April 2019: Books and Games Update

Is anyone else having trouble truly, genuinely believing it’s already April? Am I the only who feels like they’re being yanked around by the inexorable passage of time? I’m going to assume it’s not just me, just for my own sake.

Anyway! I realized I haven’t really posted any updates on the media I’ve been spending time with recently, and I figured I’d quickly rectify that. Nothing too in-depth, yet, though hopefully that will come soon enough. But there are a few things I’d like shout-out, and likewise, I feel like putting this out here forces me to be at least a little more accountable.

Books I’ve read:

The Monster Baru Cormorant (Seth Dickinson, 2018): The sequel to my favorite book of 2018, The Traitor Baru Cormorant, the book continues with many of the threads that make the original great. High drama, intrigue, and romance, excellently sketched worldbuilding, honest explorations of imperialism, and the continued journey of Baru, who continues to be one of my favorite protagonists in literature, all make the book well worth reading. Unlike the original, Monster takes the dive a little deeper into its fantasy trappings, opening up some very interesting mysteries to explore.

However, as is the case with many fantasy sequels, the world and its beating heart never feel quite as fresh as they did in Traitor. Likewise, whereas the first book turned on a central relationship and a central question, Monster never has quite the same focus, which in turn results in some turns that feel, for lack of a better term, a little HBO. For anyone who liked the first book, still certainly worth a read.

Books I’m reading:

An Unkindness of Ghosts (Rivers Solomon, 2017): A story about race, gender, and medicine in space, Unkindness’ rendering of a vast, strange generation ship modelling the antebellum South is fascinating. Aster, the protagonist, is a well-sketched and intriguing character, and those around her all fill the world in asymmetrical but believable ways. As of the 95 pages I’ve gone through, I’ve grown steadily more curious about the nature of the setting and why it’s organized the way it is, in the fate of Aster’s eccentric and supposedly dead mother, and in the underlying themes Solomon is bringing to bear. I need to dedicate to ploughing through the rest of it sometime soon.

Books on my docket:

Pride and Prejudice, Annihilation, the Ballad of Black Tom, the Dispossessed

Games I’ve played:

Anthem (BioWare, 2019): You can find my full thoughts on the matter here, but essentially: Anthem is actually a pretty good game, for what it is, that does some new things with the genre, has a some very tight and well thought-out gameplay mechanics, and has surprisingly good (and extensive) character writing that encourages players to stick around. I’ve sunk nearly 70 hours into it, and I don’t regret it.

However, as you may have seen elsewhere, Anthem is also a total mess. Clumsy quality of life decisions, weird design choices, misleading marketing, a central campaign that sells itself short early, and more bog Anthem down. Just as serious are substantial technical problems: Allegedly bricking people’s consoles, crashes and stuttering, extreme hardware load, and generally poor optimization are hampering many players’ ability to enjoy the game, or play it at all. For me, with a pretty decent gaming PC including hardware I purchased recently, I was still suffering often substantial performance drops, as well as apparent 100% CPU load, and after a while the incentives to keep playing Anthem simply weren’t enough to get me through the irritations. Additionally, nothing about Anthem should be said without mentioning the conditions under which the game was made, which evidently produced substantial overwork and stress, far beyond the point at which ‘passion’ functions as a justification. I hope that, in a year’s time, changes in Anthem, BioWare, and the gaming industry at large will make us remember this as a turning point.

Games I’m playing:

Apex Legends (Respawn, 2019): Yes, I’ve gotten on the battle royale train, and no, I don’t yet regret it. What else do you want me to say? It’s a tight, well-designed game that elides many of the issues I’ve seen in other battle royale titles, it’s in the Titanfall universe (of which I’m a definite fan), and, frankly, Respawn just knows how to make a fun shooter. The mix of gunplay, survival, and teamwork elements is a powerful cocktail, and though I’m sure my hyperfixation will die eventually, for now I’m way too focused on getting my next big, 1-out-of-20 win.

Bloodborne (From Software, 2015): I’ve written a bit about Bloodborne previously as well, about my fear of the type of game it represented and about how I’ve realized how much broader my horizons can be. I won’t dive deep here, but, essentially, it’s an exceptionally well-designed game with a carefully crafted combat system that plays strongly into its themes and narrative, a powerfully befuddling and unnerving atmosphere, and a story throughline that gives me just enough to keep going, but not nearly enough to Truly Understand (which is clearly intentional). I’m frightened of what’s to come, but I’ve also accepted with a certain equanimity the inevitability of finishing it, getting an ending I don’t want or understand, and wiki-digging until I actually know what the hell’s going on. Weirdly, I don’t doubt it’ll be worth it.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare, 2011): Look, I shouldn’t be playing it. I’ve already given it way too much of myself. But the thing is, I’ve never finished the Jedi consular storyline, and that seems like a thing I should do, plus, I really want my consular to romance a particular character from the expansions because I know they’d be cute together, so, what can you do.

Games I should be playing:

Hitman 2, Tacoma, Life is Strange 2

Games on my docket:

Sekiro: Shadow’s Die Twice, the Yakuza games (probably?), What Remains of Edith Finch, Sunless Sea, Nier: Automata, probably others I’m forgetting about

I’ll either update this or post something new as I kick myself into gear, so please bother me about not doing things I know I’d enjoy any time