Chapel Orahamm's Blog, page 28

Mobile Game Review: Phantom of the Opera

How to start for this one?

First of all, I have never read or watched Phantom of the Opera, so my vague understandings of the story are this: A disfigured man with a possessive streak a mile wide gets obsessed stalkery over a singer who has very low self-confidence because of abusive upbringings.

I.E.: Not a relationship I want to touch with a ten foot pole.

So. Proceeding from that concept, I saw an ad for the mobile game. Around the same time a fairly numerous amount of individuals in the Twitter writing community were talking about their works in progress and comparing their storylines to various classical literature. PotO kept showing up in my feed. I figured this would kill two birds with one stone by giving me a mobile game with good ratings to review and letting me have a better idea of the story.

I will say, in opening up the app, it does provide a nice series of warnings well laid out ahead of time for those with visual and auditory triggers along with content warnings. I greatly appreciate apps that are taking their audience’s needs to heart and proactively providing these warnings. (Might need to add in a video shake warning for those of us who find random jittery screens extremely uncomfortable and maybe seizure inducing)

Within the game itself, you are faced off with both 2/3 body anime characters for certain types of dialogue scenes, and little chibi characters to move about the screen and discover various clues to help move the story along and provide context about culture, history, and other such useful information.

The auditory part – that one needs to be addressed. At the beginning of the intro screen, there is a suggestion to wear headphones for better immersion. Do not. Not unless they have some good calibration. I played it on my phone speaker. The difference in level pitch between the regular musical background and the “additional” noises – as in screaming, tapping on glass, etc. are much higher. I also have sensitive hearing, so I can tell you now, headphones would actually make my ears hurt listening to the leveling in this one. Otherwise, the music and sound effects are nice and fairly well timed. The screaming might be a little over played honestly, but it is what it is.

The art is rendered beautifully. The exploratory scene content is not extensive to the point of frustration (looking at you Murder in the Alps). The timing for ads and coin recharge rate is not out of the question. In general, I’d say the game is entirely playable and worth at least poking through the first pair of chapters. FYI, pet the cats. They give you ads to watch, which give you coins, which lets you get through more scenes.

I think my issues lay in the actual premise of the story itself. At which point, I need to go back to pointing out that I have neither read nor watched the original story. To say it bluntly, I don’t care for any of the relationships this whole caste of characters has. The premise of it is set up through gaslighting, manipulation, deception, terror, abandonment. Currently, you name it for unhealthy relationship red flag, this story seems to have it, not just in the game, but in the original work.

This is where I have to ask why people “fall in love” with the story. Maybe I should read the piece to find out, but I’m really leery of subjecting myself to that. Been there. Done that. Dealt with gaslighting and emotional abuse and took too many years to work myself out of it. I don’t see how qualities in either Raoul or the Phantom can make the tome redeemable in any way. Yet. I don’t actually know what is going on to assign these snap judgements.

In essence: I liked the mobile game. The graphics, soundtrack, and pacing were decent enough to pull me in for the first couple of chapters I usually go through for a review. It has left me in a debate with myself on if I want to visit the original text to have a deeper understanding on a “classical” piece of “literature”. I am now curious as to what specifically the original author’s intent was behind writing the story and quite intrigued with how the programmer and artistic teams were able to handle the characters and settings for the game based on the work.

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The Fire in My Blood – FREE May 11-15

This week is my 1 year anniversary from when I published my first book! It is the fifth book in The Kavordian Library Universe setting, but the 1st book in The Gods of Fire series, if that makes any sense. Grab it now on kindle for FREE!!! (p.s., reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are awesome for algorithm metrics)Cover Blurb:

A few millennia into the future, on a different planet, in aging biodomes, the human race grapples with a new threat, or maybe a new gift – humans with fire in their blood. Nigrae Lunam, ex-soldier and current co-leader for the Caeruleum gang, finds himself ensnared in a fire fight when he rescues a pair of children, Sam and Abby from the Aurantiaco gang, and a man with cognac-colored eyes, Sanctus, from the Rubrum gang. This would be any average day, save for the fact Sanctus is a rare Providentia, a person who can boost a fire-user’s powers ten fold. A priceless, coveted treasure in the city of Urbs Aquarum. As Lunam shows the man and children what it means to be safe, he develops a fondness for Sanctus that he swears he will never reveal. When Sam and Abby are threatened and Sanctus is kidnapped, Lunam must face the responsibility of taking over another gang’s territory, his true feelings for Sanctus, and the chance it all blows apart in a fiery inferno.

