tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63525163105532225172024-03-28T00:11:49.424+02:00Patterns in RandomnessA blog about gaming, fiction, and human natureTanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.comBlogger485125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-26007157400161734752024-03-27T23:58:00.003+02:002024-03-28T00:11:16.912+02:00Assassin's Creed Unity<p>I remember <i>Assassin's Creed Unity</i> being mired in technical issues at release. One vivid memory is of character face textures not loading but eyes and mouth still being there -- the stuff of nightmares. I think in general people didn't like the game back then but the perception of Unity seems to have curiously turned around: you see a lot of positive comments these days. Playing it now for the first time, I personally found the game to be one of the worst in the series.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4YY5WZ6TPpRw6ix-Xdj6zapok29kEDvFKzREQfdKmdtHZKhZ6RmryP7S4wo6uFlCv2yWxEzPBTna4lFFjBRFZ5Dm9cxBB6tgixhAyOOTtAXKLwzfUJlrzCdoGVnc_ldgNr-rarlnrVls15kZR0j8_EjIkLukhYP3JQ6BPF8FUZ54UD5BAjil9E-4EOA/s284/acu000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="217" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4YY5WZ6TPpRw6ix-Xdj6zapok29kEDvFKzREQfdKmdtHZKhZ6RmryP7S4wo6uFlCv2yWxEzPBTna4lFFjBRFZ5Dm9cxBB6tgixhAyOOTtAXKLwzfUJlrzCdoGVnc_ldgNr-rarlnrVls15kZR0j8_EjIkLukhYP3JQ6BPF8FUZ54UD5BAjil9E-4EOA/w153-h200/acu000.png" width="153" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Pretty and not much else</h3><p></p><p>The graphical glitches have been since mostly fixed, though there remains pretty noticeable level-of-detail popping. A note on PC Gaming Wiki theorized it to be hardcoded in the engine and impossible to fix by third parties. Outside of the LOD issue, AC Unity is gorgeous. The new engine is a massive visual upgrade when coming from <i>AC Rogue</i> and all the other previous generation games of the franchise. Sometimes, when Unity's superb illumination hit just right, I had to stop for a moment to admire the almost photorealistic scene of the late 18th century Paris.</p><p>The massive crowds seems like a thing that could have caused performance issues on the Xbox One and PS4. But I didn't notice them to have much of an actual effect, which is interesting. I guess they're not that intensive computationally.</p><p>Like in <i>AC Syndicate</i> later, in the present time you're an Assassin Initiate and there is no gameplay, barely even cutscenes. You're mostly talked to by an Assassin codenamed "Bishop", with "Deacon" occasionally chirping in. Deacon is obviously Shaun but Bishop is someone new; no Rebecca in this one. I don't remember if "Bishop" was in the later games. Her constant yapping sure got annoying when grinding the Helix Rift missions for 100% sync. (The rifts and interlude missions were a way to include the Eiffel Tower that was built good many years after the main game's events.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWhsq8AuIPNom3hqqNX8cyZm-DlJ_G210tzGoQnJMhclQgL7zsKuns8lfN2ZnIrJz8SiC8qKhwcf5cEeNakQCjdz1Oi97jpGqGG58TNnO0ytRE5NzO80b8Ej6zyJ_ZHv7IWV-j-cb-o871nYvPTSWwA8VmvrTO7ACM6-663uF5haAqK-tn8kkBA-rFcqA/s1920/acu001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWhsq8AuIPNom3hqqNX8cyZm-DlJ_G210tzGoQnJMhclQgL7zsKuns8lfN2ZnIrJz8SiC8qKhwcf5cEeNakQCjdz1Oi97jpGqGG58TNnO0ytRE5NzO80b8Ej6zyJ_ZHv7IWV-j-cb-o871nYvPTSWwA8VmvrTO7ACM6-663uF5haAqK-tn8kkBA-rFcqA/s320/acu001.png" width="320" /></a></div>In the past you play as Arno Dorian whose Assassin father you got to murder at the end of Rogue. To me Arno felt like an attempt to recreate Ezio: young, easy-going, and carefree. Arno's also the first Assassin protagonist since Ezio to have a name of eagle/bird origin in the mainline games (excluding Haytham in <i>Assassin's Creed III</i>'s prologue and Aveline in <i>AC Liberation</i>).<p></p><p>Arno was adopted by François de la Serre who, unbeknownst to Arno, is the Templar Grandmaster in France. Monsieur de la Serre is killed by Templar infighting and adult Arno happens to be there to witness it to get the blame. He is thrown into prison from where he is recruited by the Assassins.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Walked so that Syndicate could run</h4><p>The narrative has more personal motivation than in Syndicate but in my opinion the latter game is otherwise better in every way. Both have the collectible and side mission marathons but I don't recall Syndicate ever getting so annoying and frustrating. Unity's locked chests (so damn many of them!) require a minigame to open unlike in Syndicate where you just need to have the perk. Unity's lockpicking perks come in three levels and the final one is unlocked only after Sequence 9, meaning you have to leave numerous locked chests you come by unopened (unless you have godlike reflexes), depending of course on how much you're not beelining the main story.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio89ur4FMEKtpHwAliuARdXl8ckGsIHbN2fcPltOvx-riCHqzFcJDWQsS5e7zWP7frk660Q4Yeo4OwfZ9Jy32daCfBPGMLwpRf-i0JmS42OH3g74IUsK-whd9nkUDVQBfwHOLqPSFU6cxsQHBz6w1e77FfBBQKmMqiM1pvDXEqwH-fs8hnsPUqs3kZ7BI/s1920/acu002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio89ur4FMEKtpHwAliuARdXl8ckGsIHbN2fcPltOvx-riCHqzFcJDWQsS5e7zWP7frk660Q4Yeo4OwfZ9Jy32daCfBPGMLwpRf-i0JmS42OH3g74IUsK-whd9nkUDVQBfwHOLqPSFU6cxsQHBz6w1e77FfBBQKmMqiM1pvDXEqwH-fs8hnsPUqs3kZ7BI/s320/acu002.png" width="320" /></a></div>AC Unity introduced microtransactions to the series. You get some of the currency for free when playing the story: enough to buy at least two of the collectible/mission maps. Only the chest/cockade map is really needed; everything else seemed to get discovered and marked on the map as I was going around Paris. It's not like in Syndicate in which you need some kind of map for all the different collectibles: either a bought one or a third party one. The chest map in Unity also does not apply for its <i>Dead Kings</i> DLC but I didn't seem to need it there anyway.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Prepare to die</h4><p>Combat was completely overhauled for Unity. Chainkill no longer exists: you have to kill everyone by reducing their health bar to zero. Camera -- which had been getting gradually worse after AC3 -- is even worse: you get enemies lunging from offscreen to sink their blades into your back. It is very easy to die with the aggressive opposition: sometimes you have to parry numerous enemies in a row without getting a chance to swing back. Sometimes simple parrying is not even enough because the harder archetypes have chained attack sequences. Enemies also come in 5 different levels -- just like your gear. Over-gearing helps tremendously but obviously doesn't work against equal level guards. Trying to run away without being able to hide in smoke or behind cover gets you killed quickly when everybody pulls out their guns.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKKMu6t7lCyIBlw-HmPolw6PPs4RROXtr7mMeOAzm8WOxmohMoEdWVfM8JU6iropHsM1vRvOW-OUWOC02E1cuOqedRkiJFP76R9QhZszLISe2iNa9gqvRraRWUH1vLmZ7_3sqFW4Ru4h72Do6i1lweb4i8UtgWkKbRoqs-BoY2NuxVFWSrYltsXXT89BU/s1920/acu003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKKMu6t7lCyIBlw-HmPolw6PPs4RROXtr7mMeOAzm8WOxmohMoEdWVfM8JU6iropHsM1vRvOW-OUWOC02E1cuOqedRkiJFP76R9QhZszLISe2iNa9gqvRraRWUH1vLmZ7_3sqFW4Ru4h72Do6i1lweb4i8UtgWkKbRoqs-BoY2NuxVFWSrYltsXXT89BU/s320/acu003.png" width="320" /></a></div>I skipped all the middle levels of purchasable gear and went straight for the legendary pieces. Head slot should be your first priority due to the pieces giving duration and radius bonuses to Eagle vision as well as a 10% bonus to Creed points accrued.<p></p><p>Creed points come from various Assassin actions such as air assassinations, perfect parries, and vanishing. The points are mainly used for upgrading your gear. Legendary pieces take 10k to upgrade each, and that is quite a lot. It's good to have the 10% bonus as early as possible.</p><p>Trying to fight in tight spaces -- which are many thanks to indoors being a prominent feature in the city -- is terrible, particularly if there is elevation. Enemy AI, targeting, and Arno's movement get glitchy, particularly if there are different elevations involved. Health bars and attack indicators tend to disappear.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigd8O6qicmAOVjE7bVPSCbUmGY1t6QZ3tahgZCMgFdY30PmDza0o2a1-q0mhR25q5eq1sBK_0xXO1KTR6gZVbWaUb_VisIZ02DDZB4Oxe5tGtG4J_5XY1NCs4x8H_KEWrznO-YDk5ID34ehl0dXukHcsBgGC-6KQjY6I0ko5OepwKmH6QAHiSqP8ZHZe4/s1920/acu004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigd8O6qicmAOVjE7bVPSCbUmGY1t6QZ3tahgZCMgFdY30PmDza0o2a1-q0mhR25q5eq1sBK_0xXO1KTR6gZVbWaUb_VisIZ02DDZB4Oxe5tGtG4J_5XY1NCs4x8H_KEWrznO-YDk5ID34ehl0dXukHcsBgGC-6KQjY6I0ko5OepwKmH6QAHiSqP8ZHZe4/s320/acu004.png" width="320" /></a></div>And there are so many enemies. Four and five star side missions can get absolutely obnoxious if you don't have the patience to perfectly stealth them. It is so easy to end up fighting a whole fucking army. Snipers with their perfect 100-yard vision spot you so damn quickly too. The being-detected sound effect started to seriously get on my nerves.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Tedious to 100%</h4><p>AC Unity's side missions include numerous murder mysteries, which just on itself is a weird inclusion in a game where you murder people. You get more livres the fewer people you incorrectly accuse but even the maximum amount is always negligible compared to your passive income. During the murder mysteries, the game's weird UI issue of placing viewed note and update messages on top of each other becomes prominent. I completely lost any motivation to care about the murders when I had to constantly wait for a message to go away so that I could read a note under it. Another tiresome side activity are the Nostradamus enigmas. I had done enough of riddle-based treasure hunting in <i>AC Odyssey</i> already. And the reward for solving all the enigmas is merely a cosmetic outfit.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZJWu4UGCHylgbEmdvFMG93bqhGD6Y2khwlqaftDHLpMxWwdB9wvw7LtSoOinyGuzrA2IQn-RLJKrQZCYnU1b9hVDZhQRDTPfv54aTKWh37HrxK8uRJwwiBjuknf125uEkZ11kcGJrZiVOH572Dq9lBggP78PQFO1eLsgLasjXUws2oztFDRB9xuWZ4A/s1920/acu005.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZJWu4UGCHylgbEmdvFMG93bqhGD6Y2khwlqaftDHLpMxWwdB9wvw7LtSoOinyGuzrA2IQn-RLJKrQZCYnU1b9hVDZhQRDTPfv54aTKWh37HrxK8uRJwwiBjuknf125uEkZ11kcGJrZiVOH572Dq9lBggP78PQFO1eLsgLasjXUws2oztFDRB9xuWZ4A/s320/acu005.png" width="320" /></a></div>Another stupid HUD element is the rotating rectangle-shaped minimap. It's surprisingly difficult to tell where the North arrow is pointing at on it. Syndicate brought back the circle minimap and also put health bar around it, clearing a lot of space on the screen. You also should take care to zoom the map when fast traveling back to your base in Unity. It is very easy to accidentally start Dead Kings too early because its icon (once unlocked) will be right next to Café Théâtre's. And if/when you start the DLC, there is no going back until you've beaten its first memory. That annoyed me greatly. Maybe <b>Ubisoft </b>shouldn't have made the DLC to be initially accessible from the map.<p></p><p>Additional 100% synchronization goals again exist in main missions only and are easy like they've been since <i>AC4 Black Flag</i>. They feel kind of additional chores this time, most of the time not related to the particular mission at hand. There are too many missions whose full sync requires 'X cover assassinations'. Before Unity that would have been effortless but whistling got lost somewhere between the engine switch. Instead you have firecrackers which are far clunkier to use for luring enemies to death-from-cover. Another lost feature was being able to move bodies.</p><p>A lot of AC Unity can be played in co-op and there are quite a few side missions specifically designed for that (at least in name). They are also required for 100% sync. Fortunately, they are very doable solo as well. The only two I had any considerable trouble were the two escort missions The Infernal Machine and Women's March. I saw comments about The Tournament's flag collection part being tough solo but I suppose I was at that point so familiar with Unity's parkour that I had no trouble at all with it.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpkXTGzKL8dCFKRauS-E-kYVRTtL7h0HT0CWpBFZFiGDVxDvf2SvaiVbq4WIwjIu1usJwyuGfiG4qJY8_YBJT7XdgIAb0cm5Z1KrWivFEUy8Pf9HQXhwHUpYZOQWuAk91r7Q_x4qIgOaFPnf7Tuvl1m7SuDR1Qum6O8TMlykGXVVb1g-QB7wm9oEmOT8/s1920/acu006.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpkXTGzKL8dCFKRauS-E-kYVRTtL7h0HT0CWpBFZFiGDVxDvf2SvaiVbq4WIwjIu1usJwyuGfiG4qJY8_YBJT7XdgIAb0cm5Z1KrWivFEUy8Pf9HQXhwHUpYZOQWuAk91r7Q_x4qIgOaFPnf7Tuvl1m7SuDR1Qum6O8TMlykGXVVb1g-QB7wm9oEmOT8/s320/acu006.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">It is done!</h4><p></p><p>With Unity beaten, my Assassin's Creed franchise run up to <i>AC Valhalla</i> is now complete. It started off in such a random order -- from Syndicate to Odyssey to <i>Origins </i>to Valhalla -- until going to the release order because I hadn't originally planned to ever play through the whole thing. I definitely played the best two of the series first; most of the games before Syndicate weren't much to my liking. The exception was the Ezio trilogy. I suppose it's easier to appreciate the achievements of AC2 after having played AC1 first too but I could never recommend the original to anyone.</p><p>I'm somewhat interested to play <i>AC Mirage</i> and will definitely do so if Ubisoft+ Premium ever gets discounted in the future. Codename Red I'm more hyped about. It's awesome that the series is finally going to Japan. It's perplexing though, that now that they're finally doing it, the main character (or one of them) will allegedly be African, and an actual historical figure. The latter has never happened before. Because the developer studio helming the project is <b>Ubisoft Quebec</b> (Syndicate, Odyssey), I'm expecting the game's combat to be great at least.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9wJ0Zr35xfF2D3bhow3YPimtYqmHH9l7o5OmDeh61d26tf-YUAX5sNlZbO7baNNJzOB7Kb23p5mDoMRFz5lrGuNZewoOB38s5tfQoJpX5R62xMjuAULU7FOBb8nwEaUlVzFF4AwoVbC2ANfPZrtEePAsUnfZzNO-gWDsYl90lctN4dEhsy6l-LsoP_Q/s1920/acu007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9wJ0Zr35xfF2D3bhow3YPimtYqmHH9l7o5OmDeh61d26tf-YUAX5sNlZbO7baNNJzOB7Kb23p5mDoMRFz5lrGuNZewoOB38s5tfQoJpX5R62xMjuAULU7FOBb8nwEaUlVzFF4AwoVbC2ANfPZrtEePAsUnfZzNO-gWDsYl90lctN4dEhsy6l-LsoP_Q/w400-h225/acu007.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2hpsU17xlLqFJh4BjF8P9ndDaTc42bTtSEdKtf4qRRZO6zPsZeBZZC6o89GqRWJ38zN2oJZLTfCy4DiEk_pVVpTK0ZSJlZaYP539ti8fHLzrNJIXY764wj_Hi1ZQOMTxPCr_sthTVOBs_92Kyy7DA_t9-NV6ayqYwsCaw5_4wIB6_croDKd154e0FvY/s1920/acu008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2hpsU17xlLqFJh4BjF8P9ndDaTc42bTtSEdKtf4qRRZO6zPsZeBZZC6o89GqRWJ38zN2oJZLTfCy4DiEk_pVVpTK0ZSJlZaYP539ti8fHLzrNJIXY764wj_Hi1ZQOMTxPCr_sthTVOBs_92Kyy7DA_t9-NV6ayqYwsCaw5_4wIB6_croDKd154e0FvY/w400-h225/acu008.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgL8YUmuRucvJ8LLpCeOrFweYOEZkB5GXPpZgKIq-JSzxRo4WiOuNgR6CQaA4T3K3j6kpTJ0HT5u2dLs9kXXiRIdRaj7_Pj7HRPpthoXKZgnl29VU0KlWHkiHMa_NJnaXFZpR8kFN1nBaXyevnNQLeyRBuODV5lh5LQ_IcuISDu0KXnRTJbQseXJAjpc/s1920/acu009.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgL8YUmuRucvJ8LLpCeOrFweYOEZkB5GXPpZgKIq-JSzxRo4WiOuNgR6CQaA4T3K3j6kpTJ0HT5u2dLs9kXXiRIdRaj7_Pj7HRPpthoXKZgnl29VU0KlWHkiHMa_NJnaXFZpR8kFN1nBaXyevnNQLeyRBuODV5lh5LQ_IcuISDu0KXnRTJbQseXJAjpc/w400-h225/acu009.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CgtZWseiT3nzZhuHRqvIbZqKSYPWzETLkJo7cyBwq6p0Spfs9WHVQ5oEowCS7MZ2iqicA3hhT6cqSJsP3TLCr66ZNzhTEa2TeTWvfjsE5WvadqjGvERxXqqpvyKrbeKBcf6uWUieTuuPKYGHvNSFKYY-urZDGBmtHLeNAz5jOqG4RvJLPW_pPb7kFuo/s1920/acu010.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CgtZWseiT3nzZhuHRqvIbZqKSYPWzETLkJo7cyBwq6p0Spfs9WHVQ5oEowCS7MZ2iqicA3hhT6cqSJsP3TLCr66ZNzhTEa2TeTWvfjsE5WvadqjGvERxXqqpvyKrbeKBcf6uWUieTuuPKYGHvNSFKYY-urZDGBmtHLeNAz5jOqG4RvJLPW_pPb7kFuo/w400-h225/acu010.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpHm4zFFmBBv2hI19somR5c-c-gdcJz6nzZ6GJtLPmKq66VAC7Zhm1bvERrFTAE1EWyDTFo1LLwPU4UvHp0rOh2f8mhfRppf0B_5gT7zv0cCTpF_WIe8B0358G3R3Y3SzmhayR7Xdf6WOE0gUlEaLBh4Uc2u6-jJnIM7u86GVIEDdRvWS2p6_kzd7_xg/s1920/acu011.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpHm4zFFmBBv2hI19somR5c-c-gdcJz6nzZ6GJtLPmKq66VAC7Zhm1bvERrFTAE1EWyDTFo1LLwPU4UvHp0rOh2f8mhfRppf0B_5gT7zv0cCTpF_WIe8B0358G3R3Y3SzmhayR7Xdf6WOE0gUlEaLBh4Uc2u6-jJnIM7u86GVIEDdRvWS2p6_kzd7_xg/w400-h225/acu011.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-34882743681607570372024-03-23T21:54:00.008+02:002024-03-24T02:14:07.978+02:00A Fire Upon the Deep<p>Apparently the name of 1992 science fiction novel <i>A Fire Upon the Deep</i> by <b>Vernor Vinge</b> (Oct 2, 1944 – <i>Mar 20, 2024 -- </i>died just three days ago; a somber coincidence) was built by the author's editors in a brainstorming session: they wanted to utilize <b>Robert A. Heinlein</b>'s technique of using either <b>Shakespeare </b>or the <i>Old Testament</i>. I have to say that what they came up with is a lot better than what Vinge had wanted to call the novel. A while back there was a Youtube video about <i>Fire </i>in my recommendations (again by <b>Media Death Cult</b>) and the novel's name is what immediately piqued my interest.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNMuijzqX459pV7MLxIPafk0MVS8bnOyyrljFZ9wHtmmg9fshlRD2q-7QCu_Wdm56VXzKhOcu6viaU0Y9A-53S0UySfLBoTRqxruB4rRQ6Wyrha3qlR4v7J6x-vYyxB5QWldSWXC7uTyFCARou7M859LQul00w9P5ykWXcBH30NopQ2js44bhpDgZiQww/s573/a_fire_upon_the_deep_fcover.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="367" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNMuijzqX459pV7MLxIPafk0MVS8bnOyyrljFZ9wHtmmg9fshlRD2q-7QCu_Wdm56VXzKhOcu6viaU0Y9A-53S0UySfLBoTRqxruB4rRQ6Wyrha3qlR4v7J6x-vYyxB5QWldSWXC7uTyFCARou7M859LQul00w9P5ykWXcBH30NopQ2js44bhpDgZiQww/w128-h200/a_fire_upon_the_deep_fcover.png" width="128" /></a></div>On the video, <b>Moid </b>started to describe Fire's premise, and after I had heard how in it the Milky Way has zones where physics work differently, I closed the video: I was sold on it right there and then. It was the depiction of a situation followed from the proposal mentioned in <i>Echopraxia </i>by <b>Peter Watts</b>: we can't know if the physical laws in our part of the Universe aren't merely local phenomena; we just have to believe they apply universally because we can't observe anything else.<p></p><p>Vinge's original name for the novel, Among the Tines, would have been more accurate. A big part of the book is spent <i>among the Tines</i>, a canine-like species whose individuals are hive minds, packs of 4 to 8 members.</p><p>The Finnish name for the novel is also something different: <i>Linnunradan ääret</i>, 'the verges of the Milky Way'. [Literally linnunrata means 'bird's flight path', although Wikipedia seems to talk about "the pathway of the birds". But the point is that the Finnish name for the Milky Way comes from a different myth.] I don't know if 'a fire upon the deep' was too challenging to translate in as majestically mysterious way or if the publisher threw in something that would sell better for Finnish readers. The 'verges' do describe the novel's setting, though.</p><p>The mentioned zones of the galaxy are four in number. These 'zones of thought' are in layers: the innermost being the center of the galaxy. The main consequence of the zones is their effect on biological and artificial intelligence.</p><p>The Earth -- Old Earth as they call it in the book -- is located in the second innermost layer, the Slow Zone where things work as we know. Human-level intelligence is possible and the speed of light is the absolute limit (due to automation not being able to calculate faster-than-light jumps within the zone). True, sentient artificial intelligence cannot function in the Slow Zone. In the galactic core's Unthinking Depths even biological intelligence ceases to exist.</p><p>The advanced civilizations of the galaxy are found in the third zone, the Beyond where travel and communication speeds get fast and automation gets really smart -- each the more the farther one is from the Slow Zone. Outside the Beyond there is the Transcend where things get weird.</p><p>When a Beyonder civilization Ascends by reaching technological singularity, they become a Power who is no longer comprehensible to a human mind. In the Transcend these Powers are able to work towards their unfathomable motivations at such speeds that they disappear very quickly. I found that an interesting notion; the progress happens like on an exponential scale.</p><p>Vinge wasn't the first to use the word singularity in the sense of technological singularity but he's credited for having popularized it.</p><p>The novel's events are set in motion when one human civilization is researching the archives of a past Power in lower Transcend. The Power turns out to have been malevolent and merely dormant. Things don't go well for the humans when it wakes up. One ship manages to escape all the way into lower Beyond where it crashes on the planet of the Tines. The only survivors of the crash end up being two children, Johanna and Jefri.</p><p>I'm not a fan of children protagonists because how frustratingly dumb they can be. But I guess that is exactly why Vinge needed such for his story: adult humans could not have been manipulated by the Tines as easily. Tines are in some ways smarter than humans and are quick learners but they are well behind in understanding of things due to the level of their civilization, the current point of their sciences. While the Tines are cool, their medieval squabbles are not particularly interesting in a science fiction book.</p><p>The Power that was awakened turns out to be more than your regular superintelligence and is dubbed Blight. It starts wreaking havoc in the Beyond and seems to be worried about the ship that got away. The ship had sent a distress signal and later Jefri starts sending messages (while being controlled by the Tines).</p><p>A hastily set-up rescue mission is launched from Relay, which is the de facto capital of the galaxy's communication network in the Beyond due to being able to directly reach 30% of the Milky Way. The single ship is manned by Ravna Bergsndot, Relay's only human employee; Pham Nuwem, a human rebuilt by a Power; and two Scroderiders: Blueshell and Greenleaf. The latter are of a widespread plant species whose members move on mechanical rides, skrodes.</p><p>The book was translated by <b>Hannu Tervaharju</b> who came up with the word 'kiesikäs' for the Skroderiders. I didn't initially realize how clever that translation was because the -käs suffix made it look like a plant name that could very well exist. Kiesikäs is basically an adjective that means '(something) with a chaise' or "chaisey". Like with <i>Revelation Space</i>, Tervaharju had left some words untranslated. Johanna's "dataset" for instance which is basically just a tablet from what I gathered.</p><p>I enjoyed A Fire Upon the Deep mostly because of the novel setting. I wish the book had been harder science fiction, though, focused more on the nature of the zones and theoretical reasons for them. The novel does at least utilize the effects of the zones in its narrative.</p><p>Vernor Vinge followed Fire with a loose prequel in 1999, called <i>A Deepness in the Sky</i> which I am reading now.</p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-37094278260196705622024-03-22T23:58:00.003+02:002024-03-23T16:00:38.723+02:00Assassin's Creed Rogue<p><i>Assassin's Creed Rogue</i> and <i>Unity </i>were released on the same day back in 2014. That seems quite unusual but the reasoning was to have a release on the older gen consoles too (Xbox 360 and PS3) that never got Unity. Rogue was released few months later on PC too and years later as a remastered version for Xbox One and PS4. Rogue was pretty much like a consolidation price for the older gen: its development even helmed by kind of a secondary studio, <b>Ubisoft Sofia</b>, whose previous work for the series had been mainly <i>AC Liberation</i>.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVtZrGBAKD9Vy9H8l7R8oD1NZi6IsUWXAqE9X4K3-miZUEBnGT2v3EttWkvoOlfASv398DU5jPPAr-ypY0HZvI4_DOeUX7wVRRFdKSt3iH5INV_pXEPr8dCkCPQPtHQytKpU-EuQGY8TnVBgRNEYG-vkCsoyB3r3ydhyphenhyphenwhpkk6Nu3cUxLK0w4vN0x099M/s278/acro000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="217" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVtZrGBAKD9Vy9H8l7R8oD1NZi6IsUWXAqE9X4K3-miZUEBnGT2v3EttWkvoOlfASv398DU5jPPAr-ypY0HZvI4_DOeUX7wVRRFdKSt3iH5INV_pXEPr8dCkCPQPtHQytKpU-EuQGY8TnVBgRNEYG-vkCsoyB3r3ydhyphenhyphenwhpkk6Nu3cUxLK0w4vN0x099M/w156-h200/acro000.png" width="156" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Heavily iterative Assassin's Creed</h3><p></p><p>AC Rogue is gameplay-wise a very safe entry. It doesn't introduce any entirely new mechanics, instead merely iterating and polishing old ones, mainly those of <i>AC4 Black Flag</i>. If you hadn't gotten enough of ship combat, here's another game's worth of it.</p><p>One new thing for naval combat is how enemy brigs are able to reverse-board you if they get a chance to ram. I think it was good for giving brigs more of an identity; previously they had been just weaker frigates. Getting boarded is pretty jarring, though. The ship shakes and whatnot for many moments so that the enemy combatants can come on board while you can't do anything about it.</p><p>Rogue's change to the swivel cannons kind of took away from naval battles. In Black Flag with the cannons fully upgraded, you just hold down the button to auto-fire at every exposed weakpoint in sight but in Rogue you have to let go of the button if you want autoaim after every shot. And even then it doesn't necessarily hit.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHKjYG22ol8WY6v48aXk7-3Nh7peoBPEyxMzaXAvLRainydYWTMascpStpmugeQY6kE-F0vd_3hvRTWL3gYDYzZXkr5aff2BfBzsTPZbzYkrNRCfoZTwUmYLZzEF4Bx6tNY827Z98OIFWW-kQyiurEbbTUyFUPZvr_qUqHXMTB-tSfHVESRnJSJEKDM8/s1920/acro001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHKjYG22ol8WY6v48aXk7-3Nh7peoBPEyxMzaXAvLRainydYWTMascpStpmugeQY6kE-F0vd_3hvRTWL3gYDYzZXkr5aff2BfBzsTPZbzYkrNRCfoZTwUmYLZzEF4Bx6tNY827Z98OIFWW-kQyiurEbbTUyFUPZvr_qUqHXMTB-tSfHVESRnJSJEKDM8/s320/acro001.png" width="320" /></a></div>Overall I did enjoy the ship combat more, however. That's mainly because of the <i>Dangerous Waters</i> music track and how it is dynamically used. I'm not entirely sure what's the trigger, like sinking a big ship or something. But when you do hit the trigger, the track jumps to its climax. It's so incredibly satisfying to have cannons firing everywhere, the Morrigan (your ship) emerging from smoke, and have <a href="https://youtu.be/aV8gQI0uWZc?si=laxfzoNFIXZEJnQ6&t=244" target="_blank">that part playing</a>. And it can happen multiples times in a battle. String instruments really make the series' music.