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julianbashir · 2 years

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The characters in Evil Dead: The Game have dialogue if you view their models in your collection! More characters/plaintext description under under read more.

Ash Williams (The Evil Dead): Delta, tuned up and gassed -- check. Suitcases, TV, football, and blankets in the trunk -- check. Map to the cabin -- check. Worthless magnifying glass necklace boxed up like actual jewelry and in my pocket -- check. Linda’s gonna love it. She’ll never take it off.

Ash Williams (Evil Dead 2): I know I’m punching above my weight with Linda, but the important thing is she doesn’t know it. Heck, she doesn’t even realize that piece-of-crap necklace I gave her came out of a gumball machine.

Ash Williams (Army of Darkness): I had a real life once. A job, a car, a girlfriend. Together, we drove to a cabin in the mountains. An archaeologist had come to this remote place to translate and study his latest find, Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the Book of the Dead. It was never meant for the world of the living. The book awoke something dark in the woods.

Ash Williams (Ash vs Evil Dead): I’ve been called a lot of things: El Jefe, the savior of humanity, the boomstick butcher with the chainsaw hand. The truth is, I’m just your everyday, charming, ruggedly handsome dude from Michigan. I didn’t ask for any of this, but when evil picked a fight with Ashley J. Williams, they picked the wrong dude.

Annie Knowby: The Castle of Kandar is an obsession for my dad. I guess that’s where I picked it up. We were exploring the castle’s rear chamber when we found it -- Naturom Demonto, the Book of the Dead. Mom and Dad took it back to their cabin to translate in peace. I stayed behind here at Kandar to find the missing pages.

Scotty: Way out in the woods with the trees and the moonlight, what girl can resist that romantic setting? Shelly and I have been going out for about a month and a half, but this weekend is gonna kick it up a notch. Nature brings out the primal instincts, you know?

Henry the Red: As Lord of the Northlands, I have been witness to all measure of hazard and hardship, but nothing approaches the abomination that now threatens out land. At the behest of the hero from the sky, I will put aside my grievances with Arthur in the south. I will ride with my men into battle against evil itself. Blows, blood, and death, I say!

Ed Getley: As an associate professor, to be invited to join Professor Knowby’s expedition of Castle Kandar was the highlight of my career. I could never have imagined that it’s also where I’d find the woman of my dreams. From the moment I saw her, the professor’s daughter, Annie, took my breath away. In that instant, I knew that I’d follow her into the mouth of hell.

Kelly Maxwell: ValueStop was supposed to be a temporary layover for me, a pit stop to gas up and get my bearings before the magnificent future ahead. I don’t plan anymore. I don’t even think about the future. While everyone else dreams of peace on Earth and puppies, my eyes are wide open to the evil closing in around us.

Amanda Fisher: I can’t explain what happened to Detective Carson in that house. He was my partner, my friend, and then he was...something else. He was sick. At first, I thought I couldn’t trust my eyes, then I saw the same thing again in the bookstore and the diner. This Ash guy isn’t someone I’d normally trust, but at this point he’s my best option to stop this thing.

Cheryl Williams: I always feel like an outsider with Ash and his friends, like the tag-along little sister. Scotty doesn’t make it any easier, teasing me all the time. I don’t even know why Ash likes him. Ash says this’ll be a fun weekend, but I don’t know. Stuck in this creepy old cabin for a weekend with this group? I’ll be glad when it’s over.

Pablo Simon Bolivar: When I was a kid, my Uncle Brujo would say “Fear the devil. Evil is always waiting in the shadows.” He told me that when the time came, El Jefe would rise to stand against it. I always thought he was crazy. Now, I may not be El Jefe, but I can see the time has come -- the time to rise and stand against the evil.

Lord Arthur: For time beyond measure, the brave people of Castle Kandar have stood as the final bastion of hope against the terrors of the Deadites. Under my leadership, our people have kept safe this region, while we await the prophesized hero from the sky to deliver us. But I fear our time runs short, and our end is nigh.

Henrietta: Fresh souls run scared in the night, and sweet Henrietta is hungry! Bring me to them, and I will do the rest.

Eligos: Release me, and together we will torment the living until they beg for death.

Evil Ash: I live again! I shall command every worm-infested son of a bitch that ever died in battle!

#ash williams #ash vs evil dead #evil dead the game #evil dead #evil dead ii #army of darkness

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innuendostudios · 4 years

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Thoughts on Even More Games

[vague, unspecific spoilers for Heaven’s Vault, Later Alligator, and Life is Strange 2]

Thoughts on Heaven’s Vault

Heaven’s Vault is a game about archeology, which means it’s also a game about incompleteness. This is very clever. Inkle - also the developers of 80 Days, which I will play someday! - specialize in deep narratives that can be explored many, many ways, allowing for a lot of player choice. You make a lot of small decisions - do you share a discovery with the trader in exchange for a valuable item, or hide it so he doesn’t plunder it? do you go looking for your missing friend, or let her stay missing in case there are people trying to follow you to her? These all have their own little arcs and resolutions, and there are so many of them, and so many ways they can play out, that the game can never be played the same way twice. The overall story begins and ends in the same place and theoretically hits the same major beats, but the journey is tailored broadly and finely to each player; it’s a style of design Aaron A. Reed refers to as “not... a branching tree but a braided rope.”

Making a narrative about archeology is how you dodge the exponentially complicated nature of that design: if there are dozens of locations, characters, plot threads, bits of color, which can be engaged with at many points in time, or ignored, or dropped by the player halfway through, how do you avoid telling a story full of gaps and dead ends? Well... you don’t. Having only partial information and having to infer the rest is what archeology is.

The protagonist of Heaven’s Vault, Aliya, is digging up the secrets of an ancient civilization, having been sent by her academy to find a researcher who’s gone missing, and stumbling into his incredible discovery. Everywhere she goes, there are holes: she has partial understanding of the researcher’s journey and motives; he, in turn, had partial understanding of the mystery he was uncovering, and Aliya has only fragments of his knowledge; the ancient texts she translates are usually fragments of larger works, and she is guessing at the meanings of many of the words; the game’s constantly updating historical timeline has entire centuries with nothing but question marks. Aliya arrives in a new location and wonders aloud to her robot companion about what this place was, when it was founded, when it was abandoned, how her predecessor found his way her and where he went next and what he took with him.

The constant feeling of discovery - of unearthing - is magnificent. Site after site, I asked, “What is this place?” Always thinking, if the eventual answer is any good, this is going to be one of the best games I’ve ever played. And, in the end, it doesn’t give you an answer, it just give you enough to make the story feel complete. It answers by not answering.

Also, translating alien texts is just extremely my jam. I’m the weirdo who enjoyed the ending of Arrival but secretly wished the whole movie had been about xenolinguistics like the first half. I guess Inkle felt similar.

The game’s by no means perfect. I think I enjoyed the sailing between worlds more than most - it’s slow, but very pretty - but it’s going to discourage a replay. I don’t think the relationship between Aliya and her robot, Six, ever gets terribly interesting. Some of the archeology is a little too obviously game-y - sail around, wait to find a random ruin, beam Six down to grab an ancient doodad, translate a bit of text, lo and behold it’s from one of the sites you’re looking for and it’s narrowed your search radius somehow. (It gives Star Trek explanations the first few times - e.g. “it has radiation that only exists in one part of the nebula” - and then stops bothering.) And the game sags a little in the middle; it could’ve hacked out 3 or 4 dig sites and still given me the same experience.

But, all told, there’s magic in it, and it just feels good to be there. Do not sleep on this one.

Thoughts on Later Alligator

There’s not a ton to say about this game except that is charming as hell. Lindsay and Alex Small-Butera have build a beautifully animated world of cute alligators, one of whom is having a birthday party where he’s convinced he’s going to be murdered. He wants you to run around getting information out of everyone who’s going to be there, which you get by completing minigames. It’s a cast of weird and funny characters with weird and funny dialogue and there’s not much more to it than that.

The design can be a little frustrating. Some minigames, if you lose, you don’t get to try again. Some are annoyingly finicky. You need to complete them all to get the true ending, which means, in my case, playing the game three times to complete all the bits you missed or got locked out of. The ending was a little different each time, so it wasn’t a total wash, but the game’s on a timer that only advances when you play a game or take the bus, and once you’ve completed most of the games there’s a lot of traveling back and forth from one nowhere to another just to advance time to the next unskippable plot beat.

(It’s also a little unclear what you’re missing as you try to get the final ending, as some of the ongoing puzzle are optional.)

But I can’t get mad. The game is too damn cute! Each character is lively and unique, with tons of personality, and the dialogue is just clever enough not to fall into empty adorkability.

It good.

Thoughts on Life is Strange 2

Somewhere, early in the development of Life is Strange 2, some Dontnod employee wrote in a design document “Episode 4 - cult?” (but in French) and nobody told them “no.”

I will not forgive them for this,

After twenty minutes of LiS2, I was ready to yell at everyone who had reported it was boring. It has one of the most powerful, gut-punching openings of any game I’ve played in recent memory. And all through the first, second, and third episodes, I was in love. Unlike Before the Storm, this was its own creature, willing to make dramatic departures from the original game’s template. Instead of controlling a character with supernatural powers, you play as the superpowered character’s older brother. The one with the magic is a 9-year-old, unable to fully understand or control his abilities, suffering a recent trauma, and needing to be guided through a dangerous and racist world. All the ambition missing from Before the Storm is back, and this time the animation isn’t creepy and the writing is wildly improved (thanks to some journeyman script work from Fullbright’s Steve Gaynor) and I even have a computer able to play it on higher graphical settings.

But nothing good lasts.

