Tales From Gaming : "L Is Real"

From Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich)

When I was growing up, we didn’t have the Internet. We spent much of our free time either outside or playing video games. For those who leaned more toward playing video games, there was probably no better time for the launch of the Nintendo 64. I spent hours in games like Super Mario 64 exploring every nook and cranny and trying to unlock everything that I could. When I finally did unlock everything, I set my sights to rumors that I heard about other unlockables in the game. One was that if you wall jumped just right outside in the corner of the castle, you could make it up to the roof without the need for unlocking the cannon. Failing that, I turned my sights to another rumor about Luigi being in the game. Apparently, in the back courtyard of the castle, there was a sign that seemed like it read “L is Real 2401” and many believed that this was proof that Luigi was somehow unlockable in the game.

In reality, this sign texture was just some random blurry texture asset that they even used in "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," and these rumors were just the result of bored youth trying to find anything to do with their time that they could. However, twenty four years later, it turns out that they were at least partially right about the Luigi rumor.

Thanks to a recent massive leak of assets from Nintendo, it was discovered that Luigi was indeed in the source code of the game. This was due to the fact that there were original plans for the game to be two player. But that was scrapped in development due to them not being able to decide how to do it and the technical abilities of the system at the time. Of course, he had not been compiled into the actual game, so there was no way to actually unlock him by playing the game normally. But hackers got to work on retrieving the polygon and texture assets from the character model.

And here he is.

L is real after all.

Cyfir

The Importance of Digital Media

By Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich Resident)

In my last article, I covered the importance of preserving physical media for future generations. If we got rid of all physical media in favor of going “all digital,” it could severely limit our ability to preserve works of art in the future. That being said, there are many advantages of digital media that do need to be covered in the interest of fairness.

One big advantage that digital media has over physical media is that you can often get it quicker. Instead of having to wait for it to show up in the mail or having to drive to the local store, all you have to do is purchase digital media with your credit or debit card online and download or stream it. With a pandemic going on, this obviously means that there is less risk to you or the person who has to deliver it to your house.

Obviously, being able to just download or stream media is more convenient. We live in a convenience society. We want things now, not later. We’re busy. Shaving off time anywhere we can is important to us. It’s more convenient to just start up your video game system and select the game you want to play from the menu rather than looking for the game on your shelf, opening the case, inserting the game, and waiting for it to load. Hell, we even eliminated the step of getting up to turn on your console. Most consoles today are able to be turned on with the included controller.

Economically, digital media is a great option, especially for independent companies and creators. Physical media can be cost prohibitive for independents to get published, physically produced, and shipped. It’s much cheaper to just put a game, movie, or song up on a digital storefront. That’s why you nearly only ever see video games from independent publishers on digital storefronts.

You would think that the environmental impact of digital media would be less than physical media. You don’t have to use environmental resources to manufacture digital content. You don’t have to load it on a truck, boat, and plane and burn a bunch of fossil fuels to get it to your local store or your house. However, the servers that digital media are stored on run on electricity. These servers have to be up and running day and night. The environmental impact that these servers have or totally dependent on where the companies running the servers get their electricity from. Many server farms run on renewable energy. Google in particular took many initiatives to get their electricity from renewable sources.

Digital media has many advantages, just like it has many disadvantages. I do not believe that digital media should ever fully replace physical media. It’s an option, though, and options are good.

Cyfir

Why Physical Media Is Still Important

By Cyfir

In this day and age, physical media is becoming a dying medium. Most media has gone mostly digital. When you think of getting the latest album from your favorite band, getting the latest PC game, or buying a new movie, there’s a huge chance that you don’t think about heading to your local mall anymore. Instead, you likely think about downloading a new song on a service like iTunes, downloading a new game on Steam, or streaming a movie on a service like Netflix or Vudu. One of the last vestiges of physical media has been console games. Every major home video game console save for one has shipped with a disc drive or cartridge or card (etc.) slot up until this point. The Xbox One S All Digital Edition was the first major video game console derivative to skip physical media. This holiday season, the PlayStation 5 will release along with it’s all digital counterpart. Many are predicting that this will be the last console generation with physical media, and with at least one major video game company reporting that 80% of their sales are now digital, I don’t doubt it.

