Show Review: Castlevania

Castlevania, the four part animated series on Netflix has now been out for three weeks, so I feel that it is now safe to talk a bit about this animated video game adaptation.

I guess I could probably talk about the artistic style and its influences, or the writer of the series Warren Ellis (whom I just found out has written, among other things, the story to the original Dead Space), but I really do not know a whole lot about the production team, but I know that a lot of people online were relieved when it was announced that Warren Ellis was writing this adaptation.

What I can tell you, is that everyone involved with Castlevania, for the most part, nailed it.  They have made a pretty great adaptation of a 28 year old NES game.  The key word though is "adaptation" though as it is not a 100% faithful adaptation of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, of which the story was based, but what was delivered was well crafted and from what I could tell, took a number of cues from the Castlevania series as a whole.

First off, let us talk about the art style, since this is an animated feature, it is kind of a key component to whether or not the series is going to be watchable or not.  From what my non-animated-film-background can tell, this seems to be a traditional animated feature (cell drawn over matte painted backgrounds) with a few CG elements thrown in for effect, but those are not too common and they are not eye-gouging horrific to look at.

Secondly, there is a fair amount of gore here, reminiscent of Vampire Hunter D (I believe I made this mental connection because I probably due to the similarity of the material), although less arteries are severed so you do not get the 35 yard arcs of blood, but Castlevania still does not shy away from showing disemboweled villagers or intestines roped between posts of severed heads upon stakes.  While I do appreciate that Netflix agreed to take Castlevania in an M rated direction, it does make me a little sad that 11 year old me would not have been able to see this even though I loved playing Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.  But maybe because the game came out 28 years ago, the intended audience was not current young gamers but those who grew up with the series in the late '80s early '90s?  So while I do love the direction that this series is taking, I am just a bit saddened that my 11 and 9 year old nieces will not be able to see this for at least another 5-8 years (obviously depending on the decision that their parent's make).

Thinking about the music too, which was composed by Trevor Morris, was very fitting, and while I did miss hearing in-game songs like "Vampire Killer," "Bloody Tears," or "New Determination (Prelude ~ Epitaph ~ Prayer)," for all I know there could have been very subtle motifs that were snuck in that I could not pick out.  And speaking of not hearing, my biggest gripe with the entire series was that I felt that there were some lines of dialogue that were mumbled a bit, both for effect and for how the scene was, but for the audience, I found it difficult to understand.  Upon a watching a second time, I used headphones and while I was able to hear much better, I still ended up rewinding a few times to catch something that someone said.  And speaking of people speaking, I thought that Graham McTavish (Dwalin in The Hobbit) did a great job as Dracula, Richard Armitage (Thorin in The Hobbit) did a phenomenal job as Trevor Belmont, Matt Frewer (Big Russ Thompson in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) as the Bishop was appropriately pious and creepy, and Alejandra Reynoso (nothing I've ever seen) as Sypha was perfect.  Major kudos to casting director Meredith Layne for her part in this amazing cast of actors.

In closing, I was very excited when Castlevania was announced, even more excited when I found out that it was going to be a series on Netflix and after watching the first season twice, I can say that it is a very good animated feature that is worth watching if you have played any of the games in the Castlevania series and are looking for some redemption in the land of video game adaptations.  If you happen to be on the fence about watching this out of fear that it will ruin your childhood, all I can say that my childhood is still in tact after a second viewing.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

No, I Want You To Cut Off My Arms And Legs With A Chainsaw!

MIDI Week Singles: "Story 4: Tower" - Fire Emblem Gaiden (NES)

"Story 4: Tower" from Fire Emblem Gaiden on the Nintendo Entertainment System / Family Computer (1992)

Composer: Yuka Tsujiyoko

Album: Fire Emblem The Best Vol. 1

Label: NTT Publishing

Developer: Intelligent Systems

As you may know, I am currently working my way through Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia on the 3DS right now, which is a remake of the second game in the Fire Emblem series, Fire Emblem Gaiden.  Specifically, I am trying to make my way up through Duma Tower for my fourth attempt.  While I love the updated music in Echoes, I wanted to know what the song was that I had been listening to (going on 6+ hours now) sounded like when it was originally released back in 1992.

