Review Corner - Mother 3 (Earthbound 2)

The Mother series has been something of a cult following in the US. The sole entry released there was "Earthbound" for the SNES. The entire 3 entries were created by Shigesato Itoi, and each game loosely ties into one another.

The other 2 games in the series were so demanded that fans translated the original Mother for the NES and the Japan only Mother 3. (You can go here for more Mother 3 info and translation - http://mother3.fobby.net/ )

Mother 3 is reported to be the final entry in the series, and still maintains the stylized humor and fun that the series makes for using typical RPG tropes, and also making fun of them at the same time.

Parts of the Story - Introduction

Been a while since I have posted anything here. I apologize to any of my viewers. Life happens, things get busy and I occasionally lose track of a few projects and/or things I have to work on.

But I am going to try and update this regularly again, and I will start off with a series of how stories are put together and the variety of elements involved in the story itself.

For now I want to introduce the story, but first we should split the story down into segments that I will focus and elaborate one when I can find the time to get the articles up (I will try for a weekly/bi-weekly post, but I am not sure).

Enjoyment

Today I began to ponder a little bit why writing (or being creative in general) is so appealing and satisfying to me. I came up with something and I want to share it cause I think it applies to everyone for different reasons, but it is a sense of enjoyment all the same:

I think we enjoy creative endeavours because they are always a challenge. They utilize mathematics, reason, emotions, sensations, visualizations, among so much else. Beyond that, it is a blank slate. There is a gratification in conjuring something to life from the ethereal vapors.

I think writing for me is exhilarating because I do not know what will happen or where the characters might go. Each word to each page is opening a new world, and having new adventures, and meeting the people in that world, and exploring it with them.

The Depth of Art: Heart and Soul

I usually would refrain from posting this primarily because it's not about reviews or whatnot, but I think it's on subject, so it fits.

I'm going to discuss my opinion about artwork. Before I continue, whenever I say "artwork", I mean all forms. Not just pictures, but videos, music, models, costumes, clay, poetry, stories etc etc. whatever medium that is utilized creatively.

With that: we all have our specific likes and dislikes about artwork in general, I like to look a little deeper into the concept of the artwork. Some artwork I have looked at however, reveals a deeper sensation. I usually refer to this as artwork having a "heart and soul".

Words of Wisdom

Today's Words of Wisdom come from me:

"One should not berate themselves for what still has to be done, but congratulate themselves on what they have accomplished."

Words of Wisdom

Today's Words of Wisdom come from Charlaine Harris of the "True Blood" series. Taken from the most recent Writer's Digest Magazine:

"Should an author write in a genre because it's booming?

"I think it's a mistake," Harris says, "You have to really love what you're writing about to write a really good book, and I think if you just arbitrarily say, 'Well, zombies are really hot, I'm gonna write a zombie book,' that its just not gonna turn out as well as if you just suddenly thought, Oh my God! I've got a great zombie idea."

Another aspect she stresses in the article is fun.

Book Series Review (The Belgariad) - Book 1

This will be a look into a book review, for this it will be the 5 book series "The Belgariad" by David Eddings as a whole.

I will look into the series, book by book. Starting with the first: "Pawn of Prophecy".

Without further ado...

Words of Wisdom

Today's words of Wisdom come from Stephen King:

"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. "

Inspirational Music

Here's another segment I plan to introduce which is primarily about specific bands or songs in particular that hold a great interest to inspire vivid imagery and can help with the writing process.

Today's inspirational music is: Symphony X

I first stumbled onto Symphony X around 2001 or so. What started as a mild interest soon expanded into a grand love for their music. I have listened to the albums: Divine Wings of Tragedy, Twilight on Olympus, V: The New Mythology, The Odyssey, and Paradise Lost.

Every album has it's own unique style and theme. Though the theme itself is not entirely devoted to the album.

Dragons in Culture

Well, might as well discuss this topic considering it has been percolating in my head for a while.

Dragons. The mere word springs forth images of large reptilian beasts, some winged, some not. Some benevolent, others malevolent, etc.

But what exactly is the dragon, and why is it so tied into our cultures and subconscious?

Words of Wisdom

This is a section where I give a quote from an author about writing or life in general to help inspire or give knowledge to others.

Today's Quote is: "Every idea has already been done, it is merely how the person presents it that is new."

Record of Lodoss War OVA Review

Record of Lodoss War OVA has been one of the few animes I have seen that actually used a full fantasy based story and also focused primarily upon the story itself rather than allow the characters to continuously get into silly scenerios.

That is not to say such a thing is not a bad thing, but it can pull the viewer out of the experience sometimes.

The OVA is around 13 episodes and in entirity lasts aboutt 290 minutes, almost 5 hours long.

Separating the review into the usual catagories of visuals, story, sound, and overall.

Welcome

Hello all, and welcome to my little fantasy corner. This is my first blog and attempt at making a blog, so I will likely be learning as I go along.

Mostly I want this blog to be about my perspective on writing, the genres of writing (primarily science fiction and fantasy). Also I will include reviews on movies, videogames, tv shows, and books.

Another aspect I want to include is the concept of a topic, discussing and using the information on subjects within the area the topic is about. An example (and one I want to do eventually) is the influence of dragons in culture and how or why they are always the most popular out of so many mythical creatures.

So with that, I leave my first topic of discussion open to the commenter's.