<p></p><p>The soundtrack was composed by <b>Elitsa Alexandrova</b> whose biggest merit on it might be perfect utilization of older tracks from the series. I believe Dangerous Waters was on Black Flag's soundtrack too (at least it sounded familiar to me) but that game doesn't use it as cleverly.</p><p>A similar case is in Rogue's boot screen where <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmlCudR3JPk" target="_blank">a completely unexpected variation of <b>Jesper Kyd</b>'s <i>Assassin's Creed II</i> main theme</a> hits you with nostalgia -- even me who played that game for the first time mere 1.5 years ago. Also a nice touch in the boot screen is how the Assassin Brotherhood's logo rotates into the Templar cross.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSyDIYXu7D_hC2XJ41mYuTLjbhCeLBWdzrjyE2uoOXoYU-ONrGBkox2X0XTLTMSZcL0Ol0ffX78paMXXr1nQiUqYfnxrC_IgYD2zsGzkxH6g7VEoJ95EPwUt_OlAcdxkq13aeBZdV5Q149Lpv4I_DEluuZTIpheACZp1bnjMZMq1OmXJ0YO0y5bmE4fwY/s1920/acro002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSyDIYXu7D_hC2XJ41mYuTLjbhCeLBWdzrjyE2uoOXoYU-ONrGBkox2X0XTLTMSZcL0Ol0ffX78paMXXr1nQiUqYfnxrC_IgYD2zsGzkxH6g7VEoJ95EPwUt_OlAcdxkq13aeBZdV5Q149Lpv4I_DEluuZTIpheACZp1bnjMZMq1OmXJ0YO0y5bmE4fwY/s320/acro002.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">With a twist</h4><p></p><p>Rogue's modern day parts too follow in Black Flag's footsteps. You're back in Abstergo Entertainment, although as a different person and there are no Assassins around. You're reliving the memories of an Irish Assassin Shay Patrick Cormac who is for some reason of great interest for one certain modern day Templar, Juhani Otso Berg.</p><p>Mr. Berg is Finnish but Ubisoft didn't try very hard to make him authentic -- for any actual Finn at least. His voice actor clearly isn't Finnish; I reckon one will find it extremely challenging to even find a person to imitate a passable Finnish accent without being an actual Finn. On one audiolog you unlock when hacking Abstergo's computers (or I guess repairing this time), Berg says his own name and he pronounces Juhani's J like in English. But in Finnish, J is like the consonant Y in English -- Yuhani. I wonder how many times they made the actor yell "Perkele!" for another audiolog because that was good enough to be passable.</p><p>AC Rogue's past is set between Black Flag and <i>Assassin's Creed III</i>. The Colonial Brotherhood with Achilles Davenport as its Mentor is searching for Precursor temples. Shay is a new recruit but even then the Brotherhood feels unusually hostile towards him. Everyone except Shay's pal Liam are quite antagonizing, seemingly for no reason. It doesn't come as a big surprise that Shay ends up leaving them.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiGOl4oZeldPUviK9HLStgDn_B5oIVz1O-IAI9S-GlxF_jOCj0N1GJztTlZhbg00rLR97UEpxixgzxhWSYjeRYLNfxZ919SgkNgy3RNeC-_e2_PkAfKz2OeZDoOOBgC0zY0m2x8Lv7tvK-r3QUVULL2bETI82pDfrl-NAqtCWGfdxrR8k4nKwMa4DFi0A/s1920/acro003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiGOl4oZeldPUviK9HLStgDn_B5oIVz1O-IAI9S-GlxF_jOCj0N1GJztTlZhbg00rLR97UEpxixgzxhWSYjeRYLNfxZ919SgkNgy3RNeC-_e2_PkAfKz2OeZDoOOBgC0zY0m2x8Lv7tvK-r3QUVULL2bETI82pDfrl-NAqtCWGfdxrR8k4nKwMa4DFi0A/s320/acro003.png" width="320" /></a></div>Shay was constantly voicing his doubts about the Assassins before his, ah, expulsion, though. He continues doing so about the Templars too afterwards. I even thought he might not properly join them due to the constant skepticism he showed. The moment I knew he was going to actually join the Templars, was when Shay witnessed close-up Haytham Kenway interrogating someone: a scene that happens more than once in AC3, always with the same outcome. Unlike Connor, Shay does not protest; he merely wipes the splattered blood off his face.<p></p><p>With its characters and many collectible letters, Rogue ties heavily to the other titles in the series. I thought that was really cool. The game even ends with a direct tie-in to Unity. In AC3, Connor demands Achilles on whose watch did the Brotherhood fall. Achilles eventually admits it was on his. In Rogue, you get to see how it all came to be.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Short story yet plenty to play</h4><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-IV4Q5GFAm1jODlaDN8h27pppGfvnw0_UlGf5_zbWRT8qw8CKHWqUc15FoCdY6Y213i9PuEA6XOXKX5Ji3c1RaGO6DbPbeOWlfNynjAsXtJqVh0zYN-FqhQunMGRoAnrl-n-0HN-q4xM40-jOw3h1AUef_8KlW1F-mZXh8yV-17LzV2dw7zcGQ8t2bhM/s1920/acro004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-IV4Q5GFAm1jODlaDN8h27pppGfvnw0_UlGf5_zbWRT8qw8CKHWqUc15FoCdY6Y213i9PuEA6XOXKX5Ji3c1RaGO6DbPbeOWlfNynjAsXtJqVh0zYN-FqhQunMGRoAnrl-n-0HN-q4xM40-jOw3h1AUef_8KlW1F-mZXh8yV-17LzV2dw7zcGQ8t2bhM/s320/acro004.png" width="320" /></a></div>AC Rogue's main story is unusually short but for a completionist the game will still take about the same time as the previous titles. The various side activities and collectibles will keep one busy; 100% sync requirements for missions are easy like in Black Flag. The game is divided into three maps: River Valley, North Atlantic (featuring breakable icebergs as obstacles), and New York (which looks a lot better than in AC3).<p></p><p>This time there's zero reason to play the same terrible, old board games anymore, even though they're still there. In Black Flag, you had to do some for the Abstergo challenges but Ubisoft had learned something and included easier computer opponents, so the games didn't have to be as bad as in AC3 against its near perfect AIs.</p><p>Almost all of Rogue's rewards for getting every type of a collectible are useless. It felt pretty disappointing after such an effort to pick up a reward that wasn't the best weapon of its kind, or a cosmetic item that doesn't look all that cool. (Though that's hardly anything new for the series.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVVa1Whlw-D7Hdts8IJxc-hVOOkMKfZcY7qKGnzqKWTQgz8KH845joaAlEBPRHTuQFqAtBP1nR2ntV0y4zvJkhUoSgl9OIrts6ZKfZPBk8ia32JrBNuTlw66Hn3sstDIxTMhXjUASWz0BOPl05k0mgH-7A0Bxkt3tPfY7WOAxeCh3E3DhVd7vPR0LxwLI/s1920/acro005.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVVa1Whlw-D7Hdts8IJxc-hVOOkMKfZcY7qKGnzqKWTQgz8KH845joaAlEBPRHTuQFqAtBP1nR2ntV0y4zvJkhUoSgl9OIrts6ZKfZPBk8ia32JrBNuTlw66Hn3sstDIxTMhXjUASWz0BOPl05k0mgH-7A0Bxkt3tPfY7WOAxeCh3E3DhVd7vPR0LxwLI/s320/acro005.png" width="320" /></a></div>The best sword, the once again returning sword of Altaïr, but it unfortunately comes from beating all of the also returning Naval campaign minigame. If you do all the other completionist stuff in Sequence 4 when the game is finally open and you have all the tools, you likely won't be able to complete the minigame before the end of the game because its phases are tied to the main memory progression. I finished the game awkwardly with a handful of the Naval missions still to be done. The mission timers are at least shorter than in Black Flag, going only up to 3 hours of wait time or so. The autobattle balance had been adjusted somewhat and I had to pay slightly more attention to what was going on to not lose any ships.<p></p><p>AC Rogue was a pretty cool look at the series from another perspective, though it could have had way more depth to it. It was interesting how fighting the Assassins was initially kind of tough: their surprise attacks actually often surprised me. But once I learned to counter them properly, and how to catch gang leaders unaware, the Assassins were no longer much of a threat.</p><p>Rogue finishes the American history set of the Assassin's Creed series and we're off to revolutionary France for the final game in my franchise run.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJoPN-n4TUWY9wtZG9vbSKJUbh2BJlHOiaXO9MYrJ-7SBefKXbFgZ9hEQB1W58TTtsKhjJXHC6siX9qdgNdO2QF9YnVgc9Q5-omWQ3UrYKcjnN0kaw6zsFhRpfBWmnbKRZaDD3i4KLiCys2EmiB42TVBNz410SVW6Uhp6MQk5TVvFuy5gx6M_rfqN3SpE/s1920/acro006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJoPN-n4TUWY9wtZG9vbSKJUbh2BJlHOiaXO9MYrJ-7SBefKXbFgZ9hEQB1W58TTtsKhjJXHC6siX9qdgNdO2QF9YnVgc9Q5-omWQ3UrYKcjnN0kaw6zsFhRpfBWmnbKRZaDD3i4KLiCys2EmiB42TVBNz410SVW6Uhp6MQk5TVvFuy5gx6M_rfqN3SpE/w400-h225/acro006.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK7KVGV2u5BwnyBbqibGIC7rYvJSMRRhC4HG_H89lI7scxYgoEdtDs9_RalU7dhYPTt6M_xSo9CIwe6iIRw-x-7NIC4j_DafuRgA311LQExlumoheggCi6KrqslImFlyasKMppiMU4A1UaJIqLZgrK2iJAAi1ZhphGLdhpOI471QVjsxiJTXLMjg0Ugt0/s1920/acro007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK7KVGV2u5BwnyBbqibGIC7rYvJSMRRhC4HG_H89lI7scxYgoEdtDs9_RalU7dhYPTt6M_xSo9CIwe6iIRw-x-7NIC4j_DafuRgA311LQExlumoheggCi6KrqslImFlyasKMppiMU4A1UaJIqLZgrK2iJAAi1ZhphGLdhpOI471QVjsxiJTXLMjg0Ugt0/w400-h225/acro007.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1C40VjnIqGIHLXImaj_0ak3i-DdicdawgI1A1-ROcDElQsGrRzECpG37hWKge0ttc4Xdodrg_UPeu2AW6GFLac-0X2mOijr-reFtAHKCkGy0dP3Ks1fx95WUaUoF5UJwFVtD8CPUb-_5V7v5QdeZLcEGVnY4uz-Vsbt6O8iATH50yTFwNx8NB0qWK084/s1920/acro008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1C40VjnIqGIHLXImaj_0ak3i-DdicdawgI1A1-ROcDElQsGrRzECpG37hWKge0ttc4Xdodrg_UPeu2AW6GFLac-0X2mOijr-reFtAHKCkGy0dP3Ks1fx95WUaUoF5UJwFVtD8CPUb-_5V7v5QdeZLcEGVnY4uz-Vsbt6O8iATH50yTFwNx8NB0qWK084/w400-h225/acro008.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis611exCOqdi-lB3NnrDGdgZXmSWshd8OdRsmvtUTMHAR_6SrK6mflclMR9l0Sn3SLmUyu707kbbdPToYpTqX0AFhKTb16X7xCrM-zYEn1DzB6DZyF1Sat_oN6VflVmtX8Ubm2oatJKlslpPd6oVACcUSrMeeDXcuSuksYjhQkZKIePwHrREHZLqZ7lXc/s1920/acro009.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis611exCOqdi-lB3NnrDGdgZXmSWshd8OdRsmvtUTMHAR_6SrK6mflclMR9l0Sn3SLmUyu707kbbdPToYpTqX0AFhKTb16X7xCrM-zYEn1DzB6DZyF1Sat_oN6VflVmtX8Ubm2oatJKlslpPd6oVACcUSrMeeDXcuSuksYjhQkZKIePwHrREHZLqZ7lXc/w400-h225/acro009.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscEwD-5HbR1iugd8sp5GG-ecAy1PM1GeNdcFBKhpUZwlrfSJo0pNhN7eRz0bWs13oZ9sxVB5DMnYM13XM70cxTDlFsvmXpCKbNB2pCjAz_i04mt9L87HMfE30mnfPp_7FIhU1TfaVSpYHDkNorTbkbg2_a0NVOhk3DStTzFBHDkcMAGkDNZR2QoGhHTg/s1920/acro010.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscEwD-5HbR1iugd8sp5GG-ecAy1PM1GeNdcFBKhpUZwlrfSJo0pNhN7eRz0bWs13oZ9sxVB5DMnYM13XM70cxTDlFsvmXpCKbNB2pCjAz_i04mt9L87HMfE30mnfPp_7FIhU1TfaVSpYHDkNorTbkbg2_a0NVOhk3DStTzFBHDkcMAGkDNZR2QoGhHTg/w400-h225/acro010.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3amfnas8V57VZBShjEE-RcIUGJk8wswOxYRq4PCgWqcW61WDmCwClrfJqUOB8wh4131LYsCWwwX5HOwVHMa5W3QFRodn-DbSlvaYkUYntu1vJW0GOEdM1Cg03tOC6N9_4dn9RsyUmfZrrNcPKiCjE5Y3Qfg1ASLsm89zXOZ4z-IwnIvLXBy-exp4Y35g/s1920/acro011.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3amfnas8V57VZBShjEE-RcIUGJk8wswOxYRq4PCgWqcW61WDmCwClrfJqUOB8wh4131LYsCWwwX5HOwVHMa5W3QFRodn-DbSlvaYkUYntu1vJW0GOEdM1Cg03tOC6N9_4dn9RsyUmfZrrNcPKiCjE5Y3Qfg1ASLsm89zXOZ4z-IwnIvLXBy-exp4Y35g/w400-h225/acro011.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SKith_nxyHrTHLFqzKUE-Deu6C3SsMwnGtMUfKDV9IAqXdIV-qTnGkdwgpO2VE4g_ntZwLIienvhm1j2ShOR5LFSQs7KidqPfE2R5bFYhpCHsGKUZL5-g_xJ8N_rhBEXCEN5HXZtfj63dV1KwRNyWc9q6t8K2sLc4YJ2_ZmWb2XI9xCPXIr2PMYArfA/s1920/acro012.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SKith_nxyHrTHLFqzKUE-Deu6C3SsMwnGtMUfKDV9IAqXdIV-qTnGkdwgpO2VE4g_ntZwLIienvhm1j2ShOR5LFSQs7KidqPfE2R5bFYhpCHsGKUZL5-g_xJ8N_rhBEXCEN5HXZtfj63dV1KwRNyWc9q6t8K2sLc4YJ2_ZmWb2XI9xCPXIr2PMYArfA/w400-h225/acro012.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-8743045049840902592024-03-20T23:55:00.003+02:002024-03-21T00:07:49.782+02:00The Grace of Kings<p><i>The Grace of Kings</i> by <b>Ken Liu</b> is another literary awards winner that to me doesn't seem worthy of such recognition. A quick google search for reviews gave me a Reddit post that described the novel as cliff notes of itself, which I found a humorous yet accurate depiction.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxH3WFizRjbHmD-xcT05m0XqzbENWhSwCL103SQQexD4OvdfQvI-0tf27FiFqPAlw7KqDXauPOMdNsX403nu1V5dF3DmA-qB3-hLIPNPopHEJ55OXk_FkgQxsWo3iGUhyphenhyphen-uSrO6VNohLHddYu7i1ScwQgOC98XBT1ElXVavaAp0R4VewYiwxwhMOojhxk/s472/the_grace_of_kings_cover.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="310" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxH3WFizRjbHmD-xcT05m0XqzbENWhSwCL103SQQexD4OvdfQvI-0tf27FiFqPAlw7KqDXauPOMdNsX403nu1V5dF3DmA-qB3-hLIPNPopHEJ55OXk_FkgQxsWo3iGUhyphenhyphen-uSrO6VNohLHddYu7i1ScwQgOC98XBT1ElXVavaAp0R4VewYiwxwhMOojhxk/w131-h200/the_grace_of_kings_cover.png" width="131" /></a></div>The author's name was familiar to me beforehand: Liu did the -- also award-winning -- English translation of <b>Liu Cixin</b>'s <i>Three-Body Problem</i>. The Grace of Kings has nothing to do with that, though.<p></p><p>The novel is epic fantasy whose setting is very Chinese -- in the sense that it's much alike the world in something like <i>Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon</i> or <b>Zhang Yimou</b>'s wuxia films. (And that's pretty much where my familiarity ends in that regard.) I suppose that goes for the characters as well. It doesn't extend to the (often four-letter length) names, I'd say. At least, they don't seem all that Chinese to me</p><p>Unlike the mentioned movies, the novel lacks the superhuman martial arts (and the colorful cinematography of Zhang's). There is, however, a daring assassination attempt during a huge victory parade in the prologue. That scene is what immediately brought to mind the imagery of films such as <i>Hero</i>. </p><p>Emperor Mapidéré, former king of Xana, has just managed to conquer the whole world, the Seven Islands of Dara. His reign seems supreme yet there is opposition like the assassination attempt shows. The world's gods are choosing favorites and placing bets. The two people to rise up to the challenge are Kuni Garu, a street gang leader, and Mata Zyndu, the last son of his clan. (Did I mention the four-letter names?)</p><p>It's hard to empathize with the characters when the novel keeps going forward in place and time, stopping at key events and encounters, to then quickly move on. Time and distances don't appear to mean much: people are always where things are happening; there is no travel time.</p><p>Liu used few common English expressions that I felt were out of place like 'connecting the dots' or 'for all intents and purposes'. It enhances the cliff notes impression when your third person omniscient narrator talks like that.</p><p>The Grace of Kings is only the first book of the (currently) four-part <i>Dandelion Dynasty</i>. I don't think I'm in any hurry to read more.</p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-39317648980728082402024-03-16T22:23:00.003+02:002024-03-17T13:58:52.106+02:00Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (& Freedom Cry)<p>My playthrough of <i>Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag</i> coincided with the release of <i>Skull and Bones</i>. The latter's development was troubled and costly -- and the end result was not something people thought worth the time it took for the game to come out. A common sentiment I saw: <b>Ubisoft </b>had already made one good pirate game; all they had to do was to build upon it. However, I'm not certain if Black Flag's single player campaign would have lent itself into a multiplayer live service format that easily. There's a multiplayer mode too in Black Flag but it doesn't involve naval combat, which is what Skull and Bones is about.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLr4OvstqcYWWywJ1EeGHrZZk4_AzMFkqXxvN28QRjwCMc2Fp5J8a9mnxwdQbXWH2gZoOZlXfIVDzDe48od5WQe8kkQNXUj-t6ceEKOeWPp5C2cVc0wDoEWoCGL2yVW8rLCG4aBl0qnHV3cj2D07UIGk7RajOL7DANlX5eq31AwzbyspXO1mwvd4uSysc/s286/ac4bf000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="217" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLr4OvstqcYWWywJ1EeGHrZZk4_AzMFkqXxvN28QRjwCMc2Fp5J8a9mnxwdQbXWH2gZoOZlXfIVDzDe48od5WQe8kkQNXUj-t6ceEKOeWPp5C2cVc0wDoEWoCGL2yVW8rLCG4aBl0qnHV3cj2D07UIGk7RajOL7DANlX5eq31AwzbyspXO1mwvd4uSysc/w152-h200/ac4bf000.png" width="152" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">A pirate-assassin adventure in early 1700s' Caribbean</h3><p></p><p>Like in <i>AC Liberation</i> before it, is "Abstergo Entertainment" involved in AC4 Black Flag as well. The game is not similarly an in-universe consumer product, though. Instead the imaginary company is using the genetic memories of an 18th century pirate Edward Kenway (among others) to build various pieces of entertainment -- like Liberation. Abstergo had figured out how to relive memories of people who were not one's own ancestors.</p><p>In the game's present day, you play as one of Abstergo's employees reliving those memories. You're nameless and voiceless, a floating tablet that can scan QR codes and hack computers via a Frogger-like minigame.</p><p>When you first get guided to your work station, there's some tech support guy under your desk fixing something. You can't see his face but I was certain it was an undercover Shaun Hastings trying not to sound like himself. While the person turned out to be essential for the plot, he wasn't Shaun. The present time has a Precursor continuity element from <i>Assassin's Creed III</i> but I guess because Desmond is no longer around, Ubisoft decided to drop the running number from the titles after this one.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DOGKu2NshezEDBnc2frh58qPKOW5nXBS5OljODfvyO7oDjM7MWA6swf7Nw918kZUJFCk1P2ZYUyY3Q1THriya_gKt5BfOIMA8VmostncFQfjqs9cBWAZOUR4J51v30yW1Rio4FhoGpzuPoP2ontHX6NYmX9b1aAtDOcLB44L8UkS3psSl16NwI7x02Q/s1920/ac4bf004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DOGKu2NshezEDBnc2frh58qPKOW5nXBS5OljODfvyO7oDjM7MWA6swf7Nw918kZUJFCk1P2ZYUyY3Q1THriya_gKt5BfOIMA8VmostncFQfjqs9cBWAZOUR4J51v30yW1Rio4FhoGpzuPoP2ontHX6NYmX9b1aAtDOcLB44L8UkS3psSl16NwI7x02Q/s320/ac4bf004.png" width="320" /></a></div>Actual Shaun did show up too with Rebecca soon enough. I found it rather reckless how they had walked into a Templar-owned building just like that, not even using aliases. To my understanding, only few Abstergo Entertainment employees are actual Templars -- and maybe same for the parent company Abstergo Industries -- but I reckon any of the key people would have recognized Shaun and Rebecca by sight (even though they do look slightly different in this game) if they had walked down to the lobby when the Assassin duo was casually hanging around there.<p></p><p>AC4 Black Flag turned out to be more of a pirate-focused adventure than I had expected. I had heard the Assassin stuff was like a side thing but I hadn't guessed to what extent. I think in the canon Edward does later become a leader of London Assassins or something but in this game he doesn't yet officially vow to follow the Creed. Him initially donning the robes is coincidental -- merely a way to possible riches -- and then, later on his character arc, his avidity for freedom continues being aligned with the Brotherhood's goals.</p><p>The Assassins are suddenly quite numerous compared to AC3 and Liberation. Apparently, when coming from the old world, the Brotherhood found that many locals in the Caribbean were already following a similar ideology. Recruits were plentiful. Their ranks do thin quite a bit over Black Flag, though.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmPSqerCjwHbFQ2y9iclsgan0yv3l_e6hPUcxy1ef3LL63JGQ9uBDSJ45AR3ppbfXJxhMcjofhdpoTOrpz3kVzufpe6owkTEBT5KtZcs1V-HZj1woybkeWxqVVCSI1He8W7loyFyX0Q2hqlWu1mhvv4a5s5bRX4rFmypKTXfqZx95ybATaSSMUoYhfQ5E/s1920/ac4bf001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmPSqerCjwHbFQ2y9iclsgan0yv3l_e6hPUcxy1ef3LL63JGQ9uBDSJ45AR3ppbfXJxhMcjofhdpoTOrpz3kVzufpe6owkTEBT5KtZcs1V-HZj1woybkeWxqVVCSI1He8W7loyFyX0Q2hqlWu1mhvv4a5s5bRX4rFmypKTXfqZx95ybATaSSMUoYhfQ5E/s320/ac4bf001.png" width="320" /></a></div>As mentioned, Edward is chasing wealth. His life with his wife Caroline back in Bristol was filled with trouble. Their parents had disowned them and they were facing a humble farmer's lowly income. Edward saw privateering as a solution to that despite Caroline objecting. Following the sequence of events Edward kind of stumbles through before and at the start of this game, he soon acquires a brig, whom he dubs Jackdaw, and hoists the colors.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Easy to enjoy</h4><p>You do get the usual Assassin activities, Edward even takes assassination contracts -- because coin -- but there is quite a lot of pirate-related stuff, more than I thought even, in addition to ship combat. There are treasure maps, blundering of warehouses, tavern brawls, hunting various whales and sharks from a boat with thrown harpoons, and even diving for sunken cargo with the aid of a diving bell. The last activity is not the best "dungeon crawl" feature in the series but it could have been way more frustrating. Because the game saves chest and collectible progress immediately, it doesn't matter that much if the many sharks kill you once in a while.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxMu3DupB1mWv37cKxxH7WTgvWUOdei2-ezQJu6z22EEqoZnZFBmJ29ozHq7FR4_fV7l70I3XChYlpuIe8JQLhvvoPVVPqgywArbM92qsfuJZrGALAddM2mmaYpuNpyBi7h3l8eQk-dAs9nruMbCQGH-wwKwCcmYZ7kRymA9erBVzpbvt5MD5OEMgnW8/s1920/ac4bf002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxMu3DupB1mWv37cKxxH7WTgvWUOdei2-ezQJu6z22EEqoZnZFBmJ29ozHq7FR4_fV7l70I3XChYlpuIe8JQLhvvoPVVPqgywArbM92qsfuJZrGALAddM2mmaYpuNpyBi7h3l8eQk-dAs9nruMbCQGH-wwKwCcmYZ7kRymA9erBVzpbvt5MD5OEMgnW8/s320/ac4bf002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Synchronization points are fast travel locations for the first time in the series. That change alone made the game feel a lot closer to the later entries. In general, Black Flag felt to me like it avoided dead space between activities more than the previous games, which is ironic, considering the wide ocean map. The game was also surprisingly easy to get 100% sync in; the additional mission restrictions are far easier to meet. And they are only found in the main memories, too.<p></p><p>The single 100% goal that caused me serious trouble was having to assassinate a captain from a rope-swing. I had performed the action previously during boarding few times but never with consistent success. Failing to accomplish it in this case meant reloading a checkpoint that is before a stealth section of sneaking across a beach to take out scouts first.</p><p>The goals themselves are not challenging but failing to notice they exist in the first place caused me a lot of frustration. It is incredibly easy to miss an extra goal popping up briefly in the opposite corner of the screen from the main goal when you're focused on what's happening. Why couldn't they put the goals in the same place and just keep them visible all the time like in the later games? I would have avoided many mission replays.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiHTjtXU-jKrmXONPv6M_wmKn_nbguMHIZrb4RzAdTsoYyXTnl2yfOyt9YqYGqnNOhKGrixqJscUd4ZYBpniDUYUcgzUTmXFtB98O6_U3bdmi8PhkwwUo3YE69hGrgynZGeJkonq4avti35tnanWMmXsWhxgxWQ6e0tIhlhyphenhyphengUJ6lXvHj-EvGmAbhW0w/s1920/ac4bf003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiHTjtXU-jKrmXONPv6M_wmKn_nbguMHIZrb4RzAdTsoYyXTnl2yfOyt9YqYGqnNOhKGrixqJscUd4ZYBpniDUYUcgzUTmXFtB98O6_U3bdmi8PhkwwUo3YE69hGrgynZGeJkonq4avti35tnanWMmXsWhxgxWQ6e0tIhlhyphenhyphengUJ6lXvHj-EvGmAbhW0w/s320/ac4bf003.png" width="320" /></a></div>The game's way of not capitalizing UI texts bothered me as well. Past time subtitles and lore texts in turn capitalize common nouns like in German. Some olde English thing, I've heard. Those made me initially confused; I thought there was an oddly numerous amount of proper nouns thrown around.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The famous naval combat</h4><p>Black Flag is more seamless with its ship than AC3 was -- and it must have been quite novel at the time of the game's release -- but it is not as much so as <i>AC Odyssey</i> later (which I had already played). You can get off and on the ship freely to start sailing. However, bigger settlements, like Kingston and Havana, are on separate maps from the open world, behind loading screens. You can't properly go underwater outside the diving bell locations either. Boarding is a seamless action but it always ends in a cutscene where you decide if you want to have the defeated ship added to your fleet in the game's minigame, lower your wanted level, or salvage the ship for repairs. In Odyssey, boarding ended seamlessly by you and your crew hopping back onto the Adrestia.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY35dcT0NQ8dUt6VzGEpoa-Mj3RHv4TVUWMpKd0a7SGg1n0iTug2ZbF31y0TrrmlJOIljhER76HV_cwd0XFh7TIGnA3wqJOx1TLRKsj8CFXfw6ZUI46i0tAhKJSQ6cqUWRTSMCOPhj7R0xmsWjWD-ObqYl58adE5PXEUGQeavl_L6PLrFyhPGSFi0RsjI/s1920/ac4bf005.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY35dcT0NQ8dUt6VzGEpoa-Mj3RHv4TVUWMpKd0a7SGg1n0iTug2ZbF31y0TrrmlJOIljhER76HV_cwd0XFh7TIGnA3wqJOx1TLRKsj8CFXfw6ZUI46i0tAhKJSQ6cqUWRTSMCOPhj7R0xmsWjWD-ObqYl58adE5PXEUGQeavl_L6PLrFyhPGSFi0RsjI/s320/ac4bf005.png" width="320" /></a></div>The ship repair option from a successful boarding is particularly immersion breaking when done in the middle of a still raging naval battle. Odyssey's repair-from-cleaving-a-ship was an arcadey thing but it didn't break the flow: there was no cutscene. Even though Black Flag's naval combat has more meat on it, I enjoyed Odyssey's more -- and even the latter's got old once you had done so much of it.<p></p><p>In Black Flag's boarding I liked that you can soften up (or even annihilate) the enemy opposition with a swivel gun while your crew is towing the ships closer. But once you run out of cannon balls and actually do board, things become a mess. The combat system is simply not made for both sides having so many combatants in such a restricted area. You see an enemy with an attack indicator but one of your guys interrupts them: you block for nothing. Then you try to attack an enemy but there's someone suddenly in the way. Multiple times I lost the track of Edward due to the camera not following him properly.</p><p>Edward often sheaths his weapons during a boarding battle if you have to move to engage more enemies. Unsheathing takes a bit too long when someone is already swinging at you. It's especially tiresome when you use a lift to get up a mast to take down scouts and/or the ship's flag. If the scout there is looking at your direction, you sometimes don't have enough time to draw weapons to block the coming attack. Failing at it, will knock you off the platform and is likely to kill you too.