Everything good about the series screeches to a halt in Episode 4, the one where some asshole said “cult?” and didn’t get a Nerf football thrown at their head. And it’s not just that it’s a terrible idea; it’s actually sort of amazing how much the game relies on an alchemy of plot, tone, theme, and writing, and how a slight imbalance can throw the whole thing off. Episode 4 has scene after scene that are powerful in their conception - brothers reunited after a violent rift; a boy having his first conversation with his estranged mother in nearly a decade; getting interrogated by the feds for a crime that can’t even be explained by physics - fall flat because the writers can’t think of anything interesting for the characters to say. (Steve Gaynor’s name stops appearing in the credits as of this episode.)

And here the game’s rickety bits, kept delicately together for three episodes, start to shake apart. Dontnod’s overly-earnest voice direction, which I didn’t notice in the early episodes, started to wear me down. (”Could you sigh mid-syllable, like you’re slightly overwhelmed with emotion?” “Sure, on which line?” “All of them.”) The thinness of the secondary characters, most of whom pop up for one episode and disappear, became more noticeable. The lack of a mechanical hook like the time rewinding of the original game, and the attendant commentary on choice-based games and power fantasies, made the game feel less substantial. The surreal imagery of the original, obligatorily evoked in the prequel, is sensibly absent, but there’s nothing equally striking that replaces it. Even the branching path decisions become less clear: the end-of-episode stat screens for the final episodes mentioned at least a dozen choices I didn’t even know I’d made, some of which were critical in shaping my younger brother’s morality and were not necessarily the choices I’d have made if I’d known I was making a choice at all.

Come the final episode, I got An Ending that seemed right for the way I’d played, but much of the way I’d played felt accidental.

So what are we to make of this? Life is Strange is a beautiful disaster, an ambitious disaster, where Life is Strange 2 is almost less interesting for being more competent. It has a huge mess of charged topics - American racism, teens losing their virginity, raising a child outside the nuclear family, grief and trauma - and, while it handles them without the gracelessness and sledgehammer subtlety of the original, it doesn’t come to any conclusions about any of them. LiS1, for all its jank, had some opinions, where LiS2 falls into the category of “this sure is some shit, innit?” games.

It starts with a powerful premise, deeply relatable characters, fine writing, beautiful art, but can’t even manage, in the end, to be a disaster. It is the only game in the series so far to be forgettable.

#Adventure Games #capsule review #heaven's vault #life is strange 2 #later alligator

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nanigma · 4 years

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Blue Lions Translation Chapter 4

Bringing you the next chapter in my project. Hope you guys enjoy!

As always, my financial situation isn’t the best, so if you feel like throwing some change my way for what I do here, here is the link to my ko-fi page. I really appreciate any amount you can give.

Also shoutout to the @teaveetamer, who has been putting my translations in tables, for easier reading and comparison to the localization. I’ll do a better job of reblogging those from here on, but feel free to head to her blog to see what’s up. I am incredibly grateful for the help.

My comments in italics

Scene: The Enemy’s Aim

Dimitri: In preparation for the assassination attempt, we have been assigned to the defence of the monastery. That appears to be our mission this month.

Dimitri: The knights will be busy defending Rhea, but that's not where the enemy's true aim lies...

[Choose: What do you mean?]

Dedue: … Your Highness. Would you mind telling me as well?

[Choose: I agree] +Support with Dimitri

Dedue: … May I still ask what this is about?

Dedue sounds a bit snarky in Japanese here. The line delivery is perfectly stoic like always, but basically he goes “Can I still ask what’s going on first, before we continue this conversation?”.

[Continuing]

Dimitri: Lord Lonato went out of his way to carry a secret message with an assassination plot written on it, never thinking to get rid of it.

Dimitri: Doesn't it make you think... That the assassination plot was meant to hold everyone's attention while they are truly after something else?

[If Annette, Felix and Sylvain are alive]

Annette: If we are talking about valuables... That would be the treasure vault! Otherwise, there's the library or Professor Hanneman's room...

Felix: There are bound to be weapons stored at the monastery which might even rival the Heroes' Relics.

Sylvain: Well, no matter what they are after, we can't let any harm come to the girls at the monastery.

English adds a line to Sylvain’s dialogue about how he wouldn’t know what else to do in his free time, making him sound a bit more callous.

Dedue: So what you mean to say is... We should investigate the monastery to find out what the enemy is truly after?

Dimitri: That's right. And to prepare us for when we face the enemy, we need to invest in our training as well.

[Shamir and Cyril enter the scene]

Shamir: You conspiring together, Professor?

Literally she is saying “Are you sticking your faces together to conspire?”, which I find a funny way of phrasing it.

Shamir: Oh, I haven't given you my name yet. I am Shamir.

Dimitri: Shamir is a member of the knights of Seiros. And this boy here is...

Cyril: I am Cyril, an attendant of Lady Rhea and apprentice to Shamir.

[Choose: Attendant?]

Cyril: I take care of Lady Rhea's daily necessities.

This is interesting, because unlike the English version, this specifies Cyril’s role in Rhea’s services. He isn’t just a normal servant, he is her personal attendant, which is a pretty important job and normally wouldn’t involve some of the things we see him doing in his supports (like chopping wood), so I assume those are tasks he himself took on.

[Choose: Apprentice?]

Cyril: I am trained in stuff like swords and bows.

Cyril: I wish to protect Lady Rhea as well... That's why I am Ms. Shamir's apprentice.

Shamir: Cyril adores Rhea, you see. Well, we each gotta do what we can.

In English, Shamir tells Byleth they can ask her anything.

Exploration

Dimitri

[Quest: Learning the Enemy’s Aim]

Dimitri: If the enemy truly has a different aim, then we need to find it out ahead of time.

Dimitri: It really seems there is no other option than to explore the monastery on our own, searching each place individually.

Dimitri: Afterwards we need to gather information from everyone living here. If we manage to come up with something, let’s speak again.

[If talked to again with insufficient information]

Dimitri: There's still some places I'd like more information on. Is there no one else who seems likely to hear us out?

[If talked to again with enough information]

Dimitri: … I see. To the church, there is something they put above all else.

Dimitri: On the day of the ceremony, it will be much easier to enter compared to normally, due to being opened for the public. That would be...

[Choose: The enemy will target the Greenhouse?] and [Choose: The enemy will target the dining hall?]

Dimitri: … How could that be the case?

Fun fact: When I first read the line, I thought the そうなる was referring to Byleth and he said “Why are you like this?” xD

Dimitri: Yes, I am afraid so.

Dimitri: We still do not know their objective, but the chances of them targeting the Holy Mausoleum are high.

Dedue

Dedue: I thought to help the monks with their duties, but they refused.

Dedue: They said you can never know when someone from Duscur will betray you and that I might be involved with the plot.

English just had them more concisely say that “no one from Duscur can be trusted, especially now”

Dedue: ...Them being nervous about the current situation is to be expected.

Felix

Felix: … An assassin targeting the archbishop, you say? I hope they are worth fighting.

[Choose: I hope so too] +Support with Felix

Felix: … Hah. It appears we are of the same mind.

[Choose: I want to avoid a battle]

Felix: … That's just what you think.

“That’s just, like, your opinion, man.”

Ashe

Ashe: Ah, Professor... I am sorry. I was just thinking about Lord Lonato...

Ashe: … Sorry for being in such a state at a time like this. It seems I still haven't been able to sort out my feelings.

[Choose: It can't be helped] and [Choose: Pull yourself together] +Support with Ashe for the latter

Ashe: … Thank you. I'll still be taking care of my duties of course.

Ashe: By the way, my younger siblings, who were living at Castle Gaspard, are both well.

Ashe: They are still very young, but it seems they've been taken in by a nearby church...

Ashe: … Even with everything that’s happened, this gives me some peace of mind.

Sylvain

Sylvain: Haah, there's no class on the day of the festivities, so I thought I'd be able to fool around all day..

Sylvain: Hey, Professor. Do you really think they specifically chose the day of the ceremony of rebirth for their assassination plan?

Sylvain: You'd think there’d be times where security would be less severe.

Sylvain: In that case, I wonder if there's a reason it simply had to be that one day?

Mercedes

Mercedes: There are a lot of treasures at the monastery. The enemy is probably after them.

Mercedes: But really, it is such a dreadful thought. To even think someone would steal church property.

Annette

Annette: Ehehe, I came here to buy ingredients for making sweets. Ah, I'm not just messing around or anything.

Annette: I thought it'd be nice to have something on the go for when I get into fights during my patrol.

[Choose: That's a great idea] +Support with Annette

Annette: Ehehe, right? Once I get better at cooking, I'll let you know how to make them, Professor.

[Choose: There's no reason to make sweets...]

Annette: I think eating sweets helps cheer you up... Ah, didn't you say you liked spicy food, Professor?

Ingrid

Ingrid: Professor. Although the investigation is important, you also have to take care not to neglect your training.

Ingrid: In case a battle happens, it wouldn't do to have the tables turned on us.

Ingrid: As we have no idea about the identity of our enemy, we can't be too careful about this.

Scene: The Goddess’ Right of Rebirth

[If you have not completed the quest “Finding the Enemy's Aim”]

Dimitri: At last the Goddess' Rite of Rebirth has begun. … And yet, we have been unable to narrow down what exactly our enemy is after.

Dimitri: The only thing we can do is immediately respond to whatever occurs as we patrol the monastery.

[If Felix and Annette are alive]

Felix: Tch... Being one step behind is hardly gratifying.

Annette: Ah, I baked us some sweets in case we get hungry during our patrol.

Annette: Though I might have messed them up a bit...

Dimitri: Annette... About that explosion in the kitchen last night...

[If you did complete the quest]

Dimitri: At last the Goddess' Rite of Rebirth has begun. We shall move out exactly as we discussed.

Dedue: Yes. Leave it to us. … Professor, you are well prepared as well, right?

[Choose: I am all set.]

Ingrid: Right, we also managed to figure out the enemy's goal after all. Let us do our duty!

[Choose: I don't think so.]

Mercedes: Oh my, the Professor doesn't have faith in this. How disconcerting.

