Gaming and Characters

 Two games have popped up on my radar that have influenced my writing. One I'm playing, and one I'm looking forward to playing. The first one is Promise Mascot Agency. A silly, Japanese game where you play a Yakuza trying to seek redemption after losing millions of dollars that was supposed to be for his Yakuza family. He winds up in a small out-of-luck town where mascots are the main residents and helps them find work. I should explain that mascots are a major part of modern Japanese society. I remember from my Japanese classes days in college that each providence of Japan has a mascot, including one that is phalic shaped. The game has you managing different mascots as they take care of jobs at local businesses. I need to point out that these mascots are strange. One is a pack of tofu with a bite in it's corner, another is a man in a bicycle helmet wearing pedestrian signs. And we have the main mascot, Pinky, who is reminiscent of the main character's own lost appendage. Yakuza have a tradition of cutting off pinkys when they fail a job. So you ride around in your truck with a perpetual memory of the fact that you screwed up. It's a joking reminder of the character's past mistakes and it's hilarious. For her part, Pinky's dialouge is fantastic. So much so that I've decided to incorporate it into one of my characters. I think this would fit my Lalisa character quite nicely.

As for the second game, it's called Black Souls. It's one of those "make your own RPG" games that have become more popular recently. There are programs that are designed to help people make their own video games. Two of my favorites was Project Spark on the Xbox which was shut down and Little Big Planet which is one of the games that got me into game design. Little Big Planet has a special place in my heart from my high school years, as does Project Spark has a special place from my game design years. I learned a lot from both games. I remember I enjoyed Spark because it was developed by one of  the guys who made Conker's Bad Fur Day, a masterpiece of a game. Black Souls follows a trend of making very dark RPG games with great art. The last game that did something akin to this was the Fear and Hunger game series. Fear and Hunger is a difficult RPG that tasks players with exploring a dungeon that becomes worse the farther you dive in. I could go into the horrors that are in the Fear and Hunger series and the long list of lore, and I will someday, but for now, just know that it is a game I haven't finished yet because of the difficulty. 

So what does this have to do with Black Souls? A game I've yet to play or explore. It was the youtube videos that got my attention. One mentioned what a monster you were in this game. That caught my interest. The game boasts rape and sexual abuse, and I mean "boasts." Any time people warn me to avoid something traumatic, curiostiy steps in until I leave with satisfaction. I plan to play this game tomorrow and see what kind of horrors await me. For today, I'll leave it because I need to sleep. I shouldn't be too excited to play this game. It will go over subjects that I'm not comfortable with but I like media that threatens me. Maybe that's why I'm so interested in Stephen King and Clive Barker.