There’s a new video on my YouTube channel. It’s a rambling, half-lucid live replay of the first few stages of BloodRayne. Yes, the ones I already showed off.
There is a reason for this, as I explain in the video. Since I lost all my progress from the original filming of the first block of Bloodmoon episodes, I needed to go back and replay the opening hour to get a point to continue from, and I used the opportunity as an excuse to talk about the conceptual origins of the Bloodmoon series, why on Earth I chose to spotlight BloodRayne so heavily and my ever-deepening fodness for and connection to this silly, silly game.
If you like delerious, circuitous ramblings as points, arguments and conclusions slowly come into and out of focus, this video is for you. If nothing else, it’s a decent snapshot of how my mind works.
I do have to apologise though for the video cutting out briefly during the cutscenes. BloodRayne plays cutscenes in a different window than the gameplay, and OBS doesn’t like that.
Come join me on a night in as I play a few rounds of Unreal Tournament 2004 and talk mostly about the Metroid series. Because that’s just how I do things.
Topics discussed (or really, rambled back and forth on) included arena shooters, my history with the genre and why I like them, the differences between Unreal Tournament and Quake, the things the genre needs to do to come back, and of course, the Metroid series. Particularly Metroid Prime Hunters, which is an unjustly overlooked Metroid-themed arena shooter for the Nintendo DS. This is probably as close as I can get to doing a real Metroid project right now, so I hope I was able to answer at least some of the questions you might have had about how I feel about Nintendo’s most fraught video game franchise.
Because I mentioned him, here are some links to the good work video game historian Liam Robertson has done on the Metroid series:
This is kind of an impromptu, experimental test for a new kind of video series I’m debating starting. If you like me being this unscripted and freeform, please let me know: I have a couple of ideas for ways I can use this approach for other games.…
All joking aside, I’m really, really proud of this one. Please join me in extending a very warm welcome to the wonderful Bob from RetroRGB.
Bob has done tireless work gathering information on how to preserve every aspect of classic video games: Not just the systems and the games themselves, but the whole experience of retro gaming. From the best way to hook up your old consoles to a modern flatscreen digital HD TV to the best way to track down and safeguard a CRT to build your own personal arcade, Bob’s website RetroRGB is a wellspring of everything you’d ever want to know about the technical side of video game history and preservation. Over the course of an hour and a half, Bob and I share our thoughts on the retro lifestyle, some of our favourite video game memories and talk about what keeps us coming back to the old classics and retro aesthetics year after year.
This podcast is a real collaboration between RetroRGB, Eruditorum Press and the Forest of Illusions YouTube Channel. For the first time, I’m doing a proper crosspost: My YouTube viewers will get a video podcast (and, for the first time, get to see me in person), while fans of EP’s podcast network get an audio-only version hosted, as always on the Pex Lives Libsyn. But more to the point, Bob was kind enough to not just guest on my show, but actually do all the technical work recording, mixing and uploading it too. I could not have gotten this out in time today were it not for him, so I wanted to give him an impassioned public thanks here as well.
The name of the Japanese poetic structure I was stumbling over is kishōtenketsu. Here’s the full poem I was trying to recite from memory, and that I of course butchered horrifically:
Daughters of Itoya, in the Honmachi of Osaka. (ki)
The elder daughter is sixteen and the younger one is fourteen. (shō)
Throughout history, daimyo killed the enemy with bows and arrows. (ten)
The daughters of Itoya kill with their eyes. (ketsu)
Where to find Bob:
The main site is RetroRGB.com. Just to get you started, here are some of my favourite pages:
Bob has a YouTube channel as well, so be sure to subscribe if you want to get caught up on all the latest developments in the field of retro gaming and retro game preservation.
Last one of these for a little bit, but only because I need to record another session and get back up to where I left off because I lost this save file. Thinking of doing some other videos in the meantime though: I was gonna do one on Raiders of the Broken Planet and Metroid, but I found myself far less inspired by that game than I was hoping I would be. I could do Quake Champions, but that would just be me getting humiliated and curb-fragged over and over again. Maybe I’ll just end up gushing about Warriors All-Stars for an hour or two because, to paraphrase one of the achievements, it has in fact become my life. I’ll have to see how things go.
