Another slow, to say the least, gaming month for me. I was planning to
play Citizen Sleeper but first there was a game I wanted to finish off
that I brought sometime ago in a sale.

Omen Exito: Plague.
-------------------

It's a choose your own adventure 'book' and is described as
Lovercraftian. One thing I did notice is unlike the normal traditional
adventure books this one seems very much in the mould you're not going
to die just because so it's more about experiencing the story. The
story/writing itself, it's pretty good and it does have that Lovecraft
feel of slowing unravelling the mystery to create a dread of what's
happening and not just out-an-out horror. The atmosphere is helped by
some nice music and simple graphics to set the scenes.

Overall, if you like adventure books then I recommend you take a look.

Books
-----

As I feel the need to pad out my post (I blame Spalls for that), I
finished reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman and I very much enjoyed
it. It takes a less whimsical look at the mythology than Troy by Stephen
Fry but again it does that job of making it accessible.

The next one, Making Money by Terry Pratchett. I've almost finished and
it's one of the better one's I've read and as always takes an
interesting look on modern life in this case the role of money and it
even touches of gender roles.

JAB <noway@nochance.com> writes:

> As I feel the need to pad out my post (I blame Spalls for that), I
> finished reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman and I very much
> enjoyed it. It takes a less whimsical look at the mythology than Troy
> by Stephen Fry but again it does that job of making it accessible.

Oh, come to think of it, I actually read a game related book last month,
unfortunately available in Finnish only. It was a collection of nine
essays about intersections between games and literature. Unfortunately,
it covered mostly games I haven't played and the ones I have played I
didn't like, such as Control and Alan Wake.

On 02/09/2022 20:32, Anssi Saari wrote:
> JAB <noway@nochance.com> writes:
>
>> As I feel the need to pad out my post (I blame Spalls for that), I
>> finished reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman and I very much
>> enjoyed it. It takes a less whimsical look at the mythology than Troy
>> by Stephen Fry but again it does that job of making it accessible.
>
> Oh, come to think of it, I actually read a game related book last month,
> unfortunately available in Finnish only. It was a collection of nine
> essays about intersections between games and literature. Unfortunately,
> it covered mostly games I haven't played and the ones I have played I
> didn't like, such as Control and Alan Wake.

I kinda like the sound of that as over the last years I've got more
interested in games as story telling and not as a challenge.

JAB <noway@nochance.com> writes:

> On 02/09/2022 20:32, Anssi Saari wrote:
>> JAB <noway@nochance.com> writes:

>> Oh, come to think of it, I actually read a game related book last month,
>> unfortunately available in Finnish only. It was a collection of nine
>> essays about intersections between games and literature. Unfortunately,
>> it covered mostly games I haven't played and the ones I have played I
>> didn't like, such as Control and Alan Wake.
>
> I kinda like the sound of that as over the last years I've got more
> interested in games as story telling and not as a challenge.

That's why I was interested in the book too. Well, it was a quick read
and I got it free from a library and returned it already but the nine
essays were on these topics:

- Grimm's fables and The Wolf Among Us.
- The Witcher books and games.
- I have no mouth, and I must scream, the short story and the adventure
game.
- Spec Ops: the Line and Apocalypse Now.
- Dune books, movies and games.
- The Finnish collection of national myths "Kalevala" and the related
walking sim called "Runo".
- Lovecraft and I don't remember what games.
- Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and the video game by the same name.
- Alan Wake and Control and Stephen King's writings.

So as you can see some of the games are quite obscure or old or both and
the connection to the literature varies from obvious to not that
clear.

I kinda wish I could've gotten into Witcher 3 but the game just felt a
little off-putting. Like a very very long journey in a world I'm not so
interested in. My interest level in the Witcher universe seems to be
sated by the TV show.

On 07/09/2022 15:29, rms wrote:
>>> Oh, come to think of it, I actually read a game related book last month,
>>> unfortunately available in Finnish only. It was a collection of nine
>>> essays about intersections between games and literature.
>> - Spec Ops: the Line and Apocalypse Now.
>
>   Very cool!  I also read an essay on Spec Ops The Line, that I came
> across quite by accident on amazon:
> Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line
> https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B9P2WP6/
>
> It's not that great (you can read my review there) but that it existed
> at all is pretty neat.
>
> Metamorphosis and Dagon I wouldn't mind playing!
>

Metamorphosis looks possibly interesting and Dagon, well it's free on
Steam so what's not to like!

On 9/8/2022 2:08 AM, JAB wrote:
> On 07/09/2022 15:29, rms wrote:
>>>> Oh, come to think of it, I actually read a game related book last
>>>> month,
>>>> unfortunately available in Finnish only. It was a collection of nine
>>>> essays about intersections between games and literature.
>>> - Spec Ops: the Line and Apocalypse Now.
>>
>>    Very cool!  I also read an essay on Spec Ops The Line, that I came
>> across quite by accident on amazon:
>> Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line
>> https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B9P2WP6/
>>
>> It's not that great (you can read my review there) but that it existed
>> at all is pretty neat.
>>
>> Metamorphosis and Dagon I wouldn't mind playing!
>>
>
> Metamorphosis looks possibly interesting and Dagon, well it's free on
> Steam so what's not to like!
>
The things Steam will do with your soul after you have sold it to them
for just a few more free games? :P

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.