With all that said, I still believe that physical media is still very important, and that’s because we’ve already seen the downfalls of going “all digital.” For one, what do you think happens once the service that you downloaded your media from goes away and you no longer have the hardware you downloaded it on? That’s right. It’s gone. You never owned a copy of it and you’ll never have access to it again unless you buy it again on another platform. If you don’t think that this happens, dust off your old Nintendo Wii and try to buy a game from the eShop. You can’t because it’s no longer there. If your internal memory on the Wii fails, all those games you spent money on downloading over the course of the console’s life cycle are now gone. For some, this may not be a big deal, but some games are only released on the online shops. For video game preservationists, this is a nightmare. There have been many instances of where an unreleased or rare game has been discovered in someone’s attic and preserved online for others to enjoy. Unfortunately, if everything were to go digital, this just wouldn’t be possible in the future.

While digital delivery has a place in preservation, there needs to be a physical copy found to preserve. While I’ve mainly focused on video games here, these same arguments can be applied to any form of media. We have backed up recordings of old VHS tapes on YouTube for anyone to find and enjoy. Some of these VHS tapes are rare and would not be accessible by the general public otherwise. The problem is that media companies, in many cases, are not concerned with preserving their own history. They are more concerned with making money because they are a business. The artists creating these works usually have no control over what happens to them because they work for the companies.

If all media were to go digital, there would be many things that would be lost to time forever. Imagine losing the works of Beethoven to time because no one had a physical copy of his written notes and the servers that they were stored on were taken offline and erased forever. While digital media definitely has its advantages, physical media shouldn’t be forgotten or abandoned. I’ve downloaded plenty of games to my steam library and on my Nintendo Switch, but when it comes to games that I really care about, I’m going to get it physically and display it proudly on my shelf. If there’s an album from a band that I really care about, I’m getting a physical CD and enjoying that new CD smell for as long as I can. Physical media cannot be completely replaced. When the PlayStation 5 comes out, I’m getting the one with the disc drive.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fxMxNm17Dy0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(Click here for a video of the article)

Cyfir

Playstation 5 vs XBox Series X : Which is Better?

By Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich)

As with any major console launch reveal, there are competitors in the market. This coming console generation is no different. This is a good thing because competition makes for more innovation and better products for the consumer. However, only one console will inevitably be the clear winner for gaming fans. So the issue becomes which new console should you sink your hard earned money into or should you spend any money on either? Below, I will bring up the pros and cons of each system thus far. We are still waiting on a huge Xbox event sometime this coming month, but at this moment chips have been thrown on the table. It’s time to compare.

PlayStation 5

Even though Microsoft showed their hardware first. In my opinion, Sony came out of the gate swinging and hit a home run. Their streamed event did a lot to hype their new machine and software but it’s the fact that they waited, picked their time, built anticipation, and dropped a massive bomb shell that made everything click. For just a few moments, I forgot about all the bad things that have been going on in the world recently. One thing that Sony seemed to have this past generation was platform locked exclusives, and from what they showed, they’ll have plenty of those this time around. Like Microsoft, they took a very unconventional take on the look of their new console. This is due to the fact that these systems are much more powerful than previous generations, and thus will produce more heat. A flat rectangle under your TV isn’t going to cut it anymore. These systems are as powerful as a decent PC gaming rig. That said, when it comes to style, I have to give the nod to Sony. The system is much taller (or wider if put on it’s side) than Microsoft’s new system, but you can really tell that they hired a designer. I even joked on Facebook that I was getting a PS5 as a decorative piece for my living room. In contrast, in my opinion, Microsoft’s new machine is a boring flat looking tower. I also think that the accessories that were revealed for the PS5 fit into the whole aesthetic and ecosystem very well. They put a lot of thought into that and it shows. Style isn’t going to win a hardware race, but it’s nice when a system makes you gawk in awe. That said, the hardware itself seems to be a little weaker than the Series X, but Sony has promised a proprietary lightning fast Solid State Storage drive that will practically eliminate loading times and allow for much more open and massive worlds.