What I find interesting about this song is that the music that is heard, being about a two second phrase, plays for the first 22 seconds of the song.  That is a long time to repeat a single two second phrase, but considering that this is the tower belonging to the opposing god in the game, perhaps that was the intent.  In FEE:SoV, upon entering the tower, Celica says, "The tower is massive. . .Oppressive.  Like Duma's power given form," which I feel is a fairly decent description of this music's effect on the player.  Then around the 30 second mark, there is a retardando that makes it seem like the song is going to transition into either a new theme or perhaps a. . .nope, and it repeats back to the beginning.

I have not listened to the rest of the Fire Emblem Gaiden soundtrack, but I would like to think that Yuka Tsujiyoko composed this song to not be overly pleasant on purpose and took a similar approach with the rest of the music in the game.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

This Sombre Dance

D&D: Pathfinder - character creation

I'm excited to say that on 8/13 I will take part in the first session of a new D&D group!   We are going to be paying pathfinder, so I've been reviewing the rules at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/.  I'm having fun thinking of potential characters, and I haven't rolled a single die.  So far, I'm really drawn to the Hybrid Classes.  I want to make a Gnome Investigator or a Halfling Swashbuckler or a Half Orc Skald. 

I had never before heard of a Skald, but it's basically a Bard who is more angry.  He sings to inspire a battle rage in his companions.  He's basically the frontman of a Metal Band!  That is so cool.  But on the back end, a Skald can be healer.  I think this is very cool, depending on how combat oriented we are as a group, I definitely can consider playing as a Skald.

I just really like the idea of a Halfling Swashbuckler.  The idea of a little halfling jumping around, laughing loudly and fencing with panache.  It's just a fun juxtaposition, and I really appreciate a character whose bravado will outshine his small physical stature.  I think it follows in the lucky/foolhardy tradition of D&D Halflings.

Finally, the first character I thought of was a Gnome Investigator.  D&D gnomes are strange and sometimes obsessive, which I think really plays well into the Quirky Detective archetype.  I like the idea of playing a character who is highly observant, and drawn to strange details.  I'm considering making him a Gear Gnome, who is part of Gnome family that is building a replica of some important landmark.  He would have the sub-quest of finding specific minerals or gadgets or little pieces that he might take back to the family to add some minute detail to their model.  

Wow, I like all three of these characters a lot.  It's going to be tough choosing between them.  I wonder if the Swashbuckler would be the simplest to command.  The Investigator seems tough, because it has access to all of the Alchemists formulas.  The Skald seems cool, but Bards can be confusing, and I don't know if it will be a good fit for the group.   I'll have to wait and see, another 2 1/2 weeks to go.  Three great options is a good problem to have.

-D

Movie Review: The Void

A few weeks back, Conklederp and I watched The Void, an independent science fiction horror film that I had put on our Netlfix queue because the poster looked right up my tentacle filled alley.

I mean for one it's called The Void.  Then you have a person in what appears to be a cloak or robe of some kind, kneeling before an triangle shaped portal with tentacles pouring out of it, all in front of a backdrop of cosmic infinity.  Coupled with the sometimes-not-meaning-much "From the executive producer of [insert one of your favorite films here]" and you have a recipe for my own celluloided heartstrings.  

Without giving too much away, unless you go and watch the trailer, I would say that if you are a fan of John Carpenter films like The Thing, Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness, and H.P. Lovecraft inspired films like Re-Animator, then while I cannot guarantee that you will like The Void, you may at least be entertained throughout.

Both Conklederp and I very much enjoyed the movie, even when the Netflix DVD skipped for a couple minutes around the 20 or so minute mark, but neither of us would call it a perfect film.  There were some gaps in the story that we felt could have been filled. and at times the acting was what you might expect from your standard B-Movie fare.  We both agreed however that this was probably the closest film we had seen that approximated a story that Lovecraft would have penned had he been alive today; although I do not recall any racist or antisemitic under/overtones.