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivo-z_5neg8qW1bfZy4jfzNLPnloWpLmv7ICVltKpKlaX3p2SNy_g8us4a9GIq9N6jdpkFfK8FmcHvp_xJ678Hu24ZJkZ8zNB_wzpWVdhGz2LgqCk6ey92DBDoQZbTShPxsIB8TMvEB6XjK_qryIh97XSTmjKZgaedx6VKWAJebTsg6vKdKRhwdNEvvKc/s1920/ac4bf006.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivo-z_5neg8qW1bfZy4jfzNLPnloWpLmv7ICVltKpKlaX3p2SNy_g8us4a9GIq9N6jdpkFfK8FmcHvp_xJ678Hu24ZJkZ8zNB_wzpWVdhGz2LgqCk6ey92DBDoQZbTShPxsIB8TMvEB6XjK_qryIh97XSTmjKZgaedx6VKWAJebTsg6vKdKRhwdNEvvKc/s320/ac4bf006.png" width="320" /></a></div>Funnily enough, even though the game's past is further back in time than previously and gun technology shouldn't be any better, I had far less trouble with lengthy reload animations. I guess it's because Edward gets many pistol holsters so early. There was rarely if ever a time Edward went into a reloading animation that needed to be interrupted. Combat has an ever-so-slight different feel to it but largely it's the same as in AC3. Smoke bombs were nerfed, though: you can't take out half a dozen guys in the smoke with quick hidden blade animations like you used to.<p></p><p>The kind of ultimate challenge of the game, in terms of ship combat, is taking on the four legendary ship encounters. Even with a fully upgraded Jackdaw, they can be very close calls. I had most trouble with the double ship fight against the HMS Fearless and Royal Sovereign. The legendary ships seem to go berserk (at low durability?), moving at high enough speeds to take off the waves to literally land on top of you. It's pretty ridiculous.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Functionality getting deprecated</h4><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT3LT-Pt9VZ4gFE1nkxrHMXXof4WT9WqxRrB4KTVQVHSdhhvIoQU16j8WAlTH5Im4jcE_DRQHepBcucsirjGk9X5rpK-s31sHr22DW79NNSrnL9d-e7vtyJlyft03zID9HrGG-6df-0ImdQtgP8bfWz4iDqhajHv6phpXdi0t0zz1U6bHjrakY8CN7gKw/s1920/ac4bf007.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT3LT-Pt9VZ4gFE1nkxrHMXXof4WT9WqxRrB4KTVQVHSdhhvIoQU16j8WAlTH5Im4jcE_DRQHepBcucsirjGk9X5rpK-s31sHr22DW79NNSrnL9d-e7vtyJlyft03zID9HrGG-6df-0ImdQtgP8bfWz4iDqhajHv6phpXdi0t0zz1U6bHjrakY8CN7gKw/s320/ac4bf007.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Who is this <...>?" (mies -- 'man'?)</td></tr></tbody></table>Ubisoft's lack of effort to maintain their older games surfaced to cause issues with Black Flag. The game actually got a surprise update last summer -- which broke its fullscreen. I'm not sure what their agenda exactly was with the sudden update, but they seem to have fixed that one introduced issue since then. I did read that they had added the small <i>Aveline </i>DLC on the PC version finally -- I guess for the Season Pass because my game lacked it. It would be kind of odd if that broke fullscreen, though.<p></p><p>Other problems still remain, at least with my copy which is the base game that Ubisoft had given away for free in the past (though technically I also partially paid for it later when buying the <i>AC American History</i> bundle for the other titles it included).</p><p>There was no more store page for the game on Ubisoft Connect. Good thing I had bought the one DLC I wanted when I did: that would have been impossible now. I guess Ubisoft wants people to play only the Gold Edition, possibly on the new Classics option of Ubisoft+. (The old Ubisoft+ became Premium -- and more expensive.)</p><p>Black Flag also required me to re-enter password every time it was first started since the launcher was opened. (It's not the only old Ubisoft game that requires that.) The multiplayer portion also wouldn't launch at all. The cause for that turned out to be a conflict with the Nvidia overlay being enabled. The game's servers are still on, though; you can play the multiplayer assuming you can find other people.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLaBqiZhzeIa__a8ab_uaAm4InG-jHKfotzEu-WkFcHzGT0XuPMGf6YUHFVefINuu5PscLPW9XmDK0K7w-RhCyoOSYJGnS6vMGYN_To6mqtFeZlmvDIOcaC-Wznaumq_UOZhNdGrExsBmUD3tBPS6uspuE0INBhfNZXL2nZyfQV31aN4m-bBtEdL8a4Ww/s1920/ac4bf008.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLaBqiZhzeIa__a8ab_uaAm4InG-jHKfotzEu-WkFcHzGT0XuPMGf6YUHFVefINuu5PscLPW9XmDK0K7w-RhCyoOSYJGnS6vMGYN_To6mqtFeZlmvDIOcaC-Wznaumq_UOZhNdGrExsBmUD3tBPS6uspuE0INBhfNZXL2nZyfQV31aN4m-bBtEdL8a4Ww/s320/ac4bf008.png" width="320" /></a></div>The single player campaign has online features as well. The main one is the Kenway's Fleet minigame. And it wouldn't connect at all. That was a big issue for me because it's needed for 100% sync. A solution was found on <a href="https://www.nexusmods.com/assassinscreedivblackflag/mods/426" target="_blank">Nexus Mods: a fixed .exe for the game</a>. It's stated to have been made for the Gold Edition but it worked perfectly for my base game version as well.<p></p><p>The minigame is a returning feature from Liberation (and I guess more distantly from AC3). This time trade route dangers are solved in an auto-battler using the ships you've acquired from boarding. The battles are simple enough but the actual trade missions take a lot longer to complete than in Liberation. Your possible friends on your platform of choice could quicken the timers by aiding in the missions but if that doesn't happen, they can take up to 36 real life hours, which is silly. Too bad there's no mod to skip the timers like there is for <i>Dragon Age: Inquisition</i>'s war table. Maybe it's because the timers are on server side -- or no one simply has bothered to figure it out.</p><p>A lesser online feature is (automatic) sharing of royal convoys, white whale sightings, and social chests. Having friends encounter them would make the events a more frequent appearance in your game. You need to "share" three of each for the Abstergo challenges, which aren't required for 100% sync but I wanted to be a completionist in every way possible for the single player.</p><p>The chests are so rare that many (including me) initially believe you need friends to find them at all but that is not the case. It is merely extremely unlikely to stumble upon them coincidentally: I didn't find a single one over my 100% run when I wasn't specifically looking for them. There's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnvJ6_47HHygXy4KCgtU6tgJCci9rFkoj" target="_blank">Youtube playlist with all (or at least most) of the possible spawn locations</a>: you just go through them until you've found three. For the islet locations you don't really need the videos, though; the coordinates are enough because it doesn't take long to check if there's a chest anywhere in such a small area.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOmfdrFarZGpM-9gO2rfakDaa9gXEaPB_GLOz81vLS3VZg-t5SQzpoiVhOH04ANeKb8_ke1gLbp6WXPFwqcz8w9DYzXO0h-N7uM2SmbszKgHaorYhP-xdyimlE2nh-exTsBr8Fx_zlsMRS2_1wVvf_6r0M7OlRXIG9ONxF0RwvF7gdSgWsj0DVDd0dFA/s1920/acfc001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOmfdrFarZGpM-9gO2rfakDaa9gXEaPB_GLOz81vLS3VZg-t5SQzpoiVhOH04ANeKb8_ke1gLbp6WXPFwqcz8w9DYzXO0h-N7uM2SmbszKgHaorYhP-xdyimlE2nh-exTsBr8Fx_zlsMRS2_1wVvf_6r0M7OlRXIG9ONxF0RwvF7gdSgWsj0DVDd0dFA/s320/acfc001.png" width="320" /></a></div>A solid Assassin's Creed game</h4><p>AC4 Black Flag is probably from the better half if I were to put the series' titles into a tier list. Because I had played later entries, particularly Odyssey, I didn't find it as novel of an experience. I think if the game had had more fantasy elements, I would have found it great. Mundane pirate stuff doesn't cut it for me.</p><p>Black Flag's story was strong enough, particularly the ending, for me to consider it good. The biggest negative element in the narrative are the tad too many pirates that don't get any depth. For instance, I found the one betrayal incident very odd because I didn't remember the pirates there. Like, who were those two guys? I think most of the Assassin's Creed games suffer from that problem: there is too many characters that don't matter at all.</p><p>There have been rumors of a remake of Black Flag being in development. I don't know if such a thing is needed but it might be worth it for Ubisoft, given how fondly many seem to reminiscence this game. I'm sure a lot of people would buy a remake because they had liked the game the first time.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafjYEhFGBFkXNjHWe9pvh9vWvNm9HMebEt5bgVr9abrk3cuGLQQf5LJZtFrHD1sI1DAhCJ0QkTsgxRYxtU5kqL1VxX9y62tNsJ7uFgfPWVGEHjNQ-HIYx0HXUBR0kKx9XQ0GuLKDqGz7bPgu4KnrNsOMgWPw6V8VIkHQcjC_yUeiI9BM1JlBtWYWJR6M/s1920/acfc002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafjYEhFGBFkXNjHWe9pvh9vWvNm9HMebEt5bgVr9abrk3cuGLQQf5LJZtFrHD1sI1DAhCJ0QkTsgxRYxtU5kqL1VxX9y62tNsJ7uFgfPWVGEHjNQ-HIYx0HXUBR0kKx9XQ0GuLKDqGz7bPgu4KnrNsOMgWPw6V8VIkHQcjC_yUeiI9BM1JlBtWYWJR6M/s320/acfc002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Freedom Cry</h4><p>I had thought <i>Freedom Cry</i> would be worth a post of its own, considering it got a standalone release after first being DLC to Black Flag. However, it turned out to be short and to add about nothing to Black Flag.</p><p>You play as Adéwalé who is Edward's quartermaster in the main game. Towards the end of Black Flag he leaves the Jackdaw to join the Assassins. In Freedom Cry, he gets a ship of his own (the second one really), the Experto Crede, and does about the same stuff Edward does with slightly more freeing of slaves, as per the DLC's name. There's not really much to say beyond that.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7qFOmDcG5F_lWuudufq2ztbYkgoAmCfnrvqtIVYvy-isyK0-G6N1DqHMPFXcSYg5oV3O99YFHMiaAFCi2RHJ0R9ljEZ1gX4wjQ1mIiVuwdDp4KRsFEdENRZ71Qve6n0olB8MLzuNcSra8vsCb5z4kAErZrIrHwr3YG5ZcDYgPL-KSHWho2ZL-i_jgOI/s1920/acfc003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7qFOmDcG5F_lWuudufq2ztbYkgoAmCfnrvqtIVYvy-isyK0-G6N1DqHMPFXcSYg5oV3O99YFHMiaAFCi2RHJ0R9ljEZ1gX4wjQ1mIiVuwdDp4KRsFEdENRZ71Qve6n0olB8MLzuNcSra8vsCb5z4kAErZrIrHwr3YG5ZcDYgPL-KSHWho2ZL-i_jgOI/w400-h225/acfc003.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKK6opOY4C6I_4R8HVp5y6Y9yTzP76xYqsFt97Br1Y3-rQK9qTo_A4rdWmKy4qetd04UPSIZAfMXXGepJ0ZNuGQhPcfc4ncG6zE878x_fpPDS9HNJwWfEEixEPu1V3FEpXJ-TQB3QmCE0dfq5uSW4RaWBOI0IBL7Ps0yZrfWBs47ycz-Dk6AlI0C-ZNEo/s1920/acfc004.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKK6opOY4C6I_4R8HVp5y6Y9yTzP76xYqsFt97Br1Y3-rQK9qTo_A4rdWmKy4qetd04UPSIZAfMXXGepJ0ZNuGQhPcfc4ncG6zE878x_fpPDS9HNJwWfEEixEPu1V3FEpXJ-TQB3QmCE0dfq5uSW4RaWBOI0IBL7Ps0yZrfWBs47ycz-Dk6AlI0C-ZNEo/w400-h225/acfc004.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEnr55aD-lqkqelinOwNW1s-zehMVcVirAl8ogdq80mKVAtHiLHDIGzkqHddyR_URNHpzXTbkmv0B0f8YpKJ9th0rA2KhROrjOehIG0CjQWrKR7ZqwO4kiiUGGONfxbd-NoXUVvdhk8LQJAZWqgpxjsfR-f2A3EAcyFLPjcBNKNrhP4uj5RskmojuTDzs/s1920/acfc005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEnr55aD-lqkqelinOwNW1s-zehMVcVirAl8ogdq80mKVAtHiLHDIGzkqHddyR_URNHpzXTbkmv0B0f8YpKJ9th0rA2KhROrjOehIG0CjQWrKR7ZqwO4kiiUGGONfxbd-NoXUVvdhk8LQJAZWqgpxjsfR-f2A3EAcyFLPjcBNKNrhP4uj5RskmojuTDzs/w400-h225/acfc005.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3rsHGOTgzYuZRyNLAqOexTw_WPT-f5vuTICwztnq9oa4hVruNMzfB-92vUVkI1xfnq0R2vh7hEF3v0IaDDWUFxStuSh5k7xD1U3K_0IgHr4C1S6TSagwB72hyphenhyphenU1TJXgo9cWYLvvv3pWQLXeQETusrZGZnmVQj8C8PGlXzZfxPqOs_Vzh4-CnG6Rjij4/s1920/acfc006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3rsHGOTgzYuZRyNLAqOexTw_WPT-f5vuTICwztnq9oa4hVruNMzfB-92vUVkI1xfnq0R2vh7hEF3v0IaDDWUFxStuSh5k7xD1U3K_0IgHr4C1S6TSagwB72hyphenhyphenU1TJXgo9cWYLvvv3pWQLXeQETusrZGZnmVQj8C8PGlXzZfxPqOs_Vzh4-CnG6Rjij4/w400-h225/acfc006.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-26815158213058961962024-02-28T23:13:00.004+02:002024-03-10T18:38:52.369+02:00Dead Space (2023)<p>In last year's January, <b>EA </b>released a remake of their 2008 third person survival horror shooter, <i>Dead Space</i>. The remake was developed by <b>Motive Studio</b>, which I believe is the place <b>BioWare Montreal</b>'s people were largely shuffled into after they were shutdown in the aftermath of <i>Mass Effect: Andromeda</i>. How many of the actual same people were involved, is unknown to me. But like that game, does this remake too run on EA's in-house Frostbite engine.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3NngL79BTJCLObAB5rdwC-zijTOP5xWeQGo2yM7dsLB05XoL5edo05EiA9FcjZNaH0yqIJOEzia2vci2RggeOnEYhoqsWESf6qUAGY9xDKpbrrJl_q8Xw8GlhTh-UkODKpAcHZD3PUCe7VsRqeD23UjcvOxiRefct5Hse2eTcA1P8PhFE03yxc9tVfk/s270/dsr000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="216" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3NngL79BTJCLObAB5rdwC-zijTOP5xWeQGo2yM7dsLB05XoL5edo05EiA9FcjZNaH0yqIJOEzia2vci2RggeOnEYhoqsWESf6qUAGY9xDKpbrrJl_q8Xw8GlhTh-UkODKpAcHZD3PUCe7VsRqeD23UjcvOxiRefct5Hse2eTcA1P8PhFE03yxc9tVfk/w160-h200/dsr000.png" width="160" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">An excellent remake</h3><p></p><p>It is nice to have a proper PC version of Dead Space for once. The original had a selection of issues, including physics problems at high framerates and negative mouse acceleration. The latter plagues the whole original trilogy. This remake has none of that, although I did have to max mouse sensitivity because of how slow turning felt. Unfortunately the fancier visuals do come with the cost of requiring more powerful hardware as well.</p><p>The game pretty much requires to be installed on an SSD. It can technically run from a fast HDD but loading times will obviously be considerably longer and the game can be unstable. I saw a comment of someone saying they felt there was less traversal stutter due to the game having spent more time loading first but that sounds dubious. I think my desktop's CPU is also simply too old for this game and so I tried playing it on my laptop instead.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPsX_isX7gXdMeuTVC28Yx4MC5VsQzWelOWhH3N_pE2kQ9kIezRAV3XWrOG5nlAZJGnWXKTFSIHjNr6ekblLtghIMNvWZmgMD8_7w9mJVsvz3BFC9BxoNVBVl8XhsEEqkBumCH0-tl5Tw-PR9oVsfXfwmxMSu8GTjnfB322T1GJcxU7ShZxq8YQdwYzM/s1920/dsr001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPsX_isX7gXdMeuTVC28Yx4MC5VsQzWelOWhH3N_pE2kQ9kIezRAV3XWrOG5nlAZJGnWXKTFSIHjNr6ekblLtghIMNvWZmgMD8_7w9mJVsvz3BFC9BxoNVBVl8XhsEEqkBumCH0-tl5Tw-PR9oVsfXfwmxMSu8GTjnfB322T1GJcxU7ShZxq8YQdwYzM/s320/dsr001.png" width="320" /></a></div>Its GPU is however less powerful than on my desktop, definitely below what the game lists as minimum. But with all the rendering scaling options set to maximum performance, the remake did run quite smoothly while at times looking almost like it had the retro pixel filter that you can unlock in <i>Dead Space 3</i> after beating it on Hard Core. I had to up lighting and shadows settings to High, however, because the game was almost unplayable with them on Low due to how dark it was everywhere. I still got 60 fps in tighter spaces but in certain few spectacle fights the game ran below 30 fps.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Touched with sophisticated, modern sensibilities</h4><p>Someone familiar with the original will start noticing differences in the remake right away. Nicole looks way older, Kendra doesn't miss a chance to mention her girlfriend in her second line, and Johnston has been race and gender swapped into a black woman and gets a whole new scene to die in. The Kellion crew now consists of a white man, a lesbian white woman, a black man, a black woman, and an Asian man -- such diversity! Bathrooms are now unisex too. The remake is without a doubt made for 'modern audiences'. This kind of pandering doesn't always go as intended: BioWare Montreal got flak for one NPC casually dropping their dead name in conversation back in ME Andromeda.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDZKWLVIsKxWNQqowXpnsQ9HKc7DZgLXA-hf0wSXhahviYlz2LlO44ScnTqJ_xtQMQ325KmQUh0ylPQTo4jAEU0qAXHsayvk0ypfK2oYAKJpm4Irlp63fIquoVdP07Ez7snDIPUyJsPS5JJ62m0-JNxYwLGdgDyKHgHbvkJS844m7Nb3XOCPfRVQ2c6A/s1920/dsr002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDZKWLVIsKxWNQqowXpnsQ9HKc7DZgLXA-hf0wSXhahviYlz2LlO44ScnTqJ_xtQMQ325KmQUh0ylPQTo4jAEU0qAXHsayvk0ypfK2oYAKJpm4Irlp63fIquoVdP07Ez7snDIPUyJsPS5JJ62m0-JNxYwLGdgDyKHgHbvkJS844m7Nb3XOCPfRVQ2c6A/s320/dsr002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Another immediately noticeable thing is that Isaac speaks like in the sequels! He also looks like his returning voice actor <b>Gunner Wright</b>. And that I don't like. Isaac's face now reminds me of Ellie's jealous boyfriend in the third game; I highly prefer Isaac's original appearance. I dislike this, what feels like an ever more common trend of having characters look like their voice actors. The last parade until machine learning replaces them, I guess.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The dead speak!</h4><p>But Isaac now being voiced is an undeniably positive change. It adds so much to the experience. I chuckled out loud at the exchange with Dr. Kyne after the third time Isaac survives an encounter with a tentacle.</p><p></p><blockquote><div style="text-align: right;">"Do you read me, Mr. Clarke?"</div>"Fuck this ship."<br /><div style="text-align: right;">"You're alive! Altman be-- I mean..."</div>"Fuck Altman too."</blockquote><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4aCXzGWfBlAq6LWoGKDURdiHidancqX5qN0qztJtNbs_aDqZk351OhkGxr-6lDI3YYrSR6tbHvbcvp9HBT-auV5rRb6IBrEYE0VRnjvRJpOlFl0XFOmt6wOb8UbLVVVEQbgZzXF-SclTZoX0D9QPV0YbBb9bhueDcrTxBEKlWVfzrPmdRzFkmAQTUcA8/s1920/dsr003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4aCXzGWfBlAq6LWoGKDURdiHidancqX5qN0qztJtNbs_aDqZk351OhkGxr-6lDI3YYrSR6tbHvbcvp9HBT-auV5rRb6IBrEYE0VRnjvRJpOlFl0XFOmt6wOb8UbLVVVEQbgZzXF-SclTZoX0D9QPV0YbBb9bhueDcrTxBEKlWVfzrPmdRzFkmAQTUcA8/s320/dsr003.png" width="320" /></a></div>Despite the pandering, the writing of the narrative and characters is much better than in the original. It is more fleshed out with additional and altered scenes. The Kellion crew feels like an actual team; in the original they were hostile to each other from the get-go. I enjoyed noticing all the differences -- at least the ones I could remember. While I have beaten the original at least twice, and did recall all the key events and locations, I didn't quite remember the order of things. With Isaac now conversing with other characters, the sequence of events is more memorable.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Feature complete</h4><p>Gameplay feels familiar Dead Space. I liked but also disliked that they kept the classic inventory user interface, having to take hand off mouse to use the cursor keys. At least the original's features and mechanics saw a score of improvements. Suit and weapon circuits no longer have empty nodes. In fact, the game showers you with so many power nodes and credits that it is clearly intended for players to try all the weapons. Sticking to the plasma cutter is still very viable: the One Gun achievement is in this one too.</p><p>The other weapons had some changes made to them. The pulse rifle, for instance, had its useless secondary fire replaced by the second game's grenade launcher. I would say though that the pulse rifle is still, even upgraded, pretty ass with its primary fire on Hard/Impossible. It is not as effective as in the second game.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLQMqEj8yJmSBuDKYmzCz-nshnUMk_3R-fC4hZcRQ2UUzLPqP85IhRd2XY_LolDbNESI6eikimkzpcLmQZVg3t9yukYzsZ-VH_QDNAtxlQ0RJZPmswdvt9Qk62LKijEWack7HFvJoQcppwp0LLKxaIficKWvTNbRqWRPbJgawuNlsnTDjF1ibBIzuohQ/s1920/dsr004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLQMqEj8yJmSBuDKYmzCz-nshnUMk_3R-fC4hZcRQ2UUzLPqP85IhRd2XY_LolDbNESI6eikimkzpcLmQZVg3t9yukYzsZ-VH_QDNAtxlQ0RJZPmswdvt9Qk62LKijEWack7HFvJoQcppwp0LLKxaIficKWvTNbRqWRPbJgawuNlsnTDjF1ibBIzuohQ/s320/dsr004.png" width="320" /></a></div>Before the remake's release, I watched streams of the original being played and people were suggesting the streamer to use the necromorphs' pointy limb parts with telekinesis to save ammunition. But that wasn't a proper thing until the second game -- appears to be common to misremember that. Motive added the feature to this one, though, and now you can throw all kinds of sticks. On Hard/Impossible it's almost required.<p></p><p>Zero-G parts also got the second game treatment: no more lunging at surfaces to latch onto; you can freely float around with the suit's thrusters. One short vacuum section in the original has a power node floating in space. It is pretty visible if you look out the broken hull but it is also easy to miss. Of course, I was trying to pull everything from the void the moment I got into a similar section in this one. But there was nothing there. However, later in another short vacuum walk, I did find a ruby semiconductor floating out there to be grabbed.</p><p>A similar detail was the Peng. I saw something in the spot it was supposed to be and already thought it was good that there's always Peng. But instead there was something better: a text log informing me it had been relocated, to be found later into the game. I appreciated such a nod to veteran players.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRM3A1JN4iJcRhg4_Giv3wbvTI5GgoSIoeNlN8x-6ogJGn9S44ZsGwA3YBfu_nDjjOSCKW5MfcyfyOAGeKH2ckJ7k3g8qgCA5NkLtYRS9cDETsTbLYBlSr3KXwnRq08x5durva5ZUjWaA1fM0jMRUEZXKGNUEmeqcFo5wzJbzNunXg9agtO6u4XDhjg4/s1920/dsr005.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRM3A1JN4iJcRhg4_Giv3wbvTI5GgoSIoeNlN8x-6ogJGn9S44ZsGwA3YBfu_nDjjOSCKW5MfcyfyOAGeKH2ckJ7k3g8qgCA5NkLtYRS9cDETsTbLYBlSr3KXwnRq08x5durva5ZUjWaA1fM0jMRUEZXKGNUEmeqcFo5wzJbzNunXg9agtO6u4XDhjg4/s320/dsr005.png" width="320" /></a></div>In the remake you're not limited to the part of the USG Ishimura the current chapter takes place in. Instead you can backtrack to pretty much anywhere you've been to. It is more immersive and there is a reason to do so as well because the remake introduces security clearance locked containers and doors you can't open right away. That is also kind of a nod to the original that has orange-lit lockers that you can never open. The remake also has few side missions which with the backtracking lengthen the game. My first run took about twice as long than in the original.<p></p><p>Wandering aboard the Ishimura aimlessly for things you missed can be counterproductive because the game keeps sending necromorphs at you -- they seem to be almost on a timer. You might end up spending more resources than you will find. On my last run, I made the effort to write down where all the initially inaccessible stuff was and kind of figured out the optimal times and routes to visit them out later. I faced very few unnecessary spawns that way.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Worth a replay or two</h4><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfKhoyRRiUXtl_NnrGBNbIQ4toGW6YJ60e7AO0OY0C1CMMg6qW2AyH_H8nC9pXyYBHkVH3JFNQFnCiZBVBr2wu3hZDmQCQGZFmSG8XnaAUj6ShVbigEmqYbZpIWUtBHvT2CZlrF-CzChd9QkU8edOPf58bc2c_3dW4e7uIWiBXDgL6ghVusV72y7CvlI/s1920/dsr006.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfKhoyRRiUXtl_NnrGBNbIQ4toGW6YJ60e7AO0OY0C1CMMg6qW2AyH_H8nC9pXyYBHkVH3JFNQFnCiZBVBr2wu3hZDmQCQGZFmSG8XnaAUj6ShVbigEmqYbZpIWUtBHvT2CZlrF-CzChd9QkU8edOPf58bc2c_3dW4e7uIWiBXDgL6ghVusV72y7CvlI/s320/dsr006.png" width="320" /></a></div>Technically it could take only two playthroughs to unlock all the achievements. However, that would require you to play on Impossible on your first run, which is quite the challenge. Regular combat is not that dangerous after few upgrades but it's all the instant kill hazards that will end your run (although you can then continue the save on Hard). For some reason -- to make it easier? -- they changed the malfunctioning floor gravity plating to deal shock damage instead of being instantly lethal. The turret sections were altered as well.<p></p><p>For beating the game on Impossible, you get the Burnished Suit and the foam finger "Hand Cannon". Like in the second game (and the third game's Devil Horns), Isaac makes "bangs" and "pew-pews" when the hand cannon is fired. It kills everything instantly, which is fun but kind of pointless as well, after having so truly and utterly beaten the game already. Although, if you actually did beat the game on Impossible first, the foam finger will make New Game+ very easy. There's a new, alternative ending on NG+, provided you manage to find all 12 Marker fragments and place them on their pedestals on the crew deck.</p><p>I wonder if Motive will be remaking the second game as well. <i>Dead Space 2</i>'s PC port had a handful of minor issues too, as I recall; I wouldn't mind a bug-free version. And if they do remake it, they might as well continue to the third game and completely reboot it, to not have the series be written into a dead end like that.</p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Edited 2024-03-04</b>: Fixed few errors.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdUYBVZUzIElgqQXW_f6PyKj-zggcUoM6Pz8aypq8jDPquOwEmcRcwGGmtU9Bs3urWgHAZqU1DXQRBHA1AXmA-Oa_CzBKKov57_svFXDNPmJGbi182J7TKn7iWugIndWKtqQrpHcuOCs-Y-ltyRZ9iligo_MjAS-2xKH7LTC37Wrm9fiHSX8b9A0Rl-jo/s1920/dsr007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdUYBVZUzIElgqQXW_f6PyKj-zggcUoM6Pz8aypq8jDPquOwEmcRcwGGmtU9Bs3urWgHAZqU1DXQRBHA1AXmA-Oa_CzBKKov57_svFXDNPmJGbi182J7TKn7iWugIndWKtqQrpHcuOCs-Y-ltyRZ9iligo_MjAS-2xKH7LTC37Wrm9fiHSX8b9A0Rl-jo/w400-h225/dsr007.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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(I should start writing them down; I feel like I've started forgetting them.) And that rule still holds. South Korea is culturally and geographically close to Japan -- at least when viewed from here -- but I haven't needed to think if they are close enough for Korean games to be included in the prohibition of mine. For the longest time South Korean studios seemed to release only pay-to-win MMORPGs in the West and those are easy for to me to ignore. But now there's <i>Lies of P</i>, a third person soulslike action roleplaying game released in September last year. It was on Game Pass day-one but I decided to wait for bug fixes and balance adjustments.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCPT3cd0HhIHUXZbaf2IeZ8TR0AjNQVF2G117DZ3tYQUaQ2S79cRMsniXyKKWaIyAlE526JYmIJfw8gDUScECqvM0J4P-hC9ODPl5OOsuwvZ2OEIW-g3y-eSkbmMVKBEgIcpUzGPNeHOl5xeFEV97Vdu_X9ycsc3UNhnxp1y-UAdwsF7mmfujv5k0mk2U/s291/lop000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="216" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCPT3cd0HhIHUXZbaf2IeZ8TR0AjNQVF2G117DZ3tYQUaQ2S79cRMsniXyKKWaIyAlE526JYmIJfw8gDUScECqvM0J4P-hC9ODPl5OOsuwvZ2OEIW-g3y-eSkbmMVKBEgIcpUzGPNeHOl5xeFEV97Vdu_X9ycsc3UNhnxp1y-UAdwsF7mmfujv5k0mk2U/w148-h200/lop000.png" width="148" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">A stylish Korean soulslike</h3><p></p><p>Lies of P is perhaps a poor subject of study on this matter because it intentionally borrows so much from <b>FromSoftware</b>'s genre-defining titles. But just from how the protagonist looks, I can tell it's not a Japanese game. Even though the countries produce similar looking art, there are subtle differences I am unable to explain. Outside character art it's more difficult to tell in this case, again, due to how much was imitated.