Rambling

The Eurasian steppe

Note: this was originally posted on cohost as a response to a chain of posts about the manga A Bride’s Story. The post was slightly edited here so it wouldn’t depend on context for comprehension. The Eurasian steppe is incredibly fascinating to me, for geographic reasons, and it’s absolutely saddening that it’s still part of Russia – because,…

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Rambling

The etymology of Slav and slave is weirdly documented

I revisit this obsession every year to check if there’s any change or newer documentation regarding their etymology Fair warning: I’m not a linguist or researcher, just some obsessed dude. I have some interest in Eastern Europe, especially before they became Orthodox Christians, and from time to time I like to look for the etymology…

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Video Games

Battles as a point of friction in RPGs

The first post of two where I think hard about what bothers me so much in a lot of RPGs, and why I think I might be in a niche Reading the second part might help contextualize a few things, but it’s not required. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why some RPGs wore me…

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Video Games

Warframe has a great sci-fi story

Sadly, it’s buried beneath hundreds of hours of gameplay Note: this was originally published on Medium. The article might contain some small spoilers. Also bear in mind the starting experience might’ve changed since this was written. Warframe (official website) is a free-to-play third-person shooter with “space ninjas”. It’s a really, really good game considering its…

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Localization

On inventing historical accent/slang

When you have to come up with an accent that doesn’t actually exist in your language, things can get hard and a bit weird When I was just a few years in the field, I had the chance to work on a AAA in which the story revolved around piracy, assassination, and the Caribbean. It’s…

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Rambling

Choosing writing tools: an endless rabbit hole

How I got obsessed (for a short time) with looking for the perfect writing tool (for me) and found the perfect way to procrastinate writing (not recommended) I have a very specific way of doing stuff if I want to see them through, writing included. While most people usually fight against the distractions of modern…

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Video Games

Rambling about exploration in games

I’ve been playing Dragon’s Dogma recently and rediscovering the feeling of slow-and-steady exploration in a fantasy world. It’s been awesome. It’s hard to find games that feed you that sense of discovering things in an organic way, so to speak, since most will railroad you into a main quest (that’s not always that interesting) or…

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Localization

Translating a game while keeping the dubbing in mind

Or, to be more specific, “translating a game while keeping the mouth movement of the original voice acting in mind” Unsurprisingly, this is a topic that’s not very well-known. Bear in mind that TV shows and movies also do something similar, but since I’ve never worked in these industries, I’ll keep the focus on video…

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Rambling

I miss handheld consoles

Smartphones as gaming devices will never have the longevity, or reliability, that handheld consoles have I never really had a “proper” smartphone until last year. My last “good smartphone” was a Nokia E95 (I miss that design and clicky keys) more than 10 years ago, and since then I only bought low-to-mid-range smartphones because I…

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