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12/10/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Aberration Illustrations!
Words alone will not be enough to bring my vic... players... into the nightmare of the Requiem, so I enlisted Erica "Guezadilla" Dominguez to bring my horrors to shuddering, terrible life!
11/19/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Aberrant Intelligences
I added a player whose job will be to oversee the flock of monsters while also being a menace to the other players. You know, a jackass.
11/07/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Board Construction
I made a series of videos of me being all arts n' crafty to bring you a fairly massive board for my upcoming game!
06/15/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Odds and Ends and Surprises!
I am in the process of finalizing a prototype of Infinite Requiem, and there's some super cool stuff to show off!
06/08/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Cards and Tokens
In my continuing effort to make a board game, I acquired draft cards and tokens! GAZE UPON THEM AND TREMBLE!
03/26/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Events and Other Bad Things That Happen
Turns out there is some more stuff to talk about in my nerd game, so that is exactly what we're gonna do! And by 'we' and mean 'me', except it would be 'I' in the prior sentence's construct!
03/19/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Objectives (Updated)
Nothing says "Happy Spring Break!" quite like a bunch of words about an updated main feature that needed to be overhauled to make the game winnable in a human lifetime!
03/12/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Map
Today you can read all about the fictional city of Andersonville, Illinois, and just where and how you'll be navigating it.
03/05/2018 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Gear
You will be able to pick up a bunch of stuff in my nerd game, and you can learn about some of the stuff you can pick up here!
10/09/2017 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Objectives
Each character will have their own personal mission while they are trapped in the Otherworld, and sometimes they turn you into a jerk!
10/02/2017 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Aberrations
It is October, and that means talks of horrible aberrations that will soon populate my board game and your nightmares! (Aberration is nerd for monster.)
9/22/2017 - Otherworld: Infinite Requiem Characters
Come with me while I talk to myself about my big ideas of weaving characters and gameplay. Or not. I'm not your boss.
9/1/2017 - Fancy a Board Game?
Wherein I reveal that I have indeed been writing, though it's probably not what anyone was anticipating. Oops?
7/18/2016 - Endings and How to Lose Them
Games have a lot to keep in the air to keep things going smoothly. A shoehorned moral that scolds people for playing, though, is not one of them.
3/21/2016 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Sixteen, or Denouement
And lo, James did lay waste to the horrors of Silent Hill, and it came to pass that six possibilities opened before him. Most were kind of 'meh', all things considered.
12/29/2015 - Until Dawn Review and Reflection
Wherein I spend nearly 4,000 words describing why Until Dawn is the best game of 2015 and is exactly what horror, as a genre, desperately needs right now.
12/14/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Fifteen, or The Jar Jar of Silent Hill
We join Maria of all people on a trip through a scary haunted manner to discover interesting tidbits from her past! Contains neither scares nor interesting tidbits.
11/30/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Fourteen, or Burn it to the Ground
We stumble about the burned-out wreckage of the hotel, reflecting on why James's character is pulled in two directions at once and why this is bad. Also, terrible boss fight.
11/23/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Thirteen, or Hard Truths
We encounter the world's most demanding elevator before discovering that a video about our dead wife that we found in a ghost town's creepy hotel may be a bit on the grim side.
11/16/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Twelve, or Checking In
An interminable boat ride from now, we arrive at James and Mary's 'special place' and proceed to engage with music-box related silliness.
10/12/2015 - On Moral Consequence and Undertale
A sort of review on the great game Undertale regarding specifically what it does best: offer itself as a morally complex system.
9/21/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Eleven, or Crucible
We encounter some old acquaintances, some of whom don't even attempt to kill us! There is also a puzzle involving corpses. So par for the course, really.
9/14/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Ten, or Punishment
Our surroundings get slightly... well... kind of... sort of... brighter maybe? Eh. We run into an old friend who should be dead, but luck really isn't on our side. Also, Labyrinth.
9/07/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Nine, or A Man Escaped
Oh, now the game wants to take this whole storytelling thing seriously? Fine, let's do this! We head into Toluca Prison for today's updates. No, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
8/24/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Eight, or A Padding Darkly
Wherein I talk a lot about how crappy Brookhaven is because this next segment is pretty much all filler.
