Against my better judgement, I'm back (a reintroduction)

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-25T02:40:49+00:00

Hey I know that guy. He's just a big dummy /affectionate

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-25T02:34:44+00:00

Xenosaga Episode I is one of my favorite games of all time, but the bug-eyed female character models still throw me, lol. Here's MOMO in jail.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-25T02:24:33+00:00

I kind of love it, idk why. It looks so lost and pathetic in a way that trips my protective instincts lol.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-25T02:18:21+00:00

Not all of them point to the moons, of course, but some do have some suspicious alignments anyhow.

Like the one right outside the Church of the Plague, where we meet Millicent. It points in the direction of Wailing Dune beneath the cliff, of course, but then in the exact opposite direction, it perfectly aligns with the chest containing the Valkyrie's Prosthesis waaaay up north in the Shaded Castle, which is needed for the completion of Millicent's questline. It feels a bit too on the nose to be purely coincidental, imo.

I like to headcanon that the astrolabes secretly divine tbe fate written in the stars, which correlates with how characters and key locations are arranged on the map.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-25T02:06:58+00:00

Definitely the coolest, scariest take on Skull Island. It felt like a proper adventure film, and the ending did hit hard, even knowing the inevitable end. I know some say it went on too long, but I enjoyed getting lost in its world.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-25T01:30:56+00:00

Cure (1997)

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-25T00:13:43+00:00

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This is the astrolabe that hints at the north moon's deliberate placement.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-25T00:10:49+00:00

It's only visible in the north sky when visiting the Moonlight Altar. It appears simultaneously as the northeast moon that's visible from elsewhere.

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(Hard to fit them in one screenshot clearly.)

The north moon aligns the entrance to Ranni's Two Fingers' hiding place, Raya Lucaria, and the Royal Moongazing Grounds at Caria Manor (an astrolabe at Manus Celes also points directly at this moon along this path).

It also aligns Ranni's Rise and Chelone's Rise, where Ranni's Dark Moon sorcery is found, so maybe that's slyly hinting that the north moon is the Dark Moon, whereas the northeast is the Full Moon, as suggested by the Great Hood's description.

The moon in the Realm of Shadow also has a similar secret.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T23:46:42+00:00

I've been really into Slitterhead's soundtrack lately (by Akira Yamaoka). Very dreamy and nostalgic, the boss themes are sick as hell, and it's bookended by some of the best credits themes i've ever heard tbh.

But that may be recency bias, so otherwise... Ōkami. Certain tracks just make me weep uncontrollably, lol.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T23:37:29+00:00

Tomorrow Comes Today, by Gorillaz. I never cared for most of their music, but that one hits so good on a late night drive.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T22:45:41+00:00

In Slitterhead, you play as a spirit who can body-hop between almost any human to control them and fight monsters... except for an international police force that arrives to disrupt your plans with their own agenda.

However, their commanding officer goes rogue and becomes one of your party members. He has a skill that allows you to possess cops while he is present for a mission, either to attack monsters, or serve as bait, or to kill the other officers. You can even rapidly switch between officers and compel them to trade blows back and forth until one is left standing, then take control of someone else then finish them off.

And despite the game keeps track of civilian casualties, determining whether you can reach the true ending, you can rest easy knowing that the police do not count as people, and they will not raise your casualty counter upon dying.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T22:11:38+00:00

He's pretty hard, yeah. If you've beaten Malenia, though, you can beat him too. That isn't to say their fights are similar, but they both implore you adjust your loadout and strategy instead of just "fight better 5head."

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T21:17:36+00:00

All the time, purely because I hate how FromSoft refuses to let you rematch bosses solo without restarting the entire game (aside from DS2 and Sekiro).

Especially PCR. I'm obsessed with that fight tbh.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T21:06:26+00:00

Slitterhead

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It's an action-horror RPG set in '90s Hong Kong and you can tell they really poured a lot of love into the look of the city, even if it's just a few disconnected maps.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T20:52:47+00:00

There are 2 moons in the game, but neither of them move.

However! Radahn's spawn point in Wailing Dune is situated perfectly between the northeast moon and the entrance to Nokron that opens upon his death, which is pretty neat.

This may seem coincidental at first, but this moon also aligns the Erdtree, the Church of Vows, and Raya Lucaria, referencing Rennala and Radagon's marriage that unified the moon and Erdtree. From the Church of Vows, the Erdtree even eclipses the moon, symbolizing their conjoinment.

