#on another note the music and visuals were absolutely incredible so kudos

[li-was-here]

***MAJOR INAZUMA ARCHON QUEST SPOILERS***

ok y'all i'm about to freak the fuck out here. everything that went down in that quest was crazy. but firstly i'm happy that everyone got their visions back :))) (and if you go around and talk to those three people who lost their visions they give you stuff)

1. First on screen character death. I won't say who in case people scrolling accidentally see, but that was absolutely terrifying. And I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that the Fatui were behind the Vision Hunt Decree. Also finding out that Musoujin Gorge was created by a single slash of Ei's sword? damn. (kinda hot ngl)

2. That whole scene when we were walking out of the fight and it was in Paimon's(?) POV was so creepy but so cool. And that tapping thing we had to do? What was that all about?

3. I feel like they foreshadowed the whole "puppet" thing way back when we first encountered Maguu Kenki in the islands event. Which is awesome symbolism. But when Yae said that Ei (or Baal, I can't keep track lol) made a "test puppet," I thought she was gonna say that was how Maguu Kenki was created. BUT NO IT WAS FUCKING SCARAMOUCHE LIKE WTF. so basically he's not really human? and I wonder how many (if any) of the harbingers/the Tsaritsa know about this. my god.

4. Watatsumi island is gorgeous.

5. Yae was the real goat of this whole thing.

6. Kazuha looked so sad at the end i stg i was gonna cry. BUT HE JUST FUCKING WENT FOR IT BACK THERE OMG GOOD FOR HIM

7. I was shook when the Traveller actually spoke

8. IS TEPPEI OKAY? I tried to find him after the quest was over but couldn't. [EDIT: well, he died and now i'm sad. i wasn't 100% sure but yeah it was confirmed 😭]

9. It's interesting to see how the archons' perspectives differ from human perspectives and how they act based on that. I think Zhongli and Ei are similar in that they both seemed pretty far removed from their people, but in the end Zhongli trusted humans to take care of Liyue, and Ei acted in sort of an opposite manner. Venti, despite his laissez-faire attitude toward ruling, seems more in touch with the people of Mondstadt since he interacts with them directly and kind of just lives among them a lot of the time. Actually, Zhongli seems like he's more in touch now since he works at the funeral parlor. I haven't done the Raiden Shogun's story quest yet so I'm interested to see how she'll act moving forward, esp now that her gnosis has been given away (thank you Yae btw).

10. I think this is the first time they compared a gnosis to a chess piece and I know a lot of people were speculating about the Archons possibly being pawns (or "puppets" if you will) for whoever is actually in charge

11. Oh and by the way I still don't condone Ei's actions with the Vision Hunt Decree, it's unacceptable to hurt and control people no matter how long you've lived or what your intentions are.

k thanks for reading my rant byeeeee

[jacereviews]

Review: The House in Fata Morgana

Visual Novel PC Also known as: Fata Morgana no Yakata, FataMoru This does not cover the content included exclusively in the collected edition. Consumed in English

I’m very new to visual novels, for the longest time I was put-off by the medium for their pacing and insistence on being pornographic. However I found myself to be small-minded so I’ve tried sampling the medium to see what lies within. During this time a friend of mine approaches me with a rather interesting looking vn, one which I shall discuss today. I present to you the Utsuge, The House in Fata Morgana. Let’s rock.

PLOT: There’s a dark manor in the woods. Legends speak of a witch living in it. You awaken in this manor by the fireplace, utterly alone except for a single maid. The Maid informs you that you’re the master of this house, but unfortunately you don’t remember who you are. She takes your hand and guides you through the the memories of the house, as you look into the past to find out who you are. In a lot of way this feels like a Framing Story in the beginning. The story is told through “doors.” Each door containing a different time period and story behind it, only sharing their being set in the manor. However over time you see the stranger pieces begin to connect and unfold into a grander tale. This grander tale was quite emotional and fascinating, while not shockingly complex or new it was incredibly effective. The real problem lays in the doors prior to everything coming together. While they’re all individually fine they are rather weak. The first door in particular felt rather mediocre until the ending of it. While better than many vns these do server as a buffer, even if they do pay off in the long run. They’re paced fine enough that it’s no real problem to get through. On the other hand some of the later doors are borderline perfect, being tightly paced, impactful, and intriguing. No piece of Fata Morgana is unimportant, even if they initially seem that way.

9/10, a bumpy start but a fantastic ending.

CHARACTERS: Any MAL friend of mine will notice that a Fata character is on my top 10. However I will not be able to talk here much as many of the later characters are cloaked in spoilers. I will simply rapid fire use some names and attach brief opinions. Michel is an absolute joy and a pleasure to read, I adore him. Giselle is very loveable and warm. Jacopo hurts my heart in good ways. Needless to say there’s a lot of powerfully done characters here, not too many but enough. One of my favorite characters I can’t even talk about at all without going into spoiler territory, but if you’re read up on the VN you can guess who she is.

10/10, I actually can’t talk more without ruining the experience, trust my number here.

