[recarmdra's blog] ♦ Luxerion Station

[recarmdra]

No way... A blog of sorts!?
Yeah, a blog of sorts, I think.

Tune in [insert time when I post] for the insane ramblings of a person whose most important (not really) skill is recognizing sound samples used in video game OSTs.

No particular sets of rules on this thread, really, so go crazy in here, I encourage it.

For my first entry I guess I should talk a little about what I've been doing! I've moved into another apartment with my mom this month, and these past two weeks have been a lot of unpacking. I've recently set up my desk with my PC. I have a laptop and an old smartphone but portable devices like that make me feel antsy if I use them too long. Not to mention my laptop started doing it's best impression of an airplane taking off whenever I'd launch a video game. Don't think the 30C weather we've been having helps.

I've been playing Infinity Nikki a lot! I'm really bad with cozy games, I think they give me this sort of "cuteness aggression"... or something. If I play Animal Crossing for too long I start getting really antsy and kind of angry lol because I can't attack things. I thought I'd face the same issues with Infinity Nikki but I'm enough of a lunatic for Dress Up mechanics that I've been powering through it, and enjoying it! I do have to pace myself, though, which is where the other game I've been playing comes in: Devil May Cry 5! I've played all the other games before it (except DmC, the "reboot") so I'm really glad to be able to finally play 5 proper. It feels kind of... easy? After getting walled by Vergil in Devil May Cry 3 I have attained the patience of a monk for these types of games. But either way, I've been having fun with both!

I'd love to add anyone who plays Infinity Nikki as well to my friend's list, but you'll have to send me a DM either here or on Discord for it since the friend codes are one use only for some reason

Spoiler: Nikki Outfit of the Day

Aside from all that, the Game Awards are today! I'm not expecting anything, really. I'm rabid for Kingdom Hearts news but I've got my expectations low to the ground. I do want to watch Geoff Keighley + whichever celebrities they get to come on stage to make fools of themselves, though. Man, I miss E3. I'll post what announcements interested me after the event is over, and I encourage you, the reader, to do the same if you'd like

I'd also like to finish off every entry with some VGM I like, or I think is obscure, so here's what I've been listening to recently:

 

[Kobeni]

ur super awesome amd cool, have a blog post :>

No way... A blog of sorts!?

i kept on thinking about that stupid DBZ joke about trunks seeing this, lmfao

Yeah, a blog of sorts, I think.

Tune in [insert time when I post] for the insane ramblings of a person whose most important (not really) skill is recognizing sound samples used in video game OSTs.

:0 That soudns pretty cool! ^_^

No particular sets of rules on this thread, really, so go crazy in here, I encourage it.

i shall do so, but not to an extreme amount where it gets annoying and obtrusive ^_^

anyways, garfeldi

For my first entry I guess I should talk a little about what I've been doing! I've moved into another apartment with my mom this month, and these past two weeks have been a lot of unpacking. I've recently set up my desk with my PC. I have a laptop and an old smartphone but portable devices like that make me feel antsy if I use them too long. Not to mention my laptop started doing it's best impression of an airplane taking off whenever I'd launch a video game. Don't think the 30C weather we've been having helps.

hope your moving continues to go well! ^^

I've been playing Infinity Nikki a lot! I'm really bad with cozy games, I think they give me this sort of "cuteness aggression"... or something. If I play Animal Crossing for too long I start getting really antsy and kind of angry lol because I can't attack things. I thought I'd face the same issues with Infinity Nikki but I'm enough of a lunatic for Dress Up mechanics that I've been powering through it, and enjoying it! I do have to pace myself, though, which is where the other game I've been playing comes in: Devil May Cry 5! I've played all the other games before it (except DmC, the "reboot") so I'm really glad to be able to finally play 5 proper. It feels kind of... easy? After getting walled by Vergil in Devil May Cry 3 I have attained the patience of a monk for these types of games. But either way, I've been having fun with both!

