Latest posts
Things keep happening
02 October 2024On a few occasions, I’ve seen a meme saying something like “Adult life is just saying ‘But after this week things will hopefully calm down a bit’ until you die”, and honestly, that’s been my life to a T since I wrote my last blog post. I’ve had lots of stuff to do over the last few weeks, and most of it has been fun. That said, every time I think things have calmed down, something new has inevitably turned up. It’s been a relief to have two days where the only important things I’ve had to do outside of work have been sending a few emails.
Things are a bit stressful at the moment. I’m in charge of an event next week, and I always worry too much about things, so part of me is worried it’ll be a complete disaster. Realistically, however, I think things will go well, and I have some great people helping me out. Disaster or success, I’m looking forward to having it over with. I recently handled another event that the attendees loved, but turned out to be far more intense for us organizers than I had thought. That said, I learned from it, and overall, I’m happy with my work.
Things are gonna calm down on that front after next week. At least for a few months. Despite everything happening at once sometimes, I am overall pretty happy with how my life is at the moment, even though I’m hoping for a break soon. Here are a few bullet points of fun stuff from the last few weeks.
-
I wrote two game reviews! I’ll add them to my review archive later, but right now, you can read my reviews of Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II on Loading.se! They’re two good games in two very different ways, and I recommend them both. I’m currently playing the new Zelda game to review it, and it’s a cute and creative game, but it does have some annoying flaws, both technical and in the game design. It’s good and I recommend it, but it could easily have been much better.
-
I went to Kulurnatten in Norrköping: A friend of mine lives in Norrköping, and every year, Kulturnatten (literal translation: “The culture night”) takes place there. It’s a night full of art, music and everything else you can expect from such an event, and it was fun! We listened to some nice bands, looked at some nice art and just hung out and had a good time. Norrköping is a beautiful city, as well, and I’m looking forward to going next year.
-
I started replaying an old… well, “favorite” would be too generous: Now that the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is finally out and I finally got my copy in the mail, I’ve started replaying the first game. I realized that I had forgotten everything except the broadest strokes… Admittedly, it’s been nine years since I played it, but I remembered the third Ace Attorney game far better, and it had been fourteen years since my last playthrough of it. I think this speaks more to the quality of the games relative to each other than it does to my memory. It’s better than I remembered it being, but I’m also reminded of why I find it to be one of the less good games in the series. It’s still a good game, just not as good as some of the others. I’m curious about playing the second game, though, now that it’s finally officially available in English. I played the demo before the collection launched, and that was very good.
-
I finished up translations for three games: I can’t say much more about them right now, but I know I’m getting credited for at least one of them. They were all fun projects in different ways, and I hope I can say more about them later. And I look forward to playing them, too!
-
I’ve had a few Chappell Roan songs stuck in my head for far too long: It feels like everyone’s been talking about Chappell Roan, in both positive and negative terms, for the last few months, so I decided to check some of her stuff out. I think the best way to describe it is “80s pop about being a lesbian”, which isn’t my usual type of music, but it’s not hard to understand why she’s so popular. Her songs are fun and catchy. Perhaps too catchy, because I can’t get them out of my head. I suppose that’s better than embarassing memories and past mistakes, though, so there’s a silver lining.
I'm in a podcast (again)
22 August 2024This week, I’m a guest in the Swedish gaming podcast Kraftspelen, talking about Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
You can listen to the episode here, or pretty much anywhere where podcasts are available.
I have a bit of a hard time hearing my own voice, and I have some speech patterns and quirks that annoy me when I hear them, but despite that, I’m pretty happy with it! Recording it was very fun, and it’s a great game that I highly recommend playing, and I love talking about these games with people.
You should give it a listen! However, I will issue a SPOILER ALERT. We’re going over the game from start to finish, and we inevitably end up discussing plot points from other games in the series as well – so unless you don’t mind being spoiled, play the game first!
Fixing up the apartment: Part 1 of many
20 August 2024I’ve been living in this apartment for around three and a half years by now – and I still think that’s kind of crazy to think about. For better or for worse, it feels like time is passing faster and faster, and I don’t think Made in Heaven is involved – it’s likely just a side effect of getting older and busier. Then again, when I think back on all that’s happened over those years, it makes more sense. They’ve been quite eventful, after all. This is also the only apartment I’ve lived two years or longer in since I moved out of my childhood home. I lived in my first “apartment” (which was just a bedroom and bathroom I rented in an old couple’s larger apartment, but it was nice) for pretty much exactly a year, and then I had two student apartments where I lived for one year and nine months and one year and ten months, respectively.