Check out previous entries in the Bloodmoon series to catch up if you wanna: Here’s Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
I’m pleasantly surprised at, and very appreciative of, by the way, the reaction this series has gotten (really, any reaction at all). This project is not at all remotely what I originally envisioned it to be, and I’m glad people still seem to like it.
Anyway, here’s yer edited text from the video description:
Bloodmoon is a series that looks at the evolution and apotheosis of specific themes and archetypes throughout various video games via the medium of full playthroughs with open discussion prompts.
Questions and observations:
Consider this visual. A half-vampire heroine haunts the ruins of an abandoned and flooded Louisiana plantation manor house overrun with gun-toting zombies.
Zombies are, of course, a key part of Voodoo (really, Haitian Vodou) belief, being corpses reanimated into slavery by necromancers. Another type of Zombie mentioned in Vodou is the “Zombie Astral”: The inverse of what we think of as a normal Zombie, this kind of Zombie is a disembodied spirit-fragment that can be used to bring people good luck. Zombies are considered part of the “harmful magick” of the bokor, Vodou sorcerers. Like magicians in other premodern belief systems (or traditions derived from premodern roots), bokor can do either good or evil, and no value judgment is placed on the magick itself, for magick is but a tool.
The old Beauregard house is adorned with portraits of men in, presumably, Confederate uniforms (though the lighting in the game seems to make them look more Union blueish than the real thing). And notice again the use of stock “Great Masterpiece” paintings, such as what appears to be “The School of Athens”. Of course, this could merely be a reused texture in a middle-shelf sixth generation video game, but it does also put one in mind of, say, a middle-class estate trying to look intellectual by displaying prints of famous works of art.
Plantation houses, obviously, would not have had automobiles (or working freight elevators, for that matter). That the Beauregard house has one (and a sizable car garage to boot) indicates it was either retrofitted at some point to accommodate it, or, perhaps, that it’s not even a real plantation house, but instead some sort of “revivalist” McMansion.
Bloodmoon is a series that looks at the evolution and apotheosis of specific themes and archetypes throughout various video games via the medium of full playthroughs with open discussion prompts.
Questions and observations:
Thunder and lightning is obviously an old horror trope. In the context of mythology and religion, however, they are sometimes seen as awe-inspiring signs of a divine presence. In the Yoruba religion, from which some of Voodoo is derived, Shango (also called Jakuta) is an Orisha, or divine spirit. A deified ancestor known for being a tyrannical ruler in life, his mortal reign ended when has palace was destroyed by lightning during a thunderstorm and has been associated with the natural forces of storms as an Orisha. He is also associated with the colour red, and was venerated highly in the African-American diaspora, whose ancestors valued him as a symbol of resilience and resistance during the time of slavery.
In spite of various controversies surrounding character design in video games, there is a certain multifacted way we, as players, can relate to avatars like Rayne. How, if at all, does this change when that level of agency is removed and the game is translated to something like a Let’s Play?
Take note of the paintings on the wall of Town Hall. George Washington (a noted slave owner). The Last Supper. Among other pictures of Great White Western Culture.
The Deputy is a certain kind of libertarian, not to mention Nerd Culture, ideal: The heroic lone wolf male alone during the apocalypse (a zombie apocalypse, no less) holed up in a super-secure makeshift fortress with “all the guns [he] needs” (note Rayne’s double entendre). It takes Rayne to point out it’s “only a matter of time” before the mutates and Mairaisreq “find a way in”, just like she did. Life, and nature, always finds a way, and fighting it will always be a losing battle in the end. And even so he can’t help but flirt with her and flaunt his rank. Not that this helps him realize she’s literally imprisoned.
We’re back to the cursed Louisiana Bayou over at my YouTube channel as the Bloodmoon series continues its look at BloodRayne‘s opening world. Check out Episode 1 if you missed it. If you’re only familiar with the Uwe Boll movies, get a look at where Rayne got her start and see her in a whole new light!
Editied text from the video description:
Bloodmoon is a series that looks at the evolution and apotheosis of specific themes and archetypes throughout various video games via the medium of full playthroughs with open discussion prompts.
Questions and observations:
“City of the Dead” is a nickname given to New Orleans St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, the oldest cemetery in the city. Though spanning just one square block, thousands of people are buried here, hence its name. Notice how the “City of the Dead” in BloodRayne is flooded.