</p><p>The premise of Lies of P is funnily enough also very close to a year older French soulslike, <b>Spiders</b>' <i>Steelrising</i>, released in 2022. Steelrising is set in an alternate French Revolution where clockwork automatons roam the streets and you play one of such automatons. In Lies of P the danger comes from a puppet uprising (the same thing in practice). Lies of P draws its inspiration from <i>The Adventures of Pinocchio</i> by <b>Carlo Collodi</b>, as one can guess from the title.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Loosely based on a 19th century Italian children fantasy novel</h4><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgp-DL474ZjlrGv-j51Qa9r8iMbB9RzwFOoigN5vuEk0JM8gmqUfDNnv9nTXWfU4VqeMgQt4turGfzldXoosOjz3PueSDY-1F2mHsL1FwAosK0C3QmUr8_5-zdeHDsKpuJVHQfpIbdX-orbKDlVc2xCm4hwI9VjELGpUlgtLgfOSBVeXVT7A1GzIBzTLk/s1920/lop001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgp-DL474ZjlrGv-j51Qa9r8iMbB9RzwFOoigN5vuEk0JM8gmqUfDNnv9nTXWfU4VqeMgQt4turGfzldXoosOjz3PueSDY-1F2mHsL1FwAosK0C3QmUr8_5-zdeHDsKpuJVHQfpIbdX-orbKDlVc2xCm4hwI9VjELGpUlgtLgfOSBVeXVT7A1GzIBzTLk/s320/lop001.png" width="320" /></a></div>'Lies of P' is not a great name. I doubt any English-native studio would call their game that, nor have a 'P-Organ' in it -- assuming they were not making an intentionally comedic product. The single letter P does sound Korean in style: just look at the names of Korean pop artists and groups. I wonder though if <b>NEOWIZ </b>(stylized with capital letters like most Asian companies seem to do for whatever reason) also didn't use Pinocchio in the title to avoid possible legal incidents. Collodi's work has obviously been public domain for literal ages but with <b>Disney </b>it's better to be safe than sorry.<p></p><p>P gets sort of a talking AI guide, housed in a lamp hanging from his belt from where the guide chirps his advice and comments. The guide is called Gemini which is obviously a nod to Jiminy from Disney's Pinocchio -- the original story doesn't give a name to the talking cricket.</p><p>My knowledge of Pinocchio lore is almost non-existent so I was pretty much oblivious to any reference. However, from multiple passing comments on the internet I did learn that the cat and fox mask Stalker duo in the game are from the original story -- I wonder if Neowiz used the word 'stalker' in the sense it's used in Eastern European works as coined by the <b>Strugatsky </b>brothers. I also liked that they included <b>Asimov</b>'s Laws of Robotics as a story element.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6NtjKVx_2K9ARO8b5oPvcIvm0V3BOoiIXif6BKy_8VCNMGSy8dYXwWkJN4XDzoCAATCaUq0uG3LJ7dF-rK5I-nNRBA2PPhx5x5OhJDSeyNZ_DZEvyNvk90kgUXkcKhOJC7dQXmu4AUfr10xbZimBomN2NWpNVhRM-WClqJLB2uUvk1TnvD4bEC4tSyU/s1920/lop002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6NtjKVx_2K9ARO8b5oPvcIvm0V3BOoiIXif6BKy_8VCNMGSy8dYXwWkJN4XDzoCAATCaUq0uG3LJ7dF-rK5I-nNRBA2PPhx5x5OhJDSeyNZ_DZEvyNvk90kgUXkcKhOJC7dQXmu4AUfr10xbZimBomN2NWpNVhRM-WClqJLB2uUvk1TnvD4bEC4tSyU/s320/lop002.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Country of origin shows in the writing</h4><div><br /></div>Lies of P would have benefited from having copywriters with better grasp of the English language. A lot of game mechanics-related texts are ambiguous or clumsily written. Particularly bad are the passive P-Organ skills. Dialogue has occasionally an unnatural flow, though it's not terrible overall. Lipsyncing on the other hand was so off that I doubt there was any actual attempt there. A lot of the NPCs are masked too, hiding their mouths.<p></p><p>The protagonist is a silent one, which I think was a missed opportunity with the humanity meter. He could've had a robotic filter to his voice that got clearer the higher his humanity was, similarly to how his appearance changes. Geppetto's voice I instantly recognized as <b>Anthony Howell</b>.</p><p>The game's environments are beautifully detailed and it also ran well for me. I played with mouse and keyboard because I wanted a bit of change from all the controller use of late. With few rebinds, Lies of P played perfectly fine although if they had wanted so, Neowiz could have made keyboard scheme to be considerably more powerful. Instead of mirroring controller compliance, they could have assigned each item slot to a separate button on the keyboard so that you wouldn't need to clunkily cycle through items.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8XNe5-PoUr7KpTVyrS78mYVZt9pmLqTUH0LLVKHF1NY__5wxOEy8EHSn3au6Oxa-pwYoHRPP389v-iZtIxvhv2XNALFIIiBIMPLHXOWMFw3-gjwYouYrp5tB_Qo4NR-5LKIxQZYEwU7SJfSfvycKEfdEiU7j_F5-jmNEMTPIqsiTAZeRUPlvlhQCvEg/s1920/lop003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8XNe5-PoUr7KpTVyrS78mYVZt9pmLqTUH0LLVKHF1NY__5wxOEy8EHSn3au6Oxa-pwYoHRPP389v-iZtIxvhv2XNALFIIiBIMPLHXOWMFw3-gjwYouYrp5tB_Qo4NR-5LKIxQZYEwU7SJfSfvycKEfdEiU7j_F5-jmNEMTPIqsiTAZeRUPlvlhQCvEg/s320/lop003.png" width="320" /></a></div>Music is in an important part of creating the atmosphere of Lies of P. You can even find songs to play at the game's hub of Hotel Krat. A lot of the tracks, maybe even all of them, are sad or melancholic. I had to check if Neowiz had had the same composer (they hadn't) as in <i>The Handmaiden</i> film because there was such a similar tone to many of them. I wonder if it's a typical Korean thing, the somber melodies. Some songs are sung in French and I'm pretty sure the vocalists had Korean accents, which made for an interesting listening. It's not something I hear every day.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Don't marry a weapon too early</h4><p>I decided to go for something slow and hard-hitting for my weapon of choice. I looked up what people thought the best weapons to be, and once I had acquired parts of one (Krat Police Baton handle and Big Pipe Wrench head), I stuck with it until the end. You can get pretty high damage hits with the part combo due to its Fable arts, and I did beat the game. But I regretted not having experimented around. With how non-boss weapons can be broken apart, to mix and match the handles and heads, there is a lot of variation -- at least on paper. There is weapon upgrading, though, so you do have to commit to something if you want to be as efficient as possible.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jFYilF59S9R01Kw5lXOw3thPgOFtw6fntepT7mg8wwotEs9u5OT3lGsmONg3Y5hGlfqs4NUEGkAn4fwLu5q5nJ4KhRYmKmQOa930bgX6zkl7Dl3jd9UCqx92V3vxSWXxAZiHcbwLS2VPNrE4BdPH4CuG5_MxA1ncc5VXptW3F44FMs-lxk_lIaFgbvI/s1920/lop004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jFYilF59S9R01Kw5lXOw3thPgOFtw6fntepT7mg8wwotEs9u5OT3lGsmONg3Y5hGlfqs4NUEGkAn4fwLu5q5nJ4KhRYmKmQOa930bgX6zkl7Dl3jd9UCqx92V3vxSWXxAZiHcbwLS2VPNrE4BdPH4CuG5_MxA1ncc5VXptW3F44FMs-lxk_lIaFgbvI/s320/lop004.png" width="320" /></a></div>I think using only the Baton-Wrench made some bosses considerably more difficult as well. It's not the slowest bonker there is but having watched few videos, faster weapons seem so much quicker at killing bosses. I don't know how exactly the game decides stagger for enemies but my weapon of choice didn't really do a great job at it. Lies of P lacks a fast running attack too so my techniques from <i>Lords of the Fallen</i> and <i>The Surge</i> games didn't apply at all.<p></p><p>The Baton-Wrench has a short reach too, which can be highly frustrating. Enemies become weakened (flashing health bar) when enough stagger (?) damage is dealt to them. Hitting them then with a charged attack or Fable arts will disable them for a moment, allowing you to a sneak attack (or whatever it's called). However, many enemies and bosses have a tendency (almost as if the know) to skitter or jump back, away from your reach when they are weakened. With my weapon it was often impossible then to hit them then. Too late into the game I started using the shot put throwable that allows you to disable weakened enemies from afar.</p><p>Because of the short reach I used the Puppet String legion arm which can pull enemies to you or vice versa. The final upgrade allows you to launch yourself into the air for an attack with the latter use. It's an awesome, cinematic move -- when it works. I think it should have i-frames or at least be uninterruptable. If the enemy hits you when you're flying at them, the attack gets canceled. And it's very possible they move out of the drop attack's reach if they were in the middle of a lurching attack animation.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifui3FPEAM8jDXdGPVCZj11F0ImBdtScLrK3bw3AtcIN_RAsckaHfVMkR9gKBYp_071BewGRxYnNkm2cwH84384_knUaSZjB42PJrjT8zn_xGboZciyw_DxO4RIkKuLKBM6q02JM5rHfG0uoUCKKMVdOm0y_gjK0f0faO6KsTezhAvsFrqlAM1LQS6TQY/s1920/lop005.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifui3FPEAM8jDXdGPVCZj11F0ImBdtScLrK3bw3AtcIN_RAsckaHfVMkR9gKBYp_071BewGRxYnNkm2cwH84384_knUaSZjB42PJrjT8zn_xGboZciyw_DxO4RIkKuLKBM6q02JM5rHfG0uoUCKKMVdOm0y_gjK0f0faO6KsTezhAvsFrqlAM1LQS6TQY/s320/lop005.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Challenging but not overly so</h4><p></p><p>Each of the three enemy types of the game are weak to certain type of damage. With elemental damage the game is clear about it: use shock against puppets, fire against carcasses, and acid against humans. I perceived there to be a similar system for physical damage types even though Lies of P doesn't mention it, as far as I know. I appeared to have easier time against puppets with my blunt weapon while carcasses and humans not as much. This was quite apparent against bosses: I beat some puppet bosses on first attempts and the other two types took generally few more.</p><p>The most difficult bosses for me were both Black Rabbit Brotherhood fights, the Walker of Illusions mini-boss, and the penultimate boss of the game (if going for the Rise of P ending; otherwise it's the final boss). The first BRB encounter I ended up cheesing with throwables. I filled my belt slots with anything that can be tossed and threw them all at the Stalker leader who pretty much died for them. Throwables in general are your go-to solution if a boss is giving you massive trouble. You should probably weaken the boss first so that the throwables will actually kill them and you don't waste your stuff, though.</p><p>I used throwables against Walker of Illusions too and it was more than cheese: an exploit really. You aggro the boss, go back down the ladder you came from, then climb back up to stand just on top of the ladder and the boss won't aggro from your throwables. I found the boss impossible to beat otherwise. Her attacks are so erratic and relentless. And if you can't interrupt her illusion summoning, it becomes a complete mess. I really would have needed a faster weapon there.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMFGxYrMXkgfi22uEc8Z75ZCdOFIq3FtuhXrXeU3COle7U-8Qt27HWcz6mKhrTPmse7nHJovXTa92Sbhw33keWflu4HNadPYLLhc9wV0RvXPxX9mawICr92tFlgqM1Djh5tCN1FjEk9Q14empsgWZ4vyHje5pnVTfa-LWu9YymqXm4r-D3gdtmKUmNxM/s1920/lop006.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMFGxYrMXkgfi22uEc8Z75ZCdOFIq3FtuhXrXeU3COle7U-8Qt27HWcz6mKhrTPmse7nHJovXTa92Sbhw33keWflu4HNadPYLLhc9wV0RvXPxX9mawICr92tFlgqM1Djh5tCN1FjEk9Q14empsgWZ4vyHje5pnVTfa-LWu9YymqXm4r-D3gdtmKUmNxM/s320/lop006.png" width="320" /></a></div>In the second BRB fight I didn't use throwables; merely circled a pile of trash until the boss had a brief recovery window after one of his brutal attack chains to let me bonk him once or twice. It took a while but it got the job done. The penultimate boss didn't involve any tricks; I just retried enough times (maybe around 10). The main problem with the fight was how massive the boss's model is and how close the camera is to you: you can't see attacks coming properly. I reckon the fight would be much easier if the camera was zoomed out farther. The human-sized final boss afterwards took only two attempts for me to beat.<p></p><p>There's a general impression that soulslike games are somehow particularly difficult. Often they are only as hard as you want, although that depends upon the game. You can spend time farming levels to overlevel a boss or even invite another player to co-op in the actual FromSoftware Souls games, I believe. In Lies of P, you can summon an AI controlled specter to aid you on the proper bosses at the cost of a resource (which seemed rather plentiful). The specter can be detrimental to you learning a particular fight, though. Erratic bosses become even more erratic when they are attacking something else. You're likely to get hit by their backward swings if you try to go in for a backstab. The specter can be helpful for providing initial damage to carry you into a second phase before perishing, though.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHa63WvUzxoiBlihN2zXGVhvBpY8LN0eawxP0wyAyl6MR7q3SZ6lZpq0koBFDxn6KW8JJk8M8gHsJbabkpmh0wSKj6PpiuGAUPbmPSpHFemBskZQABuYaSbvHMnhPtzEGjc0UfP1bWgTPRNPWe7diweE8S7MTYlC5JjlnEFkpXW49shAgbXy6GsfQhc8w/s1920/lop007.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHa63WvUzxoiBlihN2zXGVhvBpY8LN0eawxP0wyAyl6MR7q3SZ6lZpq0koBFDxn6KW8JJk8M8gHsJbabkpmh0wSKj6PpiuGAUPbmPSpHFemBskZQABuYaSbvHMnhPtzEGjc0UfP1bWgTPRNPWe7diweE8S7MTYlC5JjlnEFkpXW49shAgbXy6GsfQhc8w/s320/lop007.png" width="320" /></a></div>I would say that among the few soulslikes I've beaten, Lies of P was the most difficult one -- maybe with the exception of what <i>Darksiders 3</i> is on its Reckoning difficulty. (I've beaten it only on the second highest, Apocalyptic.) Bosses generally took around 5 attempts, though, so I would hardly consider Lies of P immensely difficult. And on replays it would probably be considerably easier. Sometimes when I had hard time I realized I wasn't blocking enough. You don't have to go for perfect parries for every attack; many times it's enough to simply tank attacks with block up and then regain health via the guard mechanic by hitting back.<p></p><p>Lies of P is a delightfully girthy game; it took me 46 hours to beat. There is just the correct amount of bosses to fight and areas to go through. I might buy it later on from a sale too: I believe the game will be getting paid DLC (which are unlikely to be included on Game Pass). There's a post-credits scene that teases something, probably a sequel, with a character called Dorothy -- from <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> by <b>L. Frank Baum</b>?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIpeC_CW4V1Wc2VKheZJZTyGA3I0OWPT97QB5a0Tw9EYK7T4PLdFo2JjanLFgos4lgBY2irVHYH_F-H2zuzI27Vpd9nljKm94ESYwUHx7Hm6oPtXwxgqSP8RfC7QI1PgPZPTUNhnVVh-wnMQyPsmcoFQDAs0yyou6LtT13-Qm-Ww1i-9qpW3izD58HnMM/s1920/lop008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIpeC_CW4V1Wc2VKheZJZTyGA3I0OWPT97QB5a0Tw9EYK7T4PLdFo2JjanLFgos4lgBY2irVHYH_F-H2zuzI27Vpd9nljKm94ESYwUHx7Hm6oPtXwxgqSP8RfC7QI1PgPZPTUNhnVVh-wnMQyPsmcoFQDAs0yyou6LtT13-Qm-Ww1i-9qpW3izD58HnMM/w400-h225/lop008.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzsQLzd4eusSXZvob3XwkiC4yL5mfJK-uQbZORSYm91Q30_dw0Yrq2GhRdO6PwYj9EsidKiOoKQYcqQslUqnesX3UiuPmaFFJPQ71CCyaKohZQvTjRplDrZtr6LkmAHwfd6j7s8vNJCfP9_uS7FGL6QfAFM2YKMFMRV7PZXxhTqiceyLEw0P37scQti8/s1920/lop009.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzsQLzd4eusSXZvob3XwkiC4yL5mfJK-uQbZORSYm91Q30_dw0Yrq2GhRdO6PwYj9EsidKiOoKQYcqQslUqnesX3UiuPmaFFJPQ71CCyaKohZQvTjRplDrZtr6LkmAHwfd6j7s8vNJCfP9_uS7FGL6QfAFM2YKMFMRV7PZXxhTqiceyLEw0P37scQti8/w400-h225/lop009.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRh9mRy9yML-FXNzXZpi5xSX-HmH4N0-8UIIcm18ls3PLhOWAxl78wYyThDOjjUUUjx7xHxvHwlwGUvLkIShOoI7htZgYUVT6_WWTQtQbDdMFrVRm8c8P0FVjVldW6trzxeFf9Lk7QVTQLjqqNqIUbrIJSVlRhiNi0S_mMwlRLHicHAoHDIS4yXh5oSc/s1920/lop010.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRh9mRy9yML-FXNzXZpi5xSX-HmH4N0-8UIIcm18ls3PLhOWAxl78wYyThDOjjUUUjx7xHxvHwlwGUvLkIShOoI7htZgYUVT6_WWTQtQbDdMFrVRm8c8P0FVjVldW6trzxeFf9Lk7QVTQLjqqNqIUbrIJSVlRhiNi0S_mMwlRLHicHAoHDIS4yXh5oSc/w400-h225/lop010.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6nwZFrCfRdM8KONzy4gt5x3kq5zBsZqFQ6UBYqpzAFNAV-W1jJC0OeBIpyC8oloGf4nBjLLCwi-oIfg_4DU9LRe5hEjl4OOrQZrERR_6BL302504kZ3iI4c_BnghFtx36Awv1ZSo1tTddZM906-043mofiCoTcTt1bKsdfuUktmGiyPIS18HtcmEaNHo/w400-h225/lop012.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RO_sEm5xR8l0HY-9z_GRNZpqozJt6lsvnAiJrxZcyCHX15wq0wha_ZjrAXrQUEKd280f8KV3FiEYnyOJlK-DdLLBHp8Ec_7BWB6ERiSwlm5r-aGhxN-fM3pkCzLMYo7dndESxbzcGQJbfAhKr5y1_ipp6-s-hFYB-PHyDxEMmsriDnIYlRIcflud5Gs/s1920/lop013.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RO_sEm5xR8l0HY-9z_GRNZpqozJt6lsvnAiJrxZcyCHX15wq0wha_ZjrAXrQUEKd280f8KV3FiEYnyOJlK-DdLLBHp8Ec_7BWB6ERiSwlm5r-aGhxN-fM3pkCzLMYo7dndESxbzcGQJbfAhKr5y1_ipp6-s-hFYB-PHyDxEMmsriDnIYlRIcflud5Gs/w400-h225/lop013.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKxay3ATfR4Omsr8gDFZXFNc_NUPvD2mUzkiw2sVr8EAZi07Gz0Rq_UT31KkdRJXlOIr825FB0RHKxX61nxrtUBa17jC92tgaTlhFn7XkgLxRxgqgmP8bRTVmhmfg2TiOg4wgHlkwcFiXnXj-tKTT0SO9V8eZzFIUrktBp0_dyhmRuiGZpBTtlpP_LG-o/w400-h225/lop015.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJydOw9p4zWC365sENyciihA_18QFlcnVlwhXb8f93h_qlwi6Y0seTSEhhi7-Axgc_6L0XAnoDBnLa03JRMNBoe_sD1AI0weAg3-B_-vLsivr9HIkTEnhlemHIDt3NakV926AOdN4yU6hqe4zKRwWobc-x_r_RaeNPvddr4q_pV-m1bA7j9sYQ05hRfdc/s1920/lop016.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJydOw9p4zWC365sENyciihA_18QFlcnVlwhXb8f93h_qlwi6Y0seTSEhhi7-Axgc_6L0XAnoDBnLa03JRMNBoe_sD1AI0weAg3-B_-vLsivr9HIkTEnhlemHIDt3NakV926AOdN4yU6hqe4zKRwWobc-x_r_RaeNPvddr4q_pV-m1bA7j9sYQ05hRfdc/w400-h225/lop016.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-75896935979435012992024-02-24T23:58:00.008+02:002024-02-27T04:13:08.321+02:00Gotham Knights<p>I wonder if <i>Gotham Knights</i> had a development story akin to <i>Redfall </i>in how it was maybe intended to be a live service title but then, for whatever reason, pivoted away from it before release. Perhaps <b>Warner Bros.</b> as a publisher and/or the developer studio in Montreal decided it had no staying power. Or WB deemed the then-still-in-development and now recently-released <i>Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League</i> more fitting as their title for Batman universe microtransactions.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_Vy92LVK1UHzAxgm7b0adqILJjTta_zuD0Yv1L9T7cCU5CK_oUbyoyVkP_QnPqT-t1D823qt1zoV6eod5wdP7Jn59L9jaa0YF02Is-GVKY1DAOBzGhUO-COquFi4qLZKn2ivcPanckELTrzgyxqzyx3zl1KcpFpBCXfukOA-0NxV-zoPU38WDxciCqk/s287/gk000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="213" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_Vy92LVK1UHzAxgm7b0adqILJjTta_zuD0Yv1L9T7cCU5CK_oUbyoyVkP_QnPqT-t1D823qt1zoV6eod5wdP7Jn59L9jaa0YF02Is-GVKY1DAOBzGhUO-COquFi4qLZKn2ivcPanckELTrzgyxqzyx3zl1KcpFpBCXfukOA-0NxV-zoPU38WDxciCqk/w148-h200/gk000.png" width="148" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Initially passable Batman-universe ARPG</h3><p></p><p>Redfall and Gotham Knights have a similar setup: a co-operative title with a selection of four heroes. In Gotham Knights' case the co-op is limited to two players maximum outside the post-release addition, Heroic Assault mode which allows up to 4 players. I reckon the 2-player limit was due to the decision to have no tethering on the players while out in Gotham City. That is taxing for hardware and even by capping the game at 30 frames per second on consoles did not help for it to avoid performance issues when the two players would go their separate ways.</p><p>Gotham Knights is completely playable as a singleplayer game; it doesn't even have co-op requiring achievements -- which is always nice. It also ran quite well even on my old PC unlike Redfall despite being likewise an open world Unreal Engine 4 game. Gotham Knights is clearly better optimized.</p><p>One should not go into Gotham Knights thinking it's a continuation to the <i>Batman: Arkham</i> series. While it's in third person, it's not stealth-action-adventure but an action roleplaying game. Stealth is largely just an opener to fights, and there is leveled, crafted gear and enemies. Numbers go up etc.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4MckhSJuYpZihTfJnibydniap2UeQAW_hUyRHBQk5fPni0rG0-qeLijqao7j81nnKbgAHKYOKhBp5m-j_RVhX3lIpUhclQP2bP3WfclsQICx9S37rpAIy9FyQVJOb0Y2gwRWfiK5Uin8f8DTZniIkEQ76twQmvMwhCOWMmlPD0BFleOptIGQ_lqpSUA/s1920/gk001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4MckhSJuYpZihTfJnibydniap2UeQAW_hUyRHBQk5fPni0rG0-qeLijqao7j81nnKbgAHKYOKhBp5m-j_RVhX3lIpUhclQP2bP3WfclsQICx9S37rpAIy9FyQVJOb0Y2gwRWfiK5Uin8f8DTZniIkEQ76twQmvMwhCOWMmlPD0BFleOptIGQ_lqpSUA/s320/gk001.png" width="320" /></a></div>The story could technically fit in the same continuum after the Arkham games but it is separate, even from other Batman works that share the name. In the rather great opening movie, Batman dies while fighting Ra's al Ghul. It's up to for the rest of the Bat family to continue his work. The main villain of the game is a mysterious cabal Court of Owls whom Batman had never been able to flush out. You can pick from Batgirl, Robin, and two former Robins: Nightwing and Red Hood. (And switch between them at will at their Belfry base.)<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Not dead, by the way</h4><p>The whole no-killing thing is even more questionable here than in the Arkham games -- although honestly the Batmobile in <i>Batman: Arkham Knight</i> with its shocking and non-lethal rounds was far from plausible. I think in the Arkham Knight DLC with Red Hood, he simply kills bad guys with his guns but Gotham Knights really tries to convince you that he's using some sort of non-lethal rounds. Then there's all the elemental damage all the characters do: I'm sure being set on fire or applied with whatever toxins they are is completely non-lethal.</p><p>The most hilarious thing are ledge takedowns from below an enemy. Batman always made sure to attach a rope to the guys so they wouldn't hit the ground but not these delinquent vigilantes. In the open world, there's at least one encounter location high up in an unfinished skyscraper where you can pull enemies over the edge to make them fall all the way down to street level.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCyapN-5PP4gC2qp5ysYKAZtnXafAJkbnviSJ-pirUvLPWewsJs2iz2ZQKcxJqgbz3ufzkUiiFUMqTXSzBFrkt2TFNtRGB0eiLATf6cbJbyzQI4N_RYA7XwTcPtBq9rKN8elUH5F5NaP2Dq4_60PxDnIpNBpoX95Elgbrcuy5m9H56IEDc0ToLlzK7do/s1920/gk002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCyapN-5PP4gC2qp5ysYKAZtnXafAJkbnviSJ-pirUvLPWewsJs2iz2ZQKcxJqgbz3ufzkUiiFUMqTXSzBFrkt2TFNtRGB0eiLATf6cbJbyzQI4N_RYA7XwTcPtBq9rKN8elUH5F5NaP2Dq4_60PxDnIpNBpoX95Elgbrcuy5m9H56IEDc0ToLlzK7do/s320/gk002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Gotham Knights is practically a proof-of-concept for a 4-player co-op Darksiders 4. As shown, it is very possible to have 3 mainly melee characters while one, Strife/Red Hood, plays more like a third person shooter, all in the same game. I wish that game happens one day...<p></p><p>I chose to play as Batgirl. In Arkham Knight, Barbara Gordon had become the Oracle because Joker had shot her and put her in a wheelchair. In this game's timeline, she has recovered from some severe injury as well though I don't think the cause is ever detailed. When she gets knocked out in a late game mission, her first worry when coming to is if she can still (walk?) and Alfred is right there to assure her back will be fine.</p><p>I think Batgirl is a pretty good choice for solo play. With perks she eventually becomes permanently invisible to all electronic security measures (except for pressure plates that appear in about 3 short missions). That includes mines some baddies like to lay on the ground. It's pretty nice that you can completely ignore them although you should be aware that the charged Batarang throw does blow them up.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vMXG9-jDbk-NjKZ32GxSDj74_Hm-OqOwdy_uR4Qrsm2rkxNmJ3JtkT9d6GUOGRygjbPa7GgE4z2wBO7yCKazqmeeGw10Ke7FBFFTglqmkg2kGa6ZnpSrvlD7FT4-f56-D5utxr-BYQBawFomFPa216DTnNuS1wuFdiCNm8bo9slqgS1ETRnOy2ZezLQ/s1920/gk003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vMXG9-jDbk-NjKZ32GxSDj74_Hm-OqOwdy_uR4Qrsm2rkxNmJ3JtkT9d6GUOGRygjbPa7GgE4z2wBO7yCKazqmeeGw10Ke7FBFFTglqmkg2kGa6ZnpSrvlD7FT4-f56-D5utxr-BYQBawFomFPa216DTnNuS1wuFdiCNm8bo9slqgS1ETRnOy2ZezLQ/s320/gk003.png" width="320" /></a></div>Each hero gets initially the same traversal ability which is physics-defying grapple. After some progression, each gets to unlock their own in addition. I have actually no idea what the other characters get but Batgirl's is the classic cape gliding -- which didn't feel quite as good as in the Arkham games. Also the grapple's targeting is far wonkier; it's sometimes immensely difficult to have it target the ledge you want. There is also Batcycle which when driven, adds a bit exaggerated screen effect -- to make it seem like it goes faster than it actually is?<p></p><p>Your character is a tad too chatty to my liking, in this game, thinking out loud too much. <b>Elias Toufexis</b> as the Penguin was also an odd casting choice. I couldn't associate Toufexis's voice with the character at all.</p><p>The screenshots I took seem to mainly focus on Batgirl's different suits, and not show much of the game -- very useful; thanks, me. Some of Batgirl's outfits are nice but I think I would have preferred how she looks in Arkham Knight's DLC. I quite liked the look of the city, though. There is fancy lighting and fog. The city silhouette looks pretty when viewed from a high point.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRM1cbipn9iN7V_WsPnsq9uh2GAgTka08fL8Cu4XfxIIFy5fOIN3g_QTnE_6Xp-x-OB7_k6ZyKuTgwlgwGUVeJCAYZR2-qSnyEYeL3Brm_wUHO10v7X45b1ujuYL8UTBQ1RJWJ5sDJ2EVCUrDN79atSN5siBfBpDH9M777FB7ZFv4QFZjW7cHFzldpCU/s1920/gk004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRM1cbipn9iN7V_WsPnsq9uh2GAgTka08fL8Cu4XfxIIFy5fOIN3g_QTnE_6Xp-x-OB7_k6ZyKuTgwlgwGUVeJCAYZR2-qSnyEYeL3Brm_wUHO10v7X45b1ujuYL8UTBQ1RJWJ5sDJ2EVCUrDN79atSN5siBfBpDH9M777FB7ZFv4QFZjW7cHFzldpCU/s320/gk004.png" width="320" /></a></div>Not a fun one to platinum</h4><p>I enjoyed Gotham Knights up to a point enough to 100% it even though I was playing it on just Game Pass (which revealed the game's working title to have been Mercury). I think that was a poor decision on my part: the grind heavily soured my experience. All the enjoyment is lost when you have to do the same thing repeatedly and/or enemies get bothersome to defeat.