Pruning in the Game of Life

that's chlorophyll on a leaf!  Click for source.  

Meditations on life while pruning away at some plants.  I imagine now that I work at a Garden Nursery, I'll be writing more about plants.  Today I spent some time pruning away the dead leaves on some of our various shade-loving plants.  I reached a fantastic meditative space while doing this.

It's not strictly pruning, and, technically, I don't know much about the subject of pruning (it's not like ignorance has ever stopped me from sharing my opinion before).  I guess maybe it's closer to 'dead heading' rose plants, which is the process of cutting away dead blooms.  In so doing, you send a message to the plant to give up on those blooms, and concentrate its energy elsewhere.  This is what I was thinking of as I was cleaning up these plants.  It's like life-coaching for plants.  As a human, I can move much quicker than can a plant, and I can sort of force the issue by cutting a little twig or limb off at the source.

Of course, this must be done with the requisite amount of care.  Cut away healthy leaves and you may be stunting the plants growth by removing a good source of sunlight catching chlorophyll.  The idea is to help the plant with maximum efficiency.  A goal that is not unlike the goals in various video games, primarily of the puzzle or RTS variety.  These are games that you play to improve and get better at.  Your actions become swifter and more efficient.  You learn a balance of good resource management and appropriate dexterity, timing and planning for the future.

I also want to take a minute to mention a particular plant I encountered, on which almost no viable leaves remained, except a tiny little red leaf at the core of the plant.  I checked with my manager, and he confirmed I should remove all the leaves and leave only the core, and then move it to our plant 'sick bay' for convalescence, mostly because nobody would buy an 8 dollar plant with only one tiny leaf.  However, I did get to thinking that in the system of the plant, there is stored energy in the core, so that even when a plant is not able to absorb through its leaves, it can produce new, healthy leaves to start harvesting energy.

I guess its' like in Plants Vs Zombies, if your sunflowers are being chewed on by the zombies, and you lose energy, but you have done a good job of saving up your sun points, so you can make more.  I don't entirely like this comparison because I always protect my sunflowers at all cost, and spend all my sun points as quickly as possible.

Either way, I think these cool biological systems write themselves in terms of making video game transliterations.  There is, of course, a limit to the amount of depth that you can portray in a viable gaming system, but that's okay.  Self imposed limitations, such as scale and time can do a lot to create a fun game.

Water, light, positioning, pruning, time.  Resources and gameplay toward a stated goal of maximum flourishing.  Yay Gardening game!

-D

Concert Review: Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy

I was fortunate enough to take Conklederp out to the symphony last Saturday night, and it was not just any symphony, but music from the Final Fantasy series of video games performed by the Oregon Symphony conducted by longtime conductor of video game symphonies, Arnie Roth.

This is the third Final Fantasy concert that I've been to over the years, the first being from the "Dear Friends" concert series back in 2004, then Conklederp and I saw the Distant Worlds tour in San Francisco in 2010.  Along with the Play! video game concert series, listening to symphonic video game music has been a dream of mine since I first heard about and listened to the Final Fantasy: Symphonic Suite when I was in high school.  The fact that these concert series are a continuing affair makes me very happy.

What makes me even happier is that, for the most part, is that the music is taken seriously.  I say, "for the most part" because there were some rather "fun" things that seem to naturally go along with a concert of video game music.  The first is that people showed up in cosplay.  We saw a number of people dressed up as characters from Final Fantasy VIII and there was even a father and daughter who were dressed up as White Mages.  It's very rare that you go to the symphony to see people dressed up as characters of the subject matter.  Thankfully there were not any buster swords, or at least any that I was witness to.  The other "fun" thing was an attempt at audience participation during two of the songs.  I say "attempt" because during the 2010 concert, the audience did sing during parts of the songs that they were cued to sing by the conductor.  At this concert however, there was practically no noticeable participation.  I cannot say if that was just because it was Portland, or because I didn't feel the conductor did a good job of including the audience in the parts that I could tell would have been the audience participation sections.

The last non-traditional aspect of the concert was that there was a video screen above the orchestra that would show scenes from the game that the selected piece was from.  The strangest thing for me, at least, was that the game footage did not contain the American localization, but the Japanese one instead.  Granted most of the footage was of cinematics and did not contain text, but from FF IV - X, any text on the screen was in Japanese.  I wonder why this decision was made, if maybe it had to do with copyright or some other legal issue.

What I felt to be the highlight of the evening was the performing of the Opera from Final Fantasy VI.  I say "Opera" because the entire in-game opera was performed, vocals and all.  The performance was very well executed as it included a narrator off to the side of the orchestra giving context for those unfamiliar with the game and the story of Draco, Maria and Prince Ralse.  There was even a narrated ending to what would have happened had not Locke and company planted Celes as Maria with Setzer stealing her during the wedding scene; and I guess Ultro crashing the party too.  The story finishes, in typical Final Fantasy VI  style with Draco, being mortally wounded during the duel, stabbing Prince Ralse through the heart and crying out as Maria escapes that he loves her.  God damn you Nobuo Uematsu and Square, damn you for wretching my heartstrings over and over again.

If you look at the lyrics for the 20 minutes of operatic music, there really is not a lot of singing and once you realize this, I began to feel for the three singers on stage who were not doing anything during the periods of non-singing.  It reminded me of how I feel when showing someone a youtube video or having them listen to a song and within a minute, I start to feel that they are probably bored and why did I pick this song for them to listen to and second guessing all my life decisions and why I didn't go to bathroom before eating that bag of bran muffins.  You get the idea.  That aside, my only critique of the performance actually had to do with the sound production and not the performers.  Confirmed by Conklederp and Salty Liver (who also attended with her fiance), that it was hard to hear the singers when the orchestra was playing in full force.  Ultimately that was my only gripe the whole evening.