The Yonic imagery in the Maraisreq nest is obvious. Swamp monsters have been part of bayou folklore for generations, but seem to be a Western myth instead of a Native one (though there is a Swamp Woman figure roughly similar to the Irish banshee in Wabanaki folklore of the Northeast Atlantic coast). A famous example is the Honey Island Swamp Monster, a Bigfoot-type creature reputed to haunt Honey Island Swamp in Louisiana.
In Louisiana, the Creole peoples refer to the descendants of French and Spanish colonialists who intermarried. It can also refer to descendants of African slaves and Native Americans who were born into the community.
Rayne’s “harpoon” isn’t really a harpoon, and could more accurately be described as a kunai on a chain. It does, however, reinforce the game’s BDSM theme as well as evoke ninja imagery, which plays into Rayne’s acrobatic build and body language.
The link between vampirism and sexuality is an old one. What are some ways in which sexuality, and the transfer of sexual energy, has been read and interpreted? How do you think this applies to Rayne, a(n at this point aspiring) half-vampire dominatrix?
Marie Laveau was a real woman, a famous Voodoo priestess who lived during the early-to-mid 1860s. Voodoo (not to be confused with Vodou, a similar religion practiced in Haiti), is a syncretic religion that emerged in the African-American community of Louisiana out of a blending of various West African spiritual pathways and French Catholicism. Ms. Laveau had a massive and multiethnic following in her time, practiced Native American spirit work alongside Voodoo and became a kind of living folk hero. She is said to be interred in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.
Recent discussions in the contemporary magick community stress that magick itself is a neutral force: White/Black and Light/Dark should not be seen to map onto Good and Evil, and the spirits have moral codes above and beyond those of humans. What makes magick Good or Evil, in this framework, is whether or not it’s used for Good or Evil ends. It only matters what one does.
Today’s video over at my channel is the first in a new series featuring full playthroughs of a number of different video games, all centred around the same set of themes and motifs. These will probably be split up into 15-30 minute episodes of pure gameplay footage. First up, the original BloodRayne from 2002, which was available on the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, XBOX and PC. I’m playing the PC version, modded for controller support and widescreen HD resolutions. Now I know this perhaps doesn’t seem like the kind of game I typically like to talk about and some of you might have questions about that, but all I can say right now is to please trust me-I’m going somewhere with this 🙂
Edited text from the video description:
Bloodmoon is a series that looks at the evolution and apotheosis of specific themes and archetypes throughout various video games via the medium of full playthroughs with open discussion prompts.
Questions and observations:
Why does the intro cinematic seem to be, at first, trying to mislead us into thinking Rayne is a villainous monster when it would have been immediately obvious to anyone buying this game that she was the protagonist?
Rayne’s look and general persona are derived from that of a classical dominatrix. What BDSM themes, if any, can you find in the game going forward and what ramifications does this have for how we should read it?
According to the game’s official backstory, during this opening tutorial sequence Rayne is technically only still a teenager. Do you think this influences how Laura Bailey chooses to play her?
In Romanian folklore, where such legends are almost exclusively derived, the traditional name for creatures like Rayne is not “vampire”, but “strigoi” (thought to be derived from the Greek “strix”, which referred to a nocturnal bird of ill omen). Only male strigoi would have been comparable to what we think of as vampires: Rayne, being female, would specifically be a “strigoaică”, which simply connotes a witch or sorceress. Of course, an important part of the game’s story is that Rayne is only *half* vampire, or “dhampir”, a reference to Balkan folklore which emphasized male vampires’ patriarchal lust to dominate women.
Much modern American art and folklore is inspired by places such as the Louisiana Bayou and Mississippi Delta region and is about coming to terms with its place in the nation’s collective consciousness. The birthplace of the blues, the only true musical style invented by the United States and home to the deepest of the deep South, and all that goes along with that, many would argue this region is the “real” heartland of the United States.
In Neopaganism and Wicca, the Moon, especially when full, is associated with the power of the Sacred Feminine. However, myopic and appropriative beliefs stemming from the ubiquity of these schools have misled people into thinking the Sun is “always” masculine and the Moon is *always* feminine, even though Solar Goddesses have been prominent in many cultures throughout history.
At long last, after two weeks, the accompanying commentary for my Sonic Generations Aquarium Park superplay is finally up on my YouTube channel thanks to me spending the weekend in a place with a dramatically better Internet connection than where I live.