</p><p>I did unlock every single achievement after a playtime no one should spend on this game. However, I didn't quite accomplish everything there was: I never got the final skill point because it would have needed chasing all 30 most wanted criminals that randomly spawn in Very High difficulty premeditated crimes. It is incredibly frustrating to do full sweep of every such crime on subsequent nights to not meet a single most wanted criminal. I thought fuck it and uninstalled the game right there.</p><p>Achievement grind at release was also much less painful. You just had to beat the game twice -- or technically not even that if you chose to do all side stuff before NG+. Both Heroic Assault modes are terrible grinds, particularly the first with 30 fucking map levels. There's not even any randomness -- with roguelike elements the whole thing might have been actually fun. The mode is somewhat more challenging as solo but it was quite doable for someone who has solo'd <i>Mass Effect 3</i>'s multiplayer matches in the past.</p><p>Your crafting recipe lists get overly lengthy after playing at the same (max) level for long. And suit/weapon mods have limited space in inventory. After it gets full, the mods start combining on their own, possibly removing one you had intended to keep. They really could have improved the inventory system but I guess it was my fault for sticking with the game for so long.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjSK9UAtL2xKnLqWNmGUp7vB3YiprdzKLVvrXwOOd6hue8kYzAUfyWvrKJNdi_QjYh2vDdq9n9JpJ6CQ76l2kZMDd9utb644iyVOhCxbuQ75-h0QTQSOaztf6zdZDqxKjBeDxp59TP1BXYMe0Pmw8ij1OHIJjfdtM5oWrG8EcGtHzEj_cgzpFEozEaM7s/s1920/gk005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjSK9UAtL2xKnLqWNmGUp7vB3YiprdzKLVvrXwOOd6hue8kYzAUfyWvrKJNdi_QjYh2vDdq9n9JpJ6CQ76l2kZMDd9utb644iyVOhCxbuQ75-h0QTQSOaztf6zdZDqxKjBeDxp59TP1BXYMe0Pmw8ij1OHIJjfdtM5oWrG8EcGtHzEj_cgzpFEozEaM7s/w400-h225/gk005.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9M-LvIKYKRrA4_OsCk2oxpRUS3wWWP8m0KJ3xk0FUN4QpqJ4kOF1yJqR-BNlHqHdzwDGpcF0ieY_1Nw7lE3poaRI4gaQdxhRr16SiAeDAinBvnnkk8wDJymbM5jXJ7WK82M1ZxSaYxKIHHB7NJ4h2cnT9P3OHuUkxJoaM2lUI0SCjGfb1xWI_AYRy_Lc/s1920/gk006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPsepeWTJDzwPp2K3RYQPEpiYZ8wMC0mVPAb8l5l-y_WHji47ikIqR4M8QZsEH_OUetI9-H5Edd6OwilG_gU8hwcuEil4y0KsxzWuQFgiEjY3YDcvTp_fNDcxqfptmk21ZK8TfrvDEqpAJRpuOdHtRysqhi9P8BDVsioygTd-efYdP4l4UoM08VxdFv_g/s1920/gk011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPsepeWTJDzwPp2K3RYQPEpiYZ8wMC0mVPAb8l5l-y_WHji47ikIqR4M8QZsEH_OUetI9-H5Edd6OwilG_gU8hwcuEil4y0KsxzWuQFgiEjY3YDcvTp_fNDcxqfptmk21ZK8TfrvDEqpAJRpuOdHtRysqhi9P8BDVsioygTd-efYdP4l4UoM08VxdFv_g/w400-h225/gk011.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckLwHnSJEGj9Ppo38kFwaYFAS0BsfS9dW-CgPy1Pz5eqDtZNu2y97YbrkiPm1cgJ_2LlGnLHifevgFkjZDhyphenhyphenT_8WFnhD5bSsflNVkXh8duNqytwXSJg5UTrDxHcKL5hkD6sGdFH356GjyG0lMnw6vX26RgCVHW9wmsyNFFmlJIfqUBPddDOZLxhM06dY/s1920/gk012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckLwHnSJEGj9Ppo38kFwaYFAS0BsfS9dW-CgPy1Pz5eqDtZNu2y97YbrkiPm1cgJ_2LlGnLHifevgFkjZDhyphenhyphenT_8WFnhD5bSsflNVkXh8duNqytwXSJg5UTrDxHcKL5hkD6sGdFH356GjyG0lMnw6vX26RgCVHW9wmsyNFFmlJIfqUBPddDOZLxhM06dY/w400-h225/gk012.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-66811305816340828322024-02-23T21:42:00.000+02:002024-02-23T21:42:09.356+02:00Children of Memory<p><i>Children of Memory</i> by <b>Adrian Tchaikovsky</b> was a big disappointment for me after the great <i>Children of Ruin</i>. I found the second book such an improvement after <i>Children of Time</i> that I suppose I had hoped this third one to be even better.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgnPKfuY9LqEKuwLCV9bsEY_y5DyNMjMGufgle3foP6QKBw_GkCD9hllKzIBProOgTHCpXeNV_pQx-_-exwCfZYgksGAQt4Ru1nH-TLOrd86LBzKJ7JxdHZXtw1lenwqPS5GTWmdx2HjCLt4J0JlbolR42ly1K2LY3R1DTFxIPbahsZq4vnS7Ve5mWFM/s639/children_of_memory_cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="413" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgnPKfuY9LqEKuwLCV9bsEY_y5DyNMjMGufgle3foP6QKBw_GkCD9hllKzIBProOgTHCpXeNV_pQx-_-exwCfZYgksGAQt4Ru1nH-TLOrd86LBzKJ7JxdHZXtw1lenwqPS5GTWmdx2HjCLt4J0JlbolR42ly1K2LY3R1DTFxIPbahsZq4vnS7Ve5mWFM/w129-h200/children_of_memory_cover.png" width="129" /></a></div>All the previous character types return: humans, jumping spiders, octopuses, the entity from the planet Nod, and the grumpy Avrana Kern AI. With the cephalopods' space faring technology, the species are able to explore space at an even more reasonable pace.<p></p><p>Children of Memory jumps back and forth between time. It features two separate planets that were the target for terraforming and colonization projects by the ancient human empire before the fall. Neither project got as far as the previously featured ones; both failed to create an Earth-like ecosystem. One of the projects, on the planet Rourke, did give birth to a Corvid species that due to the environment evolved to be seemingly very intelligent. The Corvid's ambassadors join the other species in their mission to explore space on the spacecraft Skipper.</p><p>The other planet, Imir, is the main stage for the novel. An ark ship called Enkidu tried to establish a human colony. There is bit of a mystery going on -- and that mystery really just keeps going on without getting anywhere until the end. Book is a weird format for this kind of story which I've seen previously in many scifi shows. After I figured out what was happening, there was still a whole lot of it left. I reckon you could remove about 40% of this near-500-page book without it losing any substance.</p><p>The Corvids are the most interesting part of Children of Memory but I feel there's like a conclusion missing, some realization. Tchaikovsky got a bit cheeky by using Clarke's third law format:<br /></p><blockquote>"Sufficiently advanced instincts are indistinguishable from intelligence."</blockquote><p></p><p>I also wonder if Tchaikovsky's uses a thesaurus for adjectives or if they're in his regular vocabulary. I know I don't regularly see words such as: germane, affability, askance, acerbic, irascible, garrulous, shorn, or impolitic very often. I could guess some of their general meanings from their context but I had to look up most of them.</p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-50397337939802220212024-02-20T23:58:00.003+02:002024-02-21T00:12:33.563+02:00Assassin's Creed Liberation Remastered<p><i>Assassin's Creed III: Liberation</i> (2012) was originally a PlayStation Vita game. A year and a half later it was re-released on more powerful platforms as a beautified version, titled <i>Assassin's Creed Liberation HD</i>. And then, years later the game was included in <i>Assassin's Creed III Remastered</i> likewise as a <i>Remastered </i>version. I have a feeling the HD and Remastered versions are identical apart from online features having been removed from the latter.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBQ0QyaV6XN32Nvl9GRsqWp-XaiewX_k31Kfe9DB3RJb0-wE_xFVbgTKmIPdJxc_404gsXEqGT43mHFgJgkqcSgQ9Ah1hB-gR1gZkAn5_pF6rOvzsyB5-ksakC8p-Me1Il8T1n8AVdZjBnspJMLASW2Xws6Ekh3zN8JUceB-_-1TnjA5X93fcB2YOVGE/s589/aclr000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="462" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBQ0QyaV6XN32Nvl9GRsqWp-XaiewX_k31Kfe9DB3RJb0-wE_xFVbgTKmIPdJxc_404gsXEqGT43mHFgJgkqcSgQ9Ah1hB-gR1gZkAn5_pF6rOvzsyB5-ksakC8p-Me1Il8T1n8AVdZjBnspJMLASW2Xws6Ekh3zN8JUceB-_-1TnjA5X93fcB2YOVGE/w157-h200/aclr000.png" width="157" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">A competent, easier-to-grasp spin-off</h3><p></p><p>Because of the platform AC Liberation was on originally, I had very tempered expectations when going in. I knew the game was going to be simpler and have a smaller scale than the mainline games. Probably thanks to that, Liberation met my expectations, and even surpassed them in some ways.</p><p>AC Liberation takes place almost concurrently with AC3, and there's even one mission with a Connor cameo. Liberation's primary location is Spanish-occupied New Orleans in Louisiana. You play as Aveline de Grandpré who is the first woman protagonist in the series, I believe. Her father is a wealthy French merchant while her currently missing mother is a freed African slave.</p><p>There is a slight disconnection, ludonarrative dissonance, between the gameplay and the story. At one point, Philippe de Grandpré gives Aveline a page from her mother's diary. You can find the rest as collectibles around the maps. They don't appear to be diegetic, however --- or Aveline doesn't read them -- because they reveal a twist that Aveline doesn't see coming. Makes her look kind of dumb and naïve.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Some novel features</h4><p>Aveline's dual heritage is reflected in gameplay: she can dress as three different personas who each have access to slightly different means for assassin business. Aveline's public-facing persona is the Lady who can't do parkour in her dress and is limited in her carried weaponry. Instead she can charm and bribe, and eventually gets a parasol gun that allows her to take out targets in public completely incognito.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNd2Do1CqepHxT4LOYY8bQfTSarTOKkCMB3-IaoGw1Pd4Yo61vkpb0SzrXB1quiEmwgnKF1-nHBkCPaADRVCQ9cjVVUmerjM3BwNYwbAw763URvIu5TNALFQxCKCazQk3-N50cmzZAULiGcruEDw-QXKj_pVfWtKrIe6rkRT-vk26XYB9Su3beyKvQcFw/s1920/aclr001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNd2Do1CqepHxT4LOYY8bQfTSarTOKkCMB3-IaoGw1Pd4Yo61vkpb0SzrXB1quiEmwgnKF1-nHBkCPaADRVCQ9cjVVUmerjM3BwNYwbAw763URvIu5TNALFQxCKCazQk3-N50cmzZAULiGcruEDw-QXKj_pVfWtKrIe6rkRT-vk26XYB9Su3beyKvQcFw/s320/aclr001.png" width="320" /></a></div>The Slave persona is free to do parkour but her notoriety goes up really fast when people witness her doing anything that's outside normal slave behavior. The Slave can hide in plain sight by joining others sweeping the ground or by carrying boxes around.<p></p><p>Finally, the Assassin persona has access to all the usual tools of the trade. The downside of being in the persona while in the city is that she always has one level of notoriety, which means guards will notice her even outside restricted areas. She's free to run on roofs without accruing notoriety though.</p><p>I quite enjoyed the persona mechanic. In a full-sized AC game, having to change the persona at dressing chambers might get annoying but for this smaller scale title the feature stayed novel enough.</p><p>It shows that the game was designed to be played in shorter sessions on a handheld device. Missions aren't long and goals are simple. 100% sync takes far less effort than in the mainline games. Liberation tried to serve some curve balls with "take no damage" sync conditions at the end but I still remembered how to manage those from <i>AC Revelations</i>: smoke bombs.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqAPvQEX-WKq3QgA6EoPOBnZ4x97AGWtF-GhSW-4Pl4GKMMTCpMG8SRjN3JI7qHdLnyFpIf32SGXtZYCLU4pXjO4OQ8k1eUB6nj0R2FL9lvSX-477AnXVZHIJFfYBtHw9FLifrfJ4peZjl0AlVPvt2f0Jxiv93RtS_zkTIh8jp1Ac6Nu9-pqNHmAIiOmU/s1920/aclr002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqAPvQEX-WKq3QgA6EoPOBnZ4x97AGWtF-GhSW-4Pl4GKMMTCpMG8SRjN3JI7qHdLnyFpIf32SGXtZYCLU4pXjO4OQ8k1eUB6nj0R2FL9lvSX-477AnXVZHIJFfYBtHw9FLifrfJ4peZjl0AlVPvt2f0Jxiv93RtS_zkTIh8jp1Ac6Nu9-pqNHmAIiOmU/s320/aclr002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Combat in AC Liberation seemed like it was copied directly from AC3. I don't think the game ever mentions it but there's even the musket double takedown move.<p></p><p>Enemies don't have AC3's full set of archetypes, though, so you don't have to be as careful with which counterattack combo you use. I found it odd that there is a special, time-pausing chain kill ability when the game also has the same chain kill mechanic as AC3. Outside the tutorial, I never found a need to pause the game like that.</p><p>The few new things include a whip. The whip can be used in combat as well as parkour, at select few spots to swing across a gap. I wish the city map had more of such spots. It would've been nice to have it allow some shorter parkour routes, for instance.</p><p>There's no modern day sections in AC Liberation. Instead you're a consumer enjoying an "Abstergo Entertainment" product. The memories have been altered a bit, to hide the actual events involving Templars. By killing few special NPCs throughout the game, you can unlock the true ending. It doesn't really affect the storyline of the Assassin's Creed franchise, though -- it is indeed a spin-off, rather than a mainline title. But the similar in-universe style continued more involved in the following game, <i>Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag</i>, in whose present time you're an Abstergo employee.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIARtfgOZMxICGVDjyQ1zsmu_y6rKHPB6SKjIRMUJWytgXvqww2hB6xVR-H8U6ZTCbjy6gKlCHeUVTtA2ZgjvQOtjlrC7p5bVo-_ASOQtEc06jfhZ-zp9Mvnnb7XF93Eien7w4yLN6F_8JtFLTkyzvjA7G22GzNuIewf_lrrtBWrcxjRUst7gRchfR5E/s1920/aclr003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIARtfgOZMxICGVDjyQ1zsmu_y6rKHPB6SKjIRMUJWytgXvqww2hB6xVR-H8U6ZTCbjy6gKlCHeUVTtA2ZgjvQOtjlrC7p5bVo-_ASOQtEc06jfhZ-zp9Mvnnb7XF93Eien7w4yLN6F_8JtFLTkyzvjA7G22GzNuIewf_lrrtBWrcxjRUst7gRchfR5E/w400-h225/aclr003.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-abWnHHS_7JTwy5NpuAYG7F4Cq1EIHoU33zQb_shm9iZnLw-0YYnmPFmFIk2u1Si0NthZxWqBYgVTmXTGuoLJfCFuFVBB1SPROIf7W3vBZ28IUFs8mEFL64iRgxHVSsndd200Diw4rsHbvlVgJaVtLAlfoilKLV9lzQeDePXNFSXzEFtwMYbj8REGWs/s1920/aclr004.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-abWnHHS_7JTwy5NpuAYG7F4Cq1EIHoU33zQb_shm9iZnLw-0YYnmPFmFIk2u1Si0NthZxWqBYgVTmXTGuoLJfCFuFVBB1SPROIf7W3vBZ28IUFs8mEFL64iRgxHVSsndd200Diw4rsHbvlVgJaVtLAlfoilKLV9lzQeDePXNFSXzEFtwMYbj8REGWs/w400-h225/aclr004.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIckjPSRqSH6eN_eBRgW1ozoLG4HFe7-rLf9IWxLpR6LC7_Q5s93OnFI6KhOqFwGugIZUcMprQIghtkLOX0QPNBpZUpgehIvkH5vDukw1v2QQ3jQqDlAH_Qo6qHWRWdzH5T_G13EX3OFwOAMjgGEbJm5iFY2FzwVEnoS4WY9NE6KHpqKO0kbtbZjnY7bg/s1920/aclr005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIckjPSRqSH6eN_eBRgW1ozoLG4HFe7-rLf9IWxLpR6LC7_Q5s93OnFI6KhOqFwGugIZUcMprQIghtkLOX0QPNBpZUpgehIvkH5vDukw1v2QQ3jQqDlAH_Qo6qHWRWdzH5T_G13EX3OFwOAMjgGEbJm5iFY2FzwVEnoS4WY9NE6KHpqKO0kbtbZjnY7bg/w400-h225/aclr005.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBaQQdwHZ1VtflduOpjN9_mRJgfP1jjBmeSLewvLUs4PNLZP1UDPEIFnjVGlNQcG2O-4iSwTGEaxsf5Q9jmjcKrs0m2yLCPFg6wmcckGdXNDkejI80unRZrA_BcT6olp1Mi0srESwaMynLCWy8xw42QzHhzH3LPGD8k6YdeHVLtxxPOKsgGAAxs-YptPo/s1920/aclr006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBaQQdwHZ1VtflduOpjN9_mRJgfP1jjBmeSLewvLUs4PNLZP1UDPEIFnjVGlNQcG2O-4iSwTGEaxsf5Q9jmjcKrs0m2yLCPFg6wmcckGdXNDkejI80unRZrA_BcT6olp1Mi0srESwaMynLCWy8xw42QzHhzH3LPGD8k6YdeHVLtxxPOKsgGAAxs-YptPo/w400-h225/aclr006.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUgTS6udie5gccB2wy09WWDpRiMfGIWfOjYe-8NgSNq9D3aEFEE14eokg3k3-FmnGJkH6g3WlyhbBrQV7_3rEuL3Cosqw06LdVRP5QN1gg502la6hqyLuDzGf09SgtnO8DgpB2rTAqzyzHYXTgfjSYy2n1cO0jhsha4eVNqHlgLW49NGWwI01uF5ueumc/s1920/aclr007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUgTS6udie5gccB2wy09WWDpRiMfGIWfOjYe-8NgSNq9D3aEFEE14eokg3k3-FmnGJkH6g3WlyhbBrQV7_3rEuL3Cosqw06LdVRP5QN1gg502la6hqyLuDzGf09SgtnO8DgpB2rTAqzyzHYXTgfjSYy2n1cO0jhsha4eVNqHlgLW49NGWwI01uF5ueumc/w400-h225/aclr007.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOWn0rA8V1P1qAlI0KMsthZYdzvnaDrT7U5y5DDxXkCd5aISioR-zhQkCSkj70gXKS3a7dmPB5l54XZAsXx_5FtQhjzGu4-DzOD5n15c9RZFg9Kt1Z1agn6-Gz-jzo0kokOTkQkwXxWoDJL5UFARWIY-npz9T4t2UXg8Oq2sY0j2Utm_S5FxF5RsI-h_M/s1920/aclr008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOWn0rA8V1P1qAlI0KMsthZYdzvnaDrT7U5y5DDxXkCd5aISioR-zhQkCSkj70gXKS3a7dmPB5l54XZAsXx_5FtQhjzGu4-DzOD5n15c9RZFg9Kt1Z1agn6-Gz-jzo0kokOTkQkwXxWoDJL5UFARWIY-npz9T4t2UXg8Oq2sY0j2Utm_S5FxF5RsI-h_M/w400-h225/aclr008.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-19340642089813814602024-02-18T23:59:00.007+02:002024-02-27T04:27:16.384+02:00Assassin's Creed III Remastered<p>I finally got back to continuing my <i>Assassin's Creed</i> franchise run. The next game on the list was <i>Assassin's Creed III</i> (2012) and specifically its 7 years newer <i>Remastered </i>version. I was previously perplexed why <b>Ubisoft </b>had remastered this particular one but the reason really is obvious. It's the same as always: money. They had a good window to sell the same game again on a newer console generation.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfyGLUBHUe7K2kaRozQ_zFmIrQXeZ8ObmUUcUpA8_kuDT3a_8M0OaxsKdBAOp-8i5h9H_YKSQHOpIhBY2tWnZuRmgt-Z7mxwZI4tuO3V2TEGLik_z244jBuKYCPeGTTf-W3NWLmYjmk5p0suqBKhyhGxv7hxTDGQnOTEiv8a3IjcF5ydBGzmn2yVwanM/s639/ac3r000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="479" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfyGLUBHUe7K2kaRozQ_zFmIrQXeZ8ObmUUcUpA8_kuDT3a_8M0OaxsKdBAOp-8i5h9H_YKSQHOpIhBY2tWnZuRmgt-Z7mxwZI4tuO3V2TEGLik_z244jBuKYCPeGTTf-W3NWLmYjmk5p0suqBKhyhGxv7hxTDGQnOTEiv8a3IjcF5ydBGzmn2yVwanM/w150-h200/ac3r000.png" width="150" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Demastered</h3><p></p><p>I had heard bad things about this re-release. Apparently it introduced new bugs and lighting got worse. I can't comment on the original's bugs as I haven't played it but this one definitely has its share. Lighting is definitely darker; some dark areas are pitch black. I noticed that when watching a video of a side mission because I couldn't find how to get to the chests on the map. I literally couldn't see the routes because in the remaster the place is so much darker than in the original release.</p><p>In AC3's present day, Desmond Miles and the rest of old assassin crew are trying to stop a solar flare from wiping out life on Earth using Precursor technology. It is locked in a Precursor vault and to get to it they need a key. To find it, Desmond once again enters the Animus.</p><p>The game has an unusual past time beginning for the series because you don't initially play as the actual past protagonist. The prologue is rather long too, even when beelining the story -- which is mostly what you can even do. In fact, you should completely avoid picking up any collectibles because they may not properly count when collected as Haytham Kenway, which will then lock you out of 100% sync.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqn70DLppjVpSWWsHG5WBfhNBJg1gY4qW9qRZawMOoFOdNbEY14xOWk3AYLkcC-EuEr9rbFQG5s6D1jO2RfIrlKAMGo_8GXR3GrM74hFcYQp20tI3rMkFoEXyiWpWWzgKve7mVZ5ikxz2z-Nrgg3bSyooldQdHa9S_xHtIytYfKUl-JRM617-200yDCpg/s1920/ac3r001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqn70DLppjVpSWWsHG5WBfhNBJg1gY4qW9qRZawMOoFOdNbEY14xOWk3AYLkcC-EuEr9rbFQG5s6D1jO2RfIrlKAMGo_8GXR3GrM74hFcYQp20tI3rMkFoEXyiWpWWzgKve7mVZ5ikxz2z-Nrgg3bSyooldQdHa9S_xHtIytYfKUl-JRM617-200yDCpg/s320/ac3r001.png" width="320" /></a></div>A related pro-tip I happened to read on Reddit: Catching a flying page can be almost effortless if you keep it out of the camera when approaching it. Turn to look as directly from above as possible and then run or jump at the page just before it appears on your screen. Most of the time you will catch it right there. This also applies to <i>AC4 Black Flag</i> in which you gather sea shanties by this way. The flying things (tattoo designs) returned in <i>AC Valhalla</i> as well but in that you can simply use Blinding Rush to slow time. (Once you've acquired the ability of course.)<p></p><p>Another side note: There is an NPC in the prologue, so minor that it's surprising Ubisoft even gave him a full name. But that name is James Holden which I found an amusing coincidence due to it being also one of the main characters in <i>The Expanse</i>. Due to AC3's setting, the NPC's name made me look up if Captain Holden's name did come from a historical figure but I don't think that's the case.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Protagonist downgrade</h4><p>AC3's lengthy prologue does justify itself in the end and you get to the actual main character, half-Mohawk, half-English Ratonhnhaké:ton. His eventual mentor, Achilles Davenport, figures the Native American name is too difficult for Colonials (including himself) and dubs the would-be-assassin as Connor.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVXeb0bxumcHpRmMSAFytoGCj5gddjhZNvkwWVpKC4TwXehQcXoccj8Ua9jPGtUW04ozslX2RTILLVLldb1EYCbu_SHO4P1bo5UnFB6KUn_jGWd5axfKgsZ8WGmUXe_WcnaQUh0pBfVwpgOkyTvo4759c-5QCRmSzE_tuEiv-iXku7yUgCRWNpFE8hCkY/s1920/ac3r002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVXeb0bxumcHpRmMSAFytoGCj5gddjhZNvkwWVpKC4TwXehQcXoccj8Ua9jPGtUW04ozslX2RTILLVLldb1EYCbu_SHO4P1bo5UnFB6KUn_jGWd5axfKgsZ8WGmUXe_WcnaQUh0pBfVwpgOkyTvo4759c-5QCRmSzE_tuEiv-iXku7yUgCRWNpFE8hCkY/s320/ac3r002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Connor as a protagonist is a massive stepdown from the upbeat Ezio of the previous three games -- even the initial Haytham was more likeable. Connor is such a typical depiction of a Native American man: he is sulky, stubborn, naïve, doesn't talk much, and is quick to anger. Admittedly Ezio starts off somewhat similar -- they're both young initially -- but I feel Connor doesn't get nearly as much character growth. He doesn't change much over the game.<p></p><p>AC3's time period is far from my favorite ones as well: late 1700s Colonial America. It's too late from the more interesting European rise-from-the-mud times and too early from the sufficiently advanced period. Gun technology is in a particularly annoying spot: yet in its baby shoes. Guns fire once per barrel and then take half a day to reload. Also: didn't Ezio have more advanced hidden guns and crossbows? It's not that I want the game to turn into a third person shooter; I just dislike the character going into a long-ass muzzle-reload animation in the middle of things.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">American War of Independence</h4><p>For Americans, AC3's the location and time may be closer to the heart, being the stage for the Revolutionary War. You as Connor get to meet various founding fathers of the USA and take part in key events like dumping tea crates into the Boston Harbor and fighting in the first battles in Lexington and Concord.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJmEW_FFPxJdpHsaDtARuJc0zAnzo4mHAAz_N6rPYx4PETOV-2ajGzUsheorXWjGBkDHH_F0sSZUiO2YjGpOI7h-EfD7edAnEVew-7D_j2aeKSvUW7Ddn6vmoxWMM1y13ERvB7RiRPXlXhdpo257gWGeWHB_mguzRTLPAc2cgwvPBp0dDkCRcOgpf9REU/s1920/ac3r003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJmEW_FFPxJdpHsaDtARuJc0zAnzo4mHAAz_N6rPYx4PETOV-2ajGzUsheorXWjGBkDHH_F0sSZUiO2YjGpOI7h-EfD7edAnEVew-7D_j2aeKSvUW7Ddn6vmoxWMM1y13ERvB7RiRPXlXhdpo257gWGeWHB_mguzRTLPAc2cgwvPBp0dDkCRcOgpf9REU/s320/ac3r003.png" width="320" /></a></div>My stance on the events is very much indifferent. However, I found the locations amusingly familiar after I eventually realized where I was -- this is where <i>Fallout 4</i> takes place in its alternative, retro future! For some reason, my brain had buried the connection between Boston and Fallout 4 despite the game being my most played one on Steam and even having watched <b>Noah Caldwell</b>'s travel logs of visiting the real life locations. I experienced a sudden enlightenment at some point when playing AC3 and then excited rode around the Frontier, to end up at the bridge beyond which Sanctuary Hills would be in Fallout.<p></p><p>Before I had listened to Mr. Caldwell's many thoughts on the Fallout series, I hadn't considered the significance of Fallout 4's location. <i>Fallout 3</i> being set in Washington was clearly because it's the Capital after all. And I thought the local history in Boston was closer to a coincidence than being the source where Fallout 4 drew its inspiration from -- even the factions: the Minutemen and the Railroad. I hadn't understood how important Americana as a whole is to the Fallout franchise; it feels silly in hindsight to have missed it. But I suppose there is a difference between being aware of something and truly understanding that something.</p><p>Having internalized it myself now, I wonder how well the developers on the Fallout 4 complete overhaul mod, <i>Fallout: London</i> (coming out in April), understand the franchise. What will be the basis of that? Also to consider for them is the tone. The Fallout games from <b>Bethesda Game Studios</b> lack the bite in their commentary compared to the original <b>Interplay</b>/<b>Black Isle</b> ones and <i>New Vegas</i> from <b>Obsidian</b>. Bethesda's Fallouts are more celebratory. The final "<i>--because war... War never changes.</i>" in Fallout 4 is more a hurrah than a lament. But to get back to the actual topic of this post...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Q47_0mOR3YzglLWwLSqGstj7_jTAMG40zs9fyOmTGNAQkKbDX5jTb_M5DhKb42vhGHQ4zB1adgJLMav65hE42cbJM_g3tjIIwirIEdyQUOqhh0EQ6OxCYXi5TvkWu-YEOQqQ184urVgOnNi42ZND00B5enh7DAn9mZc50vb-xLk7OeBMzP5HLAvZMo0/s1920/ac3r005.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Q47_0mOR3YzglLWwLSqGstj7_jTAMG40zs9fyOmTGNAQkKbDX5jTb_M5DhKb42vhGHQ4zB1adgJLMav65hE42cbJM_g3tjIIwirIEdyQUOqhh0EQ6OxCYXi5TvkWu-YEOQqQ184urVgOnNi42ZND00B5enh7DAn9mZc50vb-xLk7OeBMzP5HLAvZMo0/s320/ac3r005.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Seasonal changes</h4><p></p><p>While Assassin's Creed III's setting wasn't terribly exciting for me, I did at least like the changing seasons. Wadable snow (you leave a path in) must not have been as common back in 2012. It is kind of an annoying feature, though, slowing you down so much. At least you can often avoid that by climbing up trees where you'll find long branch paths tracing across the map. It's always cool for me to see a parkour object introduced for the first time in the series when I had been already familiar with it from the later titles.</p><p>Apart from the tree-running, I didn't enjoy the level design. I felt there wasn't much room for stealth; everything is so flat and simple. The fortresses in particular are disappointing. In too many of them I didn't see a way to enter inconspicuously so I just ran in and started murdering. At one point I realized I should try if the prisoner escort feature of the assassin recruits would allow me to just walk to a fortress's commander for an easy assassination. Regrettably I was detected soon after I entered the fortress despite the disguised escort. I'm not entirely sure if that's how it's supposed to (not) work or if the game glitched out. I found stealth in general to be very challenging. You get detected so quickly if there's an unobscured line of sight.