My Saturday plans in Kamurocho got destroyed.
Suddenly Gone To…
Life is Magical and Full of Joy
Y nada más, y nada más… ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
Toni Kroos
I was so worried about Modric that I didn’t even consider the possibility of this being Kroos’ last season.
Time is so, so cruel. Dammit.
It feels like yesterday that I was crying like a baby in front of a CRT after Zizou’s farewell game… but that was 2006, and in the 18 years that have passed since then, I haven’t seen another Real Madrid legend retire at the club. For some reason or another, everyone always leaves and ends up saying goodbye elsewhere.
Well, not everyone! And it might sound silly, but today FC 24 got way more important to me – in the same way that PES 6 is.
Gracias, Toni.
El Bernabéu
It occurred to me that this year could be the last time that the old Bernabéu shows up in a new video game… so I went to sleep last night unhingedly imagining some sort of tribute to the Real Madrid players I loved playing with in my career saves, ever since becoming addicted to manager modes with PES 4 and FIFA 2004.
A list with this bunch, more or less:
- Arjen Robben
- Asier Illarramendi
- Brahim Díaz
- Casemiro ★
- Cicinho
- Cristiano Ronaldo ★
- Dani Carvajal ★
- David Beckham
- Eduardo Camavinga
- Eden Hazard
- Esteban Granero
- Federico Valverde
- Ferland Mendy
- Fernando Gago
- Gareth Bale ★
- Gonzalo Higuaín
- Guti
- Isco ★
- José Antonio Reyes
- Jude Bellingham
- Kaká ★
- Karim Benzema ★
- Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- Lassana Diarra
- Luka Modrić ★
- Luís Figo
- Mahamadou Diarra
- Marcelo ★
- Marco Asensio
- Mesut Özil
- Michael Essien
- Rafael van der Vaart
- Raphaël Varane ★
- Raúl ★
- Ricardo Carvalho
- Roberto Carlos ★
- Ronaldo ★
- Rubén de la Red
- Ruud van Nistelrooy
- Santiago Solari
- Sergio Ramos ★
- Toni Kroos ★
- Vinícius Júnior
- Wesley Sneijder
- Xabi Alonso
- Zinedine Zidane ★★★
I would love to add Hierro ★, Makélélé ★ and Redondo ★; alas, I only have them during my sleepless Championship Manager days.
All this to say that I’m very nervous about today.
. . .
P.S. ¡VAMOS!
Ghost Stories
The Blackwell Epiphany is ten years old today…
Oddly, the five Blackwell games have been in my head a lot for the past few years days, as I think over the idea of a game I would like to make. I’ve been thinking of maybe replaying them all for a third time, not only because time with Rosa and Joey is always an awesome idea, but because this time I’ll be particularly interested in Dave Gilbert's developer commentaries.
Time of Heroes
The backer code for Eiyuden Chronicle arrived last night. Not even an hour in, the music in the first town was so pretty it made me tear up a little – in part thinking of Murayama, but also remembering how happy and excited the Kickstarter announcement made me in the middle of a now-distant 2020.
They did it.
LocJAM 6
The weekend was cold, rainy, and awesome. It was cool to see Val participate in a localization jam for the first time ever, working with an adventure game called Not Enough Time.
Hat-trick in San Mamés
Jude’s celebration is in the game!
We may not have seen it in real life for a while, but I’m sure another streak will come soon. Bellinghamania will resume…
…hopefully on Wednesday?
Balloons
Memories keep unlocking.
This time it was something about those balloon reactions above the characters’ heads in Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. They reminded me of my teenage tinkering with RPG Maker 2003, and of being wide-eyed and dreaming big when I found a free (and in Spanish) version of RPG Maker XP. I remembered making ugly sprites in a program called GraphicsGale, and falling in love with Suikoden II’s sprite sheets long before playing the game itself.
I think I’ll give RPG Maker MZ a closer look.
Dark Hour and a Half
Watching the first Persona 3 movie somehow unlocked memories of the beautifully animated Diablo 2 adaptation I used to dream about as a kid, starring a moody paladin as the hero.
I kinda wish they’d kept that dim lighting in Reload's dorm…