[Choose: I am hungry.]

Annette: Eh? Ah, I'll sneak you some of my sweets after this.

[Continuing]

Dimitri: Professor. We are counting on you. Now then....

[Seteth+Flayn Dialogue. 100% identical between routes.]

Dedue: So it's time.

[If you have not completed the quest]

Dimitri: I managed to narrow down a few places that caught my attention.

Dimitri: Let's check on them one by one. The second floor, the white tower, and after that in the basement... the Holy Mausoleum.

[If you did complete the quest]

Dimitri: Now, let's hide in the agreed spot. We'll stand watch over the entrance to the Holy Mausoleum.

Dimitri: If any suspicious people should enter, we will capture them one and all. All right?

Battle: Aussault at the Godess’ Right of Rebirth

[If you have not completed the quest]

Dimitri: Tch... we were one step behind. It seems the enemy has already infiltrated this place.

[If you have completed the quest]

Dimitri: It is just as we thought. The enemy did actually infiltrate this place.

Mysterious Mage: Those guys from the Central Church already noticed us.... Buy me some time until I lift the seal!

Western Church Soldier: Hahaha!

Dimitri: The enemy is seeking something inside... Saint Seiros coffin. They can't possibly be after her remains, can they?

Dimitri: Although we definitely want to defeat them before they can open Saint Seiros' casket...

Dimitri: Take a close look at the floor. It seems some kind of mechanism was set up here.

Dimitri: Attacking from the best possible position as we proceed, while keeping an eye on the enemies' weapons, seems to me for the best.

Mysterious Mage: Death Knight! You are very strong, yes? Scatter them!

Death Knight: I do not take orders from the likes of you... And facing off against the weak is boring.

Dimitri: … He seems quite experienced. Challenging this knight recklessly would be a foolish idea.

Mercedes VS Death Knight

Mercedes: My my, how scary. Go easy on me, okay?

Death Knight: You are... I see... this chance meeting... was once again fated.

Mercedes: Yeees...? Just what could you be talking about?~

[When the battle ends and the Death Knight retreats]

Dimitri: … He got away. Right now, we'd best give up on any plans of chasing him.

Dimitri: That said... Professor. That sword, that glow... could it be...

Scene: Judgement

[Right after the scene with Rhea]

Dimitri: ….And there you have it. It seems as if the assassination attempt and the attack on the Holy Mausoleum were all orchestrated by the Western Church.

Dimitri: The whereabouts of the masked knight who led the attack are as yet unknown.

Dedue: Still, why would the Western Church do this?

Dimitri: It's because the Church of Seiros is not a unified entity, Dedue.

Dimitri: The church's management is in the hands of the leaders here are Garreg Mach. Even on the Church Council, the Western Church's voice is very weak.

Dimitri: The Western Church must have nursed dissatisfaction with the Central Church for some time.

[Choose: The Western Church...] and [Choose: The Central Church?]

Dimitri: Ah, that's right. Sir Jeralt mentioned that you did not grow up within the church.

Dimitri: The Holy Church of Seiros operates from multiple different branches across Fodlán.

Dimitri: The biggest is the Central Church, whose headquarters are here at Garreg Mach...

Dimitri: The Western Church lies far to the west of Gaspard Castle, where Lord Lonato raised his troops.

Dimitri: Their headquarters are on the other side of the most durable fortress city in the Kingdom, Arianrhod.

Dimitri: It seems the current incident was about the Western Church aiming to throw off the Central Church's authority and eliminate Lady Rhea.

Dimitri: Naturally in this case, the Knights of Seiros make an inquiry concerning their leaders... no, they will ride out to subjugate them.

Dedue: If they do... it will also be our duty to help them, right, Your Highness?

Dimitri: Yeah. However, you really are strange, Professor. To think that someone could be born in Fodlán...

Dimitri: And live their life without any contact with the church, is quite an unbelievable thing.

Dedue: … I wonder why the archbishop would appoint them as Professor.

[If Ashe, Mercedes and Ingrid are alive]

Ashe: Um... Lady Rhea had all the people from the Western Church killed, right?

Mercedes: It couldn't be helped. Going against the teachings is something that just isn't done...

Ingrid: … Those who do not conform can only be killed. Still, Professor, I....

Seteth: There you are, Professor. It seems the archbishop has something to tell you. Come with me.

#nanigma translates #3H #blue lions

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keepcalmandstudy · 5 years

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My Oxford Finals Papers

Hello! Here’s a much requested run-down of the papers I took for my finals! There are 2 streams you can choose between after your first year of Oxford English - Course 1 and Course 2. I went for Course 2 - chosen far less than Course 1 but I found it to be incredibly rewarding!

Paper 1 - Literature in English, 650-1100 (Old English)

- Exam in Trinity Term (3rd and final term), 3rd year, 3 essays in 3 hours

- College taught in Michaelmas Term (1st term) of 2nd year and then revisited for revision

- Focus: Cynewulf's runic signatures concluding his female saints' lives (Juliana and Elene), Ælfric's Catholic Homilies (particular focus on his life of Cuthbert), Old English metrical charms (particularly those found in the margins of MS CCCC 41)

- I LOVE OLD ENGLISH!!!! That is all I have to say about this one, I looooove it

Paper 2 - Medieval English and Related Literatures, 1066-1550 (Romance)

- Exam in Trinity Term, 3rd year, 2 essays in 3 hours

- Faculty taught in Hilary term (2nd term), 2nd year, and then revisited for revision

- Focus: Magic and the supernatural in the First Branch of the Mabinogi (medieval welsh), Marie de France's Lais (particularly Lanval and Milun; medieval French) and Walter Map's King Herla (Latin); The flexibility of the Middle English Sir Gowther in its varying manuscript contexts

- This paper was a challenge because it’s completely unlike anything I’ve done before. Because it was 2 essays in 3 hours (rather than the usual 3), topics had to be much broader and explored in greater depth. You’re also handling different languages too (although you can work with them in translation, but that does make the way you approach analysis different to the way it would be approached if you’re working with the original) and it’s a genre (rather than time period) paper. This is one of the reasons that I really liked Course 2 - while with Course 1 all the papers are time period ones, Course 2 spices things up a bit and I think that enables you to develop a broader skillset.

Paper 3 - Literature in English, 1350-1550 (Middle English)

- Exam in Trinity Term, 3rd year, 2 essays and 1 commentary in 3 hours

- College taught in Michaelmas and Hilary Term, 2nd year and then revisited for revision

- Focus: Authority and translation in Robert Henryson's Morall Fabillis, Gavin Douglas' Eneados and David Lindsay's 'The Testament and Complaynt of Our Soverane Lordis Papyngo'; Affective piety in Middle English Marian lyrics and related material culture; Set commentary passage from Chaucer's ‘Troilus and Criseyde’

- The topics I explored for this paper were really interesting - I thoroughly enjoyed it. I messed up my timing in the exam but hey ho, these things happen!

Paper 4 - The History of the English Language to c1800

- Coursework, submitted Trinity Term, 2nd year

- An essay and a commentary, both 2000-2500

- Formatted like a 'take-home exam' - questions are released and you choose 2 and have about 2.5 weeks to write and submit

- Faculty taught in Hilary and Trinity Term, 2nd year

- Chosen Questions:

Essay - In historical research, there are no 'bad documents' (HIPPOLYTE TAINE). Discuss.

Commentary - 'Nothing reveals the deficiencies of a language more surely than translating into it' (CHRISTIAN KAY). Provide a close analysis of the language of TWO texts which seem to you to reveal or contest that claim.

- Similar to the Romance paper, this one was unlike anything I’ve done before! It was a bloody challenge at first because of it being such an enormous leap up, especially having never done any linguistics before. In the end though, I loved it and I explored some really interesting topics!

Paper 5 - The Material Text

- Coursework, submitted Hilary Term, 3rd year

- A commentary and an essay, both 2000-2500 words

- Formatted in the same way as the English Language paper, but they're considering changing this to be more like your standard coursework

- Faculty taught in Trinity Term, 2nd year, and Michaelmas Term, 3rd year

- Chosen commentary folio:

- Chosen essay question: 'The introduction of error into the transmitted text is often regarded as a random and unpredictable phenomenon related to human frailty' (L. NEIDORF). What other alternatives are there? Give specific examples.

- I loved this paper (are you spotting a pattern here? haha) - getting to see so many real manuscripts up close was fascinating and I feel so lucky to have gotten to see some of the collection in Oxford! Perhaps controversially I chose this option over Shakespeare (!) but I’m so glad I did. I figured I could go back to Shakespeare at any time during my life, but seeing these manuscripts was a one-time opportunity.

Paper 6 - Special Options: Writing Lives

- Coursework, submitted Michaelmas Term, 3rd year

- A 6000 word essay

- Taught by 2 tutors running this specific option (there were a bunch of options released and you had to submit your top 5 - you’d then hopefully be given your 1st choice)

- Focus: The extent to which a writer's temporal moment affects the way they approach writing about mental health. Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk; Thomas Hoccleve's Complaint and Dialogue

- Ironically, my own mental health went a bit haywire during the term in which I took this paper which was a shame, but hey ho, ya win some ya lose some, and I really enjoyed the texts we got to read for it. I kind of wish I’d chosen a more medieval option but I did manage to incorporate some medieval stuff in there with Hoccleve. The teaching and submission all being in 1 term is a bit ridiculous in my opinion too.

Paper 7 - Dissertation

- Coursework, submitted Hilary Term, 3rd year

- An 8000 word essay

- Undertaken from the end of 2nd year

- Abstract: 'For my dissertation, I will be examining twelfth-century texts (such as Instructions for Christians and the First Worcester Fragment) that speak back to those from the Anglo-Saxon past, considering inheritance from the poetic and homiletic traditions. Building on and developing from the work of Hugh Magennis, I will look at the way light imagery in such late Old English and Post-Conquest texts functions both literally and metaphorically, and how these two functions intersect. I will also consider how such texts engage in dialogue with material culture, examining artefacts such as The Gloucester Candlestick.'