</p><p>Fast travel points are still way too scarce at this point of the series. In the city maps of Boston and New York, you can unlock more fast travel locations by mapping the cities' underground tunnels and discovering entrances. I guess the undergrounds are some sort of refence to the Underground Railroad which helped slaves to escape (but wasn't literally underground nor a railroad). As a gameplay element, the mazes are tedious -- reminded me of too much <i>AC Odyssey</i>'s tombs. The remaster's poor lighting doesn't help either.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kNg4X_sF8C5d-hwcQ_f7fiCRnZqvW2O7o3PJpo5-Y9WG0p1B5CT3K-K3JANrEuN-pSOv5qrLeUMeF9t-x2TmDiRb32gnrxK_QA9ZDlG5JvzxRvawOuK5m81vlfIYSbZqv6Kqiv4W2mzZ7ezWGjwQRdTT_A5J-xVPGRfEQOFUrMwMcsFM5r6DwVNXkzQ/s1920/ac3r006.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kNg4X_sF8C5d-hwcQ_f7fiCRnZqvW2O7o3PJpo5-Y9WG0p1B5CT3K-K3JANrEuN-pSOv5qrLeUMeF9t-x2TmDiRb32gnrxK_QA9ZDlG5JvzxRvawOuK5m81vlfIYSbZqv6Kqiv4W2mzZ7ezWGjwQRdTT_A5J-xVPGRfEQOFUrMwMcsFM5r6DwVNXkzQ/s320/ac3r006.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Completionist's woes</h4><p></p><p>100% sync in AC3 is not an easy task; quite a few missions have annoying secondary objectives. The good news is that unlike previously, you can most of the time reload a checkpoint because failing to meet all goals doesn't tag the whole memory as imperfect. However, checkpoint saves are prone to being glitchy. The most hilarious one I encountered was while trying to escape a cave in a Davenport Homestead mission. Thanks again to the poor lighting of the remaster, I couldn't see where to go and fell to my death. The checkpoint save put me outside the cave, hundreds of meters away with no chance to "escape" the cave before it collapses.</p><p>The most time-consuming optional goal for a 100% sync for me was the naval mission The Giant and the Storm. To complete it with perfection, you have to take out each of the three ships at end of the mission by shooting at their weak points. Exposing the weak points is the problem because it's so easy to just end up destroying the ships right away. As per its name, the mission has a storm that makes precision aiming difficult due to all the massive waves going about.</p><p>I knew about AC3 having naval missions before starting it but for the longest time I thought AC4 Black Flag was the first game in the series to have sailing. It's probably not as much talked about because it's not as novel in this game yet. There's no seamless boarding of your ship; you basically just play as the ship in the naval missions. The few ship-to-ship boarding battles are specific to missions and happen after a cutscene.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-iz4qq9pd8FBj2shcaQV3bD7-ldhCM2uGohTf2daOichGPidguyG3Q_OSN__60qMHVKpTqLgU4v7MU8M51JjnHSkHWseUJNO920DC_kGpf6z8JhtLDfq4pXOIG-jjEP3JTgOVP7Ucq0qdmP4sn6u__ERj2NBEYXKks6WW0z6OFg-eirFRSbp1Nq8qZ34/s1920/ac3r007.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-iz4qq9pd8FBj2shcaQV3bD7-ldhCM2uGohTf2daOichGPidguyG3Q_OSN__60qMHVKpTqLgU4v7MU8M51JjnHSkHWseUJNO920DC_kGpf6z8JhtLDfq4pXOIG-jjEP3JTgOVP7Ucq0qdmP4sn6u__ERj2NBEYXKks6WW0z6OFg-eirFRSbp1Nq8qZ34/s320/ac3r007.png" width="320" /></a></div>The consistently buggy feature of AC3 is its HUD: enemies don't disappear from the minimap, mission goals get stuck on screen, and subtitles are weirdly ahead of spoken dialogue and cut mid-sentence between screens. Menus are also unnecessarily complicated to use. Selecting weapons and items for quick use is a hassle.<p></p><p>One thing where <b>Ubisoft Montreal</b> put some hilarious effort was the AI for the boardgames: NPCs play Checkers, Nine Men's Morris, and Fanorona at a competent level. It's another obstacle for completionists but luckily these days you can easily find the games around the web to have a computer play them for you at a master skill level, whose moves you then copy to your AC3 game. There's no need to become skilled at them yourself. Each of the boardgames is so poorly designed (whoever came up with them back in the olden times), easily ending up in a draw. I think that entirely skill-based tactical minigames shouldn't be a thing. Even Dominos (like in <i>Far Cry 6</i>) is better due to having an element of chance to it.</p><p>In addition to the boardgames, there are a lot of features I feel were unnecessary to the game. They're like some sort of historical authenticity additions that don't make for interesting gameplay. About everything in the Homestead; the trade supplies crafting and caravans. Assassin's Creed III just isn't a great game. <b>Jesper Kyd</b> also stopped composing for the series (until returning in AC Valhalla, I think) and the soundtrack is by someone else.</p><p>I did a 100% clear of the 3-episode DLC, <i>The Tyranny of King Washington</i> as well. It was a terrible experience; entirely uninteresting, and even glitchier than the main game. You guess quickly what's going on because things are so odd. Ubisoft got a lot better with these fantastical DLCs in the later entries of the franchise.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiReDKHNzjLrgP0Z-mM8wOtwxabazlib3NehUuRWpyTAtNS-fGsqToYhsTnv434mtdsAdeKuYhdk_cQeEAY5y_ivdmphyphenhyphen33J4DGCpRh-qgt4w2jQF0VJ0VpM7TXQDEOZBzsRjxXQoJJt5snlGEzkYUDRfb1OH2q3xhiMinOhvkTm6hMoHKlx32syVM8sPc/s1920/ac3r008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiReDKHNzjLrgP0Z-mM8wOtwxabazlib3NehUuRWpyTAtNS-fGsqToYhsTnv434mtdsAdeKuYhdk_cQeEAY5y_ivdmphyphenhyphen33J4DGCpRh-qgt4w2jQF0VJ0VpM7TXQDEOZBzsRjxXQoJJt5snlGEzkYUDRfb1OH2q3xhiMinOhvkTm6hMoHKlx32syVM8sPc/w400-h225/ac3r008.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilDsoYnFztBw8_dKN2Co0Ejh6brbfPrrgLX8Z3DOXgCBydAcSkDMi2DZwlMdZLowMSWzj43dDqdhzZCfcdh5eQtAbfH1hqL91wF7On8YWx6t5O6-z69KD2h8pxqO18R8SZwQ5F7rTHS8n0FT9HJd__RJpIe8r41XL3TODIyMJeV0AP70mxQdUeNFDahs/s1920/ac3r009.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilDsoYnFztBw8_dKN2Co0Ejh6brbfPrrgLX8Z3DOXgCBydAcSkDMi2DZwlMdZLowMSWzj43dDqdhzZCfcdh5eQtAbfH1hqL91wF7On8YWx6t5O6-z69KD2h8pxqO18R8SZwQ5F7rTHS8n0FT9HJd__RJpIe8r41XL3TODIyMJeV0AP70mxQdUeNFDahs/w400-h225/ac3r009.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90oYDkzEP231HpDOVNxzK2z1NPPwL8y6N5o32ZbJ1fXWUhkhO183_GmyjAvdJ9h-_rmdEFLILNg4NWcqPz-tOTer-TItjoqj65A85wZqjBari6gNxQ9IrjYQW0ML9Wab-XVLYBnhM9N_0AyR5eG-hSmaNnFrLxs6Z67ZOQ2Y0MacWha7W3dXiXmvuGtQ/s1920/ac3r010.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90oYDkzEP231HpDOVNxzK2z1NPPwL8y6N5o32ZbJ1fXWUhkhO183_GmyjAvdJ9h-_rmdEFLILNg4NWcqPz-tOTer-TItjoqj65A85wZqjBari6gNxQ9IrjYQW0ML9Wab-XVLYBnhM9N_0AyR5eG-hSmaNnFrLxs6Z67ZOQ2Y0MacWha7W3dXiXmvuGtQ/w400-h225/ac3r010.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUiWeUyDPOV7e_yw4m44BvragTnZyVnctXlTfnYBJDwn-bv60lAYfQevmY-SkXBnl4s-m64StMU1jmM4V2DOl04whi6FgactV90tJ2Ac8iYWOG7WIuMhVV3IgtH9Em81SGpVSYR9afjpYSRTDkzvYakEXeWHm_zTYeYoK0LnyJn91OMyXDudgfNNQW5Yc/w400-h225/ac3r012.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh89TSSMECQMsUPiQGsQv4gXtYsxerJhNaMOgFOy6L00pyHcJRvtAY9kE_6Hty0ixgER_Wsqo_9-I1nWKGkF_PIoQ3SuyoKZ_2kSawsyzXeoFRkutEgi82zaE1EbiUXNILTaxotiLTnd2MjCHQdSJnN1TR3YbjLfqbBR_sEvxvja-pg09WLUi9CvREprI8/s1920/ac3r013.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh89TSSMECQMsUPiQGsQv4gXtYsxerJhNaMOgFOy6L00pyHcJRvtAY9kE_6Hty0ixgER_Wsqo_9-I1nWKGkF_PIoQ3SuyoKZ_2kSawsyzXeoFRkutEgi82zaE1EbiUXNILTaxotiLTnd2MjCHQdSJnN1TR3YbjLfqbBR_sEvxvja-pg09WLUi9CvREprI8/w400-h225/ac3r013.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCeKRH7nG7RikpmaZJ4DPAa6n2E4KZuXoy3gJIVCBxoLgihTs2MLK7hMTqb_R_9cJUhTodOhYu2txeccmqKfL4cgvO7gE0KTC59uFy2Xwl92dWy0-PlWFkFPC8uvIRZucHZhpmlrsAp2advI0QTOjRE0ltsvFGIochFgG0QBQ9yCqZkjpJ6JDvcqgMuEw/s1920/ac3r014.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCeKRH7nG7RikpmaZJ4DPAa6n2E4KZuXoy3gJIVCBxoLgihTs2MLK7hMTqb_R_9cJUhTodOhYu2txeccmqKfL4cgvO7gE0KTC59uFy2Xwl92dWy0-PlWFkFPC8uvIRZucHZhpmlrsAp2advI0QTOjRE0ltsvFGIochFgG0QBQ9yCqZkjpJ6JDvcqgMuEw/w400-h225/ac3r014.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3O2UmEiF4JCDzs5gGbRAb7Y2CUxfXmcSpqd9w4T4IRQeNjQezZjg6WonmzidWOVJwjNTpn2g2eCuRb-gWX1Jjy6EQ5TSSUjCw7zLamMOKjdjzDyKfcjIogGKOdSuagq7yuOnaOKbO2HAZf5o8n4PugspjNdoFz9E8cOuy62t0xfGPRCKEVNo4Hu18HTQ/s1920/ac3r015.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3O2UmEiF4JCDzs5gGbRAb7Y2CUxfXmcSpqd9w4T4IRQeNjQezZjg6WonmzidWOVJwjNTpn2g2eCuRb-gWX1Jjy6EQ5TSSUjCw7zLamMOKjdjzDyKfcjIogGKOdSuagq7yuOnaOKbO2HAZf5o8n4PugspjNdoFz9E8cOuy62t0xfGPRCKEVNo4Hu18HTQ/w400-h225/ac3r015.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4tx_m5MU1LFe6lbg21vrYr0BXGRFyiCavoug8nmB_PfIYhp5iONJYjkOUQFy72wHvsyxgZdUr9W74BtZ8yzTjkUdljq2T15NJamgqLyTz6F1A4JboAvXVy5t3rmrX8fj-2qaDzUWMmizXmsiiaW03pqYa-IWkhkkIgLRNKTZzejiyzlXIx1LNyaBl8yo/s1920/ac3r016.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4tx_m5MU1LFe6lbg21vrYr0BXGRFyiCavoug8nmB_PfIYhp5iONJYjkOUQFy72wHvsyxgZdUr9W74BtZ8yzTjkUdljq2T15NJamgqLyTz6F1A4JboAvXVy5t3rmrX8fj-2qaDzUWMmizXmsiiaW03pqYa-IWkhkkIgLRNKTZzejiyzlXIx1LNyaBl8yo/w400-h225/ac3r016.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A familiar looking bridge</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnuv8svuhG3Ki6b-YP3z8OW_MhSbuJ6Az7Qa4IQYiOHA8nATvcDd_UUxB1v7QEpNcCOssIqWGZQ-AOHCOL_kgdfn7ytHV6HNyAvvBoavyuao3fnU8OfViR6s2zAEWLiAwlCVCaIulP8Tcb1wLlMoyG4nb_64ddV2yNiw5VUhd5YBQpzU1e0Ro1NBqqPdc/s1920/ac3r017.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnuv8svuhG3Ki6b-YP3z8OW_MhSbuJ6Az7Qa4IQYiOHA8nATvcDd_UUxB1v7QEpNcCOssIqWGZQ-AOHCOL_kgdfn7ytHV6HNyAvvBoavyuao3fnU8OfViR6s2zAEWLiAwlCVCaIulP8Tcb1wLlMoyG4nb_64ddV2yNiw5VUhd5YBQpzU1e0Ro1NBqqPdc/w400-h225/ac3r017.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAHUIerBP_6Nxndh0tLBbUwGE2YzLxrMIxlPItq-ALCkMyLDjFw3HbK1MEQqUuzIHAbWRfHn-2TjUjrETBsq7BdhGshM0l7DmOkGqrXz8naBXeypUv6cshgJPDfF9yoVS1oREiH1_4mwLaM9ef0ZupGcrMQuEnwarlGAYpbKwQN-KjkTaK_BVsqv-swCE/s1920/ac3r018.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAHUIerBP_6Nxndh0tLBbUwGE2YzLxrMIxlPItq-ALCkMyLDjFw3HbK1MEQqUuzIHAbWRfHn-2TjUjrETBsq7BdhGshM0l7DmOkGqrXz8naBXeypUv6cshgJPDfF9yoVS1oREiH1_4mwLaM9ef0ZupGcrMQuEnwarlGAYpbKwQN-KjkTaK_BVsqv-swCE/w400-h225/ac3r018.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZl80dnpTkdtH7hO4rOArCQtXmm1oDZZjFVbMGMVulMYULwLMxEeiq2Vn6gRGvzWeiisxKe3QqkOgaQg2xI8G8rTTy-alrZyCF-s42TIs1ABtSy_QVUu5MP7gJBW0ZA0Bt9J4scox2DRUW0589M5-unKQrtGEcP5yF11aR1-xrNy29H25Jrqtq6sZyRU/s1920/ac3r019.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZl80dnpTkdtH7hO4rOArCQtXmm1oDZZjFVbMGMVulMYULwLMxEeiq2Vn6gRGvzWeiisxKe3QqkOgaQg2xI8G8rTTy-alrZyCF-s42TIs1ABtSy_QVUu5MP7gJBW0ZA0Bt9J4scox2DRUW0589M5-unKQrtGEcP5yF11aR1-xrNy29H25Jrqtq6sZyRU/w400-h225/ac3r019.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YQ1IPoeq_W50E5RbnXKKQYCVj2lAR_-T-ny4aVv3Zn6h5iY0jrMcqc2aCXkRZ1sXWCQEwF559ku-y_vmLpT66XustF6P25YILH96PFmfyEYVbqroLeP0T8me-j5Nb7UI4pcTVPiZ5an-BqJpzg9lgvEAJ3UiJEDX2RLNQAqzS_kmekHzrLJ1xoayQGg/w400-h225/ac3r021.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgWN9LsldXFen7R-I9u9K-ETjouAYU6n2pPS0SQS0hop1PvGL8qQ7K-O6Q0kzCw7FeEWReHhE-Xhx0qtmWtkU1c0XirIJI8hwroimwBcswjgMVWaP_1Sfn2TnVKJ-Gsb3aTq-iGZcADsc8xjj60wW-60vQ3wJB1BOGqNvWGjodBWfVKePL_Ca0R3tsX9M/s1920/ac3r022.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgWN9LsldXFen7R-I9u9K-ETjouAYU6n2pPS0SQS0hop1PvGL8qQ7K-O6Q0kzCw7FeEWReHhE-Xhx0qtmWtkU1c0XirIJI8hwroimwBcswjgMVWaP_1Sfn2TnVKJ-Gsb3aTq-iGZcADsc8xjj60wW-60vQ3wJB1BOGqNvWGjodBWfVKePL_Ca0R3tsX9M/w400-h225/ac3r022.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-81185813594844488442024-02-11T21:05:00.005+02:002024-02-14T23:41:13.479+02:00Disco Elysium<p>When I listed my top 10 favorite games of the 2010s back in June of 2020, I wrote I was doubtful there would be a need to add anything from the decade's games I hadn't yet played at that point. However, there was one game from 2019 that I was thinking would make the list once I got to it: <i>Disco Elysium</i>. I didn't want to drop anything from the list now so <a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2020/07/top-10-games-of-2010s.html" target="_blank">I have just added this masterpiece as a +1 to it</a>.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uT2HcwIPk-dYys0Sn7V1V-QFm_4d2J4y2gUF9RpBU_kTdoMyDbZWqaf33sWOYKebbYhP7AVE4kYGgWttOQLjcuGtZO7uKJgyfoNf2DGAj7OxnjwVFaCyw0ogDsYeOfYBx7LaWkN2xTRMUnEVpPBH-p9sU5CiEbSJVQSVvGKHJ-JT9SECM0Rh5yghCec/s325/de000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="216" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uT2HcwIPk-dYys0Sn7V1V-QFm_4d2J4y2gUF9RpBU_kTdoMyDbZWqaf33sWOYKebbYhP7AVE4kYGgWttOQLjcuGtZO7uKJgyfoNf2DGAj7OxnjwVFaCyw0ogDsYeOfYBx7LaWkN2xTRMUnEVpPBH-p9sU5CiEbSJVQSVvGKHJ-JT9SECM0Rh5yghCec/w133-h200/de000.png" width="133" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">An instantaneous Classic</h3><p></p><p>Disco Elysium was developed by UK-based <b>ZA/UM</b>. However, their key people, or even majority, are (or were) Estonian however. The studio's location was evidently due to discovering there being access to a wider talent pool in England. Disco Elysium was originally announced as <i>No Truce With the Furies</i> from the poem <i>Reflection </i>by <b>R.S. Thomas</b>. It turned out to be more of a working title, for which I'm glad: Disco Elysium is a much better title. It beckons a longing for the good old times of Disco -- and avoids constant "furry" jokes.</p><p>Some people used to say (and mayhaps still do) that <i>Planescape: Torment</i> is the best book you'll ever play. Disco Elysium is even more so. It's likewise a roleplaying game with the good old "isometric" (topdown) perspective -- the game world appears to be 3D despite the locked camera angle, though.</p><p>Planescape: Torment is an apt comparison because it was an intentional source of inspiration for Disco Elysium. You can tell that already from the typeface they chose to use: it is the same as in the old Infinity Engine games. The message box is in "portrait mode" on the side though. Disco is not the first game of this genre to have it so, and it makes sense to a degree -- more room on the side of widescreen -- but I'd still prefer it to be in bottom center.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9oY6S2X6Wd_zaIXKDGQBDualYclgv4ULMWZTiJus8sEhU0qTxurDBLnPGk1ND_g2HAtDv_T5G6BOYKlzCLmpXd99VMp6O6c_x3LI3AaY4nnvQxP5ZV6k0DKhxviem7pEayHd2BOTNDZz2lATfWfUcNhXDljp7-j4XIL1apbDXPWi6Qzg4braCDZeNlc/s1920/de008.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9oY6S2X6Wd_zaIXKDGQBDualYclgv4ULMWZTiJus8sEhU0qTxurDBLnPGk1ND_g2HAtDv_T5G6BOYKlzCLmpXd99VMp6O6c_x3LI3AaY4nnvQxP5ZV6k0DKhxviem7pEayHd2BOTNDZz2lATfWfUcNhXDljp7-j4XIL1apbDXPWi6Qzg4braCDZeNlc/s320/de008.png" width="320" /></a></div>Another big similarity is the protagonist having a complete memory loss -- a clean slate to build your character upon. You still have a past, of course. And that past will hit you full force in the face at every turn.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">I am the law?</h4><p>You wake up in a trashed hotel room after a serious-ass, probably a lifestyle bender. You have no recollection of who or where you are. Soon enough you'll learn you're a cop, though -- the character creation reveals that much already, really -- and that you're on a murder case. That could be a surmountable task for an amnesiac detective but luckily you will in no time meet your new partner from another precinct there to help you.</p><p>Kim Kitsuragi is an excellent wingman but he doesn't approve the silly antics you have plenty of opportunity to take part in. Lucky for Kim, I decided to be a boring cop. I got quite invested in the investigation in fact, aiming to solve it with as much professionalism as someone with a complete amnesia could. I even managed to avoid all close-to-death situations from health/morale loss up to the point I had to sit on the plastic chair in the toad man's office.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJje9y2Q1rBkPxYMLkd4v75H3Pl0reKKaOcv8JMX4m1zSq0RhgSHkGowH6S58ha6kYTS8gvS-hcxOKnJFrGi-4KJbrdP3YQWKx3BngUWopCvzM_8CFQJZAaGONXloJp97A1ORlbmCaNfkF7qZ23Alzw5yfQto9XDeF7j-cJuLH56yVkU2507-fiN-GEUU/s1920/de009.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJje9y2Q1rBkPxYMLkd4v75H3Pl0reKKaOcv8JMX4m1zSq0RhgSHkGowH6S58ha6kYTS8gvS-hcxOKnJFrGi-4KJbrdP3YQWKx3BngUWopCvzM_8CFQJZAaGONXloJp97A1ORlbmCaNfkF7qZ23Alzw5yfQto9XDeF7j-cJuLH56yVkU2507-fiN-GEUU/s320/de009.png" width="320" /></a></div>You really shouldn't avoid all the outrageous dialogue choices offered, though. You'll miss out on quests or just simply fun dialogue. And Kim doesn't mind unrelated side activities that much, at least if he comes to trust you. It feels so good to not let Kim down.<div><br /></div><div><h4 style="text-align: left;">A fresh take on a skill system</h4><p></p><p>You have 4 attributes -- Intellect, Psyche, Physique, and Motorics -- which govern 6 skills each. I went with a fairly even distribution with Intellect as my highest attribute and Logic under it as my focus skill. Early on I avoided Psyche and Physique skills because so many of them seemed like a rock star cop nonsense. But they can be useful: Drama, for instance, can help you tell when someone is lying.</p><p>Each skill is one of your inner voices which are a legion: whole 24 of them. You use the skills for active checks but they also get passive ones. Sometimes you see them failing a check and sometimes you don't get any message if your skill isn't high enough.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSGl1OB-6UEuJUUY9Pvv5QAWj4s0IHN3eDxsK4hvOfIGioZMUS5m49bjoRL9pskHUHeMx_jBWSgqaRwT-KHCnzRFtbFKD9ks5GvIM9k4QM5YhSkZf1Y909SJkyX2KzluBsrRzA8mVxv3dTLayi2Aqlb6TvOM7n3EFEbLmgvPSMkouxSvv8xUQrEyLAdY/s1920/de003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSGl1OB-6UEuJUUY9Pvv5QAWj4s0IHN3eDxsK4hvOfIGioZMUS5m49bjoRL9pskHUHeMx_jBWSgqaRwT-KHCnzRFtbFKD9ks5GvIM9k4QM5YhSkZf1Y909SJkyX2KzluBsrRzA8mVxv3dTLayi2Aqlb6TvOM7n3EFEbLmgvPSMkouxSvv8xUQrEyLAdY/s320/de003.png" width="320" /></a></div>Some skills are quite unhinged. Physique's Half Light, for example, offers you some questionable suggestions. And there's also Physique's Shivers that can provide you visions of things you couldn't possibly be aware of. It reminded me bit of the madness a Malkavian character has in <i>Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines</i>. It is possible for the inner voices to get into a heated debate with each other although that didn't happen to me.<p></p><p>In addition to skills, events and picking same type of dialogue checks will give you thoughts that can be internalized into your Thought Cabinet. Once internalized, the thoughts will provide minor effects, bonuses, and possibly penalties as well.</p><p>The thoughts include political views. Some say the game will "call you out" on picking one but I don't think it's like that unless you were completely ignorant to the various flaws across the political spectrum. The game's criticism is well laid out and expressed.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDgEiY-C3FIVM98A5T2eqfLjGiF5YN9V_FzT-1x1CNsCYI6p0gx8ERawU3-M-TBxm5YTbcD9ZpZlkJgHtedbpl7hTn8l8XPkA9x9XqO_LcbAePkzd4ropiE2IeYA3bN981rSEzJ6ElMcF_A8QeWKUxN-8DoEEyoAZxv59nnG5LcMkxHB1lW8yssuGyXA/s1920/de001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDgEiY-C3FIVM98A5T2eqfLjGiF5YN9V_FzT-1x1CNsCYI6p0gx8ERawU3-M-TBxm5YTbcD9ZpZlkJgHtedbpl7hTn8l8XPkA9x9XqO_LcbAePkzd4ropiE2IeYA3bN981rSEzJ6ElMcF_A8QeWKUxN-8DoEEyoAZxv59nnG5LcMkxHB1lW8yssuGyXA/s320/de001.png" width="320" /></a></div>The skills seem to be somewhat aligned with thoughts. When I discarded the communism thought without accepting it, Logic chimed in, saying it wasn't a realistic idea anyway. I went with the sensible, moralist ideology instead. Its ultimate quest was quite an endeavor, a pure centrist resolution.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The best audiobook you'll ever play</h4><p>In 2021, Disco Elysium was updated to The Final Cut version which expanded voice acting to include all dialogue box text (excluding the silent protagonist). I don't personally think that a necessary addition: I read so much faster than someone can recite the lines. It really is just someone reading the text out loud because the character models aren't acting in any way most of the time. I can see the point of full VA for streamers and such, but otherwise I find the need perplexing. What do people even do when the lines are being read anyway? Read along?</p><p>I have a particular distaste for constantly present narrator voices. I find it quite irritating. I don't need someone else's voice for descriptions. For actual character dialogue, VA is not as annoying, though again quite unnecessary apart from an occasional voiced line, which is exactly what the classic VA game setting does.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sFnKD_WWQcfasfoRKLJ7RRF0Je9ki2TST4WgLLLaqJ5qX1uj1qvzoa7tck3sQA6PRN20AGmAuhs-FAN98Z4sWOeEv_a2wRVzLV01YYRHpuiy56NaD3Efn_pI5JnrR6ivZBITIdHfDqQO8dZjVrlyrxXv4bbeVyuFbrRzZtVQ5sdm8bJWBvxtESd6Sp0/s1920/de002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sFnKD_WWQcfasfoRKLJ7RRF0Je9ki2TST4WgLLLaqJ5qX1uj1qvzoa7tck3sQA6PRN20AGmAuhs-FAN98Z4sWOeEv_a2wRVzLV01YYRHpuiy56NaD3Efn_pI5JnrR6ivZBITIdHfDqQO8dZjVrlyrxXv4bbeVyuFbrRzZtVQ5sdm8bJWBvxtESd6Sp0/s320/de002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Based on what I've observed, The Final Cut kept original voices to some degree. I have to say that wherever applicable, the new actors are better all around. That includes the infamous redheaded gremlin Cuno whose dialogue is one place where having full voices on might be worth it even for me. It can be so balls to the wall absurd. But I did laugh out loud even without full voices.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">You can't say that, mate</h4><p>Cuno and his sidekick (or more like his shoulder devil) are a rather rowdy pair of kids, throwing all manner of expletives at you. I wonder if the studio's location and British writers helping the lead writer <b>Robert Kurvitz</b> with the language are the reason why faggot is censored in the game. There was a myth going around that some thought (probably meaning the Homo-Sexual Underground one) would uncensor it but that is not the case. The Pissfaggot jacket too will always be covered by asterisks. It's just art censoring itself -- fucking cowards.</p><p>The funny thing is though how Cuno and Cunoesse use a select few Finnish words and one of them is fägäri, which is the same as the faggot slur in English. There's also banaanipoika (lit. 'banana boy') which I'm not sure if I've ever heard but its meaning is obvious in the context. Now, there's a chance the words are also Estonian because the language is so close to Finnish but I'm pretty they're just Finnish -- for whatever reason. The world of Disco Elysium is not our real world despite being (at least initially) grounded in reality. Its people and nationalities are an amalgamation of the real world ones.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJsQnxXH0pmY4a_v-o0N1GZ6o2NIG_zs5t6uQGc5Gkk8vZdy8Clmnq9FlRoq04GDQRyJDNuhjCObAVe_Ikrm8RqOUh4mV04CSDniHUhSzjPR19o8H8OZOq6BaAL-zQDKUBIXEjoWlon5pmwEXOR_b3Q7snl65OdMF3aa-VaTbW-tVm1d3bUWqXxFTj0mk/s1920/de010.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJsQnxXH0pmY4a_v-o0N1GZ6o2NIG_zs5t6uQGc5Gkk8vZdy8Clmnq9FlRoq04GDQRyJDNuhjCObAVe_Ikrm8RqOUh4mV04CSDniHUhSzjPR19o8H8OZOq6BaAL-zQDKUBIXEjoWlon5pmwEXOR_b3Q7snl65OdMF3aa-VaTbW-tVm1d3bUWqXxFTj0mk/s320/de010.png" width="320" /></a></div>Disco Elysium's active skill checks are based on chance, which is the kind of dialogue checks I don't like. Making them straight up static might be a problem in this game, though. One would be able to figure out some boring 100% route. Disco tries to avert the temptation to save scum by having white checks be repeatable once you have increased the skill in question or some other event has unlocked the check after a failure.<p></p><p>It's only red checks you have to reload in case of a failure. (The game could use a slightly more frequent autosaving...) At some failed red checks Disco tries to keep you going with a workaround. There are also two, maybe three, red checks in the game that cannot ever be passed despite the game telling you there's a chance -- double sixes (3%) are supposed to always succeed. It's kind of mean to put such traps in there.</p><p>There is some gear shuffling involved as well: clothing pieces have skill bonuses. There was less of it than I expected, however; it wasn't that huge of a hassle. Although, in the endgame, you can have so many different items that finding the one you need from your inventory takes more time than I would have liked.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMTb-1xzDfqINrBD0_rlWyoRq9Zf_PuseAqoAZmkqugoshurfM6k8Vi_60XNSOxr2PENPkUyhyphenhyphen9n5j0UvmBXT7XISTbXrK2-hQXtVXA2k3hyphenhyphenH3f_rAQP6s2iU0P4rHYM2xVRXBFX_X6Wr0IrQIIq4Bbr5RNiu7erOAo4WZ7zPszFbZW5GcXWfT1UtEueg/s1920/de004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMTb-1xzDfqINrBD0_rlWyoRq9Zf_PuseAqoAZmkqugoshurfM6k8Vi_60XNSOxr2PENPkUyhyphenhyphen9n5j0UvmBXT7XISTbXrK2-hQXtVXA2k3hyphenhyphenH3f_rAQP6s2iU0P4rHYM2xVRXBFX_X6Wr0IrQIIq4Bbr5RNiu7erOAo4WZ7zPszFbZW5GcXWfT1UtEueg/s320/de004.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">High quality presentation all around</h4><p></p><p>Disco Elysium's writing is so brilliant that scenes can be outright magical. I got absolutely ensorcelled by some of the longer ones like the field autopsy and the interrogation of certain suspects. There's also a side mission that involves delivering a death notification. I reckon you can fuck it up royally but completing it with tact felt so damn rewarding. The game does such a masterful job at portraying a detective's work.</p><p>Writing is not the only aspect Disco Elysium excels at. An English alt rock band <b>Sea Power</b> composed a fitting, emotions-evoking music for the game. And the art style is beautiful; I see a touch of impressionism (and expressionism) in there. The game runs on Unity, which didn't cause too many issues this time: the game did lock itself up once and another time I had a character model disappear after a save reload. Menu interfaces get maybe a bit lost in the art too: it took me hours to discover you can unlock more thought slots.</p><p>Where Disco Elysium falters, in my opinion, is the explosive finale and the following, kind of an epilogue where you finally solve the case. About nothing in the whole last part of the game had the same magic. The discussion with the murderer was lengthy yet completely dull -- no drama or energy in it. And then there's the final encounter with your precinct's other cops. It seemed like everything you say just worsens your own case. That "satellite officer" Jean Vicquemare is an unreasonable asshole. At least Kim's final judgement of you, a defense speech really, redeemed the ending. I had, in the end, done a terrific job in spite of the pre-amnesia disasters.