Xbox Series X

When Microsoft unveiled their new console at the 2019 game awards, it caught everyone by surprise. A few months later, they randomly revealed the inside of the console on YouTube through Austin Evan’s channel. The hardware itself is impressively engineered. Microsoft took a tower PC design approach and everything is cooled by one massive fan and a series of heat syncs. I do like that they were actually more than willing to show the internals of the console. I’m a hardware nerd and such things excite me. Microsoft also seems to have their own proprietary Solid State Drive for the Series X but rumors are that it’s slower than Sony’s offering. Otherwise, the Series X has more horsepower under the hood. This isn’t everything when it comes to game consoles. The original PlayStation was much less powerful than say the Nintendo 64 but it outsold everything during that generation. However, extra horsepower is nice. It’s certainly a big deal for the Xbox One X this generation as it can make multi-platform titles look much better than their PlayStation 4 counterparts. One thing that I am disappointed with from what I’ve seen about the Xbox Series X is the games. Aside from Halo Infinite, what they’ve talked about so far I’ve been able to find on the Steam storefront as coming soon. However, this could very well change in the coming weeks. Microsoft has taken a very different approach to Sony in that they don’t tend to care which product of theirs you’re using to play your games, whether it be Xbox, Xcloud, a toaster, as long as you’re making transactions. They are very service oriented. I get it. Why win a console race if you don’t have to? But honestly what is the reason so far for me to own another box that plays the same games? Please let me know in the coming weeks, Microsoft. So far, I’m leaning towards PlayStation 5.

Verdict?

While I may be leaning to Sony’s camp, that doesn’t mean that I’ve chosen a clear winner yet. The winner of every console generation will have the best software and higher user base that will have developers flocking to the platform to cash in. So far, with their exclusive titles and massive fan appeal, Sony is still winning this round, but that could all change with one reveal or one slipup. We still don’t even know the prices of these two machines yet. Microsoft is also rumored to reveal yet another console codenamed Project Lockheart that is rumored to be less powerful but play the same games at a much cheaper price. This could undercut Sony dramatically and entice gamers who may want performance at 1080p over 4K flashy graphics. We still have plenty of time to maul it over. One thing is for sure. The excitement of a new console generation is underway.

Cyfir

Video Game Collecting: Part 3 - Get Consoles For Cheap

By Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich Resident)

Counting duplicates and non-working units, I have 18 video game consoles. You may think that I paid at least a small fortune for this, but you would be wrong. The majority of my consoles I got for dirt cheap either because I either found a good deal or they were broken and I had to fix them myself. For instance, I got both my Xbox 360 and my original Xbox for $5 each because the local video game store was selling faulty units off for $5 a pop. I took them home and fixed them. Both of these systems go for over $100 a piece but taking advantage of an opportunity and learning some basic repair skills means that I saved big time.

Now you may be thinking to yourself: “I don’t have any repair skills so I can’t do this.” Well, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to learn. Video game console repair is actually one of the easiest repair hobbies you can get into. I promise that it is a TON easier than repairing a car. A good place to get started is watching YouTube repair videos. HAve a broken console laying around? Look up the fault on YouTube to see what others have done to repair it. For instance, if your PlayStation stopped reading discs, usually you’ll find a tutorial video or two on YouTube on how to fix the issue.

Some YouTube channels that I recommend are:

[My Mate VINCE] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChY9Cgv-iyPDvf1Bkyx20OQ

[The Retro Future] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCefAbzsWZE4uXU-mqQMrr4Q

[Retro Repairs] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCclt_FYsR8R_fMFXOuUjFEA

[RetroManCave] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLEoyoOKZK0idGqSc6Pi23w

[TronicsFix] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOrKQtC1tDfGf_fFVb8pYw

[Odd Tinkering] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf_suVrG2dA5BTjJhNLwthQ

[Mark Fixes Stuff] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwq5WetL2mkT3dmiVjwl-kA

[GadgetUK164] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRBWJ9JeJ3Q8ssn_ibii-Cg

[The Retro Station] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXlwzTU7Fl5vYjDrrQjUt6Q

From My Mate Vince

I would also do a Google search and do your research before you go off to eBay and other websites because you never know what issues you might run into. For instance, I recently found an Xbox One S with a smashed disc drive. With many other consoles, all you would have to do is swap out the disc drive for a new one. Many people would just do this on impulse if they didn’t know any better. With the Xbox One S, you either need to take the dotter board out of the disc drive and swap it to the new one or flash the new dotter board. The reason for this is because the disc drive is “married” to the console with Digital Rights Management software unique to each disc drive’s motherboard. Each one has a different key that corresponds with the console that it shipped with. If you just swapped out the disc drive normally, it wouldn’t work. Unfortunately, the dotter board in mine is broken in half and I have not found a way to flash a new drive without a professional repairing it so it sits in my closet for now. Thankfully, I didn’t have to pay anything for it and I can still use it for parts later on, but know what the issues are and what you can fix before you buy any broken console. 