VISUALS: For many people this might be the initial draw.  Moyataro‘s art is very distinct and has this gothic allure that’ll intrigue. The character designs I found to be quite good, with most characters having distinct and interesting appearances I shan’t soon forget. The art quality however can be hit and miss, though I did find it to improve over time. The first sprites you see in door 1 are the worst sprites in the game in my honest opinion, and the first 3 doors have some hit and miss CGs. Some are quite beautiful, while others are anatomical errors. However towards the end I found it evened out and was generally appealing to look at. Another thing of note is the design and style of the more VN/Game aspects. The menus looked great and the ADV boxes were also quite interesting to look at. The boxes changed with the doors to keep mixing things up and I much appreciated this. While the menus and text boxes did feel kind of cheap, they were made up for by how much effort went into their design. The menus were so dedicated to the aesthetic that “start” was enter the manor and load save was “inspect your memories.” If there’s any more complaints I must have, it’s that you can tell with a character or two that the artist wanted to show off how sexy they were. One of the girls basically had the ‘camera’ focused on her breasts the whole time and I found this a tad obnoxious.

8/10, while the diegetic art would earn somewhere between a 6 or 7 the other aspects of visual design fantastically made up for such shortcomings.

SOUND: Fata Morgana comes with quite the distinct soundtrack. The composers put in a lot of effort to emulate the eras being shown down to the languages some tracks were sung in. You won’t find boopy j-pop here, just old European music and spooky pieces to build the atmosphere. Some of the stereo mixing I found to be a bit off, and I don’t think there’s much here I’d listen to on its own but these are very, very minor complaints all things considered. Throughout the VN I found the music added immensely. The sound effect design was also rather great. Many things that occured were pleasant to listen to. I’d like to give a specific kudos to the sound of the beast. The chilling squeak-like sounds were incredibly nice.

9/10, sound is used to full advantage here.

FINAL SCORE: 9/10

Fata Morgana, while not flawless, is a rather fantastic piece that I’d recommend to fans and non-fans of VNs. In a way it feels more like a play or novel than your stereotypical VN fare. I can’t tell you the secrets of the House in Fata Morgana, but I can tell you I found them well worth discovering.

[wknc881]

Show Review of Imurj's "Local Artist Spotlight"

On Friday, August 24th, the Raleigh music venue, Imurj hosted a “Local Artist Spotlight” show which featured three up-and-coming artists who were personally selected by Imurj. The lineup was as follows:

1. Stranded Bandits (opener)

2. Darren and the Buttered Toast

3. Mosquito Washington and the Bloodsuckers (headliner)

I listed the artists in their performance order but I will be describing their sets based on which I enjoyed the most (my favorite act being the last one).

Although Mosquito Washington was the headliner, I was least impressed by them. This band, comprised of 5 classic metal old-heads had little impact on the crowd. For the first few songs audience members– many of whom were very clearly not traditional metal heads– excitedly began head-banging and participated in a center-stage push-pit. Eventually, however, the crowd dissipated as riff-after-repetitive-riff drawled on. Now, don’t get me wrong, the members of Mosquito Washington are vastly talented men who clearly have a solid taste in music, but it is safe to say that their time is long over. Each song could have easily been an Alice Cooper or Black Sabbath cover, which may have been preferable to their lesser-known originals. It was nostalgic to hear such classic song structures, but maybe they weren’t suitable for this event. The vast majority of the crowd were in their early 20s and if they weren’t attending as part of the entourage of other performers, they were mere frequent customers of the bar and probably not diehard hair-metal fans. Overall, I feel as though Mosquito Washington could have had a better draw at a tribute show or by marketing themselves as a cover band. Kudos to the members for carrying on the spirit of the 70s and 80s, and such a pity that it was lost on the ears of the crowd.

Up next was Stranded Bandits, a 4-piece rock group that is relatively new to the Raleigh scene, but for those invested in its culture it won’t be long until their name becomes familiar. The band isn’t visually cohesive, unlike the other two artists on this lineup, but the sound each member produces mix to form an incredibly exciting set of songs.

They opened with a tune called, ‘Debauchery,’ which was steeped in classic rock elements and used riffs that the Foo Fighters themselves could have written. The crowd, at this point mostly made up of family and friends of Darren and the Buttered Toast, received the music warmly, with one audience member shouting out, “these guys rock!” Up next was a song called, ‘On the Run–’ I was very lucky that they announced the title of every song they played– and it featured main vocals and a solo by their drummer, Douglas (DJ) Schilens. The solo directly mimicked the performance style of Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham, particularly his Moby Dick solo in which Bonham transitioned between using sticks and his hands to play drums. Schilens used this same technique, although his solo wasn’t 15+ minutes long. In fact, Stranded Bandits seems to have a knack for showcasing their individual skills. Matt Barton, the lead guitarist of the group, was featured on an instrumental track entitled, ‘Beach Bum Blues.’ Furthermore, the group continually pays homage to their classic rock heroes, with Barton next honoring Jimi Hendrix by attempting to play guitar with his teeth. Although this was a courageous feat of showmanship, it may have fallen flat for the juvenile band– or maybe only the rock god himself, Hendrix, can successfully pull that trick off. Either way, Barton’s suave stylings outside of that moment proved to be well-suited to their music and he never made another mistake.