Current Reviews

1: “I know it seems odd to talk about a fiction book and call the romance and relationship aspect “realistic”, but there it is.

If you’re a reader who is tired of dusty patterns, if you feel like you’ve read the same six characters in SF and the same two in Romance over and over again, if you want something edgier and more non-conforming, you’re probably going to enjoy this story. It’s fun, and it’s easy to care about the people in it.

I won’t pretend like it’s going to make everyone happy, and I’m terrified at the thought that someone will pick it up hoping to read Sandra Brown in space. Then again, maybe everyone could use the shock.

But if “New” and “Weird” are what’s up your alley, try this book.”

2: “Strangely, your book reminds me of a noir crime novel. It’s that unique distinct style that gives flavour to the characters. If I had to be specific, really reminds me of Dresden (Jim Butcher). You just have this way with words and scenes and characters hat is just so genuine. It’s such a well written book! People are missing out on something really special.”

3: “Chapel Orahamm gives us a very different kind of romance. It’s nothing like you expect. In a post apocalyptic world this romance is filled with unique situations that bring you closer to every character. You will open your heart to all of them.”

4.: “This book haunted me in my dreams, and pulled me away from chores. The storytelling is amazing, the detail and vast world that Chapel has created dragged me into Caeruleum alongside Lunam and Sanctus, and I’ve never wanted to be a part of a family so bad.

If you’re hemming and hawing, and thinking, “Eh, maybe later” – don’t. Just buy the book, give it a chance, and have your mind blown away. Thank you for writing this, Chapel, and I sincerely hope there will be a sequel of some kind.”

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Video Game Review Tuesday: Bioshock (PS4)

Pretty

*drooling*

Give me, give me, give me.

I have a love affair with dystopic worlds, post-apocalyptical stories, art history, and psych horror, and smash ’em bash ’em games. This. Does. It. All.

I got this as The Collection series used when I picked up God of War, The Witcher 3, and Diablo 3 a couple years back. I couldn’t quite take playing the game. I have some serious issues with anxiety and seizure triggers and this one was easier to watch be played instead of playing it myself. So I handed it over to Wren during his Christmas break from work and went “here’s your Christmas present to me.” Talk about a confused look. I wanted to watch the game.

I find, with some jump-scare dark games, that if I’m able to look away from the screen when I’m overloaded for a couple minutes here and there, I can keep watching the story. I’d probably do pretty good with watching Twitch streaming, I guess.

This is another rail-puzzle game. It’s not quite an open world. The convenience of how the whole world is set up in buildings is that the restrictive map layout doesn’t feel as contrived as some “out in the world” games do when you’re put on rail.

The mystery puzzles in this help the game keep going well after you’ve opened up each map. It keeps you going back and forth in your exploration cycle and I like that aspect. You get familiar with the surrounding and can anticipate how the music signals certain events. Some rail games don’t let you backtrack through your map and that can make the game feel overwhelmingly busy, like you don’t get to take a breather and gain your bearings.

I’m also just overly partial to the color palate in this and the character designs. I want this to have so many more renditions, but I wouldn’t want it to go bad like the Fallout 76 or Bioshock 3 franchise just jumped the shark and ruined the expansions.

Is it still playable? Yes. So much yes. Speaking from the person who was couch seat driving the player.

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Manga Cafe Monday: Kumo desu ga, nani ka?

Disclaimer: I started watching the anime before reading the manga.

