Paul's Thursday Reviews CCCXIV · 9:47pm Oct 20th, 2022
So yesterday Konami made the big announcement: Silent Hill is back. They’re releasing a modern remake of Silent Hill 2, two new games – Silent Hill Townfall, apparently set in England, and Silent Hill ƒ set in Japan – and a third movie based on the second game. It’s been ten years since the release of a mainline SH game, and I have to admit I’m happy to see it coming back. I imagine a lot of horror game fans are.
I was a little worried at first when I saw the trailer for Silent Hill ƒ. The aesthetics were very… Well, Japanese. The town of Silent Hill is in Maine and the aesthetics always reflected that. Seeing a more asian style set to the series struck me as very odd. But then I remembered that the whole point behind Silent Hill is that the disturbing images are conjured up from the protagonist’s mind; their insecurities, their fears, and their faults. From that perspective, the more “Japanese folklore” feel of Silent Hill ƒ makes a lot of sense, because that’s the kind of thing Silent Hill would reflect back at a Japanese protagonist.
No strong opinions regarding Silent Hill Townfall. The trailer didn’t reveal much at all. Or maybe it revealed a lot and I just missed it.
I was bummed for a while because the announcements all said Silent Hill 2 was going to be a Playstation 5 exclusive. But if you pay attention to the trailer, you’ll notice that it says Playstation 5 and Steam. So yeah, I’m good.
Also, Bayonetta 3 releases this month. On the one hand, hallelujah for more Bayonetta (yes, I am aware of the irony). On the other, it’s once again a console exclusive, and damn it, I don’t do consoles anymore. But then again, I already own a Switch, so maybe I could make an exception. Then again again, they re-released the original game on Steam, so maybe they’ll do the same with 2 and 3? Then again again again, do I really want to wait that long? I am at an impasse with myself.
And yes, I am aware of all the controversy around Bayonetta’s original voice actor, and I do have feelings about that. But at the same time, boycotting the game because of one disgruntled voice actor means not supporting the hundreds of other people who made the game: programmers, artists, musicians, writers, and so on. I have feelings about that, too.
Alright, enough of my video game addiction. Let’s get to the reviews.
Stories for This Week:
Flat-Earth Fluttershy by Jinzou
Teahouses of Saddle Arabia by Amber Spark
More Guidelines Than Actual Rules by I-A-M
Hollow Insides by Element of Malice
Total Word Count: 168,134
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 2
Pretty Good: 2
Worth It: 0
Needs Work: 0
None: 0
Flat-Earth Fluttershy
1,461 Words
By Jinzou
Fun (and slightly disturbing) fact: There was a poll back in February that found roughly 16% of all Americans either believe the world is flat or at least have doubts concerning its shape. That includes 34% of people aged 18-24. Really gives you hope for the future, no?
Anyway, in this story Fluttershy walks into the Golden Oaks Library (despite being written in 2020, it’s set prior to Twilight’s alicornication) and ends up offhand remarking that the world is flat. The stunned Princess Booky can’t believe her ears.
The story goes down quickly, with Twilight trying to correct a confident Fluttershy in her beliefs. Unfortunately, Twilight is caught so flat-hoofed that she doesn’t really argue well. It basically runs as: Twilight pokes a hole in flat-earth theory, Fluttershy makes an argument, Twilight ignores her argument in favor of a new hole to poke. So ultimately, Twilight fails because she makes no real attempt to argue any of Fluttershy’s points, an act that might as well be a concession.
So if you’re here hoping to see a genuine debate over the theory, you will be disappointed.
Still, I enjoyed the story. Twilight’s frustration accompanied by Rainbow’s amusement is genuinely entertaining, and it’s made all the better when Celestia and Luna come along to offer a twist conclusion. I think the oddest part in all of this is that it was Fluttershy who acted as the initiator to the whole thing. I could have bought, say, Applejack or Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie. Heck, even Rarity. But Fluttershy? Curious choice there, author.