If you do decide to take this adventure and relive your childhood video game consoles for cheap, I would recommend taking your time. Don’t get in over your head and cause a bigger problem. Be patient and be as gentle as possible. Many video game consoles are over 20 years old now and they’re made of brittle plastic that can scratch and crack. When replacing screws, always turn counter clockwise at first until you feel and hear the screw drop into the threads in the plastic, then turn clockwise. They’re old plastic threads and they’re prone to stripping. Be extremely gentle with any ribbon cables there are small electrical traces in them and if you bend them too much or pull too tight those traces will be severed and you’ll have to replace them. Also, be careful around any wires that are soldered directly to a circuit board. I once took apart a PlayStation controller and the weights that create the rumble effect when playing games popped out and ripped themselves off the board. I had to solder them back on. Thankfully, an easy fix!

From TronicsFix

You will obviously need tools to make repairs. Many tools you can find cheap or second hand for free and even if you do end up having to buy them  outright new they should pay for themselves over time if put to good use. You will need any and all screw bits and drivers that you can get your hands on. I lucked out and found a large stash of bits in a vacated apartment I was clearing out at work. You will also want to look for 3 types of specialty bits that are often used in Nintendo and Sega products known as security bits (also known as game bits and you’ll want both the 3.8mm and 4.5mm bits) and tri wing screwdrivers. You will also need a soldering iron, solder, flux, and either a desoldering pump or desoldering braid. I would watch tutorials on how to properly solder before you try it and be CAREFUL. It’s called an iron for a reason. It gets extremely hot! Don’t catch your pants on fire. You will also need tweezers for handling small cables and such. A multimeter is also a valuable tool for checking to see if any trace routes are broken or if a certain component is getting the electricity it needs. Also, make sure you have isopropyl alcohol (might be hard to find with the pandemic going on) of at least 91% and cotton swabs and a tooth brush for cleaning. Many old consoles are groody and many old game cartridges need their contacts cleaned to work properly. You’ll also need it to clean up left over flux when soldering.

This tip is so important that it gets its own paragraph. Do not, under any circumstance, touch any exposed internal or external power supplies unless you truly know that the capacitors are discharged. Even then, treat it as if it is live. Capacitors in power supplies can hold their charge long after the console has been turned off and unplugged. At the very least, you’ll get a good zap. At worst, you die. I honestly do not work on them. If a power supply turns out to be faulty I replace the whole thing. Better safe than sorry when working with high voltage you could always end up not repairing it correctly and it could end up burning your house down.

Finally, have fun. Aside from actually getting to play the video games, video game console repair can be a fun and rewarding hobby that will allow you to own video game consoles for cheap.

Cyfir

The Crown of Leaves: An Interview With Lins And Grimm

By Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich Resident)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ceIx3a8qKeM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(Click here if the video fails to play)

I’m not a big fan of visual novels, but something about The Crown of Leaves drew me in. I 
was immediately drawn to the beautiful art style, music, world, lore, and of course the 
characters. The setting and aesthetic were right up my alley. I enjoyed every second of 
the first chapter and you can check out the plot and purchase on Steam here. As it turns 
out, others have enjoyed the game as well. The reviews for the game on Steam have 
been Overwhelmingly Positive and it even was nominated for a 2019 SXSW award. Now 
being a huge fan of the game and the artists behind it, I was extremely excited to interview 
the main duo behind it; Lins and Grimm.

----

Cyfir: What inspired the art, story, and lore of the game?