Lastly, I would like to applaud Arnie Roth on the selection of songs for the concert.  While most of the songs were from the later Final Fantasy games (VII and on), there was a selection from the NES era of games, but only going back as far as Final Fantasy IV.  I am sure that there could have been a number of songs from the earlier Final Fantasy games had not the Opera from Final Fantasy VI been included, but that is a concession that I was more than happy to make as, again, hearing the opera in person was simply amazing.

In closing, I wanted to give a set list of the songs that were performed for the concert.

Final Fantasy Series: Prelude
VIII: Liberi Fatali
FF Victory Theme (Intro)
VII: Opening - Bombing Mission
IV: Theme of Love
V: Main Theme
VIII: Love Grows
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII: Light Eternal
VI: Phantom Forest
IX: Not Alone
FF Series: Chocobo Medley 2012

Intermission

FF Series: Battle & Victory Theme Medley
XI: Fighter of the Crystal
VII: Aerith's Theme
XII: The Dalmasca Estersand
X: Zanarkand
VIII: Don't Be Afraid
VI: Opera 'Maria & Draco'
FF Series: Main Theme

Encore
VII: One-Winged Angel


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

Game Scores: The Elder Scrolls Online (PC)

Just to get this out of the way beforehand, yes I enjoy this soundtrack and yes, I believe that it fits in very well with the music from the rest of the Elder Scroll series.

Now that that's out of the way, we can get down to brass tacks.

Jeremy Soule, the composer of the scores from the other games in the Elder Scroll series composed only the main theme, "For Blood, For Glory, For Honor."  This theme does not contain any semblance of the "Nerevar Rising" theme that has become the theme that most people know from The Elder Scroll series.  I feel like Jeremy Soule's contribution is to get the player into the mood to play an Elder Scrolls game in the 2nd Era, that this will be an epic adventure in a familiar world during an unfamiliar period of history.  It's basically an overture in the perfect sense of the word.  

The rest of the 47 soundtrack is broken up between three other artists. 

Brad Derrick, who wrote 43 of the 47 tracks is the most obscure composer on this soundtrack.  By "obscure" I do not mean that his music does not fit in with the overall tone of the game or with the setting that Jeremy Soule set with the main theme, but that there is very little information that I could find about him.  His last.fm profile is pretty stark while what looks to be the right Brad Derrick's website simply has "meep."  I was unable find a listing on IMDb.  All the obscurity aside, what Brad Derrick has composed fits very well within the Elder Scrolls universe.  Simply listening to his music, and not knowing that it is him, you might easily assume that you were listening to a Jeremy Soule score.  Similar to how if you listen to the score from Speed or Transformers you might assume that you were listening to Hans Zimmer and not Mark Mancina and Steve Jablonksy, respectively. 

Back to Brad Derrick, sorry for the diversion.  While I do feel that what Mr. Derrick has composed fits very well within the world, what he has written is not overly memorable.  That is not to say that the music is not any good, but I could not hum you one theme from any of the songs.  Now when a particular song comes on, say "Y'ffre in Every Leaf" or "The Tower Casts Long Shadows," I'll recognize certain elements and be able to hum/sing/whisper parts of the song.  But, but, BUT, there are a few songs that move beyond the usual "atmospheres" such as "Weapons Drawn" and "A Peril Upon the Sands," which sound more action oriented.

Rik Schaffer, the second composer wrote only two songs that appear on the album.  Rik Schaffer on the other hand has a bit more of a discoverable background when compared to Brad Derrick.  That fact aside, his contributions to The Elder Scrolls Online soundtrack is no less because of only two songs being included.  Both "The Heart of Nirn" and "Northern Nocturne" compliment both the Elder Scrolls as a whole and the music that Brad Derrick wrote.  I would almost go so far to say that their two styles are so very similar hear that they are practically indistinguishable, but maybe I just haven't listened to the soundtrack as much as previous soundtracks.

The final artist included on the soundtrack is also the final track on the album.  The song "Beauty of Dawn" was composed and performed by Malukah, a Mexican musician known online for her guitar and vocal covers of video game music from series such as The Elder Scrolls, Halo,  Mass Effect and more.  She posted a video back in November 2011 of a cover she did of "The Dragonborn Comes" from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim which, to date, has 12,009,584 views.  Apparently she attracted the attention of Zenimax Online Studios and was hired (?) to write an original song for The Elder Scrolls Online.  "Beauty of Dawn," while itself is a pretty song, I do nott feel that it has the *oomph* that her covers of "The Dragonborn Comes" or even "The Age of Aggression," both from Skyrim.  I have heard both this song and another (not included on the soundtrack) sung by a bard in-game while wandering around one of the various towns/villages in TESO, but a stripped down version that doesn't include the vocal layering that Malukah often includes in her compositions.

As a whole, I really enjoy the soundtrack and am very happy having purchased it from the store that sold it to me.  I first saw the album advertised through one of Bethesda/Zenimax's newsletters as being on sale through the iTunes store which had it (and still does) priced at $15.99.  I then thought I would check Amazon and they have the exact same album, all 47 tracks for only $8.99.  While I refrain from pandering to one storefront over another, I will not say were I bought the soundtrack, but as previously stated, I am very glad that I did and am satisfied with the price that I paid.