At the end of ‘On the Run,’ and truthfully between every song that was performed, Stranded Bandits’ bare-footed bassist, Arjun Sheth, kept up a strong, constant bassline and ensured that never did a moment pass when the audience wasn’t engaged by music. They swiftly transitioned into a Hendrix cover of the song, ‘Purple Haze.’ At this moment it was their frontman– Isaac McDaniel’s– time to shine. The frontman, though youthful, carries an air of unadulterated self-confidence when performing– I saw a clear connection to Steven Tyler. McDaniel never stopped moving, both on and off-stage, and even initiated dance circles during the following set. During their Hendrix song he threw himself to the ground, vivaciously slamming his fists against the ground, wholly consumed by the music.

This group is definitely one to keep an eye and ear on. The vibrancy of these young men won over the crowd and began the show with an explosion of sound. A few dissonant sections arose where it seemed as though the band members were drifting apart from one another, but unless you were listening critically, it would have been impossible to tell. Even so, I was informed that this was their very first real gig and that up until this point they had only done open mic events. These guys play with more finesse and flair than some veterans to the scene and I can safely say that I was beyond thoroughly impressed by Stranded Bandits.

After their set I was able to approach a friend of the band’s– Anya Johnson– who was kind enough to share her photos of their performance with me. Below are a couple of the pictures she took for Stranded Bandits.

Although the rockers in Stranded Bandits fulfilled their purpose of beginning the show with energy, it was their following act that really blew the crowd away. Darren and the Buttered Toast, as advertised on their website, are a group that draw on influences from “…the soul of R&B, Jazz, Rock, Gospel, and other musical traditions…with a focus on a positive vibe to lift the spirit and move the feet.” Without a doubt they achieved their goal. This group, having been active since 2013, had an extremely well-done set. Despite the fact that much of their music was improvised it flowed so well that it was as if they had practiced every note beforehand. Of course the skeleton of the songs were pre-written and practiced, but the meat of their performance comes from the vitality of their members. I have good things to say about all of them.

Darren Curtis (lead vocalist/guitar)

The charismatic frontman of Darren and the Buttered Toast kept his eyes ever-scanning the crowd, flashing a row of glittering teeth to anyone who matched his gaze. Curtis started off with the energy high and never let it fall. He spent the whole dancing in-front of his microphone and behind his guitar, tantalizing jazz lines seducing the audience’s eardrums. Curtis’ lyrics, especially during ‘Mr. Bass Man’ told a story set to music, and were easy to follow for the duration of the set. A true showman in every sense of the word.

Isaac Capers (backing vocals/drums)

Although Capers wasn’t showcased in the same way that Stranded Bandits had done with Schilens, there was no doubt that Capers is deeply talented. Instinctively I want to call him robotic, because to my knowledge he never missed a single beat all night, however, he was too fluid to be considered robotic. No, Capers is a definitively human drummer, and his heart guided the music he created. In pairing with Anthony Dyal, the two kept the audience dancing so frivolously that we were quite literally begging for more. Darren and the Buttered Toast performed two encores.

Delante’ Randolph (backing vocals/saxophone)

Let me start by saying that I was wholeheartedly floored by the talent that drips from this man’s fingertips. Saxophonists are notoriously creative musicians, and Randolph was no different. In coalition with Curtis– the two musicians bounced off one another effortlessly–, he created a sonic landscape fit for anyone to dance around in. Switching between a classic sax– I’d like to assume it’s an alto– and an electric sax allowed him to variate his sound in numerous ways. The electric, which looked like the biggest Juul I’ve ever seen, was hooked up to a pedal board which even furthered his ability to manipulate the music. This was something I had never seen before and it was phenomenal. Every note, every solo, every run was immaculately conceived and blessed our ears similarly. Furthermore, he was incredibly nice to talk to after the set and provided me with all the band’s contact info for future listening. Definitely an incredibly friendly man.

Anthony Dyal (bassist)

This man is the true backbone of Darren and the Buttered Toast. The funk and finesse he brought to the stage got the crowd off their feet, onto the dancefloor, and into each other's’ arms. A steady rocker, which was exemplified during his mini solo, Dyal is a master of his entire instrument. Incredible bass lines, incredible tone, the absolute cherry on the top of this buttered toast-erpiece.

Overall, Imurj did an excellent job of picking a line-up with a wide variety of genre-influences to pander to the interests of every show-goer. Every performance had its appeal and provided an excellent evening of rock n roll. I’m very excited to see where each of these groups go and how they musically progress.

If they’re ever playing in the area again, you can bet I’ll be there for another showcase of talent– I hope to see you all there.

Thanks for reading, and remember;

Punk’s not dead, its on 88.1 WKNC.

-DJ Beowvlf