8/17/2015 - Traipsing Through SH 2: Episode Seven, or Gunning Through a Two-Ring Circus
What's worse than a garbage hospital filled with shrieking horrors and gibberish masquerading as puzzles? Well, the same thing, only in green.
8/10/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Six, or Radio Free Brookhaven
We descend once more into the abyssal depths to... um... find a girl who may or may not know about our dead wife. Also features a brief sing-along.
8/03/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Five, or Nihilist Pixie Dream Girl
Wherein we encounter a new character and learn that such things are not always a boon to the plot. Also, we chase after the brat who took our skull stepped on our hand.
7/27/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Four, or Silent Hill Sith Lord
And now we're onto Blue Creek Apartments, which is like Wood Side only 30% more terrible. What a value!
7/20/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Three, or Security What Now?
Wood Side Apartments are about what you'd expect from any given apartment complex in the world's worst resort town.
7/13/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode Two, or Saltwater Blues
Wherein we reunite with an old friend made entirely out of chewed up sugar-tar and run about looking at weapons and stuff.
7/6/2015 - Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2: Episode One, or Captain Sad's Grand Day Out
Wherein a sad blond fellow is sad, his wife continues to be dead, and a creepy girl exists. It's like nothing changed!
5/25/2015 - Not a Hero Review and Reflection
So there's this game and it is awesome and you should buy it so that we can save the world from a most average end.
5/11/2015 - A Teaser Trailer
At first, only words on a page. Then, pictures in the darkness. And then... a sound.
Welcome to the evolution of traipsing.
12/22/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Forty-Two, or Single Parenting in Silent Hill
In our last foray into Silent Hill for the time being, let us discuss why the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense and discuss the better narratives that we could have had.
12/17/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Forty-One, or Gag Reel
We take a look at the other ways this little nightmare can play out and make fun of the official monster names in today's journey into horror.
12/15/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Forty, or Surreal Drama
Harry murders a god (or lets it die of boredom, whatever) and says goodbye in the surprisingly effective finale of Silent Hill.
12/08/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-Nine, or Spin the Bottle
Wherein both the hero and secondary protagonist are left standing around while the villains bicker. Then horror erupts from Alessa's back and we're all screwed. Also, math.
12/05/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-Eight, or In Which We Break the Plot
We encounter one of the best-designed rooms of the game and then discuss how it manages to destroy everything the stupid plot had going for it.
12/03/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-Seven, or Plot (or Something Like It)
In which the ghosts of attempted murder-by-fire reenact an incriminating conversation so we can begin to have the vaguest idea of what the hell is going on.
12/01/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-Six, or Keys Within Keys
In which we continue our journey through Nowhere, unhappily noting the padding and random, single-instance events they crammed into the final twenty minutes of the game.
11/26/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-Five, or The Trial of Lisa Garland
In which we invade Lisa's privacy and then accuse her of things most unbecoming of a woman in her position as caretaker of the defenseless.
11/24/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-Four, or Nowhere
We meander about Nowhere, a location which is like the hospital only about 45% trippier. Also, Lisa... well, Lisa may have a bit of a problem.
11/21/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-Three, or Breaking Point
My frustration with Harry as a protagonist and human being comes to a boiling point in yet another cutscene that thinks it is more important than it actually is.
11/19/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-Two, or THUMP
Harry gets knocked on his ass and runs face first into a force field. That's what we would call a "highlight reel".
11/17/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty-One, or Sure, Why Not?
Instead of going for the bummer ending, we're going to save the hell out of Cybil, despite the fact that her internal organs probably now have the consistency of gravy.
11/14/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirty, or :(
We encounter a possessed friend in the amusement park and attempt to heal her with the power of bullets and massive cranial trauma. It... ends about as well as could be expected.
11/12/2014 - Traipsing through SH: Part Twenty-Nine, or Harry, King of the Mole People
Harry dives into the putrid underbelly of Silent Hill a second time to discover a race of short mole people. He subsequently kills the lot of them.
11/10/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Twenty-Eight, or Dog Tossing
Harry partakes in Silent Hill's favorite sport while accomplishing precisely nothing of merit. He ends up slightly damper than before, so there's that.