I will say that the soundtrack falls very heavily into the atmospheric category.  Maybe with the exception of the main theme, most of the tracks work well as background music for adventuring and exploring the landscapes of Tamriel, so I do not think that many people will be blasting the music during a backyard barbeque with the bros.  Maybe I'm wrong though.

If you are looking for a rollicking soundtrack that's akin to Hans Zimmer's King Arthur score, then you should and go and buy that album because that is an awesome soundtrack.  However, if you are looking for beautiful background music to put you near 950 years in the past before your 250+ hour video game, then this will probably be perfect for your collection.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

The Procedural Generation

One of the things I love about the online show Extra Credits is the ways in which it tries to show that the systems in gaming are applicable other places in life.  Episodes like Gamifying Education and the Political Incentive series illustrate how, on a fundamental level, Games are just systems with rules, similar to our system of laws and of government.  I love this because it shows me that my intimate knowledge of gaming systems has application in a practical way.  It's nice to know I've been absorbing useful information by osmosis while also being entertained all these years.

I was thinking about this while working in the garden.  Next to riding my bike, and playing sweet puzzle games, gardening is a place where my mind really wanders.  I was thinking again about gardening and gaming.  I realized that one potentially fatal flaw to this is that game systems are not like life systems.  They are human-designed systems, more akin to our system of laws than to biological systems.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think it's important to remember that the complexity of life is infinite or very nearly so, which is radically different from computer systems.  Or is it? (sorry I couldn't resist a little cliffhanger statement)

having issues with blogger video posting at the moment, so click on the image to go to the youtube video

If you take a moment to view the above video, you will be treated to a nice series of 3-d images.  These images include great lighting and water effects, and a cool looking city, and they do get a little boring after a while.  But what is really important here is the size of the file used to generate these images:  64 kilobytes.

64k is nothing in todays world of computers.  It is the equivilant of a fingernail clipping.  The notion that those beautiful images could have come from 64k worth of code blows my mind.  In fact, when trying to write about it, I wrote four paragraphs of verbal diarrhea.  However, it does occur to me that there is precedent for something so big in such a small package:  seeds.

A giant oak tree can come from a single, little acorn.  Soak that in for a minute.  I think it's important to remember some of these amazing things of the natural world.  I'm not about to claim that there is now a computing equivalent of a biological system.  But I do think there is now a more accurate picture, which is very exciting!  It really makes me wonder how much wasted time and processing space has been spent on inferior methods.  Are our current methods more like trying to build a tree out of popsicle sticks? (not that that wouldn't be totally sweet).

Finally, I'd like to mention that one of the reasons I've been thinking about botany and biological systems is that I got a job at a local garden nursery!  I'm very happy to be working again, it keeps me busy and makes me happy - and tires me out.  I'm easily the least knowledgeable person on the staff when it comes to plants, so I've got a lot of work to do to increase my competence.  Perhaps there is a clue in procedural generation somewhere.  I can grow my knowledge like sweet fractal fern.  Or something :)  

Very happy to chat at you all,  have a great day,

-D

P.S.  Other games I know of using procedural generation:  Rogue and Rogue-Likes, Proteus.  

First Impressions: The Elder Scrolls Online (PC)

I really wish that there was a game stats screen  in The Elder Scrolls Online, similar to what you would find in Skyrim and Oblivion, that way I would know how much time I have put into ESO in the three weeks and change that I have spent playing the game since its early access release on March 30th.  I would not say that I have been dumping truck loads of time into ESO at this point, but I have been neglecting some of the other games that I had been working on before (Assassin's Creed, Bioshock 2, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Papo y Yo, Final Fantasy VII, et cetera) and I think that part of that is that since I have paid for the game and am on a monthly subscription, I want to feel that I am getting the most out of the game for the money I have and currently am putting into it.

However, that argument will not be valid until, I believe, May 6th, which is when the 30 day free period for my account ends and the paid subscription starts.

But enough of that, what about the game?  How does it compare to the beta test?  How buggy is it, even after just under a year of beta testing? How have the early access perks given you an advantage over the regular players?  What are the quests like?  Does it feel like an Elder Scrolls game?  You know, the usual.

To answer, what I feel is the most important question: yes, The Elder Scrolls Online does feel like it belongs with the rest of the games in The Elder Scroll series.  Like every game in the series, you start out as a prisoner (this time finding out how and why you are in prison), you escape by going through a tutorial level and are then plunged into the larger world with a brief hint that something larger that does not involve (or maybe it does and I just don't know about it yet) the war in Cyrodiil between the three factions.

One aspect that has been retained, to a certain extent, from the Elder Scroll series has been the inclusion of books and reading about the lore of Tamriel throughout the various eras.  While in previous Elder Scrolls games you could read individual books on a bookshelf/table/floor/cauldron, in ESO, you can only read from a bookshelf.  This initially made me sad that I could only read one randomly (?) selected book from a bookshelf full of books.  Once I realized that this was how the game was going to operate, then I grew to accept it as is.  As in the other Elder Scrolls games, you still learn skills and can gain quests by reading books.

I do greatly appreciate though that Bethesda still maintains the level of quality of the books in ESO that the community has come to expect.

While you can simply run up to a bookshelf, click to open a book, see that you've gained a level in your Heavy Armor skill then run away without reading a word, I love that I can crack open a tome and read two and-a-half pages of text.  I know this isn't for everyone, but for me, it's a key component for immersion and I love its inclusion in an MMO game.

Another Elder Scrolls staple is the quality of the voice acting, which so far has been very well executed.  Bethesda has reused a lot of the voice actors from their previous games and the have even brought on a fair amount of "Hollywood talent" to voice both main and minor characters.  Most notably has been Michael Gambon (Sleepy Hollow, Harry Potter) as the character of "The Prophet," whose reading of "Let the will of Molag Bal be denied!" is chilling.  Kudos as well to the script writers.

I have noticed a few changes between the released game and the beta tests, the most notable is that I have only experienced one real bug that impeded my progress:

One other bug was similar to the "MISSING" box bug that I encountered during the January beta test, just something else that went missing in a different location.  Other minor bugs have been missing dialogue to text, but those come across as purely cosmetic.  I have, however, seen other people bring ask about potentially broken quests, but I personally have yet to encounter a broken quest so I do not know if I should count myself fortunate or maybe I am simply progressing slowly enough that the bugs are being fixed by the time I reach the formally broken quest.

I have noticed that the combat feels more "real," which was one of the biggest complaints that I kept seeing creep up during the beta test.  It is a hard thing to explain, that when you attack someone that it should feel like your hits are connecting.  Without a rumble feature, this has to come across visually and whatever was done between the middle of March and release has been a great improvement.  I no longer feel like my weapons are simply passing through the enemies, but are coming into contact with them, it is very satisfying.

Personally, when I think of MMOs, I tend to have a mental image of some crowded plaza in World of Warcraft and to date, the greatest number of people I have seen congregate anywhere was at the bank, where you can store items to use between characters, group members and guild members.

There is also a lot of grouping around crafting stations, where you can craft your own armor (heavy, medium and light), enchanting, woodworking (shields, bows, staffs) et cetera, but the nice thing is that you do not have to wait for the station to be free for it to be used.

So far, I have been playing solo and without grouping or questing with others.  There have been certain events such as when Dark Anchors (portals that lead into Oblivion) start depositing beasts of all sorts into the world.  These events, which happen pretty frequently usually draw about 10 other players and a decent sized battle en mass commences against the forces of darkness.

While it is possible to approach the above Dark Anchor or certain quests solo, these are events/instances that are specifically designed to be taken on by a group of people.  I have tried, accidentally to take on a Flesh Atronach (flesh golem) who was supported by two skeletons alone and quickly found myself dead.

This battle was not on purpose either.  I was approaching the two skeletons and right as I "killed" the one, the Flesh Atronach came through a portal as the skeleton archer backed up.  Let it be known that I died with honor.

There are plenty of aspects to The Elder Scrolls Online that I know I have not covered, most importantly the PvP area in Cyrodiil that deals with siege engines and storming castles.  I also did not mention anything about the lack of lag, even in areas that appear to be heavily populated by both PCs and NPCs.  There is just too much information to convey.  I also have not even mentioned the music, but that I will cover in Friday's post (so come back for that if music is your thing).

I will say in closing for today that I am having a lot of fun with the game and, presently at least, I feel that the cost of the game plus the $15/month subscription fee has been and will be worth the experience contained within.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
The Skies of Hell Unfell to Earth

My Decision to Play My First MMORPG.

Apologies for not getting this out yesterday.  I ran out of time before having to leave for work and didn't have any time after returning home.  Had to watch Vikings 2.8 afterall.

Online gaming is a genre that had never really interested me.

In 1995, my friend, we'll call him BunnyBurger, and I tried to coordinate a Warcraft II co-op session over my family's phone line with a 28/8 modem.  That ended with me answering the phone when it rang only to hear his modem beeping and whirring at me.  I never figured out what needed to be done so I stuck with the single player campaigns.

As I have mentioned a few times on separate occasions here, I never got into World of Warcraft despite loving the ever living fecal matter out of Warcraft II.  Back in 2004 when the game came out, I hated the idea of paying an upfront cost to buy the game, then having to pay an additional monthly fee to continue playing said game.  I did not see the appeal in this model.  Even with the North American release of Final Fantasy XI, which until 30 seconds ago I did not know was released 244 days *before* World of Warcraft, I had no interest in continuously paying for a game despite loving (most of) the Final Fantasy series (minus VII, VIII & X).

In 2011 I did quest for a short time in Diablo II along with two housemates, but that was more like a short lived LAN threesome.  We'll always have the memories.

In late 2012, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim sucked myself and Conklederpand then I started playing the other games in the series (sort of anyway; some with more success than others).  I knew that I wanted to explore more of this world, its histories and peoples.

Why then have I purchased The Elder Scrolls Online and am an active subscriber, especially in the world we live in where there are any number of free MMORPGs (Neverwinter, WoW, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online)?  The simple reason is that I love the world created for the Elder Scrolls games.  The lore that is told through the various books and tomes throughout the continent of Tamriel are full of histories and allusions to past events and people, mentioning just enough to evoke interest, but not so much that you feel like you are reading a high school history textbook.  There are mentions of races that are either long dead or that inhabit other continents never visited in the games.  To me, it was like a combination of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire.

Story and setting aside, why then opt to pay up front for a game that requires a monthly subscription fee?  Well, partly because Conklederp has been looking forward to the two of us playing Skyrim since she got into the game and this is the only outlet, specifically set in Tamriel.  But, I cannot put this on Conklederp as it was I who signed up for beta access thinking that if I were to ever play an MMORPG that this would probably the one game that would get me to join.

Honestly though, a big portion of it might have been part of Bethesda/Zenimax's overall marketing strategy.  By bringing on people to beta test, they would hook people into buying the game when it came out then subscribing.  Granted the game that I played had bugs here (quest elements would not spawn or spawned before the quest was given and would not respawn once quest began and then could not be completed) and there (falling through stairs and bridges), but in the back of my mind, I knew that the game I was playing/testing was not a completed product so there were going to be things that were not supposed to happen (unable to leave conversation with NPC).

I also understand (now at least) that the cost for Zenimax to operate their "Megasevers" (each regional continent has their own server so that people can all play online at the same time and with each other without having to worry about if everyone is on the same server).  I understand that owning and operating something of that scale does not come cheap.  The cost of the servers themselves, the cost for maintenance, repair, oversight, cooling, building costs, property taxes. . . all of that adds up.  $15 a month subscription (or about 50¢ a day, depending on the month).  I do not mind paying that price for something that I enjoy.

I do still have some reservations about the genre or things that I feel that I am supposed to do because ESO in an online RPG.  One of those reservations centers around the multiplayer aspect, in that I am not out there looking for groups; which apparently has it's own acronym (LFG).  Presently I am playing the game solo and I am pretty sure that I am missing out on some parts of the game because I have yet to join a guild or experienced a "group adventure zone."  In the end, I do not want to feel that I have to be communal in order to proceed.  Yes, I understand the apparent disconnect within the context of that statement.

I'll get into this more on Monday when I give my First Impressions and then on Friday when I'll talk about the music from the game.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Let All the Illusions Just Wither Away

Book Review: Maddaddam

Maddaddam is a book I just finished by Margaret Attwood.  Maddaddam is the third book in a trilogy, the preceding books being The Year of the Flood and Oryx and Crake.  Maddaddam is actually the second book in the chronology of the series, as the events of The Year of the Flood and Oryx and Crake take place simultaneously.  I did not read the Year of the Flood, though I had intended to.  I found a copy of Maddaddam at my local library, and I decided I wanted to read it so badly that I could not wait to find a copy of The Year of the Flood.  I'm glad I read it, because it is a good book.  

The title is also a Palindrome, though I do not know why there are extra letter 'd's in it.  Also, the year of April, 2014 has many palindromes in it.  For example, today is 4/15/14, or 41514.  This will happen four more times this month.  Next year it will happen again in May.  But back to the book- palindromes are not important to the story, even though there is one in the title.  

I read the book Maddaddam, and I enjoyed it very much.  I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed Oryx and Crake.  There were many different and very likeable characters.  There were many different science fiction ideas, and the storytelling was very compelling.  I think that Margaret Attwood is a fine writer, and I think she has a good editor too, because I don't think the book ever lagged more than a little.  And I like for a book to lag just a little bit sometimes.  

Here is a general spoiler warning:  If you are skimming this article, and not reading it, then you may encounter spoilers and read them before you realize what they are.  I advise reading every sentence in order, because then the natural flow of the writing should give you some warning that a spoiler is coming up.  now I'm going to tell you about some of the characters in the book.

The characters of the Crakers have a strong presence in the book.  They are a lot of fun to read, and they make me smile and laugh.  They are funny, innocent and warm-hearted, and while the story is generally dark, the Crakers do much to make it happy again.  I love the portions of the book that feature one-sided dialogues with them, and I also love the two-sided dialogues.  I love their questions, and their budding mythology, and their potent sense of trust, and the care they bring out in others.  Like Toby.

Toby is a great character, and I think possibly an avatar for the author.  Or a partial avatar anyway.  I think this because I read Margaret Attwood's first book 'The Edible Woman' and Toby reminds me of the narrator of that book.  She is sensitive, neurotic, and deeply caring.  She mothers the Crakers in a really wonderful way.  While reading, sometimes I want to help protect the Crakers because of their loving innocence, and when I read how Toby treats them, I am relieved because she does such a good job.  

Zeb is a great character, and while he brings out the worst in Toby, it is worth it because she loves him.  Also, he is a very important character in the story, and he is a fantastic Han Solo type.  Total potty mouthed rogue, who both drives the action and brings plenty of levity.  As a reader I am comforted by his tough exterior and his soft interior.  While this dynamic is not an original archetype, I think he is written will enough to make it work.

Adam is an interesting character as well, and foil to Zeb.  I don't know if his character figures in heavier in 'The Year of the Flood.'  I think it probably does.  Still, from the way he is written of in the story, I imagine he is always a distant and slightly disconnected character.  Yet with a good heart.  His character is defined by his distance.  While Zeb is defined by his presence and his action.

When reading this story and especially the parts about the Crakers, I find that I am inspired to writing.  I am inspired to writing specifically like the way the Crakers write and talk.  I can't help it, I just love the run-on stream of conciousness that they do, and the deliberateness of their language. And so, I wrote this article in some sense, as a Craker might write.  So if you found my writing strange, that is ok.  I rather like it.  :)  

(crakers don't know about smiley faces, but I think they would like them)

Thank you and Goodnight,

-D

Full Review: Witch and Hero (3DS)

First off, apologies that this article is coming out a few days late.  Things happened in the later half of the week that I hadn't anticipated (nothing bad) and I wasn't able to complete this article on time, or even in a form that I could post on Saturday, which is something that I've done in the past.  So now, here is Friday's post today, on Monday.