I'd love to add anyone who plays Infinity Nikki as well to my friend's list, but you'll have to send me a DM either here or on Discord for it since the friend codes are one use only for some reason

i don’t play it but it sounds pretty fun! also been meaning to check out the DMC series for a little while now (that was def influenced by Bury the Light, lmfao)

Spoiler: Nikki Outfit of the Day

View attachment 206528

:0 THAT LOOKS SO CUUUUUTE

Aside from all that, the Game Awards are today! I'm not expecting anything, really. I'm rabid for Kingdom Hearts news but I've got my expectations low to the ground. I do want to watch Geoff Keighley + whichever celebrities they get to come on stage to make fools of themselves, though. Man, I miss E3. I'll post what announcements interested me after the event is over, and I encourage you, the reader, to do the same if you'd like

can’t wait for the part where toby fox unexpectedly and without permission busts in and says “it’s deltaruning time” and announces chapters 3 and 4 for january 1st /j

jokes aside i’m not expect much, prolly gonna check what’s been announced after dinner and gauge my interest from there :3

I'd also like to finish off every entry with some VGM I like, or I think is obscure, so here's what I've been listening to recently:

this sounds pretty cool! might haveta check out the game its from sometime

 

[recarmdra]

i kept on thinking about that stupid DBZ joke about trunks seeing this, lmfao

HAHA You caught meeeeee

i don’t play it but it sounds pretty fun! also been meaning to check out the DMC series for a little while now (that was def influenced by Bury the Light, lmfao)

Bury the Light goes so crazy they stopped making VGM after that.

 

[recarmdra]

That was a... very long 4 hours!

SO! Announcements... those sure were a lot of multiplayer looter shooters, huh? I feel like Capcom is the only studio that can make grimier, more violent games actually look good and not make me feel like I'm staring at dirt (Totally not a jab at the Witcher IV). It's also disappointing to see so many gacha games show up. I hope someday we can refer to gacha games as things of the past. I know I literally brought up Infinity Nikki in my first post, and that game is a gacha, I wish I could just; pay the full price for a game and play it, instead of having to roll for things :/

Anyway! For announcements I did like:
♦ The pre-show opened up with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. I keep a lookout for Koei Tecmo games but seeing that this was developed by the Blasphemous dev team (a really good Metroidvania!) I instantly noted it down into games to keep tabs on.
♢ Then Capcom showed off this very weird Pacman Metroidvania called Shadow Labyrinth lol? Which yeah, sure, why not.
♦ After that it was a bunch of boring games until I heard the SEGA eyecatch noise, which then showed off the Ryu ga Gotoku Studio logo which is where I might've started screaming at the top of my lungs, because they announced TWO games! A new Virtua Fighter title, which hasn't had a new entry in EIGHTEEN years! VERY excited for that. And also what looks to be like a new IP from the studio set in 1915 Japan, referred to as "Project Century", which unlike the current Like a Dragon games, has real-time action combat. Though it's quite a bit more graphic than the usual, so be warned!
♢ I calmed down a bit as they showed off a new Onimusha title, Onimusha Way of the Sword. Another title that hasn't seen some love in a while, with the last mainline game releasing back in 2012. Yet another Capcom title if you're keeping count.
♦ Then they showed off Double Dragon Revive which made me pay attention when they showed off the Arc System Works logo, which is being developed by Yuke's of all developers? (Did you play the Dog Island as a kid? Yeah, that Yuke's)
♢ SEGA showed up again for like. 2.5 seconds to tease a new Sonic racing game called Racing Cross Worlds, which yeah, I'm a Sonic fan, of course I'm going to be interested.
♦ AND! VERY IMPORTANTLY! A new untilted game by Fumito Ueda, of ICO/Shadow of the Colossus fame. Very important games.
♢ The last announcement which made me yell at the top of my lungs and kneel on the ground was the revealing of an OKAMI SEQUEL!? Okami is one of my favorite games from my childhood, which originally released way back in 2006. It did have a sequel made by different staff called Okamiden which was also good, but I thought for sure that Capcom wouldn't be releasing another Okami game. So happy to be proven wrong!