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbHLQ2eTiTluQO4EcK8Wa5HUTV7JreVrk7jAyMEr2b247VPm6uFxAcVoSHtFvRXKMe2lFyjc1X0df0jWYAERoZqfWKLTl3FkdJu3ceyhgNOIsFE0LBpdnILKYt5-nbFHEUX5jo6euByJL6h7ZA3q6eosfL5WN43AtlKLVqQ_dLHuT9Q1fGgpCg1iTg6rY/s1920/de005.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbHLQ2eTiTluQO4EcK8Wa5HUTV7JreVrk7jAyMEr2b247VPm6uFxAcVoSHtFvRXKMe2lFyjc1X0df0jWYAERoZqfWKLTl3FkdJu3ceyhgNOIsFE0LBpdnILKYt5-nbFHEUX5jo6euByJL6h7ZA3q6eosfL5WN43AtlKLVqQ_dLHuT9Q1fGgpCg1iTg6rY/s320/de005.png" width="320" /></a></div>I think Disco Elysium will replace Planescape: Torment as the game I visit every few years. I kind of turned every stone in the latter when I 100%'d the Enhanced Edition on Steam a couple of years back. But Disco still has a whole lot of stuff I haven't seen.<p></p><p>A sequel or something appears unlikely to happen because in 2022, ZA/UM got themselves into an internal legal mess. Who knows what was really going on in there due to the conflicting statements. But apparently the key people that worked on this game are no longer in the company.</p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Edited 2024-02-12:</b> Added a note about the working title.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNg0IAJcLUJ-KAOIoMInnLSmifwaI-tiIvQom-dy-HX1JY4tuLXcVBVsh_qC74xjnzT2M97MRscOJ9z_zCBLBRdtIF_XHYN0S4mdqZO0BBr0O6WT3m2z4cOswGW2Y6cDMLs0A8eWr-BZ_JBZzvQmfDXh1B4hsjWxhZX2aIe-rYe-H9jwPEEQOXvXnfXU/s1920/de006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNg0IAJcLUJ-KAOIoMInnLSmifwaI-tiIvQom-dy-HX1JY4tuLXcVBVsh_qC74xjnzT2M97MRscOJ9z_zCBLBRdtIF_XHYN0S4mdqZO0BBr0O6WT3m2z4cOswGW2Y6cDMLs0A8eWr-BZ_JBZzvQmfDXh1B4hsjWxhZX2aIe-rYe-H9jwPEEQOXvXnfXU/w400-h225/de006.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1mH7ztRWicpZyyrGnBJC5d5vfdlXlc3uHmP5KHIjTbiejreyJMo9_uNNZCJzLQfVogylfLlqb-RfjDysnSIKSyFdLbbA9pVyKz4I19G5z0c2Apto9sF40PiBiFAKLZi5ht9E2sv_y3Ns1b-5OoWWGgUdkqzFPLVfd7EXCGzGFRNpsfm4bagLwjZLLFkE/s1920/de007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1mH7ztRWicpZyyrGnBJC5d5vfdlXlc3uHmP5KHIjTbiejreyJMo9_uNNZCJzLQfVogylfLlqb-RfjDysnSIKSyFdLbbA9pVyKz4I19G5z0c2Apto9sF40PiBiFAKLZi5ht9E2sv_y3Ns1b-5OoWWGgUdkqzFPLVfd7EXCGzGFRNpsfm4bagLwjZLLFkE/w400-h225/de007.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p></div>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-12383796978675409262024-02-07T22:00:00.001+02:002024-02-07T22:00:56.466+02:00The Shadow of the TorturerYet another novel that was on my reading list and whose source of recommendation I had no recollection any longer: <i>The Shadow of the Torturer</i> by <b>Gene Wolfe</b>. The back cover (the little I peeked at it) claimed it to be a science fiction classic (published in 1980) and apparently <b>Neil Gaiman</b> at some point rated it above <i>Neuromancer </i>and <i>The Left Hand of Darkness</i> on his list of the three greatest scifi novels. I wouldn't myself think of it that highly and I'm not so sure about the science fiction either.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrkqcnXjXuwSFOrmOZrb3aEeCEG5y4kwNAs80FbuwuUuLHMa3h9lAnfubvfE_CnGeTnrf61AY8nz8zEwCZrG8ZlcQB16lHK5yq_jg-IgojOiPIq9KD-rQT2dnfUzVhPUsLlaYavX_sVnUOZVCnALp0GnCylfYJQS-bxiB-eR7kWz2jaTG4QGSm5jJ_3o/s637/the_shadow_of_the_torturer_fcover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrkqcnXjXuwSFOrmOZrb3aEeCEG5y4kwNAs80FbuwuUuLHMa3h9lAnfubvfE_CnGeTnrf61AY8nz8zEwCZrG8ZlcQB16lHK5yq_jg-IgojOiPIq9KD-rQT2dnfUzVhPUsLlaYavX_sVnUOZVCnALp0GnCylfYJQS-bxiB-eR7kWz2jaTG4QGSm5jJ_3o/w126-h200/the_shadow_of_the_torturer_fcover.png" width="126" /></a></div>From the books I've read previously, I would compare The Shadow of the Torturer to <b>Robin Hobb</b>'s <i>Farseer Trilogy</i>. It's similarly a coming-of-age story where the protagonist is in a profession (or at least being trained to) related to dealing death. He's likewise telling the story from a first person perspective from the future (and claims to have an eidetic memory).</div><div><br /></div><div>Fortunately, unlike Hobb's Fitz, Severian is not dumb and fail at everything he attempts. Admittedly he doesn't strictly behave as he's supposed to either and gets into trouble in the guild of torturers -- or the "Seekers of Truth and Penitence". But it's not a complete disaster. The guild masters partially caused it too, which is why Severian got off so lightly.</div><div><br /></div><div>After the incident, the novel gets kind of an odd atmosphere. Severian travels across the city of Nessus, getting into all kinds of encounters with all sorts of people. In the end things turned to be not as weird as they appeared along the way but I still found the storytelling a bit unusual.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the book's world, the planet's moon has been terraformed and people have even traveled to the stars. You'd think an advanced civilization liked that lived in a very high-tech environment. Instead, the everyday life is practically medieval. It's like the people had regressed or left behind. There are some devices around like light bulbs that burn year after year. I got the impression that no one knows how exactly they work or how to make them anymore, even if people still know the purpose of the devices and how to use them.</div><div><br /></div><div>One little detail that made me think was a certain prisoner told Severian that she'd like to found a cult once she gets out. Severian asked what the cult would be based on and found the answer contradictory. The prisoner told him that kind bases are the most durable. I started to wonder if it was an actual observation on religions and if there was truth to it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I read The Shadow of the Torturer as a Finnish translation (by <b>Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo</b>). There were a few words that perplexed me. For instance, 'cuirass' apparently has a direct translation as kyrassi -- which is a terrible word, if you ask me, because it doesn't respect the Finnish vowel harmony. I would've gone simply with rintapanssari ("breastplate") myself.</div><div><br /></div><div>I may check out the novel's two sequels eventually -- Wolfe apparently wrote the whole trilogy before its first volume was published.</div>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-73996044069358713942024-02-04T11:45:00.004+02:002024-02-04T11:52:59.508+02:00Revelation Space<p>If <b>Frank Herbert</b>'s <i>Dune </i>is an example of older science fiction literature of simpler narrative and shorter books, <i>Revelation Space</i> by <b>Alastair Reynolds</b> is from the other end of the spectrum, being newer (though almost 24 years old too by now) and having three very disconnected (at least initially) layers. I had trouble keeping up with the fast-paced viewpoint switching early on in fact. Only around page 130 of the 700-page Finnish translation I noted myself having started to remember who's who.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1wvms5ZhIsmWU86RsioXPnXrD1WHG0attY7uzKPiMRWw7T0dbrDwcMRDeXoTdJ99GbN1oPbDppQrrHW8-Ent3v-RGWy0by4C3OR8CK-4gQkOw_wt2HyrrWKWelJnGtprshimmUuLZfYoh9LUkSd8P_D9eQQQNsvMf4tt5S3SRqFCNZefJApYChzUHKkM/s605/revelation_space_fcover.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="391" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1wvms5ZhIsmWU86RsioXPnXrD1WHG0attY7uzKPiMRWw7T0dbrDwcMRDeXoTdJ99GbN1oPbDppQrrHW8-Ent3v-RGWy0by4C3OR8CK-4gQkOw_wt2HyrrWKWelJnGtprshimmUuLZfYoh9LUkSd8P_D9eQQQNsvMf4tt5S3SRqFCNZefJApYChzUHKkM/w129-h200/revelation_space_fcover.png" width="129" /></a></div>Revelation Space kicks off Reynolds's eponymous series that currently includes 7 novels and numerous shorter works. Set in the 26th century, humanity has the technology to travel at near the speed of light and has started colonizing the galaxy. Some alien life has been encountered though not in forms you'd interact like with humans.<p></p><p>Humanity has formed factions though not every colony belongs to one. One of the factions are Ultranauts who crew interstellar spaceships, lighthuggers. They tend to practice extensive body modification with mechanical parts. The trend is common but doesn't apply to all Ultras. As such, one of the novel's viewpoints, Ilia Volyova doesn't make for as much for a typical Ultra due to lacking implants.</p><p>Ilia serves on the Nostalgia for Infinity, a lighthugger with a bare skeleton crew that seems way too small for a spacecraft so massive. Obviously most of the ship's functionality is automated but you get an impression of dark corridors and dilapidated sections whose purpose nobody knows.</p><p>The ship's captain is in a pretty pickle, being taken over by the Melding Plague, a nanotech virus that messes with human cells and machine implants. He's kept in cryosleep while the crew is trying to find someone to cure him (again).</p><p>Another viewpoint is Dan Sylveste, an archaeologist on Resurgam, a planet in the Delta Pavonis system. He's researching the disappearance of a species called Amarantin. His work gets hampered by local politics but despite being all tangled up, he eventually gets to make a breakthrough.</p><p>The third narrative strand is Ana Khouri, an assassin on the planet Yellowstone in the Epsilon Eridani system. Eventually all these seemingly unrelated storylines combine into one narrative.</p><p>Having read <i>House of Suns</i> and <i>Pushing Ice</i>, I would say Revelation Space is not Reynolds' best novel. It is his first published novel, though, so it's only natural he improved as he continued writing. Revelation Space's plot moves on too slowly and there's a complete lack of character arcs: they all remain the same as they started. Poor characterization is again, the typical fault in the science fiction genre that tends be more about the grand ideas -- just like Revelation Space.</p><p>I enjoyed the big revelation about what seems to be the foundational basis for the series: one of the possible explanations to the Fermi paradox. One of the scarier ones, I might add. I wonder if <b>BioWare</b>'s writers were aware of this series when creating the <i>Mass Effect</i> games.</p><p>I didn't find any fault in the translation (by <b>Hannu Tervaharju</b>). Although I did find the word 'wetware' amusing. Apparently the word has no established term in Finnish.</p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-32765219930883904792024-01-31T23:03:00.000+02:002024-01-31T23:03:06.255+02:00Dune Messiah & Children of DuneLooking back now what I wrote about the first <i>Dune </i>novel, it appears that I did like it more than I recall. I even read it not so long but I had already forgotten that, maybe because how easy going things seemed for the protagonists. That's why I was surprised how invested I got with the following two sequels.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuHgHpliPErZfvbypUgHtjrNcE2V0RLigpdwt4BYziJdr8_g9Y10ncVXYxVeQ7OgwQon6w-74jzOfPq9r5FUsxfFBolI4HDLsgiV3wup1Rud9eOaVwQWbmbQqOn51KVSx1LccLX_RYQWpQCAHRRrwuLn63nvy0le-RaTbG42oSDRV8AHxKQoZ3FN-uEes/s577/dune_messiah_fcover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="384" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuHgHpliPErZfvbypUgHtjrNcE2V0RLigpdwt4BYziJdr8_g9Y10ncVXYxVeQ7OgwQon6w-74jzOfPq9r5FUsxfFBolI4HDLsgiV3wup1Rud9eOaVwQWbmbQqOn51KVSx1LccLX_RYQWpQCAHRRrwuLn63nvy0le-RaTbG42oSDRV8AHxKQoZ3FN-uEes/w133-h200/dune_messiah_fcover.png" width="133" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Dune Messiah</h3></div><div><br /></div><div>Even with the melange-induced prescience, Paul Atreides faces a lot of challenges as the new Emperor. His jihad has pretty much conquered the galaxy yet he worries about the longevity of his empire. There is plotting that Paul is unable to figure out completely - he's not completely omniscient even if he feels he's experiencing everything the second time due to having seen things happen beforehand. Paul also needs an heir to succeed him.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some time ago, I saw a video on Youtube about how science fiction novels used to be thinner than the current day ones tend to be. The first Dune trilogy is not the shortest ever but it does have only a single narrative that progresses even if the viewpoint does jump about a bit. New scifi books instead tend to have multiple concurrent ones that cause the word count to go up.</div><div><br /></div><div>An interesting detail in the Finnish translation (by <b>Hilkka Pekkanen</b>) is how the lion in lion throne is <i>jalopeura</i>. Jalopeura is what <b>Mikael Agricola</b> came up with when working on the first Finnish translation of the <i>Bible </i>back in 16th century. In modern day Finnish, jalopeura would mean 'noble deer' but back in the day peura was more a generic word for beasts of the woods. And lion as the king of the animal kingdom was clearly noble.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know about the old times usage and official status of jalopeura but at some point <i>leijona </i>with its more sensible etymology from the Latin leo replaced it. I remember as a kid some audiobook (on cassettes) also used the word jalopeura for lion, which confused me greatly, having learned leijona as the name of the animal. Either Pekkanen wanted the lion throne to sound archaic or jalopeura was still in wider use in the 1980s when she did the translation.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRHdIKgMaHoJi6y7OxdDxpGhfMTwxWNsVB5V9A_XXNdd8TzzHCvPIwmXnMOqD3nKTUZgMq9-ARgmSaG82kbO_1-PCgt0mnyD5bYF3DCZtjS3X8d5zOYh1tYTox6vDcd4DNiWp506jyaysV7viiBJQowf3lfoWuyCVHcJg3YvUaPNrrwfoQvsRBn4_IZg/s537/children_of_dune_cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="352" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRHdIKgMaHoJi6y7OxdDxpGhfMTwxWNsVB5V9A_XXNdd8TzzHCvPIwmXnMOqD3nKTUZgMq9-ARgmSaG82kbO_1-PCgt0mnyD5bYF3DCZtjS3X8d5zOYh1tYTox6vDcd4DNiWp506jyaysV7viiBJQowf3lfoWuyCVHcJg3YvUaPNrrwfoQvsRBn4_IZg/w131-h200/children_of_dune_cover.png" width="131" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Children of Dune</h3></div><div><br /></div><div>In the third novel, Paul's children, the twins Leto and Ghanima take the stage after Paul wandered off into the desert. Leto and Ghanima were subjected to large amounts of melange while still in the womb of Chani which caused them to gain the genetic memories of their bloodline. That makes the kids wise far beyond their years but also threatens them with madness due to the past personalities in their heads trying to take over. Paul's sister Alia is in the same boat. She also holds the throne as the regent while Leto is coming of age.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Children of Dune</i> was a great read. The only thing I disliked is how Leto ended up as -- it felt silly and far fetched. But I can now understand why the fourth novel is called <i>God Emperor of Dune</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have seen few times people quoting a particular line from this book: "When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles." But even in Children of Dune it's a quote from somewhere else.</div><div><br /></div><div>It appears as one of the epigraphs (which interestingly enough in the English print I read don't start a new page like in the Finnish translations of the previous books). <b>Frank Herbert</b> attributed the quote to <b>Louis Veuillot</b> but while looking up who this guy was (a French journalist and author from the 19th century), I learned that the quote had been misattributed (original author unclear). I like it though -- don't invite a snake into your home.</div>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-20781610184310835802023-12-31T19:20:00.001+02:002024-03-10T18:39:24.518+02:00Games I Finished in 2023<p>Some say 2023 was a great year for games. For me, personally, I'd say it was above average. There was a handful of good (or at least good-seeming) games but nothing obviously superb -- and then few disappointing ones as well.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>The biggest fumble was <b>Arkane Studios</b>' fall from grace. I wonder if they're trying to salvage <i>Redfall </i>-- they haven't released the two heroes for its hero pass yet, which makes me think that there is going to be some big update that maybe makes the game good or something. Just creating two player characters shouldn't take this long.</p><p>If that redemption fails, the next release from Arkane (Lyon) will probably be <i>Marvel's Blade</i>. Blade's not the worst possible comic book character, or at least the one portrayed by <b>Wesley Snipes</b> in the New Line films was pretty cool. A game from the third person perspective will be a first for Arkane, however, and who knows what kind of depiction their Blade ends up being. A lot of unknowns and the game is still years away from release too. Announcing it this early maybe wasn't necessary.</p><p>2023's game of the year by consensus is <i>Baldur's Gate 3</i>, no doubt, although <i>Alan Wake 2</i> did challenge it. I'm not myself that hyped about BG3; I just see <i>Divinity </i>all over it. <b>Larian</b>'s style is simply too whimsical for me. Due to its Forgotten Realms/D&D setting, I'm not averse to actually playing it, though.</p><p><b>Bethesda</b>'s <i>Starfield</i> turned out<i> </i>offensively mediocre and <b>Deck 13</b>'s <i>Atlas Fallen</i> wasn't as good as one maybe could've expected from <i>The Surge</i> developers. <i>STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor</i> suffered from performance issues (and still does?).</p><p><i>Dead Space</i> remake is at least gameplay-wise worthy of the original, and the same goes for <i>System Shock</i> remake which finally actually came out. <i>Lies of P</i> was well received but the other big soulslike of the year, <i>Lords of the Fallen</i> (which dropped the definite article), people didn't seem to like as much -- a repeat reception of the first game's reception -- but I think it looks good. <i>Cyberpunk 2077</i> got its comeback with the release of its <i>Phantom Liberty</i> expansion. Unfortunately the game's system requirements went up with it quite a bit too.</p><p><i>Returnal </i>and <i>Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart</i> got PC ports and I look forward to playing those. The surprise of the year for me was <i>En Garde!</i>. It's a fairly short indie game but it sure appears to be an extremely fun action adventure.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY6Xy26bv50UeKB0XJUXmysVhUG7s-24QxbJL-Axs2Y5akjojlruOpoLw5pFBJhmVwl400Ltm7wf-vPXrZmy_et2Ne7JkzvbKKGRclsvIhKNmOOYjETbGQ85QIhUcQS6qyxndeTWFkcTNFiRHHXAIRimqQauS7NZsf-y_-ROJ9_yYKLfYiz7kQkSmsfXs/s662/achievs2023.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="662" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY6Xy26bv50UeKB0XJUXmysVhUG7s-24QxbJL-Axs2Y5akjojlruOpoLw5pFBJhmVwl400Ltm7wf-vPXrZmy_et2Ne7JkzvbKKGRclsvIhKNmOOYjETbGQ85QIhUcQS6qyxndeTWFkcTNFiRHHXAIRimqQauS7NZsf-y_-ROJ9_yYKLfYiz7kQkSmsfXs/s320/achievs2023.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4 more perfect games and +1% from last year</td></tr></tbody></table>For this year's round-up, I added launcher/service I beat the games on. GOG and Game Pass appear to dominate the list but it doesn't tell the whole truth: I replayed a number of games on Steam to increase my average completion rate. That included buying <i>The Surge 2</i> complete edition from the summer sale to play its DLC (which wasn't worth writing about.)<p></p><p>The achievement highlight of the year was getting<i> Rise of the Tomb Raider</i> to 100% finally by beating its Endurance Co-op challenges just by myself. That adventure was almost a worth a post of its own. <b>Crystal Dynamics</b> had added Epic Online Service integration to the game with its Epic release, meaning that I could play my Steam copy on one PC and the Epic freebie copy on another. However, the EOS integration was (and is?) far from stable -- many sessions ended in a disconnection -- which combined with the around 40 minutes taking (as I recall), 10-day Master and Apprentice achievement being glitchy resulted in some serious frustration. But I did get it eventually. It's still a mystery what exactly prevents the achievement from unlocking. I tried <b>everything </b>suggested around the internet yet the run I got the achievement on was identical to one of the previous, supposedly successful attempts.</p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The games beaten this year</h4><p><b style="color: #aadd99;">Great</b><span style="color: #aadd99;"> -- top tier fun; worthy of replays</span></p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/10/baldurs-gate-ii-enhanced-edition.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #aadd99;">Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition</span> [post]</a> Played on: GOG<br />Isometric fantasy roleplaying game. Easy spot in the top tier by being an absolute classic and one of my all-time favorite games, even with unwanted <b>Beamdog </b>additions in the EE.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/03/icewind-dale-enhanced-edition.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #aadd99;">Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition</span> [post]</a> GOG<br />Isometric fantasy RPG. Another classic game. The enhanced edition brings Icewind Dale's lacking implementation of AD&D to the level of Baldur's Gate EEs, which is great.</p><p><br /></p><p><b style="color: #ddcc99;">Fine </b><span style="color: #ddcc99;">-- interesting or exciting enough for one thorough playthrough</span></p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/03/assassins-creed-valhalla-post-release.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ddcc99;">Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Post-release content</span> [post]</a> Ubisoft+</p><p>Third person action adventure in Viking-era England (and other places). <b>Ubisoft </b>added <b>a lot</b><i> </i>of stuff atop the base game. It is of varying quality but generally from average to great. Very much worth playing through if you were already invested.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/05/atomic-heart.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ddcc99;">Atomic Heart</span> [post]</a> Game Pass<br />First person scifi shooter set in an alternative Soviet Russia. Leans heavily on <i>BioShock </i>but does stand on its own gameplay-wise. Writing is questionable at times. </p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/09/control-awe-foundation.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ddcc99;">Control: AWE & The Foundation</span> [post]</a> GOG<br />DLC for the third person shooter/action-adventure in a 'new weird' setting. Both DLCs are great in their own right: <i>AWE </i>may be of particular interest if you're into <b>Remedy</b>'s <i>Alan Wake</i> games.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/12/jusant.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ddcc99;">Jusant</span> [post]</a> Game Pass<br />Third person platformer-climber. Pretty straightforward and easy, yet gripping and has a handful of cool mechanics that action-adventure games should perhaps copy.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/04/shadow-warrior-3.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ddcc99;">Shadow Warrior 3</span> [post]</a> Game Pass<br />First person shooter/action game with fantasy elements. Short but sweet. The protagonist's new voice actor may rub a fan the wrong way.</p><p><br /></p><p><b style="color: #dd99a9;">Mediocre</b><span style="color: #dd99a9;"> -- generally entertaining but has something that hampers the overall experience; average</span></p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/06/everspace-2.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #dd99a9;">Everspace 2</span> [post]</a> Game Pass<br />Space shooter. One of my most anticipated releases of the year -- that ended up being disappointing. Long and tedious. All the concentrated fun of the first game stretched thin over the vastness of space. Still beauteous though.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/12/middle-earth-shadow-of-war.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #dd99a9;">Middle-earth: Shadow of War</span> [post]</a> Steam<br />Third person action-adventure in Middle-earth. Doesn't feel very new despite its additions; would probably be tiresome to play right after <i>Shadow of Mordor</i>. No longer has the real money lootboxes it had for the first year post-release.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/12/pathfinder-kingmaker.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #dd99a9;">Pathfinder: Kingmaker</span> [post]</a> Epic<br />Isometric fantasy RPG. Ambitious and bloated. Would have been better without the extraneous management elements. Unity continues providing a bad experience as the engine for games of this genre.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/07/tomb-raider-anniversary.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #dd99a9;">Tomb Raider: Anniversary</span> [post]</a> GOG<br />Third person action-adventure. Second game of the first reboot trilogy; a remake of the very first <i>Tomb Raider</i>. Can be quite challenging at times.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/07/tomb-raider-legend.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #dd99a9;">Tomb Raider: Legend</span> [post]</a> GOG<br />Third person action-adventure. The first game of the trilogy. Has definitely aged by now but still has certain charm.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/09/tomb-raider-underworld.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #dd99a9;">Tomb Raider: Underworld</span> [post]</a> GOG<br />Third person-action adventure. Trilogy finisher with a great final boss fight. Slightly more advanced engine allowed slightly better visuals.</p><p><br /></p><p><b style="color: #cc99dd;">Bad</b><span style="color: #cc99dd;"> -- games I would have been better off without playing; not a good time</span></p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/12/amnesia-bunker.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc99dd;">Amnesia: The Bunker</span> [post]</a> Game Pass<br />First person survival horror. Couldn't help but compare this to <i>Alien: Isolation</i> due to the similarities and <i>The Bunker</i> just can't compete with such so much bigger of a production.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/03/far-cry-primal.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc99dd;">Far Cry Primal</span> [post]</a> Ubisoft+<br />First person action-adventure in 10,000 BCE. A <i>Far Cry</i> without fun (i.e. guns and explosions).</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/05/marvels-guardians-of-galaxy.