Witch and Hero is a game that I first saw back in January when the demo became available in Nintendo's eShop, despite the game having been released since April 2013.  The demo was pretty short, coming in at only 19 minutes, but it did everything a demo is supposed to do.  I was introduced to the concepts of the game and played through the first couple of levels.  I was immediately taken with the "retro" visual and musical style, enough so that a week or two later, I bought the game via Nintendo's eShop.  FK Digital, the company behind Witch and Hero have made a game that's charming, fun and can be played in short bursts when you know you'll only have a few minutes while the Top Ramen noodles boil to perfection.

STORY
You probably shouldn't be expecting much in the way of story from this game, as it is attempting to emulate the JRPGs of the late 1980s (Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, Ultima: Exodus).  The story is something that you find out before the gameplay begins and it's about as bare bones as an RPG story can be, but it's all done with a sense of humor.  You're told in the intro that the Witch and the Hero go off to kill Medusa, but the witch is turned to stone and the Hero is beaten to a pulp.  The Hero manages to escape with the Witch, but he seeks revenge and must kill Medusa to release the curse on the Witch.  How much more of a story do you need?

GAMEPLAY
The game is pretty basic.  You move the Hero with the joystick.  Your mission/goal is to kill of the hordes of enemies that come at you from all over the screen.  You are to protect the Witch who is sitting stationary in the middle of the screen.  You both have your own health meters and while you regenerate health after you reach 0 HP by lying prone, if the Witch loses all her HP, she crumbles.  You attack enemies by running into them and you damage to each other.  If you attack from behind, you are awarded with a different attack sound, you do more and take less damage than from frontal assaults.

Later in the game when you are able to temporarily bring the Witch back to life (with the blood of your enemies), you can change between two spells she continuously casts with "X" and have her face whichever direction you want her to cast her spells in with the "L & R" shoulder buttons.  Even later, after you find the Holy Sword (of course there has to be a holy sword), you can become super charged and do a lot of damage by charging up a meter that fills as you kill enemies in the stage.

As you go through the stages, you earn both experience points and money.  The experience points raise your level (this is an RPG after all), while the money you use to upgrade your Sword, Shield, Boots (speed) or the Witches Fireball or Storm spell.  I do not know if there is a level cap for experience (I reached level 48), but the equipment and spells max out at level 20.

A lot of the reviews online bring up the repetitive gameplay that makes up the majority of Witch and Hero and I cannot argue at all with this observation.  The game is exceedingly repetitive.  You will often find yourself grinding at the last stage you were able to complete so that you can purchase enough upgrades to get you through the next stage.  If you never played any of the late 80s / early 90s RPGs and were used to grinding levels, then this game probably will become very boring to you very quickly.  What I liked was that I could pick the game up, go through a stage which would take no more than two minutes, maybe raise a level and make enough gold to buy an upgrade or two then put the game back down.

VISUALS

As you can tell, the art style is very similar to something that you would find in the early Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy games.  This is something that really drew me into the game.  Just looking at the world map, I knew what it was that F K Digital was trying to get across to the player.  While there is no exploration of the world and each stage is only a single screen with a graphical style that represents the geographical region/area that you are in, I feel that anything more would have felt out of place.

Even the monsters look like they could be found in Dragon Warrior, although as the game progresses, they look more like early SNES era monsters.  And yes, in classic RPG style, a lot of the monster sprites are reused but given a different pallet, meaning they are stronger.  Little touches like this that harken back to established rules for RPGs are very welcome.


SOUND & MUSIC
I was very pleased with the sound effects in the game.  There was a different tone when you struck an enemy and when you hit them from behind.  It's like the difference between a high five, and one that connects with a satisfying SMACK!  When the Hero gets knocked unconscious, there's a very stereotypical "Wee-wee-wee-woo-woo" sound as you spin away from your last hit and then fall to the ground.  There's even a separate heart crushing sound when the Witch takes too much damage and she crumbles into pieces.  It's a simple sound bite that would be missed if it had not been included.

The music in the game continues to fit with the style set forth by visuals.  During the credits, Sound is credited to PANICPUMPKIN while "Background Chip" is credited to REFMAP.  After some preliminary searching, it appears that PANICPUMPKIN might very well be the composer, but whomever it is that composed the music did a fantastic job.  The overworld and shop themes all sound appropriate for what they are while the battle music is very catchy in the same way that the battle music from Final Fantasy I & II is memorable.  I only wish that I would be able to purchase/acquire the soundtrack.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Witch and Hero is not going to be a game for every person out there.  It is a short game, taking me 5 hours 24 minutes to complete; I reached level 43 and maxed out everything except the Fireball spell.  On one side, I would say that the game is marketed towards those who grew up playing NES era RPGs, but on the other side, it could be aimed at people who are looking for a pick up and play RPG-type game that doesoften  require you to grind for a while just through the next stage.

The only thing that I felt the game lacked was any 3Dness, despite being sold/marketed for the 3DS market.  While any 3D effects would have potentially conflicted with the visual theme, I feel that I would have been a simple endeavor and would have only added to the "charm" factor.  That being said, not have any 3D effects did not in any way detract from the game or my overall feelings towards my enjoyment.

Normally retailing at $3.99, Witch and Hero is currently on sale via the Nintendo eShop for only $2.79 until May 1st (2014).  I find the price to be about right for what the game is, which a single screen combat game stylized after NES era RPGs, and if that's your thing, you will have fun.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
With Action Overcomes Death

The Classic Episodes (TV Review)

Any good show has a shortlist of classic episodes.  The ones that stand up above the rest.  In some cases, these might be the ones that you would show to an uninitiated person, who would like to know what this show is all about.  And because I love lists as much as the next guy, I'm going to pick one episode from a few TV series I've watched.