I give it 5.47 out of 7.89 Tentacles, because why not?

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Wilderness" - Diablo II (PC)

"Wilderness" from Diablo II on the PC (2000)

Composer: Matt Uelmen

Album: Diablo II Soundtrack

Label: Blizzard Entertainment

Devloper: Blizzard North

Back when the soundtrack to Diablo II was being released via Blizzard's website, each track came with liner notes by composer Matt Uelmen, so before I go yammering off my half-muddled thoughts, I thought it best to lead off with what the composer himself had to say about his own composition.

"August 2, 2000

In all careers there are moments when everything comes together easily, coalescing in a spontaneous way where the right moves seem natural and self-evident. That was not the case here. This was the toughest tune of all -- a piece which went with the open pastoral feel of the wilderness in Act I (with the cows, farm fences, cabins and trees) while also being scary, exciting and distinctively "Diablo". It also had to transition well into not only the rogue encampment but also the various indoor slaughter-fests, as well.

My initial pass on this material, from November 1998 through to the following January, yielded a six minute piece which stayed in the game until January of 2000, at which point I was finally able to come back to it, giving it six new minutes and only keeping two minutes of the initial material. Those "lost" tracks will eventually show up here as outtakes. In the track that remains, everything but the kitchen sink makes an appearance. From 7/8, 11/8, 3/4, 4/4, to no real signature at all, twelve-tone lines, punky open chords and well-behaved waltz melodies all show up somewhere in these eight minutes.

My favorite moments on this piece come with the pedal steel lines supplied by Bernie Wilkens. Bernie Wilkens, of course, is the video game legend who currently runs our HR department. Few people know that Bernie also worked as a pedal steel player in Nashville back in his teenage years. He has a real gift for ripping off that great Dave Gilmour creepiness. John Carpenter and Johnny Marr also fight for space here."  

(Thanks to the Diablo II Wiki.net page for this).

What draws me into this song initially is the introduction of the guitar, then the rest of the song seems suiting to the world of Sanctuary, but then at 2:53, there's a hint of the melody from Tristram in the original Diablo.  Also the fact that I am currently replaying Diablo II and am on the verge of finishing the first act, so I have been hearing "Wilderness" a lot for the past week.

That is really all I have as I feel Mr. Uelmen's words say a lot more about this piece than I ever could.  But I like the song, which is why it is being shared.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

Trying To Get Back Into The Diablo Trilogy

Well, mostly Diablo III with a smattering and crashing of the original Diablo, but you get the general idea.

So Deep-V came over earlier in the week, originally to go bicycle shopping as we are all in need of new peddle-wear (which is dirtier than I had intended it to sound), but since we all seemed to have worked late-ish that day, bike shopping turned into PS3 local co-op playing, which focused primarily on Diablo III, which I had never played on any of the available systems.  I was also very interested to play DIII on a console as I had heard that the game actually played a lot better and seemed to be geared more towards console play than PC.  Or maybe I misheard/read that somewhere.  Either way, Deep-V and I played up through Act-I and while we were not focusing on the story line, I did enjoy how the game played with the PS3 controller.

While we were playing, I began the download process for the Diablo III Starter Edition to see how it played on my computer, but this lead me down another long rabbit hole, albeit, an out of the way rabbit hole.

In Act-I of Diablo III, you find yourself in New Tristram followed by (regular old) Tristram, which immediately brought me back to playing the original Diablo, which takes place in Tristram, as in the original village where the series started.  I began to wonder how close the layout of the Tristram in DIII resembled the layout and design from the original game.  This reminiscence brought me to looking into finding a playable version of Diablo, which I used to have on my netbook before it died (I spilled a glass of beer over the keyboard).  The two avenues I tried for resurrecting Diablo were downloading an ISO file which I was able to properly mount and able to install the game, but I had major stability issues.  Even after fiddling with the compatibility tab, the game would play fine one time, then crash during the character selection screen.  A few times I was forced to sign out as Ctrl-Alt-Dlt was not working to back out of the game post-crash.  I also tried the Diablo file I had on the extracted hard drive for the aforementioned beerified netbook, and I ran into the exact same issues.