Better than I expected, and certainly worth the five-to-ten minutes it takes to read. By all means give it a go.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Teahouses of Saddle Arabia
111,873 Words
By Amber Spark
Sequel to A Study on Chaos Theory
Sunset Shimmer has the perfect idea regarding what to get Princess Celestia for Hearth’s Warming. Of course, it’s now the day before Hearth’s Warming Eve and she has yet to find it. Hopefully her friend (and just a friend!) Twilight Sparkle can help. Neither of them have the slightest idea how hard it will be to find a single, solitary book.
Previously in the Wavelengths of Time AU, Sunset Shimmer made a profoundly stupid mistake that was outright designed to bite her in the ass later. And here we see it doing exactly that. Is this the whole point of the story? Maybe. But while asses are getting bitten, there’s also a book to find and some new lore to uncover. What she never knew was that bookstores – bookstores – can be some of the most mysterious, confounding, and downright dangerous places in Equestria.
The end result is an adventurous tale where Sunset and Twilight must overcome numerous threats ranging from foreign security to Discord-esque dragons to what may be the looming Nightmare itself in its most natural and threatening form, all while trying as hard as possible not to talk about the heartbreaking knife dangling just above their relationship. Throw in a lot of wit, a bit of misdirection, and a truckload of zany OCs with motivations as peculiar and unknowable as their behavior. As if all of that weren’t enough, Sunset and Twilight are (as always) impeccably characterized, from Twilight’s bibliophilia getting in the way of her decision making to Sunset’s ever-present hotheadedness.
Putting all that into a few words: it’s a fun ride. In truth, I’ve barely scratched the surface, but if I keep going this review will be overly long and probably become too spoilery.
The only catch to this one is that if you don’t know the history between Sunset and Twilight in this AU then some of the more personal bits may throw you off. Heck, I’ve read everything (I think) that’s come before and even I’m thrown off a little, although that’s probably because of my schedule forcing me to read these weeks or even months apart from one another. Actually, given that this was one of the (relatively) recently rechristened Amber Spark’s long stories, it may have taken me more than a year.
Regardless, you should read this AU, and this story was a delightful entry in it. As always, I am greatly looking forward to the next one.
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
The Cloudsdale Report — WHYRTY?
Grading on a Bell Curve — Pretty Good
Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix — Pretty Good
How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative — Pretty Good
Princess Celestia: A Brief History — Pretty Good
More Guidelines Than Actual Rules
44,883 Words
I-A-M failed to provide cover art.
Sequel to Rules of Hospitality
The Rules series saw the Sirens each get with a member of the Human Seven, and each story brought its own particular style of romance. Guidelines is an anthology of shorts that are all set after the main trilogy (although there may be a little overlap) and which expand a little upon each pair’s relationship or just the characters themselves.
This leads to some fascinating reveals. They’re interesting enough that I suspect the only reason I-A-M didn’t include them in the main series was an inability to find a place to make them ‘fit’ with their overarching narratives. Which I get 100%. Adagio’s former role as a religious figure, Twilight facing Cadance’s past actions, Sunset Shimmer’s clingy, panicky possessiveness. Every story has some great highlights that really bring out the best and worst in the characters, and they’re all great. I particularly like how each story brings out the same feelings and energy of their origin stories; Adagio’s and Octavia’s unified stance against all threats, Sonata’s mysterious nature against Sci-Twi’s anger issues, and even Sunset’s and Aria’s volatile and seemingly insatiable lust for one another.
All in all, this was an excellent way to conclude an excellent series. My one complaint is that I’d like to have an explanation as to how they all ended up having kids in the prior story’s epilogue beyond an assumed and vague ‘magic’, but I’ll make do without. Definitely give this series a go when you can. My only conditional is to be prepared for some sexytimes; Aria and Adagio are raunchy creatures, albeit in completely different ways.
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Rules of Engagement — WHYRTY?
Rules of Hospitality — WHYRTY?