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc99dd;">Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy</span> [post]</a> Game Pass<br />Third person comic book action-adventure. Linear and shallow, with a lot of inconsequential yapping. The game's vibes did not resonate with me.</p><p><a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/06/redfall.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc99dd;">Redfall</span> [post]</a> Game Pass<br />First person co-op shooter with vampires. Buggy and uninspired. Before release I had maintained a sliver of hope that it wouldn't be bad but... yeah. Amazing that <b>Arkane Austin</b> went from <i>Prey </i>to this.</p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Upcoming games of 2024 include:</h4><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn</i> from <b>A44 Games</b> got delayed all the way to Q3 2024</li><li>Same with <i>Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2</i> from <b>Saber Interactive</b></li><li><i>Avowed </i>from <b>Obsidian Entertainment</b> is supposed to be a 2024 release</li><li><i>Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2</i> from <b>The Chinese Room</b> finally got a release window (and a new developer studio who seem a bit suspect for a title like this)</li><li><i>Dragon Age: Dreadwolf</i> is supposed to come out next summer - time for a good <b>BioWare </b>game for a change? Anyone?</li><li><i>Alone in the Dark</i> from <b>Pieces Interactive</b></li><li><i>Outcast - A New Beginning</i> from <b>Appeal Studios </b>(not entirely sure about this but seems interesting)</li><li><i>Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden</i> from <b>Don't Nod</b></li><li><i>Assassin's Creed</i> Codename Red (Japan) from <b>Ubisoft Quebec</b> might be a late year release</li></ul><p></p><p></p><p></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-58393908361580001382023-12-30T23:59:00.006+02:002024-02-27T04:13:08.320+02:00Middle-earth: Shadow of War<p><i>Middle-earth: Shadow of War</i> built upon its predecessor <i>Shadow of Mordor</i> in various ways. However, despite all its additions, Shadow of War treads the same waters so much that I feel its main purpose was selling the same game again -- just with added microtransactions. Shadow of War's lootboxes were received so poorly that <b>Monolith Productions</b>/<b>WB Games</b> ended up removing them a year after the game's release while also retuning the epilogue chapter which players had criticized to be an extremely arduous grind when refusing to engage with the game's real money store.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQOGnOm2OIu_ODp3jNhpNasGccVOwhPxAysbFzsSsggmuzR7aq3qhLtCkWgTV8mLeF0nNnCMGk5GruLnGBZ9umwCkF5LKWz2h4O9v0wKxaEb4bETBAOvpMK3dFEMQRxEeU2u-26GmW4XU6LnhD-0RqO5BCLh0K-mj6HgFZUR2igr2klpHEL_mbW37mIE/s272/mesow000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="218" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQOGnOm2OIu_ODp3jNhpNasGccVOwhPxAysbFzsSsggmuzR7aq3qhLtCkWgTV8mLeF0nNnCMGk5GruLnGBZ9umwCkF5LKWz2h4O9v0wKxaEb4bETBAOvpMK3dFEMQRxEeU2u-26GmW4XU6LnhD-0RqO5BCLh0K-mj6HgFZUR2igr2klpHEL_mbW37mIE/w160-h200/mesow000.png" width="160" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Shadow of Greed</h3><p></p><p>There was also a (preorder?) DLC -- and I had forgotten about it until reading the wikipedia article now -- that allegedly honored the game's executive producer <b>Michael David Forgey</b> who had died of cancer. Warner Bros. in their vast generosity were going to donate $3.50 from each purchase of the $5 DLC to the Forgey family. A public backlash forced WB to make the DLC free and refund all proceeds, and donate a lump sum instead. Needless to say, Shadow of War got rather tarnished by greed.</p><p>I don't remember the exact end state of Shadow of Mordor's story but War continues with pretty much on the same tracks as the previous game: the undying Gondorian ranger Talion (<b>Troy Baker</b>) and his ghostly co-existence elf buddy, ring smith Celebrimbor (<b>Alastair Duncan</b>) continue dominating orcs to fight Sauron. The story of <i>Mordor </i>and <i>War </i>was never going to go anywhere since they're set before <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> trilogy: no room for anything involving Sauron. Shadow of War does provide a definitive ending for Talion but also leaves the door ajar for a potential sequel -- which seems unlikely to happen.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhooFM5U7EPsH7tquVCMKpJMBsm1UtNmSvce-2gfv9G2FjT2T3DtkgRngXZF80ILfrKryu7eu8_cXD2GqHcFUDEvIszUAeqzAOcsYGJqvFKHy4nvNZtAK5n2NWGWVet2w_8RxDml0lRaG-O-mn2QrAFDUpiTI3F0Yi7s1IU9Y164flSM2VkSzuAS6gCJjk/s1920/mesow001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhooFM5U7EPsH7tquVCMKpJMBsm1UtNmSvce-2gfv9G2FjT2T3DtkgRngXZF80ILfrKryu7eu8_cXD2GqHcFUDEvIszUAeqzAOcsYGJqvFKHy4nvNZtAK5n2NWGWVet2w_8RxDml0lRaG-O-mn2QrAFDUpiTI3F0Yi7s1IU9Y164flSM2VkSzuAS6gCJjk/s320/mesow001.png" width="320" /></a></div>Shadow of Mordor was already well in the fan fiction territory with its narrative but Shadow of War is even more on the nose by having Shelob take a humanoid form right at the beginning. Who knows what Ungoliant was capable of, and her offspring could've as easily inherited her abilities, potentially including shapeshifting. But be as it may, Shelob is merely one of the endless extended lore features of the game -- I would play Shadow of War for the gameplay, not for Tolkien's lore.<p></p><p>Just like in <i>Mordor</i>, <i>War </i>too has a DLC whose female protagonist's appearance can be used to replace Talion in the main game. In hindsight, I maybe should've kept to Talion this time because there is actual gear (instead of just runes) that have different looks. The Eltariel skin(s) doesn't change in appearance outside her own gear in the <i>Blade of Galadriel</i> DLC. Even so, I did prefer her lithe elf looks. For some story quests, the game forces Talion's appearance on you but not always, which I found odd. In prerendered cutscenes Talion is of course himself as well. I found it amusing that <b>Laura Bailey</b> voiced Eltariel, kind of reprising her role of Lithariel in <i>Mordor</i>. Shadow of War is a repeat of the previous game in so many ways.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Same but also different gameplay</h4><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZpcY9n5Nqt_nmJHbvwjdrNOflzAZzBh4a5ChIm5yoqN8LgGN6Ufu4QAbozC_dEp3lPXxuyqaBQPh2IDW2CNg1CWAtqLTkGXoWyHGrzo9nmYB3oR_OGPMtpxDKWX8x_hGOIUq5h9UiaZvR9YpsDjgOKxLL8F8DQC-nY0ZCpMqrO5YFiUwSfk7epOBwuc/s1920/mesow002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZpcY9n5Nqt_nmJHbvwjdrNOflzAZzBh4a5ChIm5yoqN8LgGN6Ufu4QAbozC_dEp3lPXxuyqaBQPh2IDW2CNg1CWAtqLTkGXoWyHGrzo9nmYB3oR_OGPMtpxDKWX8x_hGOIUq5h9UiaZvR9YpsDjgOKxLL8F8DQC-nY0ZCpMqrO5YFiUwSfk7epOBwuc/s320/mesow002.png" width="320" /></a></div>I didn't 100% Shadow of Mordor when I first played it -- that happened when I started increasing my average game completion rate on Steam. The game, or rather its DLC, had a trio of memorable achievements (also the rarest ones) because they force you to learn the true depth of the mechanics. You don't need to do that when beating the game casually.<p></p><p>Shadow of War is less sweaty with its achievements; it doesn't demand perfected tactics for 100%. The game took me thrice as long to beat, however. One big reason for that is how most gear pieces have a challenge to unlock their full potential. I kept doing each one just in case I'll need a particular piece for a build or something. Some of the challenges -- for instance, executing an orc captain while under 25% health -- can be tricky and time consuming to set up and pull off successfully.</p><p>Combat works a familiar manner but there's a difference. Shadow of Mordor was largely akin to <i>Batman: Arkham Knight</i> in how you keep building up hitstreak to then use finishing moves to get rid of masses. Shadow of War works more like the recent(ish) <i>Gotham Knights</i>. Hitstreak is secondary; orc grunts take no effort to wipe out. You're not reactive rather than proactive. Orcs are aggressive: watching out for parry prompt works but it's often too late to react to the dodge prompts. <i>War </i>is even more about fighting the weaknesses and strengths of the orc captains than <i>Mordor </i>was.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeL8uk__8bPl9Y4ZbHMc4deAzem76kuwNokICcqzX7QmqbgTsJb3f-oCvKs2Ob1dX-68vhoAV8RC0GWbA1ecFFu2BeL72oFvdaqPakhnRLCFWrsbrLtBPcHXF1ksgQCT4q6syvN5usmMYaHzo_gojHYSWa240kgTzWzOcKjIG6dztSyzWT0xLJb-D_TjI/s1920/mesow003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeL8uk__8bPl9Y4ZbHMc4deAzem76kuwNokICcqzX7QmqbgTsJb3f-oCvKs2Ob1dX-68vhoAV8RC0GWbA1ecFFu2BeL72oFvdaqPakhnRLCFWrsbrLtBPcHXF1ksgQCT4q6syvN5usmMYaHzo_gojHYSWa240kgTzWzOcKjIG6dztSyzWT0xLJb-D_TjI/s320/mesow003.png" width="320" /></a></div>Monolith is also still bad at making enjoyable boss fights. Fights against orcs created by the game's system are more fun than scripted ringwraiths or whatever.<div><br /></div><div>Middle-earth: Shadow of War is objectively greater than its predecessor when it comes to the number of features it has. And I did enjoy the gameplay. But despite that I feel it wasn't different enough to have been that great of time. There's too much repetition: the increased number of maps alone reveals that fact.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJAN7kxQ0kvGd8zovEMQguKgA0vBvOvfOa1ZiaBXi7SoePkejjXANh77M-vN_oHpMbcp0T1RbtsfPSW24FWJqil9LmFLRkM5X8U-qvT2iofODtXYVJ7wYyA1CpB6Y3GpmFfrwKWHQODmwadq7eKJe1f_AzNLOtqP4fptNbcvgdFzDPaPD0S3_0GfBzrE/s1920/mesow004.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJAN7kxQ0kvGd8zovEMQguKgA0vBvOvfOa1ZiaBXi7SoePkejjXANh77M-vN_oHpMbcp0T1RbtsfPSW24FWJqil9LmFLRkM5X8U-qvT2iofODtXYVJ7wYyA1CpB6Y3GpmFfrwKWHQODmwadq7eKJe1f_AzNLOtqP4fptNbcvgdFzDPaPD0S3_0GfBzrE/w400-h225/mesow004.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlFebP_I0KUlcebih6wV_cUeBJfxkKtDb0iqifVYFvGf5Mo2tdaTXppD8mhwGvbxqKrfBIwEnNUUJreEgydCVD0ldMPwXEFIMJtK_9EqhEEb28lweu0pyroiwxtdClUqZYSyeBUl4DfUU31e3Mjm3V8OrpAOyHEol1YiIdbxr_f_JjYf6-Rid6BvPA1CY/s1920/mesow005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlFebP_I0KUlcebih6wV_cUeBJfxkKtDb0iqifVYFvGf5Mo2tdaTXppD8mhwGvbxqKrfBIwEnNUUJreEgydCVD0ldMPwXEFIMJtK_9EqhEEb28lweu0pyroiwxtdClUqZYSyeBUl4DfUU31e3Mjm3V8OrpAOyHEol1YiIdbxr_f_JjYf6-Rid6BvPA1CY/w400-h225/mesow005.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkg5meAe-c_ZR3AK76BHvSocMsrHDJO3l7zxtAprkg7pQ40QC0lo7Pity8e3iq8STKr7QvsWINVRwiP7b-JsJS7Gdnu2J2VpljWU_NunnBFCiJmncplu4gDnWobamJZN-MDBRpvcVpse84d1bBZP3u7f6oz3pUmjW3FGm-rFDRYuKXpyNTbwM0B3cgTw/s1920/mesow006.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkg5meAe-c_ZR3AK76BHvSocMsrHDJO3l7zxtAprkg7pQ40QC0lo7Pity8e3iq8STKr7QvsWINVRwiP7b-JsJS7Gdnu2J2VpljWU_NunnBFCiJmncplu4gDnWobamJZN-MDBRpvcVpse84d1bBZP3u7f6oz3pUmjW3FGm-rFDRYuKXpyNTbwM0B3cgTw/w400-h225/mesow006.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Had an endless orc mass spawn event happen here</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP2V8ma1D76L2yPzCpvd7vz7XRZcHxvOe0bi1whW3XGxce9QBwWqRj75dcyCEtFj5hz69nCuIqGjs_pzyuKGzqlEkrZyFdRZL2d9PN0v29KgZO-QaR_OcVWJ-qDLfkAbRGHySb51eBOA8hcZh6gCNlYvvLLlXPOchRKBuacZIkpV4jFD4BAs5-qXTM2R4/s1920/mesow007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP2V8ma1D76L2yPzCpvd7vz7XRZcHxvOe0bi1whW3XGxce9QBwWqRj75dcyCEtFj5hz69nCuIqGjs_pzyuKGzqlEkrZyFdRZL2d9PN0v29KgZO-QaR_OcVWJ-qDLfkAbRGHySb51eBOA8hcZh6gCNlYvvLLlXPOchRKBuacZIkpV4jFD4BAs5-qXTM2R4/w400-h225/mesow007.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQsjujEary5l-tiWXcgu2LTpWYXJ0p7lJZJJXO9YPp73LewYrA1RvIozaXJeSfGN4HoTurMtOuMUp2HSDXSSerrWtd3AzcQFwZMvdEtS4tFz4a203ajFT9GqpAVdHWGqgw5yqiBClxYp4Y1ykCguAqj-xfjEk5BuDidHbASTcY_iRCMJTFZZALw_MEW4/s1920/mesow009.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQsjujEary5l-tiWXcgu2LTpWYXJ0p7lJZJJXO9YPp73LewYrA1RvIozaXJeSfGN4HoTurMtOuMUp2HSDXSSerrWtd3AzcQFwZMvdEtS4tFz4a203ajFT9GqpAVdHWGqgw5yqiBClxYp4Y1ykCguAqj-xfjEk5BuDidHbASTcY_iRCMJTFZZALw_MEW4/w400-h225/mesow009.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1XtDpYw5cxdp2LvFfhwmxqiSglJsLShfDWnyKM7a_WIHLfOKr0aaenEaMSeMDAte0-e1JKZVXFg9-EJnrPv12PhWR3vlh_-gCVJUZ3_H6lxSSKghMqDm-A2tmS51QEb2QMMUUBZSpAPxOEUxYMcVPhxgD0GuOLf29wNePIEKGgefTds8g0XPzGpDBgY/s1920/mesow010.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1XtDpYw5cxdp2LvFfhwmxqiSglJsLShfDWnyKM7a_WIHLfOKr0aaenEaMSeMDAte0-e1JKZVXFg9-EJnrPv12PhWR3vlh_-gCVJUZ3_H6lxSSKghMqDm-A2tmS51QEb2QMMUUBZSpAPxOEUxYMcVPhxgD0GuOLf29wNePIEKGgefTds8g0XPzGpDBgY/w400-h225/mesow010.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p></div>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-36268854477363767072023-12-29T21:57:00.001+02:002023-12-29T21:57:40.947+02:00Amnesia: The Bunker<p><i>Amnesia: Rebirth</i> wasn't all that well received, as I recall. I had hoped otherwise after <i>SOMA</i>: it's possible that its brilliant writing was largely thanks to <b>Mikael Hedberg</b> who left<b> Frictional Games</b> after the fact. Epic gave away Rebirth at some point and it's still making its way up on my backlog. Frictional's next game, <i>Amnesia: The Bunker</i> appeared on Game Pass soon after its release -- better-received than Rebirth. I had thought to skip past the backlog to play Rebirth first but because the two games are not connected, I decided otherwise.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsL8NWe3aRBDGuN_dEKLVhXOwAMg16nKNgVWyX7x66evcSya7GEHP57v1W7hslOniO-EEvCkXN_9wB0kTrZekXh6p5FDEahr0qmAO6WZ66o89nlvniYp-Fd96KHnQD4pR-SP9BSE6w_2ibYGbP0znoK3KVxvRxTZ1VMM2Mk29nU6YLM_2S-vmWlfRLtZg/s288/atb000.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="215" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsL8NWe3aRBDGuN_dEKLVhXOwAMg16nKNgVWyX7x66evcSya7GEHP57v1W7hslOniO-EEvCkXN_9wB0kTrZekXh6p5FDEahr0qmAO6WZ66o89nlvniYp-Fd96KHnQD4pR-SP9BSE6w_2ibYGbP0znoK3KVxvRxTZ1VMM2Mk29nU6YLM_2S-vmWlfRLtZg/w149-h200/atb000.png" width="149" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">We have Alien: Isolation at home</h3><p></p><p>Amnesia: The Bunker takes place in the First World War. You play as a French soldier Henri Clément who gets trapped in a bunker. To escape, Henri needs to find explosives and a detonator to blow up the bunker's collapsed entrance. The problem is there being some <i>thing </i>in the bunker with him.</p><p>There are too many similarities to plausibly deny The Bunker having been heavily inspired by <i>Alien: Isolation</i>. The tools, the whole horror survival gameplay down to a clunky revolver, even the unkillable monster, are so alike with Isolation's feature set. There are differences, though. For instance, where the alien doesn't mind going wherever, the beast is averse to bright lights. (I also doubt it has quite as advanced behavior model.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLm5F8HaE-plf1IugzxMdTK4J7vBuTxKBHG0SQpS3w3XRaUZa1d11Wo2HuGfL_JQDFHP41EnqVEaKegFFUwywwUT-RMQx3zV0JP-ZDa-3iJ3DXQ8eEBBL_SjVq9U2CNXjlHwiO24FnSnTUo5cTjBx-lw2BNOcfWQ76V8vdIaSTnc8lRSrCH2NdiK5eJ8/s1920/atb001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLm5F8HaE-plf1IugzxMdTK4J7vBuTxKBHG0SQpS3w3XRaUZa1d11Wo2HuGfL_JQDFHP41EnqVEaKegFFUwywwUT-RMQx3zV0JP-ZDa-3iJ3DXQ8eEBBL_SjVq9U2CNXjlHwiO24FnSnTUo5cTjBx-lw2BNOcfWQ76V8vdIaSTnc8lRSrCH2NdiK5eJ8/s320/atb001.png" width="320" /></a></div>The Bunker being a survival horror game, light is of course a limited resource. The game gives you a safe/save room from which you sort of embark on expeditions to different wings of the bunker. (Depending on difficulty settings, the safe room might not be completely safe.) The safe room has a generator which powers the bunker's lights. To keep it running, you need fuel, which the generator eats up quickly.<p></p><p>Lights going out means the beast is free to roam about, which makes things challenging. You're not exactly safe while lights are on either, though. Loud noises -- like using a grenade to get through a door -- will summon the monster despite lighting. You have a shitty dynamo flashlight but charging it makes so much noise that I felt that using it was a trap most of the time.</p><p>The Bunker randomizes items and such, including passcodes. I think the game should do code rolls when you find a code, instead of doing them all at the start. With how it is, you can do a resources wasting rush to find a code, then reload a save back to the safe room to visit a locker room next to it to use the code even though Henri has not technically found the code yet. Or the game could allow you to not use number locks until you've actually found the code in question -- that's how Alien: Isolation works.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgntCDD3grb_LklTRK4kaQo26QYT_c-VitRDsovg2ogQDB75LnN0TYSt-s5zZYuJitD2pdrPN4tHJQWxx1KJvWf959leZeSIE2Xlm6EQkHOtBGF6gMunV-mpqf0FgpJe-1wOkzwzt3fXhcuc-6yjqv5u9hMkBZLg24gsot8gkc83sAa_nRTwfpnJW5zcgE/s1920/atb002.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgntCDD3grb_LklTRK4kaQo26QYT_c-VitRDsovg2ogQDB75LnN0TYSt-s5zZYuJitD2pdrPN4tHJQWxx1KJvWf959leZeSIE2Xlm6EQkHOtBGF6gMunV-mpqf0FgpJe-1wOkzwzt3fXhcuc-6yjqv5u9hMkBZLg24gsot8gkc83sAa_nRTwfpnJW5zcgE/s320/atb002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Of course, it's up to you how you want to play but in my opinion the game being centered around the safe/save room hurts the experience. It's too easy to abuse the system. Trips to the unknown don't feel dangerous because nothing is that far away. You don't lose much time by reloading and doing everything again -- which will be quicker, better optimized because you then know what to do and where to go.<p></p><p>It did take a bit for me to realize that, however, so there was at least a stress element for a couple of hours or so. But scary The Bunker was only up to the first non-scripted appearance of the beast. I was unimpressed by its sound design. By comparison, the alien is so much scarier; the beast's audio design is of a generic video game monster. Ambient audio design I did find authentic and immersive, though.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEo1q_TvBQ58w7Ymke4MNMb7_oY8ai0YLrhsxtfDFg6AiqmyiLBFYy0PJLkokSI_LD9voRXU3vfXYUGZNP2ybVZ2YSdt1tZGMrp8NNmm_-5ec2TX1QoZB0xGsU_L0NPiKZ8apLwNhE279tF0HH9YK0A39yntg7RJ8zCARa7f9chRtUhYlbMGlN37JsRs/s1920/atb003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEo1q_TvBQ58w7Ymke4MNMb7_oY8ai0YLrhsxtfDFg6AiqmyiLBFYy0PJLkokSI_LD9voRXU3vfXYUGZNP2ybVZ2YSdt1tZGMrp8NNmm_-5ec2TX1QoZB0xGsU_L0NPiKZ8apLwNhE279tF0HH9YK0A39yntg7RJ8zCARa7f9chRtUhYlbMGlN37JsRs/w400-h225/atb003.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH85iPqIE43TSt30YM0wk4Vmyfb9otRLjPTzfwnO3p1aVXZ-A4KJsXOKB2boEVICeakGRa79wbbktYMvTbfZSXhxyJ8_0PXXIYOOYOAbjVf52ZRVda1Jq_K4WLnP4NVWzSxvLiDVDnsVJ8g0bKCfmZAIpE3Yf4WIqytxDx63Ff5gClpSS2gO8bqGfy_SQ/s1920/atb004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH85iPqIE43TSt30YM0wk4Vmyfb9otRLjPTzfwnO3p1aVXZ-A4KJsXOKB2boEVICeakGRa79wbbktYMvTbfZSXhxyJ8_0PXXIYOOYOAbjVf52ZRVda1Jq_K4WLnP4NVWzSxvLiDVDnsVJ8g0bKCfmZAIpE3Yf4WIqytxDx63Ff5gClpSS2gO8bqGfy_SQ/w400-h225/atb004.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipB9xoC8kvedFtpFpfAeqaMpgy6eRhT7aFUPMERrb8vGmJX5hIPPoLmNNcCCu7kto3m3ow-7mjNxfV3iSJKYhMQS6AKcpweStImbMtkVgKefqBmfP9C-GLOMt6eUBBrnz3j-wNQ3UI4ew09Dp_60BscP7o974yJByIGQ3AHvZeF7n8kvT4fXrC0lhsKX4/s1920/atb005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipB9xoC8kvedFtpFpfAeqaMpgy6eRhT7aFUPMERrb8vGmJX5hIPPoLmNNcCCu7kto3m3ow-7mjNxfV3iSJKYhMQS6AKcpweStImbMtkVgKefqBmfP9C-GLOMt6eUBBrnz3j-wNQ3UI4ew09Dp_60BscP7o974yJByIGQ3AHvZeF7n8kvT4fXrC0lhsKX4/w400-h225/atb005.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOvslWko27rDdWEwrm7i-gijxnaxdW4vxLyPMAT8JRCJiL5TeEFYg8GfDJlvth5yCVVtE8hR4iDLUt7KuiRRMro3vgPzQ4WgYKrrnSGEjlLMN_Yq1YNGsEoBY7Nz5QhQSixdAXeT6WYpX3TTfl_V2v3fH74RDqwESy2h6_oppLZrigrJ7gihOCr9PuaE/s1920/atb006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOvslWko27rDdWEwrm7i-gijxnaxdW4vxLyPMAT8JRCJiL5TeEFYg8GfDJlvth5yCVVtE8hR4iDLUt7KuiRRMro3vgPzQ4WgYKrrnSGEjlLMN_Yq1YNGsEoBY7Nz5QhQSixdAXeT6WYpX3TTfl_V2v3fH74RDqwESy2h6_oppLZrigrJ7gihOCr9PuaE/w400-h225/atb006.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-23762239128509580932023-12-26T21:37:00.001+02:002023-12-26T21:46:21.766+02:00Jusant<p>Game Pass's 1€ trial returned in a nerfed manner: being only 2 weeks in length. Evidently that's not long enough for me to beat 2 short games and 1 bigger one (in a completionist style). I will have to return to finish the latter, <i>Gotham Knights</i>, some other time.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEnNZV1pvEJSUg8Mba7YNt_4VhgaWz4IGu0R5Y8of_BGA1NuDewwlZEByCLL9LuH9bexc50ThFLvBFhZbuy-3ujIv6A9BAwg-ph4ck0iz7YRycpH376e3OfwLiFs8HOTnpYM9JxusY9WFkIS4bHUIceKBMrC4M-vphDI_x1aI0om_ETQFq4GX730DpYOA/s273/jusant000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="271" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEnNZV1pvEJSUg8Mba7YNt_4VhgaWz4IGu0R5Y8of_BGA1NuDewwlZEByCLL9LuH9bexc50ThFLvBFhZbuy-3ujIv6A9BAwg-ph4ck0iz7YRycpH376e3OfwLiFs8HOTnpYM9JxusY9WFkIS4bHUIceKBMrC4M-vphDI_x1aI0om_ETQFq4GX730DpYOA/w199-h200/jusant000.png" width="199" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">An enjoyable little climbing game</h3><p></p><p>The first of the smaller games I beat was <i>Jusant </i>from the French Dontnod Entertainment, who have moved away from their name's palindrome appearance a bit and now go by as <b>Don't Nod</b>. The company has gotten rather prolific lately: their next game <i>Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden</i> was originally going to release a mere week after Jusant, in November, but was then delayed to February. And their next project after that, <i>Lost Records: Bloom & Rage</i>, has been already announced as well.</p><p>What piqued my interest in Jusant was how it's about climbing. I wanted to see if a game focused solely on that would introduce elements I had not seen before. The game's title is not related to climbing; <i>jusant </i>means ebb tide in French (though I think the game called it low tide). Jusant's working title (as revealed by the permissions request dialogue on the Xbox app again) was Ascension - P9. (P9 probably being Project 9 as this is Don't Nod's 9th game.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfD1wqBJewZaD0v2nGRUEic9gsWzP5HD-IgOv-j4ANfdrW53D1UKskaKZwt5_kAqfxOmA1Zkb8y4EbOJrzxpf7AGV_e5amOsCrClmIVI0wQHsPKNU1NmxWutzIKSN8rpl55DDMD7Wg_JJ20GaKTgbuLIb2PGE1U_k3SNsVJ1KeCj9WXczIKJY8XQvqvyQ/s1920/jusant001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfD1wqBJewZaD0v2nGRUEic9gsWzP5HD-IgOv-j4ANfdrW53D1UKskaKZwt5_kAqfxOmA1Zkb8y4EbOJrzxpf7AGV_e5amOsCrClmIVI0wQHsPKNU1NmxWutzIKSN8rpl55DDMD7Wg_JJ20GaKTgbuLIb2PGE1U_k3SNsVJ1KeCj9WXczIKJY8XQvqvyQ/s320/jusant001.png" width="320" /></a></div>Ebb tide has taken the sea from the massive tower of rock your character is about to ascent. All the people who lived there have left as well: no water, no life. There is no spoken dialogue, only notes left behind, and your mission is a mystery too. I'd say at the end of the first chapter you should be able to figure out your purpose there, though.<p></p><p>Jusant is not a try-hard game: it won't allow you to jump off ledges to your death even though it is possible to fall quite a bit of distance if you really try. But even then you take no falling damage. I don't know if the developers were aiming for a lower age rating (by avoiding gruesome deaths) or if they just wanted to make a chill game without pressure. Jusant is not quite a vertical walking simulator either, however. The climbing does take effort -- you actively hold down different buttons -- and on occasion Jusant requires somewhat precise timing for jumps and whatnot.</p><p>It took some time to get used to the climbing: having to take turns with holding and releasing triggers. I have previously encountered similar controls in one of the <i>Wolfenstein </i>games, albeit simpler and that I played with keyboard/mouse. I did eventually become a pretty quick climber, though.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0VpsK-DqGXX7JbCzpCWMKA-Z5lQ1dEMx8Nv_El5O2EhWLqVcnL7EYpVxEn5HW7bKkc_GsyEfTUb6nUV4yT4RxpmKSHIxez-Yq9qVJKgx2KYtg6jMQNUYYxW7r0A8fAlsKmDwuD3-PT1Y_zxWR_CoQigGOCNmYPAX1EVvaslClNHzAFP73AvhJtR2pSM/s1920/jusant002.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0VpsK-DqGXX7JbCzpCWMKA-Z5lQ1dEMx8Nv_El5O2EhWLqVcnL7EYpVxEn5HW7bKkc_GsyEfTUb6nUV4yT4RxpmKSHIxez-Yq9qVJKgx2KYtg6jMQNUYYxW7r0A8fAlsKmDwuD3-PT1Y_zxWR_CoQigGOCNmYPAX1EVvaslClNHzAFP73AvhJtR2pSM/s320/jusant002.png" width="320" /></a></div>There is a stamina bar to mind while climbing but you can stop to rest to restore it. Jumps will take away maximum stamina until you get back on solid ground. Your rope is somewhat advanced tech (or magical) because it can be detached remotely from its original attachment point to rewind it back to you -- as long as you're in a safe spot. You can also place up to 3 pitons per climb for a "checkpoint" and/or swinging point.<p></p><p>There are some fantastical flora and fauna that are used to progress but heavy winds could be a thing in a more mundane setting too. What Jusant is missing, is a sense of danger. There's no vertigo caused by the heights because the game is so protective; there's not much to lose if you fail to grab a handhold. While Jusant is a cool experience all the way through, and immersive despite the lack of true setbacks, I would like to see its climbing features implemented in a game that punishes you more for failing -- like in a future <i>Tomb Raider</i> game, for instance.</p><p>Jusant runs on Unreal Engine 5 but I reckon its fairly simplistic looks might have been possible to create back on UE3 already. The older engine wouldn't have made my CPU sweat so much. Meanwhile my GPU seemed barely bothered.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8A04jNHuJ0IVc2GKWx3Is6ZunBbkNMl4Zgz8yd0Vwiw-GvNU4k_aqN_l5WxzgVDfH5hhZlpIHci9qozxfkgmQh_ELJFHMUlw4Hvt-XkLFaxyxscNVcc4DZz-NW9ldAN2j3nCyRc0Xhrwp-tS2-I78lk2e7mDkP8Ca3ie_VdoTf13l1GuyXkAVS-y20Q/s1920/jusant003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8A04jNHuJ0IVc2GKWx3Is6ZunBbkNMl4Zgz8yd0Vwiw-GvNU4k_aqN_l5WxzgVDfH5hhZlpIHci9qozxfkgmQh_ELJFHMUlw4Hvt-XkLFaxyxscNVcc4DZz-NW9ldAN2j3nCyRc0Xhrwp-tS2-I78lk2e7mDkP8Ca3ie_VdoTf13l1GuyXkAVS-y20Q/w400-h225/jusant003.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMkat_tuP7KnL6o46CXti7N_O9xZRzTb8gibtg-T258fLGOxEG5JUPkpPHsZmmxttwfYjvgSvB2aULpyFUgptQjC-ej_2MdeskVNOQkN-u72eWR9uehk5yNyYJ_047u4woJlj8w0BSQCH6UU3saaCtSZDhozjG-BrmoqT14KlgMzEeFJjyULqGay8GrEk/s1920/jusant004.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMkat_tuP7KnL6o46CXti7N_O9xZRzTb8gibtg-T258fLGOxEG5JUPkpPHsZmmxttwfYjvgSvB2aULpyFUgptQjC-ej_2MdeskVNOQkN-u72eWR9uehk5yNyYJ_047u4woJlj8w0BSQCH6UU3saaCtSZDhozjG-BrmoqