Old JRPGs and Hindustani classical music

 I like the older, lo-fi, retro, vintage jrpgs for a few reasons. The 1st is less status effects. I've had my folks blinded, silenced, confused, turned to stone, etc. for decades in Final Fantasies. To go without for even a few minutes is great. Simplicity of game mechanics makes any of these games playable by me, as soon as I figure out the yes and no buttons. Being able to play it for a little while without crushing defeat helps. I like blocky, old graphics sometimes and newer, slicker graphics at others, for diffrent reasons. The old graphics are expressive, cartoonish, creative  and charming. New graphics are great for more action. I don't want action. That brings the next point: the old jrpg grinding zone-out. Time is forgotten and running each battle more in my favor takes over. This currently leads to falling asleep, but with more rest it works.

Another odd thing I like is Hindustani classical music. Lots of concerts were available on archive and I was just looking for interesting or watchable concert videos. I've heard enough so I can tell what the musicians are doing most of the time. I'm recognizing repeating patterns and matching up the strings and percussion understandably in my head. I've heard enough music to listen for things like using multiple parts in a song, variety of technique and within said technique, note choice and phrasing. Some of the Hindustani sitar and sarod players are real shred-masters at their instrument. Westrn European note frequency and rhythmic variety are absolutely left in India's dust. Some of the metal guitarists I've heard might be able to hold a candle to this by sheer riff generation. I'm thinking of Jon Nordstrand of Dissection. Storm of the Light's Bane, Feathers Fell, Where Dead Angels Lie, The Somberlain... His rhythm guitar alone provides enough riff generating variety. Abbath Doom Occulta of Immortal is king of right hand picking though. The one thing I prefer in western European system is recognizable, repeating parts that come back. These Hindustani folks are just on a long solo and most of it improvised (told in 1 of the videos by a sitarist). If they had a hook chorus to come back to, we would really be cooking.