The journey continues, along with the misunderstandings and miscommunications. I don’t know if it’s my fault or theirs, but every time it’s as if I ask for a glass of water and in return I get a bag of nuts, or rice cakes, or slices of watermelon, an apple, a piece of pizza… but I asked for a glass of water, I’m thirsty! And besides, watermelon literally makes me sick; I can’t digest it. Anyway, I’ll keep going.

Hand of Fate

Hand of Fate is a video game that immediately piqued my curiosity. It combines the random nature of cards, so luck, with the skill of fighting enemies in a “thrill kill” style. This means you have a confined space where you can move however you want and hit enemies in the way and at the times you create for yourself. You can escape to stall for time and recharge to perform devastating area-of-effect moves at the right moment.

The card games also depended heavily on timing—pressing the button at the right moment to receive a smaller penalty or a bigger bonus. Specifically, the cards spin in a circle at a certain speed, and you have to understand the margin of cards between when you press the button and when the wheel stops. So, if the margin was four cards, you had to calculate four cards before the one you wanted. Sometimes they would spin more slowly, and maybe the margin was only one card. It’s a very unpredictable and dynamic game, certainly original and deserving of more interest from gamers worldwide. For me, it’s a title that deserved more hype.

I also noticed that it has a nature that doesn’t always reward goodness or selfishness. Once, I had six apples (apples are like health points, and every time you turn over a NEW card, it’s as if a day passes, and every day that passes, you have to eat an apple). I turned over a card, and a beggar asked for an act of generosity. I gave him two apples, thinking that fate would repay me shortly. Not only was I not rewarded for my generosity, but a group of bandits attacked me and took another three apples. Other times, I’ve avoided being generous and found myself facing more enemies or various bad luck. In the moment, it makes you angry, but life is often like that, too: you do good and it’s received as if it were something owed to them; you treat people with suspicion or unkindness and you’re more respected than before… the mysteries of the human psyche.

Next time, I’ll talk about my relationship with the tarot, fortune-tellers, and the leaves of destiny—fascinating and curious worlds that can also be useful if approached correctly. Now I have to figure out why my card was declined at the supermarket. Just what I needed.

See you next time!