Doobie Doobie Doo-Wop

The Last of Us, So Far...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:49:00 -0400

Alright, played The Last of Us for like 6-8 hours, still haven’t reached the bridge shown in the demo (I’ve been taking it slow and exploring everywhere, I also noted there were plenty of differences in-game from the demo).

So far the game’s brilliant. I really like the storytelling so far. For some reason, the infected don’t bug me as much as regular zombie-type enemies in most videogames do (Going through Ravenholm in HL2 was a NIGHTMARE) — not really sure why because they should be freakier than normal ones.. but I’m not complaining. Maybe it’s because I feel like I’m watching more than actually there thanks to Joel being a medium between me and the game. There was only one point that really started to freak me out — but those don’t happen too often. I’m glad that the game doesn’t rely on cheap scares constantly.

A game hasn’t really emotionally touched me as much as this one has for a very long time. There are just some things characters have done/said where I’ve actually leaned forwards and gone “I totally know why they just did that.”. Normally character-building isn’t something you encounter in many modern games — not beyond in-your-face stuff. There’s usually not too many moments where you know what’s going on in a characters’ head and nobody else does because you know them THAT WELL— but The Last of Us certainly seems to have those.

Honestly, I’m not scared to keep playing because of the monsters — I’m somewhat anxious about things getting too hard-to-cope-with with the characters I’ve grown attached to. I was laying in bed last night thinking about what some characters have said, it’s really inspiring to see that happening to me. That hasn’t happened to me for a while.

I really feel for a few of the characters. I don’t know the ending, I haven’t seen it, but I lied awake for the moments before sleep last night just begging “Please let someone be happy in the end. People never get to be happy in the end in this kind-of shit. Something horrible always happens.”

I think it says a lot about how I feel if I’m BEGGING for a comfort-ending and I’m probably not even 50% done with the game. I really just… it’ll hurt. I’ll be able to cope, but if I get another “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” thrown in my face… I don’t know, whatever this game is doing it’s getting my story-telling and creative motivation wheels turning. They say that kind of inspiration should come from within — but I think I just needed a jumpstart of creativity and this is certainly giving it to me.

I find myself making noises or saying things that would normally only happen with a character in the game world — which is also somewhat atypical for me too. I’m usually pretty distant when playing games. The only game that made me care this much, honestly, was DA:O. I haven’t played DA2 yet (there’s my guilty admittance) but I plan on it soon.

A part of the way I feel is probably that my friend and I had a roleplay a lot like this before the game came out. I’d developed this “nature took back over” setting placed in NYC where it was mutated/diseased super-animals that were the main enemies.

Oddly enough, I roleplayed a 11-12 year-old girl, and my friend roleplayed a 40-something-year-old dude and they filled somewhat-similar roles — but they still had major character differences.

When I saw the game for the first time I laughed and said “Look, it’s our world!” and he agreed and said he’d thought the same thing, but the more I explore TLoU, the more I realize how much potential we really had with that. We didn’t have some of the narrative joys that come with developing a storyline beforehand (my style of roleplaying with people is usually to ‘let it happen as it goes’), but we had a lot of elements of this already.

We didn’t even get very far in the roleplay, we’d created the characters and started heading into the Subway after being attacked by what his character had termed “The Mother” which was essentially a massive flying predatory bird. I just realize how much potential his character had — how much mine did. I’m not at all mad about having such a similar idea to the game. In fact it’s quite the opposite — it makes it that much more interesting.

My friend’s gone for a while at a summer camp thing, but I’m gonna highly recommend this to him. I think we could both get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

But, there’s still something awesome about a game where when you get up in the middle of the night to get a snack you’re instinctively trying to move as slow as possible, not make any noise, and listen for “clickers”.

Photo

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:40:29 -0400

fuckyeahvikingsandcelts: A Bug’s View by retro traveler on...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:02:23 -0400

fuckyeahvikingsandcelts:

A Bug’s View by retro traveler on Flickr.

baerhald86: non finirai mai di combattere, non finirai mai di...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:20:29 -0400

baerhald86:

non finirai mai di combattere, non finirai mai di cadere a terra… la vita è lotta, la vita è sofferenza

Photo

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:40:27 -0400

wanderthewood: Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland,...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:20:35 -0400

wanderthewood:

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland, England by gentles.info

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:40:35 -0400

How did you learn to apply color to your art? Was it self teaching and experimentation,classes or both?

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:27:00 -0400

Mostly self-teaching, experimentation, and observation. I normally paint in black-and-white and then once I’m happy with the values I’ll work with color over that, but sometimes I work just in color too so that’s not even a really solid rule.

I just have fun with it and try to keep my eyes open for lighting and colors when I’m doing whatever. Photos don’t always capture everything exactly as we see it — but they also have their own beneficial qualities that I think often get ignored because “It’s not real life.”.. But yeah that’s another rant for another day.

I’m far from perfect at coloring & lighting (the two are pretty connected with how I usually color), but I’m glad that people like it enough to ask me how I learned!

Thank you so much for messaging me though! If you have any more questions I’d be happy to help out.

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:03:12 -0400

Okay, two things quick:

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:34:07 -0400

Just so everyone knows, this isn’t exactly an art blog, I have one of those over here (I still have to put my sketches there sometime) I made a neat little queue that I enjoy tagged #worldbuilding, but I know not everybody is here for that stuff so I’m just letting everyone know now so there are no surprises.

Secondly, I just got the Last of Us and I’m about to start playing it. Excited.

fuckyeahvikingsandcelts: Pontoise, April 2013 - Fous d’Histoire...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:16:59 -0400

fuckyeahvikingsandcelts:

Pontoise, April 2013 - Fous d’Histoire by iamthewoodendoors on Flickr.

fuckyeahvikingsandcelts: 105 Haithabu WHH 01-04-2013 by...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:06:10 -0400

fuckyeahvikingsandcelts:

105 Haithabu WHH 01-04-2013 by Kai-Erik on Flickr.

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:55:10 -0400

Eyjafjallajökull by (Jon Vidar)

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:10:00 -0400

Eyjafjallajökull by (Jon Vidar)

tremblingcolors: Rough Ethiopian Opal (Mezezo Fire)

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:41:57 -0400

tremblingcolors:

Rough Ethiopian Opal (Mezezo Fire)

fuckyeahvikingsandcelts: Viking Festival 2013 by Stefán Freyr |...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:51:25 -0400

fuckyeahvikingsandcelts:

Viking Festival 2013 by Stefán Freyr | Skyzography on Flickr.

Audio

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:56:06 -0400

artissimo: Spectrum 11: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:28:23 -0400

artissimo:

Spectrum 11: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art

hdgifs: Particles 4

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:37:27 -0400

hdgifs:

Particles 4

charliebowater: A little character work-in-progress. I’m hoping...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:49:21 -0400

charliebowater:

A little character work-in-progress. I’m hoping to do a little line up :)

Totally inspired by the awesome Last Of Us! God damn it, I needed to paint some flannel.