Lins: The game’s lore had existed long before the game itself and has passed through 
numerous and painful changes. Latori, a country within the Shang-La universe in which 
the action of “The Crown of Leaves” takes place, was originally based on the mixture of 
gypsy and voodoo culture. (We were very inspired by their aesthetics.)

It’s always hard to talk about how the story was born. We put our feelings and emotions into the story and a little bit of ourselves into Roui, so we get a good laugh out of it.

As for the visual-novel-like-a-game genre, we were inspired by two games — Phoenix 
Wright: Ace Attorney and Great Troubles created by our compatriots from the Hazukashi 
Team. We can’t fail to mention Tales from the Borderlands by TTG because it radically 
changed our vision of how character portrayal and storytelling should be done.

================================================

Cyfir: Who provided the music?

Grimm: "Blacksmith" is an awesome musician! We met by chance. I had just been surfing 
through resources for paid music, listening to everything I saw until I suddenly stumbled 
upon one of his tracks. That tempted me at once, and we decided "Why not DM him? 
What if he takes orders for original soundtracks? "

"Blacksmith" has a clearly recognizable style. He can’t be confused with anybody else, he 
is not afraid of experiments, and he is a real professional with a capital “P.” And he also 
enjoys rock, jazz, and Halloween-style gothic music.

When he created "The Storyteller" (Roui’s music theme), and we listened to it for the first 
time, we were sitting after it for a few minutes in a pleasant shock with the only thought in 
our heads "It's fabulous."

================================================

Cyfir: Is there anyone else on the team that contributed to the project?

Lins: Sure! First of all, we should mention our coder, mold.FF. He is sincerely dedicated to 
what he does and “The Crown” project. So he had been not only solving the tasks we gave 
him, but also felt free to share his own ideas about technical issues. All complicated 
modules were done by his hands.

As for our musician, _Blacksmith_, Grimm has already told you about him before. There 
are two tracks in the OST made by other musicians, Unikorn and Flaviocortizo — one 
track was bought as the very first, the second one is the most recent. We also separately 
ordered OST track from Craig C. Barnes for the location where all the main action takes 
place. The main character’s voice in the intro video was acted by Beau Stephenson – this 
is a voice which has clung to Roui and which all of us will undoubtedly hear again in the future.

A translation from Russian into English was made by Natalie De Corsair and edited by 
Limelawn, Alexis, and Caervec. It is worth noting that Caervec also worked carefully on 
Flynn’s manner of speech in the English localization.

I hope I’ve mentioned everyone. At the moment the team has changed again, but it is too 
early to talk about it in detail.

================================================

Cyfir: Without spoiling anything of course, what can everyone look forward to in the next 
chapters?

Lins: Intrigue, jiggery-pokery, a show-boat trip on a clear morning (possibly).

Grimm: Lots of adventures, mysticism, and monochrome gloom! And a little bit for Serbian 
fans: in the second chapter, his story will be continued.

================================================

Cyfir: What have been the challenges of getting this project off the ground and what 
helped you guys to overcome those challenges?

Lins: As old friends and co-authors, Grimm and I are used to relying only on our own or 
each other's strengths. We felt we had the firepower to make the game on our own, without 
attracting any other people: writing stories together or generating universes and characters 
is not something new to us, plus both of us are also artists. The game engine seemed quite 
simple to me. And as for music, we planned to buy it from audio resources. Then we 
realized pretty fast that we couldn’t cope with that by ourselves, and that is how the team 
began to assemble.

We had worked for several months with the first coder, but his work did not suit us. We 
also had our friend Natalie De Corsair with us. She had to create psychological profiles 
(I honestly still don’t understand what all of us had expected from that). We also planned 
to pick another musician, but something went wrong.

The vision on the final result was absolutely different between us, which slowed the 
working process and caused some disagreements. We violated the deadlines that we 
had set for ourselves. It all came to a decision that I took over the entire visual and plot 
part of the project. But later, it became obvious that the leader is not the person who 
does everything by himself, but the one who finds the strength to entrust the difficult 
work to team members and to distribute responsibilities between them correctly. 
Grimm worked with backgrounds, Natalie with translations, and I focused on plot and 
drawing character sprites. That helped us to finish chapter one.