Which means that in October, I’ll have lived as long in this apartment as I’ve lived in my last two apartments combined. I hadn’t thought about this right now, but… while it makes perfect sense on paper, it’s still wild to think about. And of course, that meant it was high time for me to do a few things I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.
The first was to get a shelf for my shoes in the hallway. There’s really not much more to say about it: It looks nicer than just leaving my shoes on the floor, and now my shoes take up less floor space that I can use to… store not-shoes, I guess?
It was pretty fun and easy to assemble, too, and it wasn’t the only piece of furniture I built over the weekend. The second was a bathroom cabinet:
(This image contains a hint about an upcoming project: I’ve bought a shelf to put my shampoo bottles on rather than leaving them on the floor, but I haven’t put it up yet. I will do so soon, though!)
When I moved into the apartment, there was already a small cabinet in the bathroom, and I liked it, but there was one problem. Having a wooden cabinet directly on the floor next to a shower means that the cabinet absorbs a lot of water, and when wood absorbs a lot of water, it begins to rot. I’m not sure how long the old cabinet was in the apartment for. Since it was here when I moved in, it’s been at least three and a half years. Five years? Ten years? Even longer? No matter what, the years of absorbing water meant that it wasn’t in the best shape, and one day, I noticed that the bottom of the cabinet was literally falling apart.
Of course, the new solution isn’t perfect – while the feet are metal, the cabinet itself is still wood, and positioned directly next to the shower. That said, it’s not exposed to as much water as the old one was, with the wood being directly against the floor. Still, it’ll probably last a good while. Unfortunately, parts of it were really frustrating to assemble, and one part couldn’t be properly assembled according to instructions due to a manufacturing error, but I think I got close enough. It hasn’t fallen apart yet, at least.
Another thing I’ve been wanting to do ever since I moved into the apartment was to put some nice pictures up on the wall. Not specifically these ones, since I’ve only had them for three weeks or so, rather than three years, but they’re as good a start as any!
First up was a painting of 2B, one of the main characters in Nier: Automata, one of my favorite games of all time. I’ve always thought she has a really cool design, and I really liked the way this painting looked when I came across it at NärCon, so I immediately bought one. Also, if you like video games, you should play Nier: Automata. It’s a fascinating game that has loads of creative game design, an exciting story, beautiful music and is just an overall great experience. It’s very dark and depressing, but in a good way. Its predecessor (you can play them in any order, though) Nier: Replicant is also a great game that I also recommend.
I showed this off in my last post, but here it is again. As I mentioned there, Persona 5 is also one of my favorite games of all time, and Ann is my favorite character in it, so meeting her English voice actress, Erika Harlacher, was great. And of course, I thought I should get something signed, so I bought a signed print of Ann. Of course, it might be a bit awkward to explain it to people not familiar with Persona 5 if and when they come visit – Ann’s costume isn’t exactly not sexualized, after all. That said, I think it’s a really cool design despite that, and that it’s some great artwork – and most importantly, a fun memory of meeting the voice of my favorite character from one of my favorite games.
(It’s also a somewhat complicated question within the context of the game. Ann’s story is largely about her taking control of her own sexuality and standing up against being objectified, sexualized and taken advantage of, and one could easily argue that the dominatrix imagery associated with her costume design and gameplay mechanics is supposed to be a culmination of this – a strong and confident woman who’s in control of her own sexuality and makes it clear that she’s in charge. However, despite this, the game sometimes completely misses its own point by inserting fanservice scenes where Ann is being sexualized in ways that are clearly not on her own terms and that she’s clearly uncomfortable with. It’s weird, because while the game does make some good commentary about how young women are sexualized and objectified, and that it’s an awful thing that can have awful consequences, it turns around and does what it preached against a few hours before. It’s one of my favorite games of all time, but it’s definitely got its flaws.)
I definitely didn’t expect to go on that tangent in a blog post about fixing up my apartment, but well, that’s what happens sometimes. Either way, I really like Ann and I think her Phantom Thief design is really cool, but I do understand the criticisms about her being oversexualized, and I agree with them to some extent, because the game’s oddly inconsistent about these things. Nonetheless, I think it’s a neat piece of art that’s also a memory of something fun. If other people think otherwise, that’s on them, and that’s fine.