11/07/2014 - Traipsing through SH: Part Twenty-Seven, or Dialogue, Silent Hill, and You
Spurred on by my earlier entry, I spend the entire update editing other people's work in a desperate if misguided effort to make it semi-coherent.
11/05/2014 - Traipsing through SH: Part Twenty-Six, or Why are We Listening to Dahlia?
You know, it's been a while since we've had a meandering, stupid conversation that repeats itself without actually giving pertinent information. Let's fix that.
11/03/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Twenty-Five, or Nightmare.exe
Silent Hill gets around to loading its proper textures, and in doing so, uleashes a much less spectacular apocalypse than last time.
10/31/2014 - Traipsing through SH: Part Twenty-Four, or Dirty Deeds Done with Skeeves
We journey all over the resort area because I didn't investigate a picture, but hey, at least nothing important came of it. Thanks, game!
10/29/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Twenty-Three, or The Death of Dr. Skeeves!?
We emerge in the resort area and check up on a lead that we got from a different game, whereupon we stumble upon a scene most disturbing (but not wholly unexpected).
10/27/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Twenty-Two, or A Sewer Level
Oh, boy. Everyone's favorite kind of level is coming up in today's episode! Maybe we'll have an underwater level next!
10/24/2014 - Traipsing through SH: Part Twenty-One, or Behold, the Destroyer of Worlds
If you thought larval combat was the pinnacle of horror, you haven't seen anything until you've seen MOTHAL KOMBAT.
10/22/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Twenty, or Arthropod Arena
The terror reaches peak capacity when we are forced to duke it out with something that hasn't evolved a spine, but does make a cocoon. So... um... horror?
10/20/2014 - Traipsing through SH: Pt. Nineteen, or I'm Sorry, I'm Rambling... I'll Shut Up.
The super-deep and not at all entirely improvised plot kicks into high gear with the fourth cutscene that just. Will. Not. Shut. UP.
10/17/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Eighteen, or Thank Goodness for Cutscenes
Remember the time when we ran up the road between overly talky cutscenes that accomplish nothing other than being uselessly cryptic? Me, too!
10/15/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Seventeen, or On Agency: A Critical Perspective
Wherein we are yelled at by an angry person for not doing some nebulously defined thing for her. It's quite silly and more than a little dumb.
10/13/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Sixteen, or Preferred Provider Omnicide
Our adventures in Alchemilla Hospital come to an abrupt end today when Harry (doesn't) die after a stupid conversation in a dark room with a returning character from Origins.
10/10/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Fifteen, or Health Maimtenance Organization
Harry makes a lot of really stupid observations today and, for his hubris, he is given a punishment most terrible.
10/08/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Fourteen, or Single Slayer Healthcare System
We encounter and exterminate the population of a new enemy, but a subtle variant picks up the slack as we venture to turn on a generator that's already been activated.
10/06/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Thirteen, or El Pasión de Doctor Skeeves
Oh, good. Guess who's back and is absolutely no better at talking to people? Also, Harry shows off some slick dance moves.
10/03/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Twelve, or Downtown!
We have an entirely new overworld to explore, and it's really, profoundly boring and empty! Although there are amorous gorillas, so there's that.
10/01/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Eleven, or Going to the Chapel
Having determined Silent Hill's population to be 956 brain-dead idiots, we can move on to new adventures consisting of, at least in part, mocking a crazy person's fashion sense.
9/29/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Ten, or Math and Other Ways to Ruin a Date
We discover that Alessa was possibly taught by a member of Sonic Youth and use the power of MATH to figure out the population of everyone's favorite ghost town.
9/26/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Nine, or Lizards Ahoy!
We clear out the horrible monster infestation by doing what comes naturally to the video game protagonist: wanton murder of those different from themselves.
9/24/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Eight, or ::dog sneeze::
Harry uncovers more dead bodies and reacts in the manner to which he is accustomed. There is also an analysis of the worst shotgun in video game history.
9/22/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Seven, or The ADA of 1990
Harry continues to be the thickest goddamn protagonist this side of the Mississippi by remarking loudly about things which aren't nearly as odd as literally everything else.
