Q&A: May 21st, 2025

Why did I forget to upload before Thursday?

I might've uh... been torturing myself on Time Trial for Shambles at a new track. Tune in Thursday 1:30pm PST if you wanna watch me lose.

Kelvin Kuang Asks
I remember watching bunnyhop's video about video game novelisation, where they tend to varied in certain aspects. So what's your best/worse example that improvise the storytelling without the gameplay or the lore knowledge in mind, and why is it not initial vector or no coincidence?

I'm looking forward to reading No Coincidence, still ironic I put that one on hold to read Initial Vector instead.

One of the most infamous examples of a Novelization I think still goes to Mass Effect Deception. There's fond memories I have of being on an Art Stream with Shy, DK, and Blaze where we went through a famous Google Doc from the Bioware Forums that listed every single piece of blatantly incorrect information that William C. Dietz vomited onto the page.

Good times.

Initial Vector is unironically a great example of a tie-in Novel done well. Not having to hear Perfect Dark Zero's voice-acting would've automatically made the Novel a superior narrative experience, but it's just legitimately well written with great characters and a plot-line that doesn't need to hold the viewers attention with pointless action scenes.

It's been a long time but from what I recall, a difference in Novel quality, and an example of how much any adaptation ultimately comes down to execution ,were the Mass Effect and Dragon Age novels.

Knowing how big of a fan I am of Mass Effect, it might be surprising that I've never finished any of the novels, because each time I've attempted Revelations, I just get bored. Next time, I might just skip to Ascension.

The Dragon Age novels however were so strong that I completed three of them. The Calling, Asunder, and The Masked Empire.

I like Dragon Age, but I'm not nearly as into its universe due to my preferences for Sci-Fi over Fantasy, but at the end of the day, when you're experience a piece of art, in this case a book, the execution of its concept is what really matters, and it's stronger prose carries me way further than any bias could.

litl snek Asks
you like jazz? Do you prefer experimental stuff, fusion, bebop, swing, blues?

I'm a basic bitch.

Whenever I listen to Jazz, Funk, or Blues, I almost always love it. I much prefer it's infectious uplifting vibe compared to the average overproduced pop song on the Top 40, yet almost all the songs I've got saved are from games, films, or soundtracks I've heard.

My problem probably is that I've never actually sat down and listened to an album aside from a handful of times when I was much younger, and more for lack of a better word, stupid about music.

If you've got any go-to starters for people, lemme know!

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