#personal
#personal
At some point in the thralls of my Puyo Puyo fever–where I’d stay up all night practicing stair patterns and T-Spins–it became clear that I’d caught the competitive bug. Playing with friends drove me to improve, and getting absolutely bodied by others playing online made me want to understand what techniques I needed to be adding to my arsenal.
Eventually I came to realize that Puyo Puyo Tetris was pretty much a fighting game–you needed quick reactions, practiced techniques and the ability to read an opponent. All of that had just been obscured by my lack of basic knowledge. My practice regimen also wasn’t unlike what happened in a fighting game training mode–hours of repeated motions to nail a specific technique. I’d finally entered the mindset you needed learn a fighting game.
Enter Street Fighter V.
by Omar (@neo_graphyte)
This Time It’s Persona is a series of essays on Persona 3 originally published on ashensiegarettes.
I am lying to you.
At this very moment I am being untruthful. It’s a fundamental truth of our society that we only show certain sides of ourselves to each other. At times we engage in a complicit lie, pretending to care about one another in order to achieve some fundamental goal. At this very moment I am choosing only to show this side of myself to you, to engage you on a “meaningful” level .This concept of the faces we wear around each other, the idea that the relationships we create are based not only on what we choose to share with each other, but we choose not to share, is at the core of the great game that us members of society play with each other.
by Omar (@neo_graphyte)
This Time It’s Persona is a series of essays on Persona 3 originally published on ashensiegarettes.
In my final days I lost the will to climb Tartarus. I knew I was strong enough to take on what was to come. Instead, I spent my days spending time with friends I hadn’t had the time to fully develop my relationships with.
I slurped ramen with Nozomi, helped work things out with Mamoru, and grew close to Yuko and Yukari. At night I spend time drinking with Mutatsu and watching a bummed out Vincent mope around.
Some nights I would work at the Chagall Cafe, hoping to work up the courage to stomach Fuuka’s cooking.
As I grew closer to some, I knew that I was at the peak of our relationship. I’d never spend another moment with them that would be new or unique. Yuko and Yukari would love me no matter what, and Mamoru disappeared with his family, looking for a way to support them.
by Omar (@siegarettes)
Neverending Nightmares
Developer - Infinitap Games
Publisher - Infinitap Games
PC (Steam) and Ouya (reviewed on PC)
Rating - N/A
Neverending Nightmares is not fun. As I played it, it became a game I became reluctant to return to. From start to finish, it was an experience that left me feeling ridden with anxiety. That’s also exactly the way it should be.
Built as a conduit to channel the depressive and intrusive thoughts that creator Matt Gilgenbach experienced following the commercial failure of the studio’s previous game, Retro/Grade, Neverending Nightmares is grave deep in oppressive atmosphere. From the very start Nightmares makes it clear that the experience won’t be fun.