9/19/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Six, or The Return of Mr. Mittens
A frisky feline helps me backstage as we continue to wander the mostly windowless halls of Midwich with the aim of collecting trinkets to turn on the boiler to duck into a clock tower.
9/17/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Five, or Pipe Dream
Gameplay! A (kind of) puzzle! A whole mess of bashing faceless monster children with a pipe! Ghost babies! Cats in lockers! It's a rollercoaster of thrills!
9/15/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Four, or Stupid Architecture and You
Not one but TWO long-winded diatribes about the questionable architecture of Silent Hill? It's like every Christmas arrived at once AND your worst enemy was stuck on cleanup duty!
9/12/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Three, or Return to Suicide Alley
Gallivanting about the town reveals that the citizens all exploded or the citizenry's infatuation with cherry Jell-O has reached ludicrous proportions.
9/10/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part Two, or Captain CAPSLOCK
A really dopey discussion betwixt our writer/protagonist and a lady officer of the law threatens to break my brain less than five minutes in. That's always a good sign.
9/8/2014 - Traipsing through Silent Hill: Part One, or Harry's Amazing Super Sonic Hearing
We return once more to the foggy realm of Silent Hill, only this time with a much stupider protagonist.
9/3/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty-Eight, or The Important Questions
I learn a valuable lesson about recording videos and making sure that there is enough time to have them encode and render. I also look back on Origins and explain what went wrong.
8/29/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty-Seven, or Ephemera
Forces beyond Travis's control conspire against him in one alternate ending, while his dark id murders people in another. It's like Christmas!
8/28/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty-Six, or My Rig, She's A-Callin'
Travis versus a really unimaginative demon-thing in the final, climactic battle for something! We're really not quite sure yet, to be honest. Also, the game is ending.
8/27/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty-Five, or SWEEEEEEET!
If nothing else comes out of this whole nightmare, Travis will learn to never, ever fuck with a powerful psychic girl with an axe to grind.
8/26/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty-Four, or Adieu, Riverside Motel
Wherein I fondly reminisce over the good design that crops up, without warning, in the unlikeliest of places.
8/25/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty-Three, or Picking Nits
I spend a lot of time discussing how my interpretation of something makes a whole lot more sense than the "official" one, which means I am either a crazy person or right.
8/22/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty-Two, or Shoddy Motel Mysteries
I attempt to go one update without making observations dealing with weird narrative/design decisions and I just can't do it. I'd apologize, but it's kind of my thing.
8/21/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty-One, or The Trial of Dr. Skeeves
And if you thought the weird historical racial stuff was a lark, then you're going to love where we're going today!
8/20/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twenty, or A Series of Very Bad Decisions
I hope you like tangents based on history and stupid gameplay decisions, because boy howdy, do we have those!
8/19/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Nineteen, or Random Story Arc Resolution
Today, we lament the loss of the costume designer, who, despite not having a name, somehow knew more about what the hell is going on than we did.
8/18/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Eighteen, or The Implications of Monster Design
Wherein we wander about a motel and encounter a new enemy type which actually has a coherent aesthetic that is disturbing for all of its glisteny undulations.
8/15/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Seventeen, or The Magnificent Dr. Skeeves
I. Have. Made. You. A. Gif.
It. Is. Most. Precious.
8/14/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Sixteen, or Caliban? More Like Caliban... 't
We finally get around to killing the baddie we've been told we have to kill since setting foot in the Artaud. Like most bosses, it's... anticlimactic.
8/13/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Fifteen, or You Don't Deserve Travis Grady
The episode where an optional (and kickass) library area smushes one of the most enduring criticisms of Travis's adventure's in Silent Hill. So there's that.
8/12/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Fourteen, or Stage Hands' Lament
Wherein Travis brutally takes down more sex puppets and fiddles with some lights, while I remain tremendously unimpressed by the theater's layout.
8/8/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Thirteen, or the Joys of Cultural Appropriation
I spend an awful lot of time raging against the costume designer's poor decisions before a shocking revelation undermines my faith in humanity and the game as a whole.
8/7/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Twelve, or Puppets, Stage Directions, and Thou
An offhand joke from the previous entry becomes a major theme as Travis journies through the Artaud Theater, a place a silly wiring and surprisingly direct level design.