Rules of Etiquette — Pretty Good
Hollow Insides
9,917 Words
By Element of Malice
Requested by Element of Malice
Autumn Hearth loved Nightmare Night and is more than accustomed to her best friend Grapevine playing holiday pranks on her. As such, when she gets home on Nightmare Night to signs that somepony has broken in, she expects it’s just another prank. Then she meets the stallion. It’s not Grapevine. In his defense, he doesn’t know what he’s doing here, either.
Arriving just in time for Halloween, this is a story that comes out in two completely different ways to great effect. It begins with a mare finding a Frankenstein-style monster has invaded her home seeking warmth. Couple this with her best friend finally pulling off his prank and a visit from the monster’s creator, and what you get is a scene that is downright comedic. Element of Malice didn’t label this as a comedy, but in their defense I think FIMFiction won’t let you use that tag with the Dark tag (bad form, FIMFiction; black comedy is a thing!).
So we start off with heads popping off, frustrated mares handing out over-the-top threats, Grapevine annoyed because nobody’s afraid of his costume, and a monster that keeps doing weird things. I love how Autumn, even while freaking out inside, just sort of rolls with it, even up to kindly re-sewing the monster’s head back on its neck. It all felt very “pony”, and I was highly amused.
Then we get to the second half of the story, where the shit hits the fan. Suddenly, things aren’t funny anymore; death and even torture is a very real possibility. It’s a very effective tonal whiplash.
There are a few minor hiccups. Sometimes Element of Malice will state something they didn’t mean. For example, at one point Grapevine threatens to leave Autumn behind, only to immediately change his mind. When asked about it, he says:
“I panicked okay, I was actually gonna leave you,”
Yeeeah, you’re lucky Autumn’s not paying you much attention, ya jerk. Of course, in context we know he meant to say he was not going to leave. This kind of thing happens rarely, but that one was particularly glaring.
There’s also this line:
Ramming into the unicorn, Lucid Vision flew into the air and landed on her back, getting the wind knocked out of her lungs.
Reading that, you’d think Lucid was the one doing the ramming and got knocked backwards because the pony she rammed was much bigger than her or something. But no, it’s actually the other pony that rammed into Lucid and sent her flying, or to put it another way, Lucid is the unicorn in “ramming into the unicorn”. Element of Malice created the wrong action for the wrong subject.
As you can no doubt see, the writing could use a touch up. How significant you find this will likely depend upon your personal reading level and English comprehension.
The next thing to point out isn’t so much a criticism as it is an observation: Element of Malice doesn’t seem interested in doing ‘details’. They prefer to use big statements to set the tone of the scene and the mood of the characters. For example, when Autumn is resewing the monster’s head to its neck, you get a quick look at her thoughts and how she’s internally freaking out. On the other hand, we don’t get any of the details, the Show, of how she feels. She’s just sewing the head back on, as though she were Rarity sewing a hat. The result is a certain minimalistic approach.
Does it work? I’d say yes. It’s limited, it requires you to use your imagination, but so long as you can take the queues being offered you can come to recognize the mental state of the characters. It’s at this point I have to praise the author’s dialogue, which does a great job of channeling this stuff.
All in all, I enjoyed this. It combines creepiness, humor, and genuine danger in a surprising but effective mishmash, and the twist that comes halfway through the story creates a change in mood that caught me off guard in a good way. The ‘off guard’ wasn’t in the “what is happening” so much as it was in the tone of the story.
I can see some people taking issue with the tonal shifts, especially at the end when things start to calm down. I can’t say I’d blame them. But if you can get past that (and the writing slips) you may just enjoy yourself. And hey, Halloween’s right around the corner. Why not indulge?
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Plastic Smiles and the Strength They Hide — Pretty Good
Stories for Next Week:
The Rariad by Tundara
Boast Busters - Extended Cut by AdmiralSakai
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A goal I had while working on Hollow Insides was to make a story that involved someone who was accustomed to the prospect of horror. Instead of having them freak out and making cliché choices that would eventually worsened their chances Autumn intended to put her hoof down and say ’enough!’ In doing so, I needed to find a way to put her outside the comfort zone and be in a situation where she wouldn’t have a solution to back out of.