TL;DR, Capcom and SEGA killed it at TGA. Both of these corporations have been having like, a renaissance resently, what with the revival of old or badly-used IPs. Capcom's case was just that Keiji Inafune was left to run around and ruin everything, and now that he's gone I feel like people with actual brains are in charge. With SEGA, that's harder to pinpoint, but in my heart, at least, I blame it on Yuji Naka lol.

Didn't care who won what awards as long as it wasn't a gacha game or the Wukong game (which, sadly, they did win one). My problem with Black Myth: Wukong comes from when the devs asked players not to spread any "feminist propaganda" which turned my mild interest of the game into like, being a hater.

HOWEVER! Final Fantasy VII Rebirth DID win OST of the year, which is VERY well deserved. I mean, just listen to this:


Rebirth should've won more awards...

 

[recarmdra]

I was musing about this in a Server the other night. I'm extremely nosy and kind of a hater, which would make me a perfect tabloid writer. A game industry tabloid writer to be exact, because so many insane things happen in there ALL the time. I could go on and on about Square Enix's and Konami's treatment of their creatives, so, maybe I will. Stay tuned for the Luxerion Gazette, special edition! ...Or something.

Originally I wanted to make a video essay regarding Final Fantasy XV's insane development cycle, but that's a bit too advanced for me at the moment. So maybe I'll yap about it... Someday... Be warned...!

Some of the stuff development stories I know are frustrating or downright ridiculous. The AI/NFT craze also gave us no shortage of devs who sold out to that thing, so I could also yap about that...

It could be a fun weekly thing, I don't know. I'd HAVE to start with Versus XIII though.


Today's VGM corner:

 

[recarmdra]

So it's been 10 days since my last post on this blog, I meant to post something earlier but I misplaced the draft of my very long Devil May Cry 5 write-up. I'll get it eventually, though.

Anyway! I had my first bass guitar show last weekend. The school I go to does two showcase of their students every year, and I got to play at the end of year one
The show was very fun, my favorite part was when a 9 year old kid got on stage and went crazy playing a song by Guns N' Roses on drums, it was awesome to see how much fun he was having.

My classmate and I played Come Together by The Beatles (classmate's pick) on bass. She played the melody while I played the bass-line, and our professor backed us up on classical guitar. I was so nervous on stage I almost threw up lol, I was as stiff as a board. I fumbled the beginning a bit but my professor quickly corrected me. My notes came out a bit softer sounding that I hoped since I was dealing with blisters on the fingers I use to strum, but I had fun anyway.

Recording courtesy of my mom if you're curious. I'm the one with jeans on the right. (No way, recarmdra face reveal)



We've already started prepping for the mid-year show, and my homework is getting used to using a pick for whenever I get blisters (I hate picks...), we started seeing Go With The Flow by Queens Of The Stone Age and En la Ciudad de la Furia* by Soda Stereo (I love both of these bands so I'm excited).

I'm excited to improve next year! My coordination and use of my fret-hand's fingers are still a bit clumsy but I've got a good rhythm (one of the few things I'm sure of myself on) while my classmate's case is the opposite, so the professor plays to our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to what we practice. Once I'm more skilled, I'd really like to do "covers" I guess, of, I don't know, SEGA Mega Drive titles. The Mega Drive's sound chip (Yamaha YM2612) limitations often forced composers to rely on it's bass-y, "twang" sounds, so I really wanna see what those sound like with a proper bass guitar doing the rhythm/melody.

Anyway the next is kind of vent-y so I'll be spoiling it so you don't have to read some of the negativity that's oozed off me last weekend.

Spoiler: Negativity ho!

