[spectralsound]

my brother gave me a copy of King's Field IV (aka The Ancient City) for Christmas, so i've been playing that a bit. i felt a little guilty for not having that game get discussed much in the podcast, so i figured this was a good chance to refresh my memory of it.

firstly: holy lord, this game is a marvel of architectural level design. remember those gates in the first level of Demon's Souls, the ones that loop you back around to the beginning? the entirety of KF4 is like this - every area loops and spirals around a central tower, with most of them being a short walk away from each other once certain shortcuts are opened. in addition, there's a real effort to make these areas really resemble places that could conceivably exist in real life (despite the usual conspicuous lack of furniture). enemy placement follows this rule, as well - humanoid ones have their own patrol routes, burrowing insects stay close to the nest to protect it, et cetera. there's a real feeling, like Demon's Souls or Metroid, that you are exploring a living world, one with its own rules and idiosyncrasies.

i'm also a fan of the new mechanics - weapons and magic have levels of their own, now, and become more effective as you keep using them. in previous games, there were usually just a couple of low-level spells you would keep using throughout the entire game, and the healing spells were often one of the ones shoved to the wayside, due to the abundance of healing items. KF4 fixes this, to an extent, both due to the new magic system and the scarcity or ineffectiveness of most healing items.

it strikes me that this is where From really started to crystallize the game design concepts they would use for the Souls games - lifelike locations, scarcity of resources, understated narratives, etc. it really seems like the best of both worlds, at least for me. i'm looking forward to finishing it!
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[Rud31]

[extrabastardformula]

http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_wiring.html

has what you need to know about wiring a Xbox controller into an arcade stick including diagrams, control layouts and construction tips.
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[remote]

Something I wanted to mention long ago: at some point in the game, Solaire may exclaim: "I am the sun!" — which made me think of the Swans song going by that name, and Georges Bataille's "The Solar Anus" which inspired it. "But the copula of terms is no less irritating than the copulation of bodies. And when I scream I AM THE SUN an integral erection results, because the verb to be is the vehicle of amorous frenzy." Later: "The Sun exclusively loves the Night and directs its luminous violence, its ignoble shaft, toward the earth, but finds itself incapable of reaching the gaze or the night, even though the nocturnal terrestrial expanses head continuously toward the indecency of the solar ray. The solar annulus is the intact anus of her body at eighteen years to which nothing sufficiently blinding can be compared except the sun, even though the anus is night."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bCUZX6g8BM

I'm sure this has nothing to do with anything, but perhaps with a bit of imagination this says something about Solaire's insatiable desire to be grossly, obscenely incandescent.
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[probably fine]

remote, that post was a really great read. I too doubt it actually has to do with anything, but its funny to think about!

[apfEID]

I've listened to this podcast in full twice now. Once before buying Dark Souls, the second after putting in 30+ hours. I also bought a copy of King's Field IV used off of Amazon.com and look forward to playing it after DS.

As for how people discovered the podcast, I've lurked from time to time and occasionally posted here (and at insert credit) for almost a decade now, and recently found out about them, almost certainly here, and have listened to about a quarter of them so far. Pretty great, fascinating & funny.

(That was Beherit? New stuff I guess? Dark Souls has me reaching for Incantation and Bolt Thrower lately. And Demdike Stare, actually...)

[remote]

Nope, that was a track from Beherit's 1993 album Drawing Down the Moon. Pretty much their best.

I can see Bolt Thrower being a good fit for certain things, with all the Warhammer stuff... Soundtrack for invasions?

Once, while doing some co-op with spectralsound where she had just killed Gwynevere, Anor Londo's darkness reminded me of the Dead Can Dance album Within the Realm of a Dying Sun. A good fit for the mood at that moment, at least...
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[apfEID]

Whoops, wait, I was thinking about the music at 1:22:00 or so, which is... Deathspell Omega?

I've been playing the game without added soundtrack, but thinking about Dark Souls has me reaching for those bands, atmosphere-wise. This game has infected my brain.

[remote]

Ah, yep, the other one was Deathspell Omega.
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[Rud31]

For the future, it would help if you explain a bit more about the actual games you're talking about. I don't know anything about the King's Field series.

It's a really good discussion and points. I just felt lost.
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