The anime is good, though getting used to some of the computer graphic rendered elements takes a bit of getting used to. I’d say it took about 3 episodes to be okay with that. The MC talks really fast and it takes me a bit to keep up with what is going on. Dynamic action. Lots of words on screens. It feels like a headache waiting to happen.

So, I figured, seeing as I liked the idea of the story, reading the manga might be better. I could read the MC’s internal monologue at a better pace for me.

OMG, this thing feels like a slog. If fast paced can be a slog. She does a ton of info dumping, which can, when you’ve watched the anime, feel like it’s taking forever to get anywhere. Why? Because of the vast amount of time taken on the MC’s internal monolguing!

I’m curious as to why the art team took the direction using computer graphics rendering in the anime compared to what it would have been had they gone with traditional means. Seeing as manga doesn’t have that problem, I can see where the traditional method would have been less knee jerk reaction. However, there are pans and framing spins that work better for dynamic action through Blender and After Affects that they use that is not featured in the manga.

This particular manga is currently teaching me about the depth of world building one can go, and how far one can take it before potentially losing the interest of the reader. If you don’t spend enough time on the story, world, and character development, you can also lose the reader. They won’t feel a connection. At a certain point though, it can become overwhelming and the character can become annoying essentially.

I would not say that the manga is not worth reading due to this … how should I say … long winded character? Just, be prepared. Otherwise, the action, watching her puzzle through situations, and the go get ’em attitude is fun, especially because she can achieve some awesome things, but she is not so OP as to ascend her cave dungeon in the first chapter or two.

The slap dash humor thrown in during tough situations gives you insight into both the stressful situation the character is going through, and her coping mechanism for processing what has happened to her.

I’m glad it got an anime series.I like the MC’s character design in it. The little color dashes and decorations she gets with each evolution is amusing.

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Sunday Afternoon Movie Review: Rango

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A slapstick western with a far from home vibe, this movie took the reigns and road off into the sunset.

It’s cute in all the right ways, breaks the fourth wall when it needs to, and calls out a bunch of things that always seem to be just a touch odd.

Has a slight “The Village” touch to it, as the outsider comes into the fold and has to learn quick what it is to fit in and when fit in is just going to get him killed.

I love that this goes from modern day to psuedo-1800s western and back to modern day.

It fits into one of those classics that I’m glad remained as a single movie and wasn’t heisted to make a bunch of “spin off tv series” from. They could have taken it there with the indication of something big living under the ground and the world they live in at large, but respecting that boundary was probably one of the better choices the production house made.

I give this one a big go ahead. It’s not a “watch it all the time” favorite, but I did like the concept. A good western a couple times a year spices things up a touch.

Book Review: Freedom’s Landing | Anne McCaffrey

As you will find in the coming months, if not years, Anne McCaffrey is one of my favorite authors. So, fair warning, I’m pretty biased toward her materials.

I have read Freedom’s Landing about six times now. I will admit that I like it more than the rest of the series. I’ve only read the rest once and have a very vague memory of how the rest of the storyline goes.

The setting is all consuming and deep. The characters are almost well rounded. I say that because the main character has the proper amount of emotional depth and realistic relaitability to say she is a fully developed character. The Love Interest…maybe not as much. Decent, but some substance is lost by making him so very culturally different as to almost be robotic in certain actions. Emotions are there, but maybe its because he is meant to not be completely relatable or “alien” that the story really works for what McCaffrey did with it.

I’m very much in favor of storylines that explore a rebuilding of civilization. Something post-apocolyptic or Robinson Crusoe style. It contains within it momentum to pull the story along on, providing inciting incidents to propel the characters forward, while taking the time to pinpoint actual failings within the modern social structures that would benefit society to be rid of. (Sexism I think being the big one here).

This is up there in my books for a GOOD sci-fi that leaves lazer weapons in the dirt and instead looks at what a group of intelligent beings could do when presented with a new living environment, a decent set of resources, and enough wherewithal on how to use those resources. A utopic society mayhaps? Not quite. But reaching for massive changes to the structure that otherwise is almost impossible to sway with how large the world is now.

