The Queue: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) is probably the most notable of the 19th century German Romantic artists (even if you’re not into art you’ve likely seen the header image in other media) and one of my personal favorites. As a result I’ve had a trip to Hamburg to see Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog and other examples of Romantic Art as a bucket list item for decades now. Fortunately for my wallet we got the first comprehensive exhibition of Friedrich’s art in the United States happening right now in New York City so I went to see it two weekends ago and it was definitely worth the trip. I may still try to go to Hamburg one day — not every work of art housed there that I want to see was in the exhibition — but it’s less of a goal now than it was a fortnight ago.

The trip to the museum wasn’t all positive though; my favorite gallery was closed for renovations. On the other hand there’s some new Cycladic Art that wasn’t there for my last visit and while not as satisfying that should tide me over until the Ancient Near East Gallery reopens and I make it back to NYC.

While I plan my next museum trip — Philadelphia — let’s answer some questions!

It is tempting to think so, isn’t it? That said, I really don’t think that’s the case. It’s a constant balancing act of keeping Mythic raiders happy about exclusivity — even though you can unlock the complete armor appearance via Delves now — while also making things available to the unwashed masses. The only thing non-Mythic raiders won’t have access to is the Mythic appearance of weapons which is probably a good compromise.

… I’m hearing word that some players actually care about the stats provided by gear and will be spending their Cartel Chips on trinkets to boost their overall power. That sounds a little far-fetched though.

I never thought about it before, but I guess I have to go with the popular Kitsune/Foxgirl but that may be more out of a sense of familiarity rather than actual appreciation. Let me look some up and see what I find …

Ah here we go: Aosaginohi. A heron that starts glowing for Reasons™ and doesn’t really do anything different from a normal heron. I like it. That’s my new favorite.

I have played Hoa! It’s on the short side but it is charming. Definitely worth it for under $5!

I don’t really have a theoretical maximum I’ll pay because it’s game dependent and also because if it’s an Indie game I’m usually willing to pay more just to support the studio. That said I start to hesitate when it goes above $30.

Persona 4 Rerun (tentative community-guessed title) seems to be a given at this point so a lot of Atlus fans are holding their breath that an announcement is imminent. As someone who has played Persona 4 Golden and consider it enjoyable but flawed, here are some of my recommendations for improvement:

• Replace the generic castle maps with something closer to Persona 5‘s palace layouts. This one makes a lot of sense on the surface (the maps are really generic) but it’d also be a lot of work compared to giving them a polish like Persona 3‘s Tartarus maps were given in P3R so it may not happen.
• Use the Persona 4 Animation as inspiration. My biggest issue with Persona 4 compared to 3 and 5 is that the silent protagonist has no personality whatsoever. While it’s admittedly tough to do so with a silent protagonist, you can still make a character appear rogueish (as in P5) or apathetic (as in P3) by their mannerisms and dialogue choices. It strains credulity in Persona 4 when you have other characters fawning over this bland protagonist.
  The animation solves this by giving the protagonist a real — and hilarious — personality. I don’t know if they’ll voice him more or just incorporate some attitude adjustment but I really hope they take the idea of his portrayal from the animation and use it to give him more life.
• Also add Aika from the Animation; she was hilarious.
• Please make Teddie and Yosuke a little less skeevy. Their antics are concerning even for the time the game was originally released, nowadays their behavior towards women makes me actively cringe.
• The conditions for obtaining the best ending are a little too complicated in my opinion; you shouldn’t need a guide to ensure you get five conversation choices in a row exactly right. That should be tightened up.

All that said even if none of these things happen it’s a day one purchase for me.

$1. With the answer $2 you risk getting a Jefferson $2 bill and those aren’t always recognized/accepted outside of racetracks and banks. With a dollar I know I can get some Doritos from the vending machine.

Parrano cheese. It tastes delicious (kind of a nutty gouda/parmesan hybrid), and most importantly for someone who is lactose intolerant, it’s naturally lactose free due to the aging process!

I am interested in Nightfall but the reports of its bugginess/unplayability are apparently not exaggerated so I’ve been focusing on Delves this week instead. I have heard it’s gotten better, but I’ll probably still wait until later this weekend to give it a whirl.

I actually haven’t read as much as I normally do so far this year so I’m going to answer both questions with the same title: When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi, the book that dares to answer the question: what if the moon really was made of cheese?

If you’ve read Scalzi before (Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain, Redshirts) you know his style and Moon is in the same vein as those books. It’s kind of an XKCD What If? turned into a book — although it’s more of a series of vignettes of reactions to the moon turning into cheese than it is a straight novel. There is still a narrative throughline for the events of the book, but there are a significant number of characters that appear for one chapter and that’s it.

What makes it qualified as an answer to the second question, however, is that about halfway through the book gets real. I can’t go into any more details than that without spoilers but suffice to say there is some deep seriousness amidst the surface silliness of the book’s premise.

I think I prefer Starter Villain, to be honest, but When the Moon Hits Your Eye is definitely worth reading especially if you’re already a fan of Scalzi.

As the kids say: Yas Queen slay!

That is all the time and space we have for questions this Friday. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and be sure to leave plenty of questions for Cory to answer on Monday!