What I find annoying, is that after a fair amount of searching for stability fixes, everyone seems to have their own version that worked, or like myself, nothing seems to work.  Everything from "I just put it in Windows 7 compatibility and everything worked fine" to creating .bat files, and I may well take that route, but for the time being, I am frequently unable to run Diablo for any one of a number of reasons.

Which brought me to my next line of thoughts, being why Blizzard does not release a version of Diablo for modern PCs?  They have done it with Diablo II, which is available through their own Blizzard Client.  And the copy I have of Diablo II seems to work just fine, even without using any of the compatibility settings (pounding on wood), so I have that to fall back on at least for the time being.  I guess I just really want to go through the first Diablo again before I delve too deeply in Diablo III.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
And Its Flaming Desire

MIDI Week Singles: "They Haven't Seen Us" - Crimson Shroud (3DS)

"They Haven't Seen Us" from Crimson Shroud on the Nintendo 3DS (2012)

Composer: Hitoshi Sakimoto

Album: Crimson Shroud Original Soundtrack

Label:  Basiscape Records

Developer:  Nex Entertainment

I am a bad Internet person and I will tell you why.  Up until a few minutes ago, I was convinced that this song, "They Haven't Seen Us" from the amazingly designed Nintendo 3DS eShop game Crimson Shroud, was one of the battle songs, but after a bit of searching, I could not find anything linking this song to any of the battles.  Maybe it is the fact that this song, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, Vagrant Story) sounds so much like a lot of what makes him great, that I just assumed that I had heard this song before during a battle.  To me, is screams, "They haven't seen us ye...OH BLOODY HELL THEY'VE SEEN US!  TO ARMS!  But first, roll for initiative."

Something else that is impressive about the music from Crimson Shroud is that the music in the game is very high quality.  I cannot recall much if any degradation between what my lowly peasant ears hear coming from the game and what appears to be (because I cannot read Japanese much/at all) a live recording orchestra, gaQdan.  And now listening to the music again, makes me want to go back and actually try and complete the last battle, which was a doozie of a fight, especially with my already limited health potions; maybe it's off to GameFAQs for me.  Or maybe I should try and level up once more and hope I don't have to heal during that monster of a fight?

Either way, great classic music-ings from Hitoshi Sakimoto.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

When You're Ready

First Impressions: Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PC)

Presently, I have 12 hours clocked in in Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin using two characters, the first being a warrior that I have two hours with and the second is a sorcerer who has about nine and-a-half.  Yeah, I know that does not add up, but something about that might come up in a bit.

First off, this game is gorgeous in a way that a game from 2014 (2015 for the Scholar of the First Sin DLC) can be, even Conklederp commented about how well done the visuals and opening cinematic were.

The eyes, faces, and even hands and fingers are expertly animated.

And you know, the game started out to be pretty fun.  I created a warrior, and after about two hours, decided that my hand-to-hand combat skills were not up to snuff, so I created a sorcerer so that I could have rechargeable ranged attacks while also learning the geographical layout of the game as well as the the patterns of the various new enemies.  Things were going well-ish, I was dying on occasion, but not so much that I was on the verge of rage quitting.  Then the game froze.  Sort of.

My Companion for Some Time.

This was one of those freezes that causes the game to stop moving, but all of the sounds and music (when there is music in a Dark Souls game) could still be heard going on in the background.  Thinking that this was just, one of those things, I Ctrl-Alt-Dlt'd my way out, and restarted the game.  That next session lasted a few minutes before the same thing happened.  I then decided to do the "Verify Integrity of Game Files" thinking that maybe that might be a quick fix.  Then I could not get the game to start.  When I clicked the Play Game button, I was greeted with the "Preparing to launch window, which would disappear for a few seconds, then reappear before doing this nonstop until I was able to catch the window and click the X.  It was also at this same time that I noticed that Steam's store page was slow to the point of 0.3fps, or at least that is what it felt like to me.