8/6/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Eleven, or Freedom! Foggy, Foggy Freedom!
Despite being forced to pick up a random scrap of paper that Travis insists is important, we finally escape the seemingly unending nightmare of Clem the Patient Killer.
8/5/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Ten, or Unsettling Implications of Item Naming
Wherein we finally figure out how to break out of this place but fall short due to Travis's inability to stay conscious; also, Oedipus.
8/4/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Nine, or Analyzing Doll Puzzles
An episode where I do my inner critical analyst proud and judge the hell out of a puzzle in a game where I bludgeon taffy monsters with appliances.
8/1/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Eight, or Losing a War with an Inanimate Object
Transdimensional chicanery continues as we try desperately to find the one key we somehow just know we can't live without. Travis is a bit on the odd side, sometimes.
7/31/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: #Seven, or Why Isn't Clem Stuck in the Mirror World?
The episode where we putter around and look for something to do while stumbling upon atrocities which everyone seems weirdly okay with.
7/30/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Six, or I Hope You All Love Asylums
And so we enter into the sloggiest part of this game, with the apparently requisite journey through a "spooky" asylum.
7/29/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Pt. Five, or On the Finer Details of Monster Genitalia
We hit the streets to continue our vague mission of bringing punch-based justice to Dr. Skeeves. Possibly. I'm sitll not 100% on the "why" of it all.
7/28/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Pt. Four, or the One Where I Kill a Man Made of Taffy
Our journey through Alchemilla Hospital nears its end after six swaps between dimensions and the brutal murder of a man made out of deliciousness.
7/25/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Three, or the Death of Mr. Whacky
A major character death, innane puzzles, sexual harassment, and stabbing things square in the ass await Travis on his continuing journey into finding out what happened to Crispy Girl.
7/24/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part Two, or Impassive (adj)
Travis has long since learned to embrace change. At least, that's what his thousand-yard stare implies.
7/23/2014 - Traipsing through Origins: Part One, or Zerorigins
Wherein a trucker of noble intentions proves that he either chainsmokes like a motherfucker or used to work in a coal mine.
7/21/2014 - I Will Be Traipsing Through Silent Hill
I am announcing a very odd journey into that foggiest of hellholes, Silent Hill. Join us, won't you?
7/7/2014 - On the Narrative of The Last of Us
Wherein I discuss three stumbling blocks in the narrative of the amazing game that is The Last of Us, which will continue being amazing well into the future.
4/14/2014 - On Music and Video Games, Pt. 2
Today I shall walk a familiar path as I gush about the music I like to listen to while I write. Yes, I'm rambling and you're going to listen.
1/20/2014 - Post Mortem Review: Resident Evil 6
Wherein I discuss the profoundly stupid evolution of a game franchise that should probably be killed for its own good.
11/16/2013 - Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Review and Reflection
Wherein I play through the anticipated return to Rapture and find it really underwhelming and kind of stupid.
9/16/2013 - On Music and Video Games
It's a musical blog post, featuring talented artists and fabulous songs from that most unappreciated of genres.
3/11/2013 - No Refunds
A minor incedent a couple of months ago prompts an evaluation of people that spend a lot of time demanding refunds when they should just shut the hell up.
1/21/2013 - On the Subject of Spiders
After playing a few to many video games over break, I have come to a conclusion what are apparently programmers' default "spooky" enemy. Long story short, they suck.
11/26/2012 - Let's Play!
Here's my tribute (or, rather, my acknowledgement of one of my favorite passtimes) to the Let's Play, a joyous celebration of everything good (and bad) about video games.
10/15/2012 - Dreams of a Better Game: The Thing
Here, I lay out a way to take John Carpenter's The Thing and turn it into something worth playing. Unlike the game we actually got. Which was tragic.
8/20/2012 - Dreams of a Better Game: The Hunger Games
In which my expectations for a video game based on a child-gladiatorial-combat-themed book and movie franchise are discussed, thus setting the stage for disappointment.
6/6/2012 - YOU CLICKED A LINK! HAVE A TROPHY!
Wherein an examination of accolades in interactive media occupies most of the discussion before moving onto a theoretical application toward other forms of entertainment.