Posts made by SwampCreature

As I recover from a very fun weekend at an anime convention (Youmacon Detroit), I'm wondering if anyone else is a con attendee? I'm not hugely experienced with them but I've been to a few anime/comic/gaming conventions as well as some for oddities and tattoos. I've cosplayed a few times (Selphie from Final Fantasy 8, Vash the Stampede from Trigun, POWER from Chainsaw Man, some others I've forgotten, and I've got two works in progress). Tell me about your con experiences!

Truthfully, it doesn’t need to be Spooky Season for me to talk ad nauseum about horror games. I’m so in love with the Silent Hill series (Silent Hill 2 in particular - iykyk), the Fatal Frame series, and Parasite Eve. It seems for a while in the late 90s/early 00s there were a lot of very eerie games coming out of Japan, enough that I can’t even remember the names of all the ones I played. I remember a really scary one where you played as a girl with a dog companion, trying to escape a mansion full of people hellbent on killing you, and I believe you had no weapon - you had to hide and/or run, which is scary enough on its own BUT there was a very interesting mechanic where you could be overcome with fear and lose control of the character. There are a lot of super unique mechanics in horror games that you really don’t get in other genres! What are your favorite horror games? Have you played any horror games with interesting gameplay? What’s the scariest game you’ve played? Tell me about it in the comments!

@Mariano The Uzumaki anime is FINALLY dropping - I don’t think there’s a solid release date yet, but before the end of the year. And there’s a new trailer!!! I’m so geeked ahhhhhhhh

Other than that I don’t really have anything in particular I’m watching at the moment, but I’m going to Youmacon (anime convention) in November and we’ll see if anything catches me eye.

And I have no idea when the new Berserk anime is releasing but the teaser looked pretty decent! I’ve been burned before by Berserk anime so hopefully this one is better.

Let’s imagine you get isekai’d into the world of the last game you played - video game, board game, mobile game, ttrpg, whatever. How do you do? Do you settle in happily or are you totally boned?

Technically the last game I played was Tetris (old ass) but as far as a game with a world, last I played was Parasite Eve and I’m gonna keep it real - I would probably not do so great! I act like a tough guy most of the time but if I wasn’t unlucky enough to be incinerated by Eve, the monsters would absolutely get me - likely because I was trying to get a closer look and got myself mauled. Maybe I’d be one of the NPCs who makes a break for it and manages to escape, but I really don’t trust myself not to try to check out a weird gross monster.

How about you? Let me know in the comments!

One of my favorite games ever! I still remember when I first started playing it (literally years ago) and was blown away by how BIG it is! It’s beautiful, unique, and endlessly fun to play. I recently introduced my partner to it - he’s not much of a gamer but is a big Zelda fan nonetheless - and he will play it for hours without actually advancing the plot in any way, which I think is a sign of a really well-crafted world. And of course the art and music are both gorgeous. I don’t know if I have a favorite shrine but I love the ones that require you to combine your powers in interesting ways. I also loooove the giant horse, the Lord of the Mountain/Satori, the dragons, the Great Fairies, and the sand seals!

That is SO COOL!!! What a great group of supportive friends!!!

Here we go. I’m not entirely sure how to define “fandom” but I do tend to go really hard with the things I love.

The Mountain Goats: Everyone who’s known me even a small amount of time knows my obsession. They may not know the extent of it: my largest tattoo, personalized license plate, bumper stickers, vinyl records, 23 shirts (that I can recall, I probably have more that I can’t remember), 11 posters (9 of them are tour posters and one is signed by the lead singer), countless stickers/patches/buttons, and limited edition promotional pogs for some reason. I’ve seen them live nine times and framed the ticket stub from the first time I ever saw them. I’ve met the lead singer (and cried).

Final Fantasy: I own and have played most of the games, have cosplayed FF characters, I have figures, music boxes, jewelry, game guides and art books, one tattoo (and another on the books for December).

Actually all but one of my tattoos are fandom adjacent: one from a book, three from bands, one from Final Fantasy. Another Final Fantasy one coming up (as mentioned above) and two more band tattoos planned but not scheduled.

I looooooooooooove love love to cook! I cook for myself and my partner fairly often, I love to bake, I watch a lot of cooking shows, all of it. I wouldn’t say I’m an extraordinary cook but I think I’m pretty good (my partner would say I’m Michelin Star-worthy). I try to challenge myself: I’ve made multiple full Thanksgiving dinners (5+ dishes and dessert), whole prime ribs, Beef Wellingtons, racks of lamb, pho, homemade cheese, layer cakes, meringues, crepes, all sorts of bread…I think the only things I haven’t had a go at yet are macarons (intimidated) and homemade pasta (no pasta roller…yet).