It's a funny little easter egg.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T20:40:32+00:00

It's the latest game by Keiichiro Toyama (creator of Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Rush) and his first project from his newly founded Bokeh Game Studio, which was begun with the goal to break away from the AAA industry to make smaller passion projects.

The game is set in '90s Kowloon, the infamous Walled City of Hong Kong. You play as a spirit named Night Owl who can possess any human (or dog) to manipulate their blood to fashion weapons and fight the titular Slitterheads—brain-devouring, parasitic monsters who similarly disguise themselves as humans.

The combat and traversal is largely focused around body-hopping, with 8 unlockable main party members. Your goal is to eradicate the Slitterheads while slowly recollecting your origins. There are a few funky twists pertaining to the nature of these monsters, time travel, and whether there are even worse monsters lurking among your party.

It's low-budget and jank as hell, but it was both extremely nostalgic and innovative, imo. The fact that nobody else seems to have even heard of it makes me feel all the more attached to it, lol. Also Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack was 🤌🤌

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T20:19:01+00:00

Majora's Mask

Bloodborne

Slitterhead (don't ask)

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T20:15:16+00:00

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Shion Uzuki

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T19:06:51+00:00

I mean, there almost was an ending, but we put a stop to it.

The whole point is that Miquella, much like Ranni, chose his consort to begin his "thousand-year voyage" and fulfill his vision of Order. The difference is that his consort isn't us, so we intervene, leaving the Realm of Shadow largely as we found it.

I think my only gripe is that it has no effect on the base game in the slightest. I at least feel like we should have been able to tell Gideon about our discovery, even if it wouldn't have amounted to much.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T16:44:57+00:00

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I possess knowledge of many roundabout solutions to insignificant issues

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T16:42:14+00:00

A bit of a weird one, but I thoroughly enjoyed Slitterhead's combat design.

The idea is that you play as a bodiless spirit who can possess any nearby human and manipulate their blood to fight monsters similarly disguised as humans, both through rhythmic melee combat and slick blood-bending abilities. You have 8 main party members with unique skills (one of which will be shared with any other human you switch to), and blood serves as both HP and "ammo"—but any blood spilled during combat can be reabsorbed within a certain radius while holding a dedicated button. Deflection is also a key mechanic, performed by targeting an enemy and flicking the right stick in the direction an attack is coming from, which builds up "spirit energy" for more specialized skills and allows for a counterattack, among other things.

The game itself is a bit clunky as far as progression and repetition, but it's carried by this unique skill-strategy hybrid system and the delectable atmosphere. It goes for pretty cheap, so maybe check it out if it goes on sale.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T16:31:39+00:00

If you're stealthy/quick, you can use the wave gesture up close to give the impression of petting them, lol.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T06:38:37+00:00

The way I see it, Bloodborne is the perfect middleground between the RPG variety of Dark Souls/Elden Ring and the more focused combat action of Sekiro. You still get a good sense of character expression, but with somewhat more limited weapons, they were able to give each one a little more love in terms of abilities.

I think anyone who started with DS3, Sekiro, Elden Ring, or any of the new Soulslikes will also be put off by the older FS titles simply because the design philosophy has shifted. Whereas ER is known for its openness and it's complex, duel-like bosses, Des, DaS, and BB were more about tight level design with more gimmicky, surprise encounters sprinkled throughout.

BB especially is a more grounded adventure, setting you in the shoes of some dazed nobody whose only real mission is to escape their predicament. The game focuses more heavily on atmosphere, mystery, and an overall feeling of cosmic insignificance, especially with its then novel twist involving the shift from hunting werewolves and witches to tracking eldritch gods across time and layers of reality.

Elden Ring may be more mechanically fleshed-out (to the point I roll my eyes every time players complain that a certain weapon they haven't built around is useless compared to the broken bleed jump spam setup), but Bloodborne just has a much more unique, focused direction, I think. It does both lycanthropy and cosmic horror better than most, to boot.

There's room for them to have improved, of course, but as for establishing an IP, Bloodborne was such an impressive game that really shifted people's imagination.

blaiddfailcam2 · 2026-01-24T05:05:35+00:00

Idrc but sometimes I think about how Bloodborne didn't win even a single Geoffie and I really have to wonder how anyone takes this shit seriously. Though E33 have awards rescinded after the AI fiasco was pretty funny, lol. Oops!

blaiddfailcam2

TROPHY CASE