Of course, I’ve got some other plans for the apartment too, mainly focused on making the bathroom a bit nicer, but I’ll get around to other parts of it too. I’ve been curious about getting some smart lightbulbs for my lamps so I can turn them on and off remotely, but those seem kind of expensive. And I’m probably gonna have to get another bookcase soon, as well. One thing at a time, however. Either way, no matter what my next apartment improvement project is, I’m sure itll be fun.
Vacation's end
10 August 2024My three-week vacation is almost at its end, and I’m going back to work on Monday. Of course, I do feel a bit sad about it, just like I often do on Sunday evenings, or on the final day of summer vacation when I was younger. That said, I don’t dread it that much. I do like my job, even if some projects are less fun than others, and for the last few months, I’ve been working on a very fun project. I hope I’ll get to tell you all about it later, but the world of game translation is a strange place.
And, of course, rather than being sad about my vacation being almost over, I’d prefer being happy about the memories of it – and I want to share them with you! It was a pretty great three weeks, after all.
I kicked my vacation off by heading for Gothenburg to meet a few friends. Ever since 2022, I’ve visited Gothenburg for a few days every summer, and I see no reason to stop doing it. It’s a lovely city, and if I had to move from Linköping, I’d probably choose Gothenburg.
(The weather was great that day, and I just think the buildings here look neat.)
It was a lovely weekend! We had lots of fun together, ate some really nice food, played some fun board games and all in all, we had a great time. I also bought myself a few books I’ve been curious about reading (Kallocain, Snow Crash and Final Fantasy XIV: Eorzea Academy) and some nice licorice at a specialty shop. Looking back at it, I should probably have bought more, because I found myself absolutely devouring one of the licorices I bought – and that was the one I was expecting to like the least! I also wrote a review of Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail at my hotel and at a nice café at near Gothenburg’s central station. I really like sitting down at cafés and writing, so maybe I should do that more often.
When I got back to Linköping, I planned to have a week of doing absolutely nothing. I had been busy with stuff pretty much every weekend since the beginning of June, and I thought I’d spend some time relaxing at home. However, like every time I’ve thought that over the last few months, things quickly started happening. A friend asked me if I wanted to go to the art exhibit Van Gogh Alive, which is currently being displayed in Linköping, and I thought that sounded interesting. I don’t go to a lot of art exhibits, but I usually enjoy it when I do, so that’s also something I should do more often.
(As part of the exhibition, van Gogh’s “Bedroom in Arles” had been recreated as a physical space you could step into. I thought that was cool.)
(I’ve kept thinking about this quote ever since. It’s tragic, given how underappreciated van Gogh was during his life and how his works didn’t sell well until after his tragic death – but I also find it heartwarming and inspiring now that he’s recognized as one of the greatest painters of all time.)
The exhibit, pictured above, was rather interesting. You basically walked into a big room full of screens that various van Gogh paintings were projected, and it was basically like watching an art film. Sometimes, the paintings were projected as they were, but sometimes, they were given life through animation, and as you looked at them, they also played music and released various scents in the room to make it a “multi-sensory experience”. It was a pretty nice experience, even if I thought the price was a little too steep. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it!
Every summer, the nerd convention NärCon is hosted in Linköping, pretty close to where I live. At first, I wasn’t planning to go. I’ve been there a few times before, and while it was fun, I thought those times were enough. But then, two things happened.
The first one was that an acquaintance I’ve known over Discord for a few years, but never met in real life, was planning to attend, so I thought “It could be fun to meet him, so maybe I’ll swing by”, so I decided to check NärCon’s schedule to see what other events were taking place at the convention, to help me choose which day to go. As I scrolled through the schedule, I read the words “Q&A: Erika Harlacher”, and then I knew I had to go.
For those of you who don’t know, Erika Harlacher is a voice actress who’s played many roles in anime dubs and video games – Ann Takamaki in Persona 5, Kaede Akamatsu and Kyoko Kirigiri in the Danganronpa series, Aiba in AI: The Somnium Files and Raging Bull in Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, just to name a few. She’s voiced many characters I really like, and I thought it could be fun to meet her. And it was!
(I always look a bit awkward when posing for pictures, and I never know what I should do, so when I saw her throw up a peace sign, I did too. Not sure if that made it less awkward.)
She was incredibly nice and loads of fun to talk to, and she had lots of fun stories from her career. All in all, it was a great experience, and it was wonderful to meet the woman who brought a few of my absolute favorite characters to life. Good thing I didn’t just go “I’m not going to NärCon this year” as I first planned. I’d definitely have regretted it, so there’s a good lesson in doing research before you decide on something. You never know what you might miss!