Grimm: I can also add depression and lack of spare time to that list. 2018 and 2019 
stood out richly for tragic real-life situations and health issues for both of us. The coder 
and translator also had enough of their own problems. There were months when we 
barely had time to sleep at night, trying to combine our main jobs, real-life stuff, and 
“The Crown” with all that gloomy background, eventually going into a deep pit.

But now all those things are already behind us, thanks to the closest people for their 
support.

================================================

Cyfir: Is there a rough release window for chapter two?

Lins/Grimm: We expect to finish chapter two by the end of 2020. We want to work 
through everything we’ve done calmly and accurately, so as not to disappoint our fans!

================================================

Cyfir: Game projects often go through changes as they are developed. Have there been 
any changes in the direction of the game over the course of conception and development 
and if so, what might those have been?

Lins/Grimm: We wanted to come up with a mystical story about a society committed to 
ancient traditions and beliefs … aaaand it was supposed to be a dating simulator. That 
was sort of “Let’s try something simple for the first time.” Over time, the concept of this 
story had changed, and we began to bump into a sort of gloomy tale, completely devoid 
of any humor.

The changes began imperceptibly, and to mark the point when they started, I will share 
a little sort of a secret. We often turn on some nonsense content on the background 
during the working process to make it less routine - the worse it is, the better – and we 
also funnily comment about it in parallel. We have one TV channel where some sort of 
nonsense about fortune-tellers, conspiracies, ceremonies, and etc. is broadcasted 24 
hours a day. And there was the moment when we realized that the protagonist of “The 
Crown” gradually became a skeptic instead of a guardian of ancient traditions and 
superstitions, who had also started seeing through charlatans and languidly rolling his 
eyes every time he had to hear another omen from one of his relatives. We’ve just 
understood that such a story simply can’t be narrated with a serious face. So that is 
how we got to what we have now, even though such a path forced us to postpone the 
release of the game for a few years.

================================================

Cyfir: I loved playing through chapter one and my only real disappointment was that it 
ended before I was ready to leave the world. Will chapter two be longer?

Lins: One review has deeply stained my mind (but, sadly, not literally). In that review, 
a player shared his opinion, that, possibly, the first chapter is just a prologue for 
something huge. What I said in my head was like “Nah, of course not”, but, actually, 
it was more like “*scoff*… of course, yes!” Chapter two will be much longer.

Originally we planned to create a simple short game in 3-4 chapters just to pass the 
time. No one had even thought about history in a few chapters. However, when we had 
been finishing the first chapter, we clearly understood that the game left many issues 
not only for the players but also even for us. We know how everything will go on; all of 
us just have to solve “The Crown” correctly.

================================================

Cyfir: Were you surprised at how well the game was received?

Grimm: Extremely! We had no guarantees that players would enjoy “The Crown”, 
because it is 2D and anthro-styled. But we were suddenly supported both by Russian 
and foreign fans. Some wrote and still write very warm kind words, others draw fan-arts, 
really, lots of love! It’s nice to feel that you are striving for a good reason.

Critical remarks about game mechanics and conveniences/inconveniences are also 
useful. With their help, we understand what should be changed in-game, or vice versa, 
what should be left untouched.

================================================

Cyfir: After The Crown of Leaves, what’s next for you and your team? Are there other 
game projects on the horizon for you and your team?

Lins/Grimm: We have plans to expand plot branches, which didn’t have enough 
attention paid to them in “The Crown”. Roui’s story will end sooner or later, but this 
universe is still full of unsolved mysteries.

It seems to me that a clearer understanding of what the next project should look like 
will come during the development of the last chapter.

================================================

Cyfir: On your online profiles you mention that you are not furries. What lead you to 
an anthropomorphic-like art-style and catering to the fandom?

Grimm: The thing is that it is not the only fandom we are interested in. We enjoy 
drawing both humans and anthros, which we tried to reflect in the Shang-La universe. 
Sahash live side by side with humans and don’t conflict with each other. In “The Crown”, 
we will continue to develop this idea. One human character is a protagonist of the DLC 
called “Immortal Horses.” Another one will meet you in the second chapter.

