Terminal 1

Here’s one of those posts that aims to accumulate smaller things I’ve done, as… promised? I suppose that is the word I’m looking for, even though I technically don’t owe anyone anything. This place is just my own pad to write out my thoughts as I feel like it. It could be about eating socks for all I care. Makes me wonder if there’s a forum for that, actually. Anyway, enough of the pre-ramble. I’m going to tackle each topic individually.

When The Case Is Silver

Last month, I’ve completed all of The Silver Case and enjoyed it a lot. To those not in the know, it’s a visual novel/adventure game released in 1999 for the PS1 in Japan, later translated and remade for modern platforms in 2016. It was Suda51’s first game under his company, Grasshopper Manufacture, as well as the first game set in the so-called “Kill the Past” universe. I can’t really explain said universe well myself, but I do recommend you check out its associated games when you have the time.

As said before, I enjoyed the game a lot. I found its story very engaging, the characters well written, and the environment incredibly fascinating. The social commentary in particular stood out to me, tackling things like corporate greed, urbanization and police. Though I find its commentary on the internet the most incredible, keeping in mind that the game was written in the late 90’s, and yet it shows a good understanding for its culture that early on. It discusses things like how a lot of the people there make their own spaces and language for others to discover and understand, which is something that I feel is still very relevant to this day. (Yes, even to this blog!!)

Beyond that, the music is also very awesome. It fits all of the game’s environments beautifully. My personal favorite theme has to be the HCU theme that plays when you’re in the building, not just because it’s awesome, but also because it really fits the investigation theme of the game. One other thing I also like is the uniqueness of each chapter. They all have their own art style in both the UI and the art itself, making for a very visually interesting game to play through.

I do have some minor qualms however. The Placebo scenario was sometimes incredibly boring in the first chapters, to the point of putting me off playing them any further. However, I do think they and the story in general really pick up in the later chapters, so it’s not a big deal to me. One other thing I’m not personally a fan of is the controls. They are very unorthodox, which even the tutorial admits to, but it doesn’t really make them any more pleasing to use. While you can get used to them somewhat quickly (and I have in fact done so), there were still times where I had to consider what to press for a moment.

All in all, a great game that I recommend anyone plays through. Even if visual novels or adventure games aren’t exactly your thing, it’s definitely worth a try for the story alone. As for me, I’ll continue the adventures in this universe when I get around to playing more of Flower, Sun and Rain.

Be Thankful Towards The Scientist

While not exactly a Soulseek find, I did mention one time that I wanted to share any cool music I found, so here’s my opportunity to do so.

While I was watching English Ben’s stream, I noticed a certain song playing that I enjoyed more than any of the other usual songs he plays (which I do enjoy as well). It had a blend of jazz fusion and progressive metal, two things that I really enjoy. Reading through the title on his overlay, I could see it was a song titled Chromology by Thank You Scientist. I commented on the song in his chat, and he responded by recommending me any of the albums to listen to. So that’s what I did. Sort of. While I initially just listened to that aforementioned song on repeat, I decided to eventually listen to the whole album the song came from. And man, was it a list of pure bangers. I couldn’t get enough of it, and soon enough I was putting it on repeat like 80 times by now. The sheer uniqueness of the sound and it’s amazing performance makes me come back to it, and I even gave one of their earlier albums a shot, and also enjoyed it. I’ll probably go through some more of their stuff soon.

If you like both jazz fusion and progressive metal, you’ll definitely love Thank You Scientist. Give them a shot sometime.

Some Other Odds And Ends

And now some smaller things that didn’t really justify an entire section. First, I’ll be going to a concert on the 12th, which I’m very excited for. It’s for a trip-hop band called Archive which I’ve enjoyed for a number of years at this point. This will be technically my third concert ever, the first being for Dream Theater and my second being for Porcupine Tree. (Which is my all-time favorite band!!! You’d know if you read my music page on the main site.) I’m definitely looking forward to seeing them play.

Second, I’ve considered reading Homestuck again. Yes, how preposterous of me, having a Homestuck-themed website and URL despite not having read all of it. The reason I put off on doing so (for reference, I was 1/3rd of the way through) was because I felt it progressed at a snail’s pace during Act 5 Act 1 and 2 and lost my interest. I was being very harsh on it and felt that maybe it just wasn’t my thing, but to be honest, I’ve reconsidered that and I’m not so sure anymore. I don’t know when I’ll start again, but I’m assuming sometime later this month or so. I’m willing to be slightly more patient this time, but I’ll probably fully check out if I still just can’t handle it.

So yeah, this is what I’ve been up to. I enjoy rambling about stuff like this in this format, rather than having to make an entire lengthy post about one thing to justify it being a separate post. I’ll most likely do it again soon. No ETA this time. I don’t like forcing myself to write something on a regularly scheduled basis.