I talk about it in the video, but this was originally meant to be cut from outtakes of the recording session for the original superplay video, but in the end I recorded a whole new session just for this commentary. That wound up being good though, as I learned a few more tricks and techniques between the recording of that video and this one that I think makes the run I close out with here better than the one I uploaded before! Other topics of conversation include parkour, the discipline of training, movement and Japanese spiritual philosophy.
The video itself is kind of a hybrid experiment for me. I’ve been told working from more of a defined a script would do me well, so I wrote one this time. I vastly underestimated how far 3000 words would get me though, so the back 2/3 is completely off-the-cuff and extemporaneous, which should provide a nice contrast! I actually think I work better unscripted, but you can decide for yourself which style you like better!
Video clocks in at just under 1 hour, 12 minutes. I like these longer videos for commentaries and discussions, but I think I’m going to try and limit them to livestreams from now on because this was a *nightmare* to upload and my hard drive space is dwindling at an alarming rate. When next we meet on YouTube I may start work on what I hope to be the channel’s first marquee series: A game showcase featuring a full playthrough split up into different episodes. Stay tuned, I suppose.
Don’t forget to subscribe if you want to see these as soon as they come out and, not to press the issue too much, but I do have a Patreon to hep support this and other endeavours. Thanks as always for watching and supporting any way you can, and I’ll see you next time.
Cheating a little bit this week as I teased and released this video two weeks back, but because of E3, the Elder Kings livestream and Zelda (not to mention the effort it took to record this video), plus some personal stuff, I couldn’t get a second video out in time for today. I wanted to do a video on Titanic: Honor and Glory’s new demo, which just came out, but given that thing is 6 gigabytes and I have joke Internet, downloading, installing and learning it in time to record, edit and upload a video on it wasn’t going to happen in a week. Did get some stuff on the Steam Summer Sale, and hopefully some of that will show up on the channel someday soon.
But hey, this should still be new to many of you.
A “superplay” is what we used to call a tool-assisted speedrun without the tool assits. It’s what we did to hone our focus back before people could add hacking tools to video games. It is a finely tuned runthrough of a video game level based on personal familiarity with and mastery of a game’s mechanics and layout. I take it to mean a run with no mistakes, taking no damage and moving in a stream of unbroken movements and actions.
This is a video of what I’m calling a “superplay” of Aquarium Park, a mod stage for Sonic Generations based on a level from the 2010 Wii game Sonic Colors. I’m going to talk more about this in a future video, but to me this level perfectly encapsulates everything I love about Sonic the Hedgehog games, so I thought making a video about it would be the perfect way to celebrate Sonic’s anniversary. It’s in many ways the definitive example of everything I want from one type of video game, and it’s the kind of game SEGA does better than anyone else.
Blaze the Cat, for those understandably unaware of the Sonic series’ Byzantine lore, is basically the female version of Sonic from an alternate universe. She has all his powers and abilities, just in slightly different forms. I really wanted to play as her for this for a lot of different reasons, so thankfully there’s a mod that lets me do that!
Over at myYouTube channel, I recently had friend of the blog Ben Knaak on to play and talk Elder Kings, a fanmade modification for the game Crusader Kings II that changes the setting from the medieval crusades period to Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls. Over the course of the 2 hour video, we discuss the Grand Strategy genre, The Elder Scrolls Online, musō, eSports, E3 2017, historical fiction, video game violence and the Marxist conception of history.
This was originally going to be a livestream a week or so back, but due to cascading technical problems involving CPU usage and YouTube’s own livestream algorithm it went disastrously. We offer our sincerest apologies to anyone who tried to tune in for that. As a result, we recorded this offline session instead and turned it into a normal video with all of our commentary intact and 100% less “Can you hear me now? Let me try this”. If I livestream again, which I hope to, it will probably have to be on my end and I’ll have to test the limits of my rig and Internet connection.
Once again, if you want to hear me and Ben talking more about The Elder Scrolls, we did a pair of Eruditorum Press podcasts on the series here and here. If you’re interested in the game or the mod, you can pick up Crusader Kings II on Steam and grab Elder Kings on ModDB here. I’m also hoping to have another video or two up by the end of the week, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already and you want to see more.
