Meaningful divides

I largely think “generational divides” are bullshit — there’s often more variation within generations than between them.

On the other hand:

Here’s the thing: I experienced physical pain sitting through an hour and a half of video discussing Vampir: Kyuuketsuki Densetsu. (Okay, I ran the video at 2x speed, but it still ended up being about 30 minutes longer than necessary.) I wish it was an article, because I could have skimmed the text a hell of a lot faster. 

After enduring the video, I'm now writing out the reviewer’s assertion that Vampir benefits from an inverse Harvest Moon mechanic:

• It takes place in settlements full of characters who have daily routines.
• You visit townspeople to strengthen your relationships with them.
• Each relationship can only be strengthened once a day.
• As your relationships advance, you learn different pieces of each character’s story.

(This is also something you see in Story of Seasons, Stardew Valley, or any other relationship-building title.) The guy narrating the YouTube video was captivated by the way Vampir inverts this trope — as a vampire, you’re working to erase everything that makes these people human. Your character patiently builds these relationships and learns backstories as part of a calculated effort to amass an army of mindless thralls. 

Meanwhile, your computer-controlled opponent is running around the map and trying to win people over to his own cause. It’s notable that while the reviewer felt that the experience was bland and tedious, the game's character-driven narratives made a strong impression. I had hoped to pick up more lessons in game design from that video, but I'll settle for seeing how good storytelling can shore up mediocre gameplay.

Elsewhere in bland and tedious, I read two books in October: Greg Bear’s Moving Mars and Terry Goodkind’s Running with the Demon. Neither one was particularly rewarding. 

I was hoping that Moving Mars would be more along the lines of Blood Music or Steel Beach (although it turns out that John Varley wrote Steel Beach; I'm not sure why I misremembered the author as Bear). Moving Mars ended up being more of a political thriller? Lots of factional maneuvering to develop and control a technology that is offscreen for most of the book. The text was divided into thirds, and I wish the story began with the final third, where they’re actually applying the technology and making things happen. 

I never got into Terry Goodkind’s Shannara books —several people recommended them when I was growing up, but I found them overstuffed with description and not very interesting. I always wondered whether I had tried reading them too young. Now that I’m older, I know that's not the case; I still find them overstuffed with description and not very interesting.

Edited to note that an observant reader pointed out how I confused Terry Goodkind with Terry Brooks. It was Brooks who wrote the Shannara series, but that still didn't make Running with the Demon very interesting.  

Image credit: hans/ Pixabay