I’m On A Roller
I’m rolling like Rick Astley would. Rick Astley the Satanist.
As the physical self finds itself stranded in a failing country without anything to do nor means to fix the situation, turning to the typed word and drawn sketchpad is a logical response. Let’s see them shut me up from here.
Our weather this year has quite frankly sucked. And this in a city known for sucky weather.
If you remember I wrote a misguidedly hopeful midwinter column commemorating the winter solistice and projecting a swish and smooth straightline run to sunnier and warmer weather thereafter. That was on the 21st of June.
Hindsight say you can pretty much have just clicked and dragged that grey and bleak winter minimum out another five months to, oh about this morning. The weather, today, this afternoon, as i type not, finally feels face-scortchingly warmer. But I have been so bruised by treachery from the gods and gaia and mother nature and all of them by this point that I have no optimism left that we’ll get an established summer at all. Put my tip in for a continuation of the grey and dreary winter weather we have just had, especially on the Sundays, which is my one day off to myself. I see no indication whatsoever that the weather will improve over summer. There is absolutely no data in my recent experience to suggest this will happen.
WHATS GOING ON WITH ALL THESE IMAGES MIKE?
Well I’m glad you asked. I try and plow through the boredom in diferent ways, and in this case I decided to go on a retro trip to my childhood past again, and revisit the original release of Suikoden from 1996 on the PS1 by Konami.
I do believe I have a saved-game on a true OG memory card somewhere.
A gameplay walkthrough is available on youtube here. It’s possibly also currently available on the Steam/Steamdeck platform but I’m not familiar with that contraption/platform. This is the version i grew up playing and clocking right through. I actually like the original stuff of most things and not the remakes and updates. It’s the art and visual style I grew up with, and the latter-day updates and refreshes just don’t make sense to me. Those kinda look like kids stuff. I guess it’s all kids stuff. And we hang onto shit for weird reasons. Like those Vietnam soldiers singing the Mickey Mouse song in Full Metal Jacket. Or Slash wearing a Batman t-shirt in the inside cover photos of Appetite For Destruction. So I make no apologies for it. This was the entertainment I had. And yes I am a fully functioning adult that sustains himself independently and successfully, and has gone out into the world and done stuff. I didn’t just sit there in my bedroom for four decades playing video games.
Plus the story has shit going on. Death, torture, betrayal, love and love unrequited. Despair, Redemption. I’ll back it. It’s hard to find a walkthrough of the original game with the original graphics and without annoying commentary. But I managed to find one in the linked channel above. And this individual plays what looks to be a pretty perfect run-through of the game. This is on the assumption that you are curious enough to want to watch it (it’ll take up several days, let’s just say it’s been a very quiet fortnight for me and I’ve been completely stuc in the one place) but have no intention of playing it yourself. I feel at liberty to do this seeing as I probably played it through about 2-3 times in my youth, as well as it’s first sequel Suikoden 2. The artwork on this game is solid, the gameplay fun, the story engrossing, side-quests interesting. There’s a curious blend of fantasy of both east and west. There’s some weird-as-fuck names, Cool spellcasting, castles, dragons, hot women, dashing fellas, crazy looking badies. Compelling portraits, ninjas, knights, vampires, kobolds, dragons AND wyverns, sirens, golems, jovial folky music that makes you want to don tight diamond pantaloons and dance a gay merry jig in an old mery tavern somewhere, or frolic around the maypole with village peasant lasses and try and score. What more could you want? PLus, for the moral finger-waggers, its not just ultraviolenece and porn, infact there’s pretty much none of that in the game. People die but its not callous and psychopathic.
Valeria bashing an evil palace guard with her Falcon Rune attack. That’s the way you do it. IRL Melbourne peeps having to walk the grim streets of this blighted and sorry town, do take note. Sonya and the Speaking Sword watching on. There’s also a rabbit-bird thing there. A rabbit-chicken maybe?
Get yourself some good medicine.
Kage the badass ninja features here. Kinda reminiscent of my covid-era mask look where I used a headsock instead. Infact I’m gonna try and pull up that photo. Watch this space. Like Kage the ninja, I keep my word and will deliver.
Ted taking on an early baddie known as the Queen Ant. It looks like a dicey scenario. Will he have her measure? I won’t give out spoilers, don’t you worry.