While it's generally best to watch a show in chronological order, so you can see the characters develop, there are usually episodes in the run of a series that are self-contained, and little to no background is required to enjoy them.  These are the ones I'd like to focus on.  In each case, there are others that might do just as good a job, but these are my picks.  

http://www.redbubble.com/people/dangerousdays/works/9026099-darmok-and-jalad-at-tanagra

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Darmok

Star Trek: The Next Generation has the advantage of having many self-contained episodes and few multi-episode spanning story arcs.  This makes the show easy to pick up and enjoy.  But when I think of the series, Darmok is usually the first episode I think of.

The execution of the theme is original, and totally what Star Trek is all about.  This story is fully diplomatic, it's just a matter of learning to communicate.  On one side is hand-to-hand combat with a shiny beast, and also stories around the campfire.  On the other side is... well, research.  Half this episode is just characters researching language, stories, and discussing their findings.

All you need know is the barest information about what the Federation is, and how they operate.  And not necessarily even that.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Restless

Now, I haven' gotten through the whole series, so maybe this will change, but I just saw the Dream episode of Buffy, and it was a really well done episode.  About 80% of the action in the episode takes place within four different dreams.  I loved the strangeness of it; I felt like it was not just a Hollywood version of what dreams are, but a much more realistic one.  One key detail is the way that the dreamers take the strangeness in stride, the way I've found I tend to do in my own dreams.

Information about the characters might help this episode, but it's true value is in the direction and cinematography, which can be appreciated on their own merits.

Doctor Who

Blink

This is one of those episodes.  It's self contained, well designed, really a fantastic episode.  Frankly, it's such a good episode that it might even spoil the series a little.  This is definitely the first episode I show anyone who is curious about Dr. Who.  Even if they don't end up liking the series, they will more than likely enjoy this episode.  It is well-executed, original and completely self contained.  The lead roles are one-off characters.  Outsiders, like the first time viewers, unfamiliar with the series they inhabit. 

Monday: The Post About Monday, Because It's Monday.

Have you guessed that it's Monday yet?  If it's not Monday and you are reading this, then you should probably stop and wait until the next Monday, but continue if you must, I won't judge you.

I wasn't entirely sure what to talk about today as there are a number of topics that I would like to talk about with some of those topics not fully formed yet while others may not be encompassing enough to fill their own post.  This is prime location after all.

First off, The Elder Scrolls Online.  That monster had it's "Early Access" begin last Sunday (March 30th, 2014) and I've managed to put some time into it since then.  I do not have any specific numbers since even though I have the game running through Steam, it's not an official "Steam" game so game time is not calculated.  Maybe it's mentioned somewhere in the "Options" menu in-game, I will have to take a look later.  Anyway, what time I've spent in Tamriel (2E 583) has been a lot of fun and not nearly as crowded as I expected it to be considering what I have seen from other MMOs.  I will give more time to this, probably next week after I've managed to put in more time and explored the world a bit more.  I'm also waiting for Conklederp's copy (which I pre-ordered from Gamestop, shipped to us on April 2nd and is supposed to arrive on April 9th; early access began on March 30th and release date was April 4th. . . sigh) so we can quest together, which she's been looking forward to since becoming casually addicted to Skyrim.  So ESO is going very well.

Renegade Kid, down in Austin, TX began a Kickstarter to crowdfund their game Cult County.  It's a game akin to both Moon and the Dementium series and likewise, was originally slated for release on the 3DS but has since outgrown the limits of that system.  Similar to the amount Shadow of the Eternals' unsuccessful Kickstarter, Cult County is looking to raise $580,000 by May 2nd.  They still have a long way to go (only 5% after 6 days) and I am leary about having my heart strings attached to and heaved overboard as it was with SotE.  With Renegade Kids being at PAX East next week, hopefully there will be a surge in interest for the game and we will see the number of funds raised.  We can only hope.

A few weeks back, Steam updated the copy of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Enhanced Edition so that you no longer have to log in through the Windows LIVE client, but at the same time, there was the chance that it reset all of your previously save data and achievements.  I say "chance" because there were multiple notices about how to recover your game information, even after you start the game up, you are given the option to recover your previous saves.  I chose not to because I had not finished the game yet and thought, "Why not?"  Playing all over again got me thinking again about the things that I did not like about this game and that even on easy/rookie difficulty, I know that I won't be trying anything harder, if I even get around to finishing the absurdly long levels that make up the game.

Rather than end today with a slightly negative paragraph, I will say that the Nintendo eShop game Witch and Hero, which I'll be covering on Friday has been a lot of fun to play.  It's a mix of Dragon Warrior era graphics and music with a game mechanic that I have not seen before.  If you are at all interested, do not be dissuaded by almost every review I've seen (which are mostly negative) and please patiently wait for Friday.  All will be revealed.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I Would Dazzle You With Brilliance If I Only Had The Knack

Is it April Already?

Hey there peeps.  Peeps jokes will be more common this month because of Easter coming up.  I actually forgot all about Easter - several times - but then I would walk into some chain store, and it all came back.  Oh... right... pink, yellow, blue.  Bunnies, what's with the bunnies?  Oh... Right, Easter.  