I think it’s really sweet that you learned from helping your spouse!! I consider cooking to be one of my love languages, it’s a very tangible way for me to show people I care about them and want them to be happy, so I think sharing that with a partner and learning from/with them is wonderful!!

Wow, I’d never even heard of it but it looks fascinating! The exploratory elements seem really cool. I probably won’t play it any time soon because my “To Play” list is…….extensive, but I’m interested to see what people think.

@Mariano I wasn’t allowed to watch Power Rangers as a kid because of violence (lol) but I was secretly obsessed with them because the PINK ranger (my favorite color at the time) was a PTERODACTYL (objectively one of the coolest dinosaurs ever) and her name was KIMBERLY (myyyy name!!!). I would sneakily watch it at my friend Allison’s house and then we would play Power Rangers in the yard (karate chop each other and yell).

I was thinking today about what a fantastic game Parasite Eve is - a very cool plot, terrifying visuals, and a unique battle/weapons system. I know game remakes are controversial to some, but I think Parasite Eve could be a really good one! Especially with the success of Final Fantasy VII Remake, I hope we see more older games get a modern update. Which game would you choose to remake? Would you make any changes? Are there any games that you think are untouchable? Share in the comments!

@Alexander-Salkin I completely forgot about the Yume Nikki soundtrack but you’re so right! Extremely simple tracks that still manage to be eerie and atmospheric. I actually really enjoy a lot of music coming from these low/no budget indie games, obviously gotta mention Undertale and there’s a very creepy series of 8-bit browser survival horror games called Faith: The Unholy Trinity that all have cool, creepy music.

To nobody's surprise, I am a huge Nobuo Uematsu fan! Uematsu is the composer of the majority of Final Fantasy music and is responsible for some of the most gorgeous compositions I've ever heard. Two of my favorite pieces of all time, "Aerith's Theme" and "Lifestream", were composed by Uematsu for the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack.

I also love the music from the Silent Hill series and Legend of Zelda series (BoTW in particular).

Tell me about your favorite music from a video game!

Halloween is my favorite holiday too - I suppose that doesn't come as much of a surprise! I love going to parties, buying up all of the Halloween decor, going to haunted houses, all that stuff. I used to always go to a local event called the Creepy Cheapy - $7 admission at a club that had an all-night, multi-stage lineup of local bands dressed up as famous bands and covering their music! No admission without a costume, and I saw some incredibly creative outfits!!! I'm probably not going to make it this year, but I've already got a few things in the works. My partner and I have tickets to an event at a goth-themed tattoo shop where we're getting spooky flash tattoos and swag. There's also at least one party being cooked up by my friends. On top of all that I'm an October birthday (Libra squad!!!) so I usually do something fun for that.

So excited!! I love the beautiful art used here!

@Alexander-Salkin ooooh I've seen some really well done pixel-style tattoos! I really like Zelda heart pixel tattoos, like this:

As I fire off an email to my tattoo artist about my next gaming-themed tattoo, I'm curious if anyone has or is planning any? If you HAD to get a gaming themed tattoo, what would you get?

I have a moogle tattoo on my ankle (the design is from Final Fantasy IX but it's more of a general FF fandom thing to me) and my next one is going to be the Buster Sword from FFVII!

Tell me about your gaming tattoos, your plans for gaming tattoos, or what you WOULD get if you were a tattoo person! Post (appropriate!) pics if you have them!

I had so much fun! For anyone who may not know what it is, Gen Con is the largest tabletop gaming convention in the US and is held annually in Indianapolis. As K.O. stated, a few of us went and it was a blast! I've been to a few local conventions for other interests (Motor City Comic Con, Motor City Tattoo Expo, Youmacon, Oddities and Curiosities Expo) but none of them compare to the size and scope of Gen Con - one of our group warned me I'd be overwhelmed and I totally was. There was so much to see and do! I was concerned it wouldn't really be for me because I'm more of a video gamer than a tabletop gamer (though I do play DnD) but there was a little something for everyone, including LARPs and movie nights! I'd recommend it to anyone here and I can't wait for next year.

@Alexander-Salkin that’s a cool idea, like the Voynich manuscript but readable! Love that.

If I had unlimited time I’d for sure work on cosplays (I have one I’ve been “working on” since last year that’s only about a third of the way done - Testament from Guilty Gear Strive) and probably I’d get back into playing music. I actually tend to have more free time than most but I work in healthcare so when I get home after a shift I never really want to do anything. It would be very nice to be able to focus on my creative passions!

@Mariano Well the good thing about checking out The Mountain Goats is they've been around since 1991 and have 700+ songs so...you have a lot to choose from. The bad thing is they are for SURE an acquired taste, lol. I've had quite a few people check them out based on my obsession appreciation and nobody's ever really taken to them, which is fine! I think this youtube clip about says it all.