Life can feel like an aimless meanderance from time to time, and as an existentialist, I see absolutely nothing wrong with this eventuality.


Ultimately, existence really does just boil down to a series of back to back happenings, when you really think about it

I’m guessing this post is going to be more or less inspired by my current playthrough of Mina the Hollower, as I don’t think I’ve made any meaningful progress in the game since last I wrote about it. As any adult with a nerdy streak about them: finding time to enjoy one’s self is kind of an absurdist task on any given day, and one is sometimes lucky to get any large chunk of recreational moments to themselves in one 24 hour period full stop. I can’t even imagine how rare such moments would be if I had a kid to take care of, so my sympathies to all of the nerdy parents out there who are probably so swamped with responsibility, they make due with merely day dreaming about their favorite hobby of choice then actually interacting with it.

I’m a little more than halfway through Mina at this point, and I’m more than happy with the breadth of content the title has on offer, thus far, and have been quite impressed with how easily one can get sidetracked at any given moment. I’ve had to be far more authoritative with my own sessions, as the game is also so deftly designed, that it’s way too easy to keep playing for a lot longer than one intends, as going from one leg of your journey to another is not just painless, but excessively easy to do. I wouldn’t even go as far to say that the design is somehow malevolently addictive or any such nefarious nonsense such as that, there’s no bad faith methodologies at play here, just good old fashioned design competency on display from true masters of their craft, so a tip of the hat to developer Yacht Club Games for keeping it real.

Speaking of where positive ups are concerned, the amount of sidearms the game has in its repertoire has definitely caught me off guard, as most Zeldalike (and more so, the source material itself) don’t usually avail themselves to such an array of equipment so quickly, and in such short order. I’m not sure how many there are in total, but I feel as if I find a cool new gadget to use like once every half hour(?) or so. I’m not sure of the exact consistency, but as mentioned, at least just in citation of where The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is concerned, you more or less only get a new piece of equipment once every dungeon or so, with the level in question obviously custom built with it’s usage in mind, as to underline the importance of every single object you acquire having some significant importance bred into it essence. With most Zelda games being similar to that point, it’s nice to see Mina making short work of growing beyond their own source of inspiration, though this is something I’ve touched on before, so I suppose an encore of applause for the continuity where consistency is concerned was an easy thing to predict at this point in the adventure.

Beyond even just a myriad of sidearms to choose from, (which I’ll go into at some point, but that might not be a today thing) is several main weapons to choose from, and more to obtain even after the fact. You’re presented with a choice at the beginning of the game between going akimbo with some daggers, the “Belmont Special” ala a whip, and a big fucking hammer, one which you can even charge for some massive damage to boot. The way the choice was presented almost felt akin to choosing a starter in a Pokémon game, though how intentional of a possible nod this was is unclear to me. Not that Yacht Club Games ever fails to adequately wear their referential hearts on their sleeves, I just don’t know where the developers excessive love for old school games ends and my own biased proclivities begin in the matter.

I suppose the reason I bring any of this up anyways, was within the realm of thinking it was a lowkey moment involving a potential alteration of where difficulty is concerned, as I have a feeling some of the weapons are better suited for certain play styles, some of which may be more beginner friendly than others, much in the same vein that, choosing Charmander at the beginning of the Red/Blue dichotomy, is technically making the beginning portion of the game rougher on the trainer who goes that fiery route, as Brock and Misty aren’t going to be push overs with a firemon in tow. This is all speculative of course, though I’d be surprised if there was absolutely no truth to the idea, which does make for more interesting design overall (where Mina is concerned, I mean.

One can eventually obtain the other weapons not picked, so it is not as if you are locked out of experimenting with said weaponry, but being the Castlevania hound I am, going with anything but the Belmont Special (aka the whip) feels wrong to me. Around this halfway point, I was also (once again) delightfully surprised to find a fourth main weapon to choose from, in the form of a shield with parry functionality. I’m guessing the devs didn’t want it to be one of the starters of choice, as it would then (in my eyes at least) be kind of a no-brainer in terms of what the player would want to pick, as having the ability to parry with one’s setup provides a ridiculous advantage over anything that doesn’t, thus negating any interesting pros and cons comparison calculus involved with what weapon would be worth having.

I’m not sure if what I’m about to say is an absolute truth or not, but I am also of the mind as soon as you introduce a parry into a gaming ecosystem, that game pretty much fundamentally transforms from the ground up, as how you design combat from here on out has to be totally contingent on the parry, in order for the design to truly compliment itself in terms of where mindfulness is concerned, but I may have to mull over that thought a bit more to see if I’m being myopic on the issue.

In any case, I would have preferred this article to have more of a focus and a more satisfying ending, but that’s just not how these things roll sometimes.

Oh well. There’s always tomorrow.

~Pashford