Castlevania and some gaming
Feb. 18th, 2025 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
got_quietI saw the new seasons of Castlevania a few weeks ago. I honestly don't remember a whole lot of the first season, but remembered the gist enough to catch up quickly, and enjoyed this season more all around. The animation felt better, especially the combat, Alucard being there always improves things, and there was not as much of the singing, which I hated in season 1. I think the night creatures plot was the weakest part of the whole thing. For the majority of their screen time they just stood around. But enjoyed Maria's arc and how bloodthirsty she became, and how real her anger was, Annette's spirit journey was extremely cool and her romance with Richter was sweet, and Drolta made for a great villain.
Olorox and Mizrak certainly look hot together, but their relationship didn't quite click for me. Theoretically their whole dynamic would be right up my alley, but for most of the show I think Mizrak's attitude towards Olorox was leaving me cold. Maybe he cared a lot for him, but there wasn't enough going on between them for their relationship to get to the point where I wanted it to either get messier or be fixed completely. Obviously where they left it has added the complications that I was hoping for, but it was a bit late in the game at that point and I though Richter and Annette were a more interesting couple. They're both young adults who have had to grow up very fast, but still hold on to a spark of innocence that make their feelings for each other sweet.
I haven't been playing that many games because IRL is hitting me pretty hard, but I have snuck a few in. My friends picked up Enshrouded and no-lifed it for a couple weeks. I couldn't really join them. All I had the time to do was dip in, pick up a bunch of hand-me-down equipment and follow around on a few quests. Maybe in the far future I'll have time to sit down and really explore, because it seems like it has developed into a robust open world survival game with some fun exploration aspects. The thing that makes me hesitate to try a solo game is that it seems to have more involved crafting than I would prefer.
The other game we've been playing is Ravenswatch, It's a action RPG rougelike with a decent multiplayer support. A lot of people immediately compare it to Hades, and while it has some minor similarities in the sense that you are a top down, have about 4 abilities to upgrade and modify and go through three maps worth of major phases. But the game is slower, more punishing, has fewer (basically 0) out of round mechanics, and focuses a lot more on the footsies. Also rather than going into lots of small rooms you're given a large map and tasked with prioritizing points of interested within a certain time limit. It's a tough game and seems more reliant on crafting a proper build, but it's also a fun challenge with lots of variety in playstyle among the different characters (all derived from fairytales and myth) and smooth combat. I enjoy a good footsies challenge and the multiplayer reminds me just a little of the good old WoW days. Even though there are no roles per se you can prioritize a support build in a variety of ways and there are synergies.
Since I don't have as much time to play as my friends, who have all maxed out most of the characters, I'm just slowly working on learning Aladdin, who is broken in a multiplayer environment, as he makes resources rain down on everyone else. So while by the end of the game I am largely gimped build wise, feeding everyone else trivializes the content anyway. As I am someone with a giving nature it's fun to listen to my friend's expressions of awe and disbelief as they hit new personal records in crit damage lol.
Things IRL are miserable and the firehose is full of shit right now so here's a youtube channel that just talks about company cats and dogs in Japan. You don't really need to know any Japanese to know that what they're talking about is the cute pets. If I weren't a cheap traveler and Hakone weren't more of a resort town than a place I'd ever end up for business I'd definitely stay here.
Olorox and Mizrak certainly look hot together, but their relationship didn't quite click for me. Theoretically their whole dynamic would be right up my alley, but for most of the show I think Mizrak's attitude towards Olorox was leaving me cold. Maybe he cared a lot for him, but there wasn't enough going on between them for their relationship to get to the point where I wanted it to either get messier or be fixed completely. Obviously where they left it has added the complications that I was hoping for, but it was a bit late in the game at that point and I though Richter and Annette were a more interesting couple. They're both young adults who have had to grow up very fast, but still hold on to a spark of innocence that make their feelings for each other sweet.
I haven't been playing that many games because IRL is hitting me pretty hard, but I have snuck a few in. My friends picked up Enshrouded and no-lifed it for a couple weeks. I couldn't really join them. All I had the time to do was dip in, pick up a bunch of hand-me-down equipment and follow around on a few quests. Maybe in the far future I'll have time to sit down and really explore, because it seems like it has developed into a robust open world survival game with some fun exploration aspects. The thing that makes me hesitate to try a solo game is that it seems to have more involved crafting than I would prefer.
The other game we've been playing is Ravenswatch, It's a action RPG rougelike with a decent multiplayer support. A lot of people immediately compare it to Hades, and while it has some minor similarities in the sense that you are a top down, have about 4 abilities to upgrade and modify and go through three maps worth of major phases. But the game is slower, more punishing, has fewer (basically 0) out of round mechanics, and focuses a lot more on the footsies. Also rather than going into lots of small rooms you're given a large map and tasked with prioritizing points of interested within a certain time limit. It's a tough game and seems more reliant on crafting a proper build, but it's also a fun challenge with lots of variety in playstyle among the different characters (all derived from fairytales and myth) and smooth combat. I enjoy a good footsies challenge and the multiplayer reminds me just a little of the good old WoW days. Even though there are no roles per se you can prioritize a support build in a variety of ways and there are synergies.
Since I don't have as much time to play as my friends, who have all maxed out most of the characters, I'm just slowly working on learning Aladdin, who is broken in a multiplayer environment, as he makes resources rain down on everyone else. So while by the end of the game I am largely gimped build wise, feeding everyone else trivializes the content anyway. As I am someone with a giving nature it's fun to listen to my friend's expressions of awe and disbelief as they hit new personal records in crit damage lol.
Things IRL are miserable and the firehose is full of shit right now so here's a youtube channel that just talks about company cats and dogs in Japan. You don't really need to know any Japanese to know that what they're talking about is the cute pets. If I weren't a cheap traveler and Hakone weren't more of a resort town than a place I'd ever end up for business I'd definitely stay here.
