Thoughts from a Postmodern Weeaboo
PROLOGUE: I NEVER METAGAME I DIDN’T LIKE One of the hardest aspects of creating a game—and consequently one of the most interesting aspects—is the idea of game balance. Games live or die based on how well balanced they are. Whether it’s through a series of extensive checks and balances or just through introducing random chance,…
Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge.” The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of…
“Say ‘cheese!’” Okay, but…why? From the time that we’re children, we experience people telling us to say “cheese” when taking a photo. Many of us never question it until much later in life, if at all. Why say “cheese” when cheese has nothing to do with photography? With a bit of thinking, it’s easy to…
This was my original first chapter for “The ‘Baccano’ of Pulp Fiction,” detailing how both Baccano! and Pulp Fiction are descendants of pulp magazines. I’m pleased with how a lot of it turned out, but I ultimately made the decision to cut it for two reasons. The first is that I’m not an expert on either pulp…
“Hey, Isaac?” “What’s that, Miria my dear?” “What do you suppose they call the Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?” “Hmm…well, Miria, I believe they’d call it a Royale with Cheese!” “Wow! Is that because of the metric system?” “That’s exactly right, Miria! Because of the metric system!” “Baccano” is an Italian word translating roughly…
Note: this post contains heavy spoilers for the original Steins;Gate anime. If you had the power to change the natural course of things for the better, would you do it? What if, even if the changes were a net positive, they ended up hurting someone? This is the question posed by the Steins;Gate anime, and…
Part 1: Zetsubou~, Zetsubou~, Zetsubou~ …So there was no hope after all. All those years, toiling away alone…. But well, now that I’ve failed…I feel so relaxed. ~Ishii, Chapter 16 Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryouko, localized as Girls’ Last Tour, is a series by Tsukumizu that focuses on Chito and Yuuri, two girls driving around a post-apocalyptic…
Juni Taisen is, in my opinion, about the worst possible way you can write a battle royale storyline. It’s entirely predictable, and while many battle royales are, that’s because they usually have a clear protagonist, unlike the ensemble cast that Juni Taisen has. And yet, in spite of this very complaint, I actually find Juni…
So I just recently finished The Last of Us (yes, yes, I’m years late to this party) and I am…upset about it. I was really enjoying the game until the ending, at which point everything completely fell apart for me. I’ve never been the type of person to think that something needs a good ending…