stuff I did today: multi-day edition
After ECCC, I came home and pretty much crashed for a couple of days. I spent like two days sitting in the living room in the dark playing Bloodborne; the third day was only half spent doing that, because Nick came over Tuesday night and we hung out some on Wednesday morning.
Today, I actually opened up the stuff I took to the con and put away all the merch I didn’t sell. I still have to put the other table stuff back in its usual place, but not today.
I also deposited the cash I got from the con - both profits and my boothmates paying their share. Putting $700 into an ATM is an odd experience.
Before that, I took a walk out through the park. It was really nice to be outside in the sun and not have to see very many people, and not have to worry about giving my pitch to a single one of them. Though I did end up giving my pitch today - I stopped at the comic shop to pick up a couple books they’d ordered for me, and mentioned I was paying cash for these two pricey hardbacks because I’d done well at ECCC, which lead to being asked what my comic was.
I did play some more Bloodborne. I made another run at the second boss (Father Gascoigne); I can get him into his final mode, and down to about 1/6 of his health, but I couldn’t quite seal the deal. If someone happens to rate one of my messages positively while I’m in the middle of my next attempt I’ll probably have him. And I might have him anyway, as said next attempt will be after a little grinding, which will probably result in both a level gain and a weapon upgrade for me. I’m quite sure whatever’s next will kick my ass in many ways.
I think a lot of the appeal of From’s games for me is the exploration. There is a part of my brain that is made very happy by things like “taking a long, winding path that leads to a place not too far from where I started, and finding a shortcut” or “seeing a place, wondering if I can get there, and finally piecing together enough of a mental map to get there”. The harsh difficulty of the game means you spend a lot of time going over the same places; the huge budget for modelling the world means it’s chock full of unique details and landmarks that make building a mental map a lot easier than most repetitive game worlds. I may never see the ending cinematic of this game or Dark Souls, let alone get 100% on either, but that’s not the point of these things for me at all. They’re just… a gorgeous theme park, with a lot of murder mixed in. And it makes my brain very happy to build a little mental model of these horrible labyrinths.
Or maybe the utter futility is part of the point for me. I’m not sure.
Originally published at Egypt Urnash. You can comment here or there.