It is at this point, that I should also mention that my computer meets, at least, the minnimum requirements as stated on the Dark Souls II Steam page.  Just in case someone out there is yelling at me for even trying to play a game on my laptop with sub-par settings and specs.  Moving on though.

After restarting Steam in Offline mode, I gave the game a try and it booted up smoothly, although I was told that there was no internet connection, so any connectivity with the Dark Souls II servers could not be made so any online functionality would be, in essence be disabled, which was perfectly fine with me.  I played for a bit, but then restarted Steam in Online mode, and left to go to work.

Thinking that the problem was now fixed, how exactly I could not possibly tell you, I started the game again the next day and was able to play about 30 minutes before the game froze on me again.  This is basically where I am currently at with Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin.  I have uninstalled the game and reinstalled it to no effect.  I have managed to play an additional two hours since I first started writing this article, with one of those hours being completely uninterrupted, but then my entire computer crashed giving me the Blue Screen explanation that "nvlddmkm.sys" failed to do something so my computer shut down and restarted.  I have since looked up what I could about Nvidia's graphics drivers apparently not getting along with DSII, although my issue does not seem to be the common "crash at start" or the "white screen crash" that I have read a lot on in the last week.

Before I decide to go deleting drivers and files then reinstalling said drivers while making changes/additions using the command prompt, which at least one site had as a fix to Nvidia drivers causing games to crash, I tried the game at low graphical settings, thinking that maybe DSII was causing my computer to run hot and then shutting that whole thing down, but this morning (Sunday July 9th), my computer still froze twice after playing for no more than 10 minutes each time.  I have doubly made sure that my drivers are all up to date, and even using the Nvidia's GeForce Experience client just to make sure; which is interesting because it tells me that I can run the game at fairly high, but not the highest, graphical settings.

The last thing I tried was to go back to having Steam in Offline Mode since my issues with even starting the game seemed to have come about during Steam's Summer Sale while their store was under heavy traffic.  That game lasted five minutes, which was just enough time for me to fight my first boss and die and upon running back to the same area for a second attempt, the game froze.

I now feel like I find myself at a crossroads.  Do I give up for the time being until I acquire a more robust computer and, thankfully for cloud saves, pick up where I left off?  Do I try and "fix" my laptop and run the risk of doing something that cause irreparable harm?  As much as I do not want to admit defeat at the moment, I feel that I am leaning towards putting the game on hold until a later date, be that date be associated with a new computer, or a patch that is easily implemented with 100% success rate.

This really is not really how I wanted to spend my First Impressions with a game that I had been looking forward to playing for a while, but thems the beans, as I think no one ever says.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Freeze!

Much pretty, such wow was I expecting to have.

Monthly Update: July 2017

When I list things out, June 2017 was a pretty busy and semi-productive month.

In the world of board games, Conklederp and I acquired the first physical expansion to Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, Beyond the Threshold, as well as the Suppressed Memories expansion which has the pieces and tiles from the first edition Call of the Wild.  All of which now means that we have everything to play all of the stories for MoM2E, although we do not have the one digital expansion.  And wouldn't you know it!?  There is a new physical expansion titled Streets of Arkham that will be released by the end of the year!  Hopefully there will be more digital expansions in the meantime.

And speaking of later this year, Wizards of the Coast announced that they are developing a Dungeons & Dragons themed variation of Betrayal at House on the Hill titled Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, which I am excited about, partly because I love Dungeons & Dragons, but also because I really like the mechanics in BaHotH and since we do not already own it, why not buy this edition then?