I invited two of my IRL friends over to watch the show, I bought them the tickets since it was an invitation and a gift. They were 12.000 pesos each (12.000 ARS is about 12 USD, for reference), which, right now, is a lot to me since my mom and I are kind of strapped for cash because of extra expenses during our move. My friends are aware of this.

Anyway I get a message from one of them, who I will call J, the day of the show, about an hour before it started, saying that he and my other friend, M, won't be able to make it. Apparently, M got into a fight with his neighbor all night and got sick, which like, okay, I can accept that. J told me he wasn't coming either since M was paying for his ticket, but I told him that the tickets were already bought in advance and that he could come anyway, to which he stated that he didn't care about it anymore since it'd just be him. Which made me mad, because I was there, he wouldn't be alone.

This whole thing has me re-evaluating things because this isn't the first time J has done something that has made me feel off. A few months ago he borrowed my PlayStation 3, but refused to take one of my voltage converters with him since it was heavy. My PlayStation has a Type A socket since it's American, now if you've never traveled abroad, most of the time you'll find that the wall sockets are completely different, in Argentina, for example, we use Type C and Type I sockets. Anyway that usually wouldn't be an issue because, it'd be physically impossible for him to plug it in, but he used a plug converter on it, not a voltage converter, a plug converter, which allowed him to plug it into the socket. This fried my PlayStation 3. Argentina's residential voltage is 220 V with a frequency of 50 Hz, while America's residential voltage is 120 V with a frequency of 60Hz. What my big bulky voltage converters do is make it so an American 120 V device doesn't get absolutely blasted by 220 V of Argentinian electricity. This was the fate of my PlayStation 3.

Normally I wouldn't care but he didn't even apologize for it or offer to pay for the repairs (we would've declined, obviously, but the gesture would be very much appreciated), he just laughed it off in front of my mom and I. He's always insisting on coming over to my apartment and never invites me anywhere or accepts any of my proposals so I think he just cares about the video games I own. Oh well!

I'm kind of tired of getting trampled on so I'll talk about it with him. I'm told that I'm too quick to forgive but also too harsh, so I don't even know what I am at this point lol.

Today's VGM corner:



*TL: In the City of Fury.

 

[recarmdra]

Woahhh Happy New Year, everybody!

2024 was... probably the worst year of my life? So I'm happy it's finally over LOL. Now, I wouldn't trade it for a happier year because I ended up learning a lot, even if it was painful at times, and I'd like to share the things I think everyone could apply.

Be more independent! It doesn't matter if you're on good or bad terms with your family, strike out and do something 100% of your own volition.
In the store or on the street and see someone with a cool shirt or something? Compliment them!
Care less about what people think of you. The world doesn't revolve around you... for the better! If they make fun or treat you badly, they're not worth your time.
When it comes to friendships, it's quality over quantity. There are all types of people in the world, so find the ones that make friendship a give and take and not a give and give.
Don't be afraid to do things! Most of the time, the worst that could possibly happen is literally nothing. And if it doesn't go well, at least you gave it a shot.

Now for personal growth, I went on a month long trip by myself to USA. I stayed 2 weeks in Boston MA and 2 more weeks in PA.
In Boston, I was hosted by a former friend and met another long-time friend (also former, I'm not on good terms with them anymore) and went to Anime Boston. AB was awesome, I got to see QUEEN BEE, Hizaki, and Kaya, and I bought a ton of fan merchandise. It really helped me develop my social skills because before this, I couldn't even go to the store by myself. Now? It's no problem.
In PA, I went to stay with my step-sister and niece, who is 7! She's very cute, even though she makes me play with slime. I'm hoping to go visit again soon.

Towards the end of the year, I reconnected with longtime friend @Okido and met @lisianthus, all wonderful people! Those two are why I joined the forums actually. It made the horrid first half of the year worth it absolutely.

New Year's Resolutions: Keep eating healthy and taking care of myself! Study! Maybe start drawing again once I get over my shyness of it I guess lol.


Today's VGM Corner