My one complaint is the MC/LI major scene…it’s lacking. Though it is consistent with the style McCaffrey writes for all of her other books, so it is not surprising. I think, with her aptitude of description and world building, that those scenes could have been fleshed out better. Saying it though, not all authors are comfortable writing adult scenes of that nature, and there really is nothing wrong with a lack of description if the author just isn’t comfortable with it. So that one really is a me problem and not the book itself.

Anways, up there on my recommended list.

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Book Review: The Flight of the Darkstar Dragon | Benedict Patrick

This book review is in conjunction with The Book Trove book club’s monthly review. We are endevouring to explore and bring light to indie and self-published authors through reviewing their books on multiple platforms. We were not paid or provided free copies of this book by any external party. Opinions within are my own. My affiliate link is provided below in conjunction with my kindle link above this disclosure paragraph.

Benedict Patrick is from a small town in Northern Ireland called Banbridge, but has been living and working in Scotland since he moved there at the age of eighteen. Tragically, that was quite a while ago.

He has been writing for most of his life, and has been reading for pretty much all of it (with help from mum and dad at the beginning). Benedict’s life changed when a substitute primary school teacher read his class part of The Hobbit and later loaned him the book – he fell in love with the fantasy genre and never looked back.

– Benedict Patrick Amazon Author Profile

Head’s up if you’re new to how I do reviews. I’m a cranky critic. So, take my reviews with a heavy grain of salt.

Today we are looking at Mr. Patrick’s The Flight of the Darkstar Dragon. A rather lofty title with fantastic cover art. I really do admire it. I’m usually willing to listen if someone starts talking dragons in regards to fantasy books. At least give it a chance.

And a chance I gave it. And kept giving it. And really should have stopped giving it. But this was for a review, so, I really did need to finish it.

I admit. I am self published. I have edited the snarf out of my works and should still hire an editor to go back and fix grammar and spelling mistakes that I am finding in my documents though I swear I fixed those. I have an issue with “crutch” words. There are multiple lists floating around on the internet of words to remove from a manuscript in an effort to tighten a script.

Just, only, could, really, very, totally, clearly, really, felt, heard, started, began, etc.

Because I spent the better part of a year going hard at editing out crutch words and tightening my sentences for five books, running into crutch words is jarring. Once or twice every few pages is not distracting. Having them repeat over and over again in the same paragraph? Mmm, nope. Big nope from the style police over here. The narrative style in this reminded me of my time in Introduction to Asian Art History class where the professor was a researcher and not an educator by nature. I spent one entire class tally marking how many times she said um, uh, yeah, so, well. I filled it. An entire college ruled page, in one lecture on repetitive words alone. She really needed to not have been forced to provide a class if public speaking made her that anxious.

I backed away from pulling out a sheet of paper and tallying the crutch words. It occurred to me though. I wanted to. I wanted to take a picture of it. Make a graph of how many of those words could have been nixed from the script and the tone would have flowed.

Hello. Pot. Kettle. (I’m bad at grammar, some people are bad at crutch words, I shouldn’t talk.)

Exiting from this thrilling adventure in recalling mind numbing classes and editor’s hell, let’s turn to the world and characters of the story.

The world is modestly constructed around a familiar framework that most individuals exposed to the concept of steampunk, Treasure Planet, or alt-universe zeplin d&d role playing games will recognize. Standard. Rendered with enough description to get to the point without deviating into floral language for the sake of manuscript padding.

The characters though? Another paused humming coming from me. I see where the author is going with the main character, the crew, the set up for the primary story figures. It rolls like an early Netflix series, and might be decent at it. I do believe the author means well for who he cast as his characters, wanting to be representative in diversity, provide women with a strong role in society. It bypasses the Firefly curse of blatant aesthetics-only appropriation by incorporating a fleshed out diverse cast.