And speaking of announcements, E3 this year was a mixed bag, but I already covered what interested me from that week long exposition.  But for me, the highlights were easily Metroid: Samus Returns on the 3DS, and the Lovecraft first person perspective horror game Call of Cthulhu.  I am sure there are other things/games/events/cronches that I could mention (as noted above in my E3 post), but the aforementioned two games are what I immediately think about from 2017.

The other gaming event of the summer that I have taken part in is Steam's 2017 Summer Sale, of which I purchased Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, partly because Dr. Potts had purchased it a while back, but also because we both spent many a rolls of quarters at Woodhaven Lanes playing this arcade game.  I have not looked into it, but I think it would be awesome to have a combination local and online multiplayer, so that Conklederp could play off of my computer while having Dr. Potts join in from an online connexion, and Jane could join in too if that is her thing.  I also partook of Humble's Monthly Bundle and acquired Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, which I had been wanting to play for a while (stay tuned for my First Impressions article on Monday).

And speaking of games that I am still working my way through, there is Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, which I still feel a bit paranoid that I am going to miss or forget something that was or seemed intuitive back when I first played in 2000.  In the GOG Galaxy-verse, I am working my way through Dark Fall: The Journal, although I am moving slower than I would have liked, probably due to the fact that I want to have Conklederp watch and he have been unable to find time amongst trying to catch up with a lot of TV shows that we are behind on watching.  On the 3DS, I am about 34 hours into Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia and am loving every minute of it, except when my characters die and I have to use Mila's Turnwheel (it's not cheating if it's a built in game mechanic, but at times it still feels kind of cheap).

And speaking of not cheap, there was the announcement of the Super Nintendo Classic, which I am begrudgingly not ready to accept the very real possibility that I will never see or be able to play one of these beautiful official emulators due to ass-hats buying out the supply then hocking them on eBay and Amazon for 5x the MSRP of $79.99 once it is launched on September 29th of this year.

Moving away from video games and onto movies (eh!?), I think the only film Conklederp and I saw in the theatres in June was It Comes At Night, and I have already talked about how much I enjoyed that film.  I also purchased the Alien Quadrilogy on Blu-ray because it was dirt-cheap, Emilie hadn't seen Aliens or any of the other Alien films, but also because I had not seen the extended cut of Alien3 and I have never seen Alien Resurrection, so I figured why not?  I think sometime in July I will put out a rundown of the four Alien films, similar to what Dr. Potts did for the DC Universe films.

In the land of podcasts, Conklederp and I were able to go to Lore Live 2017 when Mr. Aaron Mahnke did his West Coast Tour during the middle of June.

Lastly, book-wise, I had been reading The Wastelands: The Dark Tower III and was about 75% of the way through before I forgot the book down in Nor*Cal when I helped The Kid move a few weeks back, but I have other digital books that I am working my way through.  Most recently being the 1865 work, The Book of Were-Wolves by Sabine Baring-Gould, which has turned out to be a great assessment of lycanthropitic disease throughout history, including mainly European history, but also including Indian, Native American, and Scandinavian sources.

And as for July, buh-jeezsus, I do not even know.  I mean, I kind of do, what with finishing up season five of Orange is the New Black, and starting the new Castlevania series, both of which are on Netflix.  Getting around to watching The Handmaid's Tale, then HarmonQuest Season 2 starts on July 27th!  And whenever the Twin Peaks revival happens, Conklederp and I will be binge watching that during the week long free trial of Showtime.  And then there's the fact that I recently started Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, and Grand Theft Auto III due to difficulties with DSII:SotDS as well as whatever additional games come in Humble's July Monthly Bundle (which I am 98% sure I am going to cancel as I do not have a need to expand my already queue of games to play).



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
A Hasty Blink

MIDI Week Singles: "The Gears Go Awry" - Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

"The Gears Go Awry" from Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin on the Nintendo DS (2006)

Composer: Yuzo Koshiro

Album: Akumajo Dracula Gallery of Labyrinth Original Soundtrack

Label: Konami Digital Entertainment

Developer: Konami

I should preface that while "The Gears Go Awry" is used in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, this specific version of the song was not heard as is in-game because this version, from composer Yuzo Koshiro, is the version of the song before it was arranged and compressed for Nintendo's DS system; okay, enough of the word "version."