- It was cool being able to research my own topic and produce something from that research. My supervisor was amazing too!

Overall, I really enjoyed the course. My tutoring, especially from my Balliol tutor, was outstanding - she really did go above and beyond for me. I didn't enjoy the writing of the longer pieces so much but I did enjoy the texts I looked at and it's definitely worthwhile to develop the skill of writing longer pieces I think. I loved the rest of my papers, especially Old English! On the whole it was a great course!

If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to ask!

#studyblr #studyspo #oxford university #finals #papers #English #language #literature #course 2

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recentanimenews · 5 years

Text

Touhou: Azure Reflections Is A Great First Step Into An Amazing Series

I’ve been a huge fan of the Touhou Project for a long time. I have loads of fond memories, from streaming “one credit clear” attempts for friends, to endless conversations about the messy but fascinating lore of the mainline series with other fans. So, back when it was announced that not only Touhou fan games but the main series would be coming to Steam just last year, I was ecstatic. Not only did this mean that there was a much more convenient way to get my hands on the games, but that a wave of new fans and interesting fan-created experiences were soon to follow.

Alongside the main franchise came RPGs about exploring the world of Touhou, a stellar Metroidvania set in one of the franchise’s most iconic locations (along with a bunch of fan-made bullet hell shoot ‘em ups just like the mainline.) Considering the franchise’s most popular aspect was a hail of bullets that became increasingly more dense as the levels progressed, each fan-made game took their own approach to such a visual spectacle.

Touhou: Azure Reflections is one of the several bullet-hell style fan games that have come out on Steam and it arrives alongside its own interesting takes on the Touhou formula. With fully voiced characters and beautiful 3D models, we head to the Scarlet Devil Mansion from the first Windows game as one of three playable characters to fight well known characters from both the aforementioned first game and from other titles in the series.

Fans of the series will be familiar with most of its systems, such as the six stage format (plus an extra stage,) every boss having a series of special “spell card” attacks, four difficulties including Easy, Normal, Hard, and Lunatic, and a limited amount of lives alongside a limited number of arcade-style continues. Where Azure Reflections begins to mix things up, though, is now the player can shoot both in front of them and behind them as enemies and bosses can attack from either end of the screen. This means that while the setting, characters, and systems may feel familiar there’s an extra level of strategy that goes into the stages and bosses.

The plot is relatively simple - a red mist is covering up the sun just like in the events of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, so you point a finger at the most obvious suspect. As a result, you set out as either Reimu, Marisa, or Cirno to go confront Remilia Scarlet to resolve the incident. In typical Touhou fashion, each of the characters have their own specialties and shot types. For example, Marisa is more powerful than the others and has a faster movement speed that's perfect for aggressive players, while also having relatively limiting shot types. Meanwhile, Reimu is less strong and a fair bit slower, but has access to a homing shot that lets players focus on dodging more than attacking.

The player is equipped with two lives and two “bombs” that temporarily make them invulnerable (and can even be activated in a small window after death to survive just at the cost of a bomb.) Each of the six main stages and extra stage are relatively short and feature a mid-boss as well as a standard boss that’s one of the characters from the mainline games, all of which drop power items that fittingly power up your attacks, point items that, well, give you points, and a green collectible that can be exchanged for accessories for the girls between runs.

Where Azure Reflections begins to turn things on their head is the addition of a new “burst” attack and their adaptation of classic boss attacks. Now, alongside bombs, players have a gauge that fills over time and once it’s completely filled, you can unleash a large amount of damage by ramming into enemies while turning bullets into points. This new attack is the only way to finish off mid-bosses and every boss’ spell cards and in several cases it's even more useful than bombs as there’s no notable punishment for defaulting to it whenever you’re in danger.

On the other end of things, many bosses have attacks from their source game, but on occasion these attacks are modified to fit this game. On the better end of things, Cirno’s infamous Icicle Fall no longer has an incredibly simple blind spot on Easy. On the worst end, Sakuya’s spells and attacks no longer freeze time which unfortunately makes them a lot less impactful. Overall, many of the infamously hard attacks from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, like Sakuya’s Eternal Meek, have been taken out in favour of easier attacks that still capture that Touhou feel.

In fact, I’d say that “overall easier” is a great way to describe Azure Reflections’ difficulty, as it's added a lot of conventions that make playing it much more accessible to new players. There's an option in the settings that allows you to always see your hitbox rather than just when you’re focusing fire, getting hit only stuns you and you have to get hit again while stunned in order to properly die, and bullet patterns are less dense even on the highest difficulty.

Along with these gameplay decisions, there was also the choice to use full 3D models for the characters and backgrounds, which makes for a tremendously pretty game. Additionally, every character is now fully voiced so you can hear every quip and reaction. A pretty large flaw, unfortunately, is that despite the game being available in English, not all of the Japanese dialogue is translated.

Specifically, during boss fights, the boss and the player character will quip back and forth at each other and unfortunately, none of it is subtitled or otherwise translated in any way. While the short one-liners that the characters say upon being selected or clearing a stage also aren’t subtitled, it’s a much bigger bummer that there are full conversations completely lost to players who can’t understand Japanese.

Whether you’re a fan of the mainline series or someone who’s been waiting for an easy way to get into the games, Azure Reflections proves to be an accessible but tough Touhou game that's absolutely worth playing. This game serves as both a great first step into Touhou (especially with more and more of the mainline coming out on Steam since Hidden Star in Four Seasons’ release,) and as a nice callback with an interesting cast for those already familiar with the series. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to go on a trip to Gensokyo’s Scarlet Devil Mansion!

REVIEW ROUNDUP + Extremely pretty with full 3D environments and character models + Creative yet faithful callbacks to the main series + Range of fully customisable characters that supports a variety of play styles + Accessible to new players that aren't used to the level of difficulty Touhou games typically offer +/- Some of the more iconic attacks have been simplified to the point of losing their charm - Full conversations go completely untranslated from Japanese despite the game being playable in other languages

Are you a fan of the Touhou Project or someone looking for a reason to take the dive? Let us know in the comments below!

------------

Tsuyuki Arumaya is a fiction author, editorial writer, and anime reviewer. You can find his editorials on the blog Anime Corps and follow him on Twitter @Dististik.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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pekorosu · 6 years

Text

On the topic of Chinese names in Banana Fish

Warning for manga spoilers and also a lengthy discussion.

This is something I’ve been wanting to explore due to its differences in the original Japanese and the English localisation. I will mostly be discussing the major recurring characters, starting with the Lees.

The Lee family

Interestingly, the Lees have actual Chinese characters for their names in the original Japanese. They are:

李紅龍 (Localisation: Lee Hong-Lung)

李大龍 / 王龍 (Localisation: Lee Tai-Lung / Wang-Lung)

李華龍 (Localisation: Lee Hua-Lung)

李月龍 (Localisation: Lee Yut-Lung)

Thanks to this, they are also the only ones with confirmed Mandarin-pronounced names. For example, 月龍 (Pinyin: yuè lóng) is given the furigana ユエルン (yuerun) in Japanese. I'm guessing this is because the characters were actually looked up from a proper Chinese source.

This initially made me inclined to think of the Lee family as hailing from further north of China, especially with the brief mention in volume 4 of them being descendants of the Qing Dynasty’s ruling family (Wouldn’t that make them Manchu people though? And that would open up a whole other can of worms...).

However, it is also mentioned in volume 17 that Yut-Lung actually came from Hong Kong. So that makes the localisation’s decision to romanise 月龍 as “Yut-Lung” perfectly appropriate.

Localisation

What is it about “Yut-Lung” that makes it so suitable? It is very obviously Cantonese. The transliteration of 李 as “Lee” instead of “Li” could also be indicative of that. Setting Yut-Lung’s birthplace aside, it still wouldn't be farfetched to infer from how established the Lees are in the States plus the fact that Hong-Lung had once been based in HK, that they would be Cantonese speakers.

The eldest Lee son has also been addressed in 3 different ways. He is first introduced as 李大人 (Localisation: Lee Daai Yan), the latter half of which is probably a title of respect (I think "Daai Gor/Lou" would be a better fit though?). We later come to know him as 李大龍 (Lee Tai-Lung), and then 王龍 (Wang-Lung) which is said to be inherited from his predecessor.

Also, Yut-Lung’s attendant was renamed Suk-Leui, which sounds Cantonese (originally スウルー (sūrū)). From this, it’s clear that the localisation is making a deliberate move to depict them as Cantonese speakers.

There is a catch though. If we were to be more accurate, Wang-Lung should be Wong-Lung, Hua-Lung should be Wah-Lung, and Tai-Lung should be Daai-Lung. I have two theories here:

The localisation is deliberately using Mandarin for the other Lees except Yut-Lung, hence affirming their earlier-mentioned family history. But this would bring up the question of: why is it not Da-Lung instead of Tai-Lung (as far as I know, the “tai/dai” pronunciation for Mandarin should be obsolete)? Are they perhaps just following the original Japanese furigana...?

You could argue that they sound similar enough for the romanisation differences to be considered minor. Especially in the case of Hong-Lung/Hung-Lung, the difference is negligible.

Another funny thing is that in both versions, the characters are 100% speaking Mandarin whenever they speak “Chinese.” This can be inferred from both the furigana attached and the structure of the sentences itself.

Note: I don’t know if it sounds natural or not because I don’t speak much Mandarin, just that the grammar and vocab definitely indicates Mandarin.

Example:

I mean, to be fair it’s unrealistic to expect the localisation to change it into written Cantonese, but because of this we now have another inconsistency in the loc.

(For those who are interested, brief info on Mando/Canto differences: link 1, link 2. Note: “It would usually sound unnatural to speak Cantonese using Mandarin grammar." Also I would argue since this is a manga and therefore an informal medium (plus the charas are conversing not writing), thinking of the dialogue as being in standard written Chinese kinda makes no sense.)