It makes me wary though. I’ve been trying to put my finger on why the presentation makes me uncomfortable. Min, Sung, Zoya, Abalendu, etc. These characters are approached almost in a stereotype that boarders on appropriation for an aesthetic rather than a meaningful application to the script. What I’m saying is, the intent is not racist, but some of the ascribed characteristics of the individual characters can be construed as such by those still on high awareness after the major Black Lives Matter protests that took place over summer 2020 and the extreme prejudice running amok in America against Asia and Asian American individuals because of 45’s use of the phrase “China virus” in reference to covid.

I would like to claim that I am being overly sensitive. Many readers appreciated the script from what I saw with reviews. I do not wish to say the author should have not written a woman, or a woman of apparent ‘fantasy-Asian’ decent.

I am trans and write my MCs as male. Lunam from The Fire in My Blood is of mixed decent of Russian/Latino/Native American decent, Sam and Abby are both of mixed black and white decent, and Cortex is of Indian decent. Corbin in Subgalaxia is African American. Benj and Sun Hee from Polaris Skies are Korean American/white and Zola is African American/white. Then there’s Ishan and his whole family who are “new” Punjabi in Subject15. Marduk is Persian, Amina and Tau are Xhosa in Fyskar.

I mean, I’ve never even been to England or any of the places in my books outside of the deserts and Dallas in Polaris Skies. What right do I have to criticize the presentation methodology of the crew and MC’s backgrounds?I’ve done what Mr. Patrick has done in incorporating a diverse cast. I most likely have major stereotypes that would have benefited from a sensitivity reader’s input. I can guarantee that.

I cannot find a specific pinpoint of why the presentation made me itchy in this books, but it did. That might be my one warning to people going into the book who may not be a generic fantasy-obsessed white person. The presentation might grate. As I mentioned before, I want to say the design was not done with ill intent, but it comes off a bit uninformed.

Grammatical structure and character stereotypes aside, what about tropes, cliches, relationships, dialogue?

Standard fantasy.

The author’s imagination sticks to a prior established genre standard structure. His soul is taking us on a tabletop game adventure. There’s anxiety, curiosity, and mystery wrapped in to frame why the reader should be interested in the story.

A lot of the quip, banter, and conversation utilized within the script are throw away lines that have been repeated frequently within both movie and book scripts that are not inventive. Angry generic come backs.

That’s what I’ve got for you. Something I would expect to see on any bookstore shelf. Mainstream. It is static enough to have most likely made it into the traditional publishing community. I say that, because revolutionary writing, cross-genre, and genre bending usually scares off agents and publishing houses.

If you’re needing a quick read that gives you the d&d airship aesthetic with dragons, predictable plot element, and easily recognizable characters, this would probably fit the bill.

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Anime Cinema Friday: Jujutsu Kaisen

Between the manga and the anime, Jujutsu Kaisen’s production and publishing teams hold up their partnerships pretty well.

They don’t skimp on the scripts, if anything, they add in action to scenes that otherwise were rather short in the manga because of the perspective of the shifting camera around monsters during action sequences. Emotion was given time to breath and come into itself. The voice acting in Japanese is well rounded. Sometimes you can hear when a voice acter isn’t into what they are doing, this one really decides to go for the tear ducts with both the vocalist quality and the musical scores and theme songs.

The art style is kept similar between the manga and anime. Sometimes you run into those anime that take the storyline of the manga and keep to it, but change the presentation line weight, the eyes, the face shape, the basic presentation of character. Or sometimes it’s the backgrounds. Don’t get me wrong, some anime really need that and I’m thankful when the anime can take the manga to new hights.

When a manga is good already and the anime runs with it, sometimes its just an absolutely beautiful form of respect for the author and illustrators.

This anime is within the slightly older shonen jump subscribers. Appealing to people who love martial arts/psychic power characters and want to delve into some of the deeper contexts without devoting themselves to being psych-horror. A bit more truth wrapped in a structure of people trying to figure out who is stronger than the other.

I have to appreciate how the go about the female characters in here. The author didn’t go for fan service. Instead, the women are strong, independent, and willing to give someone an earful without being stereotypical. They’re well rounded characters, fully fleshed out.