I guess that tells you a little about me.  Namely, I'm not particularly into Holidays.  But I don't think that's entirely the case.  Holidays are just one of those things that I'm either really into, or completely indifferent to.  They can be fun, under the right circumstances, but generally I find them mildly irritating.  Mostly, I think, because my reminders about the holidays always come from commercial establishments trying to sell me something.  

I prefer simply to ignore holidays if I'm not celebrating them.  That said, I usually pay attention to the solstices and equinoxes.  I just like to know when it's actually spring and it's actually winter.  The amount of daylight and the outside temperature matter to me.  Spring happened just a couple weeks ago, and to celebrate, I went up to the cold and dreary Northwest!

Haha, it's not just cold and dreary.  It's actually really pretty, and I had a ton of fun farting around town with Jaconian and Conklederp.  We talked Music Therapy, we had delicious breakfasts and we watched a show called Vikings on the History channel, which I am now hooked on.  It's a great show you guys!  Great period costuming and cool politics and religion and also tons of sweet battles.  None of that power-rangers-style ballet dance choreography that's so popular these days either.  Just dirty men chopping each other to bits.  We watch 7 episodes of the first season, and now I've got to find a way to watch the rest on my own.  Turns out episodes air on the History Channel's website, but I'm not sure when.

Gods will be watching.  Check it out!

In other news, there are way too many video games out there.  Did you know, I haven't even played Papers, Please yet?  I own a copy, I just haven't played it.  I feel like such a chump.  While Zelda Classic may be the greatest thing in the world, I don't want to lose all track of other games.  

For example, this game I've been meaning to check out, but can't be bothered- so maybe you could take a look and tell me what you think?  Gods Will be Watching is a game about trying to survive a plane crash for forty days.  Isn't that a cool idea for a game?  Plus it uses a cool pixely long armed design that makes me think of Sword and Sworcery EP. 

Okay, well, I should be looking for a job right now.  So I'll talk you you all later!

-D

Monthly Update: April 2014

March 2014 was a fun and interesting month.  First off, I turned 34, which feels an awful lot like 33, which doesn't feel much different than when I turned 31.  Turning 30 only felt a little different than it did when I turned 29, but that's only because I got to use a new number even though it was technically part of the same decade, depending on how you count.  

For this birthday, my weekend was spent with Conklederp's clan up in Whistler, BC, which apparently is a thing that I apparently haven't been paying attention to for the past 34 years.  I watched the 2010 Winter Olympics when they were in Vancouver, BC, but I didn't realize that a lot of the downhill events were actually at this massive site of Earth acne called Whistler and Blackcomb.

Another birthday event occurred this last weekend as well (March 26 - 31), Dr. Potts took the ol' Amtrak up to Portland from Nor*Cal.  For most of March, Conklederp had been telling me not to plan anything for that weekend and said nothing else about what to expect.  Lo and behold, when I came home from work I found the good Dr. and Conklederp casually conversing on the couch.  That day I had been receiving texts from the both of them that hinted about something going on, so it wasn't a complete surprise, but I was still surprised none-the-less.  In traditional Portland fashion, we had nearly 24 hours of rain almost every day Dr. Potts was up.

His last night here, Conklederp and I took Dr. Potts out to Ground Kontrol, an arcade bar in downtown Portland that does pretty much everything right.  They have a full liquor bar, but also four or five beers on tap or you can buy a tall boy of PBR, Tecate or whatever other kind of cheapish beer (although in the past they did serve Abominable Winter Ale from the HUB brewery from here in Portland and a radler).  They have a great selection of games ranging from Qbert and Gradius to more modern cabinets such as Battle Royale Pac-Man and Mario Kart GP2 (I'll come back to Mario Kart in a bit).  A nice touch is that there are bottle/glass/can holders on all of the cabinets so you never have to worry about precariously placing your beverage any where near a furiously moving joystick or a hand vigorously mashing a number of buttons.  As it turned out, Sunday night there was a $2/person cover charge, but it was free game night and we easily spent over $2/person on arcade and pinball games.

The only disappointment of the night had to do with the Mario Kart GP2 game.  There were two chairs for what appeared to be a chance to race against both computer characters and the person sitting next to you.  Both Dr. Potts and I tried to coordinate a Vs game/match, but each time we ended up playing our own game and only against computer controlled characters.  Even though we both picked the same track on the 150cc difficulty setting, there was no on screen prompt to set up a race with the other player.  The items picked up from the "?" Blocks were also not very creative or intuitive, meaning they did not seem to come from the canonical Mario Kart universe.  Items that we have come to recognize as being inherently Mario Kart.  I never saw banana peels, mushrooms, green/red turtle shells or invincibility stars.  There was a trashcan lid, a spiny-looking thing that may have been a Spiny and an item that used your picture that the game took shortly after you start the game.  All items acted like either green or red shells.

Despite being a little disappointed by a video game that cost us less than 10¢ to play, it was great hanging out with Dr. Potts.  He introduced me to Nidhogg, which was a lot of fun to play as we were able to hook up two controllers to my laptop (IT CAN BE DONE!!).  In turn I introduced him the History Channel show Vikings, which we came within two episodes shy of finishing the first season.

April is looking to be a busy month for my gaming habits.  I recently started Bioshock 2, Braid and Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, but I am still playing through Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, Final Fantasy VII, FEZ, Torchlight II, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Anodyne, Slender: The Arrival, Witch & Hero. . . you get the idea.  Oh, and then this Elder Scrolls Online was officially released today and that's already eaten up some of my time, so expect at least one article from me on this later this month on that score.

So happy April everyone.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Today, I Lost My Way