I've read the Teahouses one, or at least most of it. I did like it, but I have only sporadically read things in that continuity, so there's a fair amount of it that goes over my head, and that may affect my enjoyment. It's also not a premise that grabs me especially, so I'm not the target audience. Still, I thought it was good and worthy of a recommendation. The only little thing that bugged me about it (and keep in mind that I can't get out of editor mode when reading a story) was the author's penchant for using action beats as speech tags, even though the author's been advised of that in older stories.
The author used to go by Novel-Idea and was commonly seen around the write-offs, producing numerous good entries, plus got involved in art. I don't know how much original art, but... to name a topical example of compositional art, given last week's slate of stories, that's who did the cover art for "Dinkin' Donuts" when Neighrator Pony wanted some for the reading, then made up a differently cropped one for the story itself when I asked if I could use it too.
I have the opposite issue regarding games. I almost always play on console, having only a laptop pc. So I literally didn't get to play NieR:Automata until just now when they ported it to the Switch, but I can get Bayonetta 3 immediately.
At this point, I watch game reviews more than I play video games. I had a PS5 and then after playing the one exclusive I wanted to play on it, I sold it off. I've got a pretty decent sized library of games I've never played on steam and yet I don't even feel obligated to play most of them. I'm hoping my move to Japan changes that, and I did actually start Hollow knight with the Steam Deck I got recently, but that's about it.
Right now, my most anticipated release is the new Pokemon game here in 29 days, and that's all I can think of that I'm looking forward to. Unless Bloodborne hits PC, or Elden Ring gets DLC, I don't know that there's anything else I want from video games these days. Oh, and Among Us VR, but that's more for the memes than anything else.
I really loved Teahouses, and I hope Amber Spark writes many more stories in that AU.
"The Rariad"? Now that sounds like something all right. :O
I don't have much to say about stories this week/month, honestly. I've had more thoughts on the Bayonetta thing, and I won't say much one way or another except for this: When you factor everything together, and simplify things to the point of oversimplifying them, the whole thing started because somebody felt that being paid $750 per hour was too low.
So it's pretty clear that the only things we can really be certain of is that we know less than 10% of what actually happened, and that everybody is lying.
5693578
Well I'd say it worked all around!
5693582
Oh, I am aware of The Artist Formerly Known As Novel's other works. They did the title text for Bulletproof Heart, for example. I had intended to recruit their aid in creating some cover art for a story, but they were going through some shit then and by the time they even noticed my query I'd already cancelled the project for unrelated reasons.
5693588
The funny thing is, I wouldn't call myself... what's that term? "PC Master Race", I think? I just want all my games on one system. I went for a long time as one of those "have to buy the new system!" types, so I currently have a dozen gaming systems. All are collecting dust because I realized I'd rather not keep rebuying systems – probably without backwards compatibility – when I can just upgrade my PC once every two or three years. So yeah, I stopped buying new systems... I dunno, six years ago? Something like that.
Besides, I'm so horribly behind on the games I have that buying anything new would just be a waste of money.
5693602
I've considered getting the Steam Deck, but the only reason I'd need it is to play games on the go, and I've got a laptop for that. Granted, it's not a powerful laptop so it can only play the less demanding games. But I don't travel much these days, so it's not like I'm going to start any big games that require a lot of time investment on my laptop anyway.
5693615
I was disappointed when I realized I'm close to having read them all. I'd really like to know if my suspicions regarding where it's going hold true.
5693619
It's part of the Myths and Birthrights AU. And, to be honest, the primary reason I started reading that AU at all was because I wanted to read The Rariad, but didn't want to do so without knowing what came before. So that review has been a few years in the waiting.
5693658
There are two types of Horror once you boil it down, the “all in good fun” type and “I’m about to die” kind.
5693660
Yeah, the rundown on Novel-Idea wasn't for your benefit but for people reading this blog who might not recognize that story's author under the current name and might need the dots connected.
5693712
Ooooooh. I knew that. Yeah. Uh-huh. Totes. *finger guns*
After finally finding the most suitable picture after all this time, I can now say that I had hard time thinking of how to put expressions like this one into words.
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