My reason for deciding to use this version of the song as opposed to the one that is heard in-game, was mainly because people who are familiar with the game and the music may not have heard or known about the official soundtrack, which features both in-game music and the music as it was originally composed.  And there is nothing wrong with the music that is heard in-game, it is simply that the opening chords from the organ in this song are so powerful, that I just need to get this out there for the rest of the masses.  Mass?  Handful?  But anyway.

If you know anything about me, it is that I absolutely love a good organ piece, be it Bach's "Toccata & Fugue in d minor" (cliche, but damn are they good), or Beanland's "Tooth & Claw."  To be honest, I cannot fully remember when this song was used, but if the title is any clue at all, it occurs during one of the infamous clock tower stages for which the game is fairly well known for.  And speaking/writing of what Castlevania games are known for, is that music like this absolutely reeks (in the best way possible) of Castlevania.  And impressively,  this was  Yuzo Koshiro's first foray into the world of Castlevania, although I still submit that a fair amount of the music that he wrote for ActRaiser has always sounded reminiscent to me of Michiru Yamane's compositions for a lot this series.

And you know, listening to this song really makes me want to go back through Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin all over again, even though I have not played it in nigh on 11 years, which is kind of crazy considering that by the time I was 11, I was looking forward to owning the SNES, which I am now doing with the SNES Classic (sigh).

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Thunder. . .

P.S.  I just realized that this is the third time we have used music by Yuzo Koshiro for a MIDI Week Single, and I am perfectly okay with that fact.

Monthly Update

June was a busy month for me. With Birthdays and Fiscal Close at work.  Not to mention an unhealthy Magic Online obsession which drains my money and my time.  I've discovered that I tend to only have one or two hobbies active at a given time.  MTGO was my main, active hobby, so that whenever I had some downtime, I would go straight to it.  When I finished my last draft, and made the conscious decision to take  a break, I definitely felt a strange emptiness where MTGO once was.  But I got over it by finding  a new obsession - my long time hold for Stephen King's IT arrived at the library, and I have three weeks to read 1000 pages!  

Fortunately, I love this book!  I had been meaning to read it for a long time, but never got around to it.  But with the announcement of the new movie, I decided to go for it.  There were 47 holds on the library in front of me.   After a while I forgot about it, and then lo and behold, last week I got a notification from the library that they had a copy for me to  pick up.   I'm doing very well so far, just past the half way point.  

Funny thing about this book:  It's way more of an Americana story about boyhood in the late 50's than I realized.  It is a really slow burn, with the scares and creep factor coming in bits and pieces at the end of stories of the characters, their families, and the town of Derry.  It seems like the second half will be ramping up the horror a bit.  I guess it makes sense that it's a slow burn, the book is over a thousand pages long!  That can't all be horror.  

Anyway, I'm enjoying the book thoroughly, and glad I picked it up.  Great way to come down after all that damned Magic Online.  One last thing I'll say is that I found a crossover with The Shining, another book by Stephen King, and I'm pretty pleased with myself for catching it.  

In other news, I'm playing an old game called 'Pixel Junk Monsters' for the PS3.  It's a tower defense game, the first kind I ever played, years ago with my friend Zor the Red.  Jane is watching me and giving me tips, it's a nice little game.  

I saw Alien: Covenant, which definitely went places I was not expecting it to go.  I actually watched Prometheus beforehand, just to catch myself up, but I would agree that it wasn't necessary to do that.  Thinking about seeing 'Baby Driver' because it's gotten so much hype from people I like, and I do love Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  Still really enjoying my 'Writing Excuses' Podcast, but haven't started writing anything. 

So yeah,  this and that.  We had a nasty heat wave, where it was over a hundred for 7 or 8 days.  Fortunately, haven't seen anything like that since.  

Looks like I've run out of steam.  Time for some coffee,

-D