Summary:

The original Japanese is consistent in ensuring that any furigana attached to Chinese characters in names and Chinese dialogue correspond to Mandarin. However, this contradicts facts involving characters who come from or currently live in Cantonese-dominant areas (HK, Chinatowns of that era).

The English localisation made an effort to change some things into Cantonese to better suit the context, but did not extend it to the Chinese dialogue and is overall inconsistent.

Side note: ユーシス (Yousiss) is supposed to be Yut-Lung’s English/”American” name. The English localisation came up with “Yau-Si” which yup, doesn’t sound very English. My guess is that they overlooked it at first, because this tiny mention only shows up once in volume 11. It is omitted in the localisation.

Edit (7/2/2021): I’m now convinced that ユーシス (Yousiss) could actually be “Eustace.” Please see this post for details.

Shorter Wong (ショーター・ウォン), Nadia Wong (マーディア・ウォン), Lao Yen Tai (ラオ・イェン・タイ)

I don’t have much to say about “Shorter” beyond that it's a quirky English name, haha. But interestingly, in one of the Chinese dialogues, Yut-Lung calls him “肖達” (Pinyin: xiào dá) which... I’m just going to assume is a Mandarin transliteration of “Shorter.”

“Nadia” was originally マーディア (mādia) or as the official guidebook has romanised it, Mardeer. Either way doesn’t affect much. More importantly, I think it’s safe to assume that Wong is a Cantonese romanisation. I think it would be apt if it also happened to be 黃 because yellow is the theme colour of the series... and is reminiscent of “banana (fish)” which is the reason for what befalls Shorter... :x

Lao (or Lau?) can be a Mandarin surname but it seems very uncommon. On the other hand, it could be a non-Mandarin romanisation of Liu (劉/刘). Not sure about “Yen/Yuen Tai.” Fun fact: if we took 劉 and stuck it into a kanji dictionary, we’d get the meaning “to kill” (that meaning is probably obsolete though).

Surprisingly, these names are fitting in very well with the idea that they are not supposed to be read as Mandarin. It would make perfect sense though, as Chinatowns were at that time dominated by Canto speakers, as opposed to the Mandarin of today.

From this, I feel inclined to posit that “Sing” is either Canto or non-Mandarin as well, though there is no evidence of this intention in the original source material.

Sing Soo Ling (シン・スウ・リン)

This guy is a special case because we actually have the meaning(s) to his name, but no Chinese characters to go with it. So we would have to do a bit of sleuthing.

Since "Sing" is a localisation, it's not going to be the best place to start from. "シン (Shin)" alone is vague too. It could turn out to be Cheng, Shing, Xin, Sim… coupled with not knowing which dialect or system of romanisation to use, that creates way too many options!

However, I’m betting if the mangaka went to the lengths of researching definitions, she would have gone straight to Mandarin, or possibly Canto. So that’s where I’ve restricted my search to.

Which is it?

According to Sing in Garden of Light, his name carries the Japanese meanings of 魔神, 獅子 and 罪. The localisation translated them as “demon,” “lion” and “guilt” respectively.

You'd think that each of those would match up with all the characters in his name since it's unlikely for only 1 character to carry all 3 meanings. Unfortunately I've looked into various dictionaries with very little success. They just don’t match up at all!

Here's my speculation:

獅子

I thought 獅子 would be the easiest to start with since there can't possibly be that many characters for "lion". Which proved to be true! But that just meant I hit a dead end pretty quick.

“Lion” in Chinese is also 獅子 but pronounced "shī zi" and "si zi" in Mando and Canto respectively. Not close at all to "shin/sing" plus they’re missing the final n/ng sound.

I was pretty stumped, but then it hit me that… hey! "Singa" is “lion” in Malay. And that led me to "Singapore" which then led me to 新加坡 / 星加坡 (Pinyin: xīn jiā pō / xīng jiā pō. The former is the official transliteration. Not sure about the latter but I think it is a Canto reading because: san gaa bo / sing gaa bo). Also: [Sin]gapore = [シン]ガポール!

"Xin/Xing" doesn't mean "lion" per se, but since it's a Mandarin transliteration of its native name, it could sort of, partly... indirectly... mean that...? I feel like I'm reaching a little here but damn, the mangaka is not making this easy.

Edit (18/8/2020): I've omitted a lot of my research in order to keep this post short and concise, but as time goes on I am more convinced that Yoshida took her meanings not from Chinese, but elsewhere. So I'm making a minor edit to include this as well:

- The word siṃhá from Sanskrit carries the meaning of “lion.” (x)

- It seems to have descended into "sinh/sing" in languages such as Hindi (सिंह), Lao (ສິງ) and others.

- In Thai, lion is “singto/sing” and there’s even a common given name called Sing(h). (x)

- The Sikh surname “Singh” is also said to have been derived from Sanskrit.

Combined with the fact that "singa" itself from "Singapore" has its roots in this Sanskrit word, this seems to be the strongest contender at the moment.

罪

It's possible that 罪 could be referring to not just "guilt" but "sin". After all, "sin" is close to how the average Japanese person would romanise シン (using Kunrei-Shiki romanisation). And guess what, it IS romanised as “Sin” in New York Sense and in the first edition of the official guidebook. I wouldn’t rule out the mangaka going through an English dictionary looking for the definition of “sin” because to her, it’s the same as シン. Honestly, I’m 99% sure that’s what she did.

魔神

I haven’t had any success with 魔神 which can also mean “devil/evil spirit.” The only thing that came to mind is that some kanji can be read as both “shin” or “jin” depending on the context, which then made me think of djinns? Which are evil spirits in a sense… This feels way too vague though.

Edit (18/8/2020): Still no luck here, but tumblr user sayaka19fan has suggested that "魔神" could refer to "死神/shinigami", the god of death.

But if that’s the case, why didn’t Yoshida just use “死神” from the get-go? sayaka19fan explained that it could have something to do with the taboo surrounding the word “shi (死)” or “death” in Japanese culture. Personally, I am not quite convinced because:

1) Yoshida had no problem depicting Ash talking at length about “death” in the leopard scene. I don’t see any reason why Sing would shy away from the topic/word either, unless maybe he’s extra aware of Akira’s presence, since she’s a child?

2) Also, "shinigami" is shi-ni-ga-mi (シニガミ), not shin-i-ga-mi (シンイガミ). By dropping the n (ン) sound, the entire word changes and shi (シ) alone is not Sing's name anymore.

If all 3 meanings had the same pattern of only drawing from shi (シ) then I might be more convinced, but as shown above, 2 out of 3 derive from words that can definitively be read as "sin/sing/シン". I'm inclined to think that 魔神 should follow as well, since there’s no reason for Yoshida to suddenly diverge from this rule.

- - - - - - - -

"スウリン/Soo Ling" doesn't seem to factor into any of these at all, so I’m convinced that the mangaka meant for those meanings to originate only from “Sing.”

I feel hesitant going with 新 / 星 as his family name, since they look like extremely uncommon ones. For what it’s worth, the Taiwanese(?) Mandarin localisation has gone with 辛舒霖 (Pinyin: xīn shū lín) with 辛 being the most common form of the “Xin” surname. He also shows up in another one of Yoshida’s works, Yasha, but they went with 沈叔林 (Pinyin: shěn shū lín) there.

At this point I suppose there’s still no One True Answer. But for the sake of consistency, it’s probably best to stick with 辛舒霖 if people want to use his Chinese name.

Edit (13/10/2021): I have expanded more on Sing’s name HERE.

Final thoughts:

It’s perfectly possible that the mangaka did not think too deeply about most of these names. She once named a Chinese character キム・ヨン・タイ (kim yong tai) which thanks to the surname, ended up sounding Korean instead. Of course, you could argue that it’s another non-Mandarin variation (Hokkien?). The English localisation however, changed it to “Hong Zhe-Ming.” There’s also the fact that she has twice referred to Lao as “Lao Yen” in Japanese, which is a heinous but hilarious mash up of his surname and half of his first name.

Yeah, this series is far from being 100% accurate in other areas as well but hey, sometimes it’s just fun to point this stuff out :p

Thanks if you’ve read this far, and feel free to let me know if I’ve made a mistake or missed anything!

Extra footnote just in case: Regarding the whole "do they speak Mando/Canto" thing, I am examining it purely from the manga's perspective. I think that circumstances in the anime are different and perhaps more complex due to the change in setting.

#lee yut lung #sing soo ling #shorter wong #banana fish #banana fish liveblogging #banana fish spoilers #fun with languages #i've shortened it to my best ability.............#one day i will learn how to stop being so long winded

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perpetually-jungshook · 7 years

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what is your writing process like? how long does it take you to develop the story-line and to actually sit down and write? i have some cute Namjoon fic ideas, but i don't want to start something and then fizzle out part way through....how do you maintain your motivation? ❤️the Ji to your Hope anon ❤️

This is going to be a really long answer, so I’m going to cut it with a “Keep Reading.” If you have any problem seeing the part below, please let me know and I can make other arrangements 😊

ALRIGHT. So first things first, I apologize in advance if I sound pretentious. At all. It’s definitely not my intention. The following comes from a place of my passion for writing and I hope that whatever meaning you derive from it can help in your own journey of literary exploration!

Now, as you probably know, I’m an English major working on an emphasis in creative writing. I’ve taken a few creative writing courses and have bumped elbows with a lot of brilliant writers. Below I will compile an answer based off of my experience in those classes mixed with my opinion. If you would like an elaboration on any part, please let me know and I will be more than happy to explain.