We began to draw animals in childhood. This is not surprising, considering the old Disney 
cartoons we all grew up on and our love of fairy tales like “Narnia”. In my youth, it seemed 
to me that it was easier to draw animals; my dog turned out better in my drawings than 
my Mother, who resented that she had "round cheeks" or that her "nose does not look 
like this". On the other hand, my dog did not have that much opportunity to comment on 
my childhood creativity…

================================================

Cyfir: Are there any other projects that you would like to plug?

Lins:We had been working on a comic book called “Asomatous” before “The Crown of 
Leaves”, but we never finished it. Perhaps, we can come back to it after “The Crown” and 
rework it according to the game, who knows. But it’s unlikely that there would be any side 
stories to it.

Also, we’ve got a small comic series “The Endless Circle of Wolves” about the adventures 
of Tsourai Queen Saria, which is also indirectly related to Roui’s story. We had drawn it as 
a present for our patrons after we achieved a certain number of them on our Patreon.

----

Even if you are not a visual novel fan, I highly recommend this game for it’s intriguing story, 
music, and visuals. You will be transported to another world that you won’t want to leave. 
I can’t wait until the next chapter! 

Cyfir

Commentary: Top Ten Videogame Music Tunes

By Cyfir

Most gamers have an opinion about what their favorite video game music is and in this article I will list ten of mine. Of course, you may not agree with this list, but music and sound in general are always a subjective experience. This list was compiled from games that I’ve played and owned. So if you don’t see your favorites here, that’s probably why.

---

10. Wave Race 64 [Nintendo 64]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz9eYvuZOYg

Let’s be honest, the music in this game is a big reason for why it’s so memorable today. It’s mellow and fits perfectly with the gameplay and aesthetic of the game.

9. Streets of Rage 2 [Genesis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXQzyVy9fYM

Just listen to the opening theme of this game and you will know why. This game is widely regarded as having great music and I would tend to agree.

 8. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core [PlayStation 2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKJ9AVrpM9s

I just recently picked this game up. There are other versions of this game but this is the one that was available at my local retro game store. I may not be a big fan of the final boss, but I am a fan of her theme song. It’s not often that I fire up a game for the first time and am immediately blown away by the music, but it happened with this game.

7. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty [PlayStation 2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvEDSkK3GQU




Hideo Kojima is known for making games which play out like movies, and the soundtrack in this game definitely makes you feel like you’re playing a movie. It’s one of the first games which made me feel that way, and the opening track is still great.

6. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [Sega Genesis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl6kjAkVw_s

I could have put the original Sonic the Hedgehog here too but I believe that the second game in the series is where everything came together both gameplay wise and musically. 



5. Super Mario 64 [Nintendo 64]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx6nOkdeNKs

I played this game so much as a kid that the songs are still stuck in my head, forever resurfacing and playing. I’m not complaining.

4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [Nintendo 64]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3OZoErzJg0

I might actually make some people mad by putting this game all the way down at number 4 on this list. While this game is a favorite to many, I actually have a love/hate relationship with it. However, there’s no denying that the music for this game is widely regarded as some of the best music that Nintendo has produced. There are many songs in this game that are unforgettable.

3. Final Fantasy IX [PlayStation]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaGz7rkPd54

I’m not an RPG fan at all, but there’s something about this game that grabbed me. The characters are just great. The music also helped. Sure, there are other Final Fantasy games with similar music, but this is the one I played and still play.

2. Rocket Knight Adventures [Sega Genesis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNb9_JuHjAk

From the moment you start up Rocket Knight Adventures, the action never stops until the end and the catchy music doesn’t as well. This is one of the better looking Sega Genesis games and one of the best sounding as well. I’m still amazed by how many sound channels they were able to utilize in the compositions on a system that was made in 1988.

1. Night in the Woods [Multiple Platforms]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZlHxcklOc4

The music in this game takes my number one spot for just how incredibly haunting it is, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The compositions will stay in your head long after you’ve finished playing it. Unfortunately, the brilliant composer of these tracks is no longer with us for reasons that I will not get in to due to how complicated the unfortunate situation was, but his music will live on in this masterpiece.

---

So those are my personal top ten video game soundtracks. I do find it a bit interesting that I ended up choosing games from only a handful of systems. I didn’t plan it that way but it probably has to do with the systems that I grew up with. So what are your favorite video game soundtracks? Did I miss out on an obvious choice? Sound off in the comments below!