-really reminds me of the jim strensum/mook animation scooby doo quadrilogy. Japanese productions aimed squarely at American audiences but like heavily inspired by European imagery and folklore. both kind of walking a very fine tightrope between just all out camp and melodrama. the fucking bats on the home screen just kinda drive these similarities in for me.
-think I finally understand why people like dark souls because of this game. I definitely enjoy the aesthetics of souls games but the unbeatable seeming bosses and far away save states kind of ruin the experience for me. I’ve tried to finish several of them and never can get all the way through for one reason or another. had a moment here fighting death where I was very close to giving up fully, replaying his boss battle again and again on a bus commute, each time getting closer to throwing in the towel. but I was very enamored by this games world and wanted to see it through to the end and so I did, i just kept grinding and learning better attack patterns so I could continue progress. didn’t feel very rewarding or satisfying to actually beat him and I think that’s because it’s not an actually unfair boss and is instead just something you kinda have to learn inside and out. anyhow fuck death, dude sucks.
-game looks so gooooood. beautiful gorgeous sprite work and I love the designs of the monsters and the castle itself. I really like all the main cast, all very charming. fucking yoko one of my all time favorite designs I think and julius is on that revolver ocelot wave. game over screen just so beautiful. everything looks so ornate and this really cool mixture of medieval and modern.
-story is good and cute!! doesn’t take itself too seriously or impose on the player, just cool like background stuff you learn about the characters every once in a while. I saw the menu a couple of nights ago and beyond it’s commentary on class disparity and r slash antiwork type stuff there’s like a real case it’s making for vulgar auteurism as something that’s just pure, something without pretension or irony. I think this is like the video game equivalent of that, no frills just straightforward, I appreciate that.
-also I got reminded of this fucking gba game I played as an infant called rugrats castle capers, baby’s first metroidvania I s2g Lmaoo

late last summer I took a trip with my boyfriend, his younger sister and their extended family to an island. A very small island with basically nothing to do, just beaches and small tourist shops. Me and my boyfriend slept at the bottom of a bunk bed and his sister at the top. The three of us spent virtually every day together for a little over a week, we played mario party on my switch every night and every day we swam in the pool, we’d walk to grocery stores or dollar stores and buy candy or ice cream. It was such a beautiful place and I fell into a true routine there but eventually all things end and so I brought my paradise back with me. I had to get a job for the first time since the pandemic upon coming back from that vacation and I’ve fallen into a routine with that, replacing a warm sunny beach town with the cold artificial lights of working for a mega corporation. I’ve learned to live with that, with being fine working at a place like that, because ultimately it’s all work to provide myself with the future I want. A future that is a paradise I’ve carved out for myself, something like that sleepy beach town, replacing one routine with another.

I think FSR is a really special experience and reminded me every time I played it of how fleeting it all is. To not get caught up with stuff that does not matter to you, to make sure you don’t fall into patterns or routines that make you unhappy. I loved this perfect tiny handcrafted village and I enjoyed my entire time with it, walking from the beginning of the map to the end most days reminded me of how special and precious this life we have is. Ultimately I came away from this game with a very privileged outlook, no one is able to achieve true paradise and so the best we can hope for and the best we can do for ourselves is make our own idea of paradise with what we have and what we’ve been given.