1) my writing process

Honestly? All of my life, I’ve kind of just started writing. This doesn’t seem like very helpful advice, so let me explain 😂 Once you find a source of inspiration, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, don’t throw it away. You never know what kind of story it will blossom into. For example, it could be something as interesting as the night out that lead to my story “Deep Down, Inside” or something as simple as, say, frustration at how good a person looks when they’re a strawberry blond so gosh darn it now you’re writing a whole entire series about it and people seem to like it for whatever reason and what the HELL it’s now like the most popular thing on your blog- but yeah. Catalogue things that inspire you even if only in bullet points in a list on your phone 😄

STEP 2) after finding your inspiration. Start writing. It’s just that simple. You can always delete or edit an introduction later. If you’re interested in quick “getting started on a story” tips, just ask! And once you start writing, don’t stop. In the words of Ron Carlson, “don’t leave the room” literally or figuratively. You’ll want to look up names, definitions, get a cup of coffee, etc. DON’T DO IT! Those can be done later 😉 Often times our biggest weakness when it comes to writing is DISTRACTIONS. The more you leave, the less you’re writing. And the less time you spend writing, the harder it’ll be to remember your inventory (a word that will be elaborated upon later).

Now, this all stems from my belief that the writer should not force a narrative to go somewhere. Essentially, the author should have a conversation with their story, not guide or corral it. This allows for genuine character development and interesting, unexpected plot twists (ironic, I know, but you have to admit that in some stories, certain “plot twists” are completely expected). I will elaborate on this more momentarily.

Essentially, my writing process is: after finding something inspiring, I open up a document and start typing. Then keep typing. Don’t edit. You’re not there to be an editor. You’re there to write. Everything else comes later.

2) How long does it take me to develop the story line and to actually sit down and write?

Well... my life is kind of sad in such a way that I cannot live without writing. I go through literal withdrawals and depressions. I approach it like an art, like a part of myself. It may sound dramatic and it totally is, but words just burn me until they get out of my head. So it’s relatively, ridiculously easy in a way that’s really unfair when I’m giving advice for me to have ideas. It’s almost a detriment 😅 To answer the question directly, personally, I have two approaches to planning a story line.

1) I have no idea what the heck I’m doing and I write only what the story seems to want (see Goldilocks). This allows for more genuine characters as I let them speak instead of me speaking for them. Their dialogue, in my mind, becomes the words of a real person with real dreams and real aspirations and real motives (yes, I say this word addressing its negative connotations too). This option also makes writing a lot more fun for you as the author! 😄 why? Because every surprise for the reader is also a surprise for you~

2) The second option, my only other approach because I am a pendulum person, is elaborately planning out the plot (see Without You: Bloodstone). This can often be exhausting and intricate, obviously taking a lot of time and effort on your part to make sure every little detail matters. I do not recommend this for people who want to write casually/sensationally/shallowly for lack of better word. I’m not saying that these are any worse or less nor greater or better than deep, rhetorical writing 😊 it’s like different tastes in foods~ we each lean a certain way and it’s good to dabble in the other style every so often but let’s not kill ourselves over it, yeah?? (sensational vs. rhetorical readers/writers- a term I came up with- is a whole different conversation). ANYWAY! Bloodstone, as my primary example, took me a week in total to brainstorm. At least... the general lore stuff. The plot itself mostly stays true to my “making it up as I go along” motto, just with a few set plot points as guides. Essentially, I build the world my characters live in, give them a problem to solve, and then let them solve it on their own terms instead of mine.

Hopefully that makes sense? 😂 obviously, these are not the only two approaches and they are on a spectrum. I highly recom”mend you find a place on it that’s comfortable for you 💖

3) how do I maintain motivation?

Again, writing to me is an art. It’s something that I have to do in order to be a happy, functioning human being. So my answer might be a little unfair... and I apologize for that. I’ll thus try to approach the question objectively.

First, I’ll pull back what I said earlier, “Essentially, the author should have a conversation with their story, not guide or corral it...This option also makes writing a lot more fun for you as the author! 😄 why? Because every surprise for the reader is also a surprise for you~”

If you’re having fun while writing, it’s a lot easier to keep writing, no? If you know exactly what’s going on at all times, it gets boring. If it’s already panned out in your imagination, why write it at all? To get notes? I will always be an advocate of “write for yourself first and foremost.” This also makes the story more enjoyable for you.

Second, I’m going to address the dreaded writer’s block. A lot of people will say “set the story aside and come back to it later.” To that, I retort with, “No don’t you dare do that because you and I both know you’ll probably never pick it up again.” STAY IN THE ROOM (to quote Ron Carlson). I believe that one of the biggest causes of writer’s block is not knowing where to go. This is a fair observation, yes? Your brain basically says “yup. This story has reached a dead end” and “dead end” translates to “conclusion,” a rather frustrating imaginary/subconscious “the end” even if you feel like you still have more plot points to reach.

But Kay, what do I do to get myself out of this?

If you want to save your story, it’s time to do some editing! Well, okay, maybe not editing, but rereading. You need to take an inventory. Key word, remember it. INVENTORY. This is a literal list of physical objects, characters, and plot points/loose ends. If you write on the fly, there will sometimes be items that appear. You’ll have no idea why they’re there. A lanyard, a book, something as random as a spatula? Sure. If it appears in your story it might be useful later. These are physical objects that your brain can attach to and can move around in your story’s world. Maybe that lanyard thrown so haphazardly into a physical description of the love interest’s backpack becomes a telltale sign that it was them that left that anonymous love letter in your protagonist’s desk because it’s now wrapped up inside. Maybe that book you mentioned when describing the setting turns out to belong to your protagonist’s grandfather and helps them figure out the mysterious anagram that had been left in a dusty diary found in the attic. Maybe that spatula so casually used to make brownies during an interview turns out to be the murder weapon. YOU NEVER KNOW.

I’m going to lump characters and plot points/loose ends together simply because I feel like this is getting hella long (whoops). Personally, I’ve learned how to notice loose ends while I’m writing and will keep a bulleted list of questions or things to be resolved at the end of the document so that I can see it while I’m writing. This lengthy list will often have character names and important traits/facts as well (example: did you mention an age? a day of the week? a season? Did your character ever text back that one dude?). And if you feel like you’re missing something or running low, go back and reread. Your inventory can always increase.

This list will be a lifeline when stuck with writer’s block. You need to resolve SOME of these issues that are now (thank GOODNESS) explicitly listed right in front of you. Even if it doesn’t feel like you’re moving along to your next planned plot point, who cares? 😄 Maybe your story doesn’t want to go there!

And in the end, it is my belief that your story will sound more genuine, more real if you let it speak to you.

I hope this helped! And I look forward to being able to see your fic 😊 keep me posted on how it’s going and if you need any help brainstorming or just want to discuss creative writing in general, I am always down for that.

Much love ~🐰 xx

#personal #writing advice #the ji to my hope #that casual anon #Anonymous

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prettypaprika · 7 years

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2016 Year in Fic

This year I wrote a lot (especially for me!) and wanted to take the opportunity to look back and see just exactly what I spent all that time doing…

STATS Fics: 14 Word Count: 91,174 (give or take)

Fandoms: 8 Star Wars: The Force Awakens: 4 Original: 4 (Although two of which were fake superhero, so not completely original) Misc: 6

Ships: 10 different ships m/m: 6 f/f: 2 m/f: 2 gen: 1 most written character: Poe Dameron and Finn most written ship: Poe/Finn (shocker) OVERALL:

Did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? In terms of words, absolutely! I’m a little bit in awe of just how many words I wrote this year, although I ended up doing two long fics for exchanges that pushed up the number. In terms of stories, less. Last year, I think I wrote 11 or 12 fics and thought I would write a lot more this year. But, I think that my most productive period last year was October/November and this year I was packing and moving during those two months, which really cut into my ability to write.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? Gen in Over the Garden Wall--I hadn’t even heard of this wonderful, amazing show in January. I think it’s also been years since I wrote anything truly gen, so that was definitely a surprise.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? I think that my Charlie/Adam Mighty Ducks fic, “@thatduckingcharlie” is my favorite. It evolved very naturally from a fake twitter quote about one of the characters to a whole story told through twitter. I had so much fun writing it and trying to figure out how tell a story from snippets of a public life. I also really enjoyed writing the two stories set in a rip-off superhero world, mainly because of all the bad jokes I got to make in those stories. My s2b2 story was also a blast–I took a lot of inspiration and spirit from one of my favorite movies, The Thin Man, and tried to translate that into a fun slash 1930s occult mystery.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? I like to think that I took some risks this year--I tried to diversify my style as well as write stories outside of my usual repertoire. I think that non-romance focused stories as still hard for me, but something that I’d like to keep working on.

Do you have any fanfic goals for 2017? Maybe to finish and publish some of my random WIPs that are hiding on my computer. Survive the big bang that I signed up for. I would also like to write the original story that I spent about three months researching this year but wasn’t able to write in time for the s2b2 issue it would have been for. Write more in general!

Did you meet your goals from last year? No clue. Knowing me, I probably set goals that aren’t able to be easily measured and so would deem myself has having failed them.

BEST AND WORST:

My best story of the year: Stylistically, probably “@thatduckingcharlie” since it was told from an interesting perspective. Technically, I would probably say “Mystery in the Adirondacks”, which I wrote for s2b2′s October issue. I wanted to evoke the banter and gaiety of The Thin Man, because it’s a film that I’ve always thought had fantastic dialogue and atmosphere. At times it was difficult to convey that luminosity on paper, but, I think that the end product turned out well and I had an amazing artist, @beili, working with me who did breathtaking illustrations.

My most popular story of the year: Kudos-wise, it’s “Barks and Recreation” for sure (it also wins in bookmarks). Kudos/hits ratio, I think it’s “Drowning in Our Blood” mainly because it’s in a super tiny fandom.