Some goes for the men. Providing the men with the capacity to access emotions revolving around friendships and a lowering of the toxic masculinity act is a great step in the direction of new role models.

I hope, with the popularity surrounding this anime, to see more production companies willing to take up manga series for animation that also uphold these types of strong values.

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Mobile Game Review: Underworld Office

I don’t hate it.

I have a feeling I might be just to the left of the scope of who this is marketed to. I say that because of the text relay methodology and the musical score.

Honestly, I tried playing this a few weeks back so I could get ahead on this post. I got through to the train in the first chapter and had to bail. The musical score, the color palatte, and the text message styled script screamed my emo teenage years and was making me feel pretty empty about life. I won’t use the term depressed, because that is highly dismissive to people with the condition. I think the character in this might suffer from some type of mental health condition. I am no expert. If someone knows what it is, leave a comment.

So, I pulled it off, rather disappointed in finding it a despondent theme and weird style. Then I had to face down that I had the review scheduled. I have 5 years of reviews scheduled, even if they aren’t filled out yet. This keeps me accountable, exposes me to a wide variety of topics, and makes sure I have something I’m doing. I didn’t want to go back and change things. Instead, I challenged myself to push my way through the game as far as I could for a two hour time frame with the music on mute this time around to see if that improved my experience. Yes, it did, for me, to a point.

Regardless of the prospect of me probably not being the target audience, I could appreciate the amount of time taken by the art team to create the animations and effects, the musical talent, timing, and cleanliness of the application itself. The dialogue flows well and there are no noticeable grammar or typo errors that would come off as distracting.

The story would ring really well for people who like dark anime and manga where someone slips the void by accident and ends up in a ghost detective agency. I’m personally partial to those anime. Hence why I said I think I’m a little left of the target audience. I like the idea of the topic, but the presentation style might suit a younger audience, college age probably.

I cannot honestly say that I would or would not suggest it. I would caution users predisposed to anxiety and mental health issues in that field to approach with minor caution for the first chapter. I ran out of tokens for the second and did not bother letting them recharge.

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Lovestory Manga Wednesday: Majo no Biyaku

Ohhh…kay?

No. I get it. I do. It’s supposed to be a quick bit a gratifying smut. But I had to drop out of 5 chapters. Now, there wasn’t gratuitous flirtatious cleavage shots, or nakedness up to where I dropped out.

It’s just the set up? I would be all over this like a flea on a dog back during my teenage years. That concept of just a tall dark and handsome showing up and suddenly pampering me and in general being that “lust interest”.

Now though, it’s suffocating. There is no depth to the purpose behind the character. The main is naive. The love interest is flat. There was an excuse provided at the very beginning of the story for the LI’s actions.

It comes off strongly gaslighty. I’m not getting bad vibes on it 5 chapters in. Not in the same way Kuroneko drove me up the wall. This one, I can almost hear that alto-sax 80s romance music playing in the background. It was definately constructed by a woman for a woman’s perspective. I can’t deny that. It’s just…like…why?

I’m floundering here. The guy is robotic. The woman is just a floundering ball of confused virgin horney who’s fixated on kissing.

The art isn’t bad. It’s consistent. The panels flow nicely. The toning is cut and dry so to speak (like, the cutting was a bit stark on the toning paper literally).

It’s just, cringy.

I think this is the problem of making the romance industry one of my major review focuses and studying the psychology of interpersonal relationship development and what abuse cycles look like.

I get into these stories and they just flag for me. It’s one of those “this is problematic to portray and perpetuate” and yet also admitting that I loved this type of stuff in my younger years. In saying that, I would say this probably still has a completely valid audience and I am probably no longer the target market for it.

Has the market shifted, or am I just really wrapped up in relationships being balanced and consensual without manipulative methods and bad explanations for the circumstances revolving around certain events that lead to characters hooking up without enough emotional depth involved?

Seriously. This guy just straight up kisses her in the first five minutes of meeting her and she goes all weak in the knees.

I’m ranting. I’ll leave this one up to you.

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