(Persona 5 is one of my favorite games of all time, and Ann Takamaki, codename Panther, is my favorite character in it. She’s very cool, very kind, very funny and generally great. I just had to get myself a signed print.)
(I thought these papercraft figures I walked past during NärCon were really cool! It must take some serious skill to make all of this out of paper, and he had made many more than just these!)
After this, I don’t have a lot of pictures to show from the rest of my vacation, but I had a great time nonetheless. I did get to spend some time doing nothing special, during which I caught up on some games I had been wanting to play and podcasts I had been wanting to listen to, hung out with some friends and other fairly “normal” stuff. That was great in its own way, of course.
I also visited my parents for a few days, and that was very nice too. I had coffee with some of my parents’ friends, celebrated my 27th birthday with some really nice food at a nice restaurant, met my grandparents – and spent a lot of time building this website! It’s probably never going to be “finished”, and while writing this blog post, I’ve disccovered several things that could be improved, but… well, one thing at a time.
Of course, these things aren’t everything I did, so here’s a few more:
-
I played lots of good games: I finished the wonderful The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter, which is a very well-written JRPG with lovable characters and great music, and some really frustrating bosses. I also beat a true gaming classic, namely Metal Gear Solid, a game that had aged surprisingly well and holds up pretty well even today. It definitely deserves all the praise it’s gotten. It’s full of iconic moments and characters, the gameplay and level design is pretty good (though the controls are a bit clunky by today’s standards) and had I been a teenager when it first came out, I’d have thought it was the coolest game ever. I also played through the incredibly silly but surprisingly good Goat Simulator 3, which was a gift from a friend. I reached level 100 with my White Mage in Final Fantasy XIV, which was a nice way to catch up on podcasts, and I’ll do the same with my Paladin. A friend and I also played a few rounds of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and I keep forgetting how much fun it is when playing with other people. I’ve played a bunch of other games too, but these are the highlights.
-
I watched a bunch of stuff: I don’t watch a lot of movies or television in general – gaming, various hobby projects and reading take up a lot of my free time. While visiting my parents, we watched the first 45 minutes or so of Citizen Kane, and while I thought it was interesting (even if I don’t quite understand why it’s considered the greatest movie ever, but maybe I’ll do so when I’ve finished it), my parents didn’t like it, and so we didn’t finish it. I’ll just have to watch it on my own later. We watched a few episodes of Midsomer Murders, though, and while I’ve heard that series mentioned here and there pretty much all my life, I hadn’t actually seen anything from it until now. It was a bit darker than I had expected (murder isn’t exactly a light-hearted topic, admittedly, but some murder mysteries are lighter than others), and a fun watch. When I got back to Linköping, a friend and I rewatched Dr. Strangelove, which is an absolutely brilliant movie and a true classic. If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend it.
-
I got to work on improving my apartment: I moved into this apartment about three and a half years ago (time flies, huh?) and while I like it, there are some areas that can definitely be improved, such as putting up some pictures I’ve had laying around and making various improvements in my bathroom. For some reason, I hadn’t gotten around to it until now, but better late than never. I’ll go more into detail about this in future blog posts.
All in all, it was a great vacation, and it’s not quite over yet. I’ve got plans for tomorrow, but I’m not sure what I’ll do for the rest of the day. The rain just cleared up, so perhaps I’ll take a walk and enjoy the nice weather, and then perhaps keep leveling my Paladin in Final Fantasy XIV, or get to work on building the Gundam model kit I bought at NärCon. I guess I’ll find out soon.
And of course, even though my vacation ends soon, there are still many fun things coming up, and perhaps I’ll share a few of them here once the time comes.
New website
04 August 2024Finally, I have a website again. My old one’s been down for three years or so, and while I often thought about reviving it, I eventually decided to just make a new one, and keep it simple. No unnecessary WordPress bloat, JavaScript or anything else that makes the modern web a nightmarish mess, just some good old-fashioned HTML and CSS.
Which isn’t my strong suit, admittedly. Still, this is supposed to just be a simple personal website, mainly a repository for stuff I don’t have anywhere else to put. Of course, there is plenty of room for improvement, and I’ll probably get around to it eventually. I already have a few things in mind.
Right now, though, I’m focusing on enjoying my vacation – something I’ll make a blog post about soon. It’s been a very nice vacation, with a few wonderful surprises, and I look forward to telling you all about them.