Story of mine that is most under-appreciated by the universe: “The Violators” which was a story I wrote for the Trick or Treat challenge that featured a superhero and supervillain that fall in love without knowing who the other when they first meet playing rec league hockey. Mainly, this was a story that I cracked myself up writing as I created ridiculous fake superheroes and supervillains. I also gave a lot of blood, sweat and tears for “This Story Does Not End With A Kiss” which was a modern retelling of the fairytale Kate Crackernuts, but it’s definitely a super tiny fandom, so I didn’t expect much attention.

Most fun story to write: Probably “@thatduckingcharlie”, because of the coming up with twitter handles and figuring out how to convey fights and confessions of love without outright saying anything was explicitly happening. Coming up with the dialogue in “Mystery in the Adirondacks” was also a blast.

Story with the single sexiest moment: Toss-up between “The Priestess of Divinity” featuring dubious consent between a priestess possessed by a god and the priestess’ loyal knight and “Mystery in the Adirondacks” with Hank and Jack finally getting together after having UST for the entire fic.

Most “oh um.... uh ok....” story: Probably the closest that I got was “The Priestess of Divinity” featuring dub con all around, divine possession during sex, a threesome and...more!

Story that shifted my perceptions of the characters: This is a hard one...how I think about characters constantly changes throughout every story I write. I think that “The Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep” definitely changed my perception and understanding of how Over the Garden Wall functioned as a show and how difficult it is to balance between whimsicality, appropriateness for kids but also depth and darkness. Buuuut, I suppose the answer to the actual question asked would be “Yo Helga!” because it gave me a chance to explore Helga as a character not just in Hey Arnold! but also how her experiences would continue to affect her as an adult.

Biggest disappointment: Not getting to write my epic slash story set in the 70s about two actors in New York. I really wanted to write it in time for the December issue of s2b2 but training for a triathlon in the summer and moving in the fall decimated my free time.

Biggest surprise: Deciding to write two treats for the Trick or Treat Exchange (after not signing up) and writing for the October issue of s2b2. On a whim, I decided to write those stories all around the same time period and they were done fairly quickly.

Most unintentionally telling story: “The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep” definitely echoes some of the uncertainty that I feel in my own life, including my reluctance to change paths.

WIPs

untitled joseph liebgott/david webster big bang fic Joe followed David in and they both stood there for a few seconds in the entrance, awkwardly measuring each other up. Joe had been a skinny guy back in the day, army rations persistently unhelpful, but now he’d evened out a bit, muscle thicker in his arms and chest, making him less lanky and more wiry. He was paler than he’d been in the war; with a faint scar up above his left eyebrow and he was exactly as David had dreamed the other night. The resemblance was so complete, it took David’s breath away for one heart-hammering second. untitled dan/blair pregnancy fic Blair turned back to Dan and began taking off her coat to drape over a chair. “Well, you said that you wouldn’t move back to New York, so you only left me with one option.”

“One option—” Dan started and then stopped abruptly. Blair was wearing a very fashionable print wrap dress with black kitten heels. Dan would hazard a guess that the dress was probably Marc Jacobs or Gucci. The shoes, Alexander McQueen. But even clearer than Blair’s continued sartorial achievements was the fact that Blair was definitely, most certainly pregnant.

“Eleanor is embarrassed beyond belief that her only daughter is having a child out of wedlock. She is also no longer speaking to me since I refuse to tell her who the father is. Serena has promised to come out and help when I’m due, but I can’t exactly crash with her and her husband in Chicago,” Blair said, pronouncing Chicago like it was a bad word. To Blair, it probably was.

untitled femslash mermaid story (based on this picture) When she'd been a young mermaid, every time that Adriane had gotten in trouble from skipping classes to hang out with the kelpies or learning to smoke from the selkies, her father would threaten to send her up one of the rivers where there were plenty of humans. "If you keep this up," he used to say. "They'll find you and skin you for your pelt and you'll deserve it."

untitled 28 days later fic The refugee camp is fucking depressing, which says a lot after having survived a rage virus pandemic. There are only a few hundred people in the camp. They’re told that several thousand people have been rescued since the United Kingdom and Ireland were quarantined and that the search is still ongoing, but the facts are pretty plain: tens of millions of people—entire villages, cities, metropolitan areas have been wiped out. Out of the seventy or so million people living in Great Britain and Ireland, maybe only seven or eight million remain.

On their second day in the camp, they find out that Hannah apparently has some distant family in Canada. The immigration officer comes to speak to Jim, Selena and Hannah in barely accented English about sending Hannah to live with her family, Hannah flatly says that she’ll kill herself if they separate her from Jim and Selena.

“Jim and Selena are the only family that I have left,” Hannah says. “I’m not going anywhere without them except in a body bag.”

untitled cinderella fic In the glimpses the woman-child had taken of her dance partner throughout the evening, a spectator watch a spark begin to deepen. It was one thing to abstractly know that such a life of luxury and wealth existed, but to have a taste—to have an intoxicating glimpse of lust and richness—there was no return from that knowledge.

Although the woman-child could not have identified the flame beginning to burn within her, her observer could. It was the deepest longing, the start of a desire that would go to the very core of the woman-child’s soul. A desire that, once it had taken root, would accept water at any cost so that it could grow.

RECS!

AT THE SAME STARS by spicyshimmy -- (Star Trek) Kirk/Spock with a Tarsus IV divergence. Such Great Heights by softlyforgotten - (HP) Draco/Harry EWE where Draco has a dragon. A Year and a Day in Old Theradane by Scott Lynch -- (Original) Amazing fantasy universe heist! Sixteen Days in September by Tevere -- (GenKill) Nate/Brad AU set during the 1999 East Timorese crisis The King’s Road by Tsukizubon Saruko -- (Original) Femslash utterly fantastic story of the kidnap and ransom of a noble daughter got a million ugly words for what you are by spock -- (Slow West) Silas/Payne pre-canon

(i make no guarantees regarding when these were written, only when I read them)

#year end review #2016 in fic

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vgwriter · 5 years

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Metro Exodus: A Review

The End of a Trilogy

The Metro series is based off of the books by Dmitry Glukhovsky, with each game set in the world of Metro 2033 (the book) and at times, having Glukhovsky writing them. Metro 2033 came out in 2010 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and was met with critical praise for its setting and horror aspects. Last Light came out in 2013 and built on 2033, adding better graphics and AI. Last Light was one of my favorites on the 7th generation. Exodus came out in February and took the series in drastically different direction. The complex and narrow Metro is traded in for large maps and non-linear missions. The changes are handled well by 4A. This game still brings great tension and story to the FPS genre but unfortunately still has bugs that have persisted through the entire series.

The Good

*SPOILERS*

#1-The Story

4A does something that not a lot of developers do when they make a modern FPS: they focus on the story. Exodus is the third installment of the Metro game continuity but it doesn't really build on the previous two, which were focused on the Dark Ones. Instead, it takes the story in a new direction with exploration outside Moscow and into Russia. The game explores several themes and ideologies with its story including religious extremism, slavery, the inherent violence and love in humanity. The player follows Artyom, his wife Anna, her father Col. Miller, and a half dozen Spartans as they go through nuked out Russia in search of a new home. They pick up a few people as the game goes on as well.

The story starts out with Artyom wanting to explore the outside world in hopes that there are people in it. Everyone says he is crazy but it turns out he is right and they steal a train to go explore Russia. They go to a marsh and pick up a nurse and her kid and one of the soldiers hits on her by making her tell him if her daughter knew her father was dead... it's really a touching scene. They get married later but Anna ruins it by coughing really loudly because she fell down into a toxic bunker two chapters ago (somehow no one saw her sickness coming). Then Artyom and Miller have to go and find her medicine all while Miller and Anna give Artyom back handed compliments or saying this all his fault for getting them kicked out of the Metro. They think they've found a home but turns out it's controlled by Petra Pan and the Lost Boys and Girls. Then they finally get the medicine and the ending depends on how the player played the game. It's not an original story by any stretch and has some dips in execution but coupled with the enviroments, it is a good enough story to warrant another post-apocalyptic setting in a rapidly saturating genre.

Now, there are a few big plot decisions that effect how the story plays out with the morality mechanic in this game. Basically, if the player kills people and does stuff that people normally do in a FPS game, they get the bad ending. If Artyom is just a sneaky little Russian, the crew stays together and they all live happily ever after. Well, kind of, it is a Russian story after all. Pretty simple choices but they do change the tone of the game considerably and for that I will give 4A props on making in game decisions matter.

The dialogue can be a little iffy at times and there are some parts that are roughly translated (Miller uses his Russian name instead of his Anglicized name during one scene) but each character is their own person and brings a great voice to the ensemble. My personal favorites were Anna and Nastya. Over all, the game tells an effective and gripping story of people trying to survive a moralless wasteland and remain the honest people they were before.

#2-Maps and Enviroment

The story is broken up in to 4 large maps with smaller train sections linking the travel to them. It's actually a great move and a refreshing change of pace from all the gigantic map games that have come out recently. The first two maps are just large enough to warrant not having a fast travel system while still making exploration interesting. The other maps in the game are more linear in design with the first and last map being down in the Metro again. This variety in maps keeps the game fresh and makes each area refreshing and interesting instead of an over used chore.

Where this game really shines is the enviroments. Each map feels completely brand new, with very few reused assets like in many other open world games (especially western). Each level seems fully realized and lived in as the player and Artyom pass through areas that feel like someone else's home. The best thing is that each level feels this way. In terms of enviroment, there are no dips in quality in any of the chapters. Each level has this realistic level of destruction and a shared struggle to survive that seeps into every corner of the game. The place where this really lifts this game up is the last level, Dead City. Without the enviroment, the story really wouldn't have landed well with its obvious forshadowing and unoriginal overarching story. The desolation of the city and constant danger everywhere do a great job of putting the player in Artyom's mind with his anxiety and desperation in trying to save Anna. The enviroments throughout the entire game lift up the psychological undercurrents of the characters and really put this game on an artistic level despite its other problems.

#3-Weapons and Customization

The weapons in Metro are the best kind of customizable in that the options the player makes for what weapons and how they customize them actually matter. There are five kinds of weapons: revolver, shotguns, rifles, sniper, and special. The specials are the air rifle and crossbow (there is also a railgun but I never figured out how to equip it). Each have different positives and negatives to them and feel different to play with in game. The customization is also diverse with each gun having different parts that the player can find out in the world. Unlike other games where the player must find several different components or blueprints (looking at you Andromeda and Fallout), 4A just gives the player the customization if they find it. It provides a great utility in the game without focusing on it, which is how customization should be.

The Bad

#1-The Combat

It is clear that 4A's focus on this game was stealth. The character is slow, the aiming for PS4 is absolutely terrible even after trying to tweak it, and the enemies are super shifty. All of this adds up to a bad combat experience. I can't count the number of times I just said "f*** it" after failing to hit the same guy 3 times only to discover that Artyom was caught in a corner of two inch ledges. This games combat is severely unpolished and makes the otherwise great game difficult to play for bad reasons. When compared to other fps's like Far Cry 5, this game feels definitively last generation. It's like the Crash Bandicoot of fps, really precise shooting on imprecise controls (don't @ me cause you know it's true). This really sapped the fun out of the game.

#2-The Clingy Map

I mentioned this in the last paragraph but the enviroment is not fun to move through. Artyom sticks to everything. There were times when playing this that I would try to be sneaking and come across a small step that I had to get over and couldn't. I had to jump and when I did the enemies who I was sneaking from would discover where I was instantly. They also messed up going down stairs, even though I'm pretty sure they discovered that technology in 2004. When Artyom "walks" down the stairs, he keeps his forward momentum and goes in an arch over the stairs he is "walkig" over. The maps do have a great feel about them but they are not fun to walk around and that really hurts this games replayability for me.

#3-Unpolished, Epic Games, and Bad Camp Design

I've heard and seen all sorts of bugs on the PC version but the PS4 has no shortage of bad glitches either. My very first shot, the first time I ever fired a gun in the game, it didn't make a sound. That sadly set the tone for the whole game. Each chapter was more frustrating than fun and that was caused for a number of reasons but all of them could go under the umbrella of unpolished game design. There have been several recorded game breaking glitches or the AI just acting real dumb. Aside from that the game is an exclusive on PC for Epic Games. Normally I don't concern myself with PC master race bullsh*t but Epic Games has some very shady business practices on a platform that has a great storefront in Steam. Sadly, this does effect the overall game for consumers and that is why I mention it in my review.

The last bad thing I'll mention is the camp conversation interface, or lackthereof. The characters just start talking and they never seem to stop. Being raised in a polite household has taught me to never walk away when someone is talking to me and this game made me rethink my entire upbringing. The conversations are okay but they are sooooo slow and there is no way to control them at all. They just talk to you and it is honestly annoying, easy to ignore but still annoying.

The Non-ESRB Rating

This is tough to give but Metro Exodus is a 2/5. While I love this game for everything that it adds, it is just more of a hassle to play than fun. The combat and general unpolishedness of the game are what really sink this game for me. I really hate that it does this too because the story and enviroments are really cool and enrich the story so much. The tension in the game is real and the map design is refreshing with its variety and design depth. This game had so much potential but it just feels wasted on such a buggy and unpolished product.

#metro exodus #review #video games #artyom

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getarealjobblog-blog · 7 years

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Spain

As part of a family trip; Gary and I jetted off again this winter to seek a warmer climate and some R&R.

I’m biased due to my family connection to the area – however bringing Gary along with me for his first time in Spain definitely made me appreciate the trip all over again; As we visited some recommended spots, I thought we’d put a top 5 list to inspire trips for future adventurers.

1. Comares

Comares (which roughly translated means ‘Castle in the Height’) is a village perched in the clouds. With a population of less than 2000 residents; it was originally occupied in the 7TH century BC and then became a fortress in the 8th Century for the Moors. The stunning views (It’s literally 2,306ft above sea level – so you can see everything) partnered with the beautiful untouched buildings (some of the arches are thought to have been around since Medieval times!) and winding cobbled streets feels quintessentially Spanish, and also a bit magical.

After admiring the view we chose to follow the guided walk around the village (by guided, I mean there is a plaque with directions and the occasional mosaic footprint inset into the ground). The tiles took us up through the maze of residential streets, no bigger than two people wide, lined with tiny doors and Juliet balconies, and stopped occasionally at vantage points where we paused and Gary peered tentatively over the edge (he’s not great with heights).

Another noteworthy discovery was a Spanish Cemetery; Lavishly adorned with flowers, inset photographs, poems and stacked in beautiful columns - the graves were clearly well respected and lovingly cared for. Instead of being a bit creepy; The marble town felt celebratory and, being so for up in the sky, you can sense the significance of the placement heavily. Spain is heavily Catholic – however even if you’re someone like me who doesn’t follow religion themselves; it’s easy to appreciate a place so steeped in the history of so many peoples lives.

We eventually stopped to grab a bite to eat at the originally named ‘Restuarante La Plaza’. Although there wasn’t much option with regards to food, it was a nice enough place to stop for a drink, and the roaring fire made up for what the food missed out on.

Top tip:

There is something for everyone here. If you visit Comares in the summer months; The town boasts the longest zip wire in Spain. If you’re a thrill seeker it’s a must do!

2. Malaga (Castle)

We only spent one day and a night in Malaga (check out the Picnic Dreams Boutique Hostel if you’re looking for somewhere to stay; My Mum booked it as a last minute Christmas gift for G and I, and the service was exceptional. Lovely staff, cosy bar, modern, clean and even our own little court yard space. It’s right in the city centre and only a 15/20 minute Taxi from the airport – I’ve recommended it since to friends and would absolutely stay there again) so we wanted to see as much as possible in a small amount of time.

Gary’s first choice was to check out the Picasso exhibition, and I made sure we caught the Christmas lights display – but between these must do’s, and copious amounts of Tapas, we had a few hours to spare.

The ‘Gibralfaro Castle’ is something I’d seen before, but not explored. The Castle itself was built in the 14th Century and is famous for a three-month siege in 1487 that forced Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to admit defeat (due to hunger – sounds horrid!) Despite it’s dramatic history; the castle grounds and peaceful and beautiful. The building itself is atop Gibralfaro hill, meaning the grounds ascend via a number of cobbled and tiled garden spaces, interspersed with rooms and towers with high ceilings, and (once again) stunning views of the city.

At only 6 euros total to enter; It was great value for money, and there is so much to see there (we stayed for about 2 hours, but could’ve easily stopped for longer) It’s easy to see why it’s such a popular attraction. I would be surprised if we see film crews from Game of Thrones filming here, untouched and (as with Comares) a bit magical.

3. Lake Vinuela

Beneath the shadow of the surrounding Axarquia landscape; A great way to get out of the hustle and bustle of cities and towns is to take a trip to the unspoilt Lake Vinuela (Technically it’s a Reservoir) about 30 minutes inland of Torre Del Mar.

In the Winter months it’s a popular Spanish pastime to take food down to the outdoor BBQ area. Nestled amongst the pine trees overlooking the water there are stone cooking areas with benches to spend time with family and friends.

There is plenty of ground to tread around the turquoise water, and lots of stones to skip (Gary strongly suggested he could do at LEAST twenty skips, but I didn’t see him do more than ten.) We even came across some wildlife with an ants’ nest hidden in a petrified tree; and if you’re very very quiet, you might even see a lesser spotted fisherman with a pipe and can of San Miguel crouching by the shore.

On reading up about the area beforehand; I can see why the spot was recommended specifically to painters, writers and photographers. There is so much to drink in – everywhere you look is like a postcard.

Our two top tips for the area are;

Make sure you take some hiking boots/Shoes you don’t mind getting dirty. The ground near the shore is soft and full of clay.

Take a drink/snacks with you. Trust me, you’re going to want to be there for a while

4. Nerja Caves

The Caves at Nerja have long been a popular attraction in Andalucia. As we learnt on our trip; The Caves weren’t discovered until, in perspective, relatively recently. In 1959, a group of students looking for bats descended into a pothole, only to discover a cavernous expanse and some decomposing skeletons. It’s incredible to think that people were living above this amazing natural phenomenon for years without knowing it was there. Just think of all the things left to discover about our own world!

My first experience of the Caves was a little over 7 years ago, so my memory was a bit foggy. However I do recall previously being able to wander around the Caves freely at my own pace. This time was slightly different; We were each given a handheld device and headphones which played intermittently across our trip around the caves. Each ‘hall’ had some corresponding dialogue that explained some of the Caves’ history and relayed safety information. Although it was nice to hear some information, it was easy to feel rushed along by the pace of the dialogue. I get the feeling we all would’ve preferred to perhaps read information in our own time. The feeling of being rushed also wasn’t helped by our friendly tour guide (who we affectionately named ‘Cave Nazi’) as he continued to hurry us along with stern words and flashes of his torch.

The experience wasn’t much dampened however, and the incredible, striking scenery definitely made up for the corporate running of the Caves overall. If you like natural beauty, architecture, art, geology or exploring like Indiana Jones – this is definitely a place to go. Reasonably priced and wonderful to see.

Top tip?

There are lots of steps and the floors do get wet so be cautious when picking footwear.

5. Zaffaraya Pass

Last but certainly not least; We wanted to give a quick nod to Zaffaraya pass. A ‘U’ shaped dip in the Axarquia landscape that runs alongside a disused railway line and tunnel. I won’t bore you with more mention of incredible views (you have to see it to believe it!) but just know that this is a very special spot to overlook the entirety of the valley. We’ll be posting some more exciting bits about Zaffaraya - so keep an eye on our social media if you’d like to see more!

Top tip?

Don’t look down!

Thanks Spain - see you again soon x

#Spain #travel #Comares #game of thrones #castle #magic #vinuela #hiking #Nerja #Caves #nature #phenomenon

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