dead!

Just haven’t really had the inspiration strike to continue my big Moby Dick project lately. A lot of my energy has been consumed by looking for a new apartment, I am positively desperate to move out of Auburn. I finally resolved that this week, moving to Tacoma in April this year, it’s gonna be much better, as a person who doesn’t drive.

Continue reading “Games of the Year 2023”

Final Fantasy XVI Review: Towards a Better Tomorrow

Hey, remember when I used to review video games?

Well, I never did it very much, since I do not finish video games very often, and even less often do I feel strongly enough about them to sit down and write something. Also, whenever I have the energy to return to this blog, I usually continue on my sisyphean quest to finish the Moby Dick project. But no longer! It’s time for another one!

Continue reading “Final Fantasy XVI Review: Towards a Better Tomorrow”

Games of the Year 2020

Ahh, another year gone by.

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It’s that time again, for me to write up my favorite games in a somewhat unstructured article. I did not play very many different games this year, but I did find a few gems that I really enjoyed a lot. These are presented in chronological order, not in ranking.

Continue reading “Games of the Year 2020”

Cyberpunk 2077 Review: It’s Mostly Fine

I am sitting on a motorcycle parked behind a cab that is being controlled by a sentient AI run amok. It is one of many such AI that I have tracked down as part of a long term sidequest involving a sentient AI cab company trying to bring its “children” back into the fold.

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The Delamain AI is subjecting me to an endless litany of warmed-over Portal jokes, using the same kind of voice modulation that GladOS did in that game, over a decade ago. There’s a line about cake, references to testing, it is absolutely awful and I sigh out loud while I wait for it to finally be over. Continue reading “Cyberpunk 2077 Review: It’s Mostly Fine”

Reflections in Reflections of Crystal: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers and the Nature of Fiction

Most metafiction is bad, I find.

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Almost always, when authors start getting into the weeds on the nature of reality, twisting things around and trying to play with the idea of characters within a story knowing that they’re fictional, I find it incredibly boring. It serves as a kind of excuse for not doing the hard work of writing actual characters or events with meaning. You simply point at the fourth wall and say “look at it! I’m doing something interesting here!” Continue reading “Reflections in Reflections of Crystal: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers and the Nature of Fiction”

Becoming Comfortable With Death: A Beginners’ Guide to Tanking in Final Fantasy XIV

I thought I’d try my hand at something different: A bit of informative writing.

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After all, these Moby Dick posts are fun for me, but they do get a bit repetitive. I would write a review of a game, but there’s really only one game I’ve been playing for the past few months: Final Fantasy XIV, the second massively multiplayer entry in the venerable fantasy RPG series from Square Enix. So, I’m going to write about something I have become something of an expert in: tanking. Continue reading “Becoming Comfortable With Death: A Beginners’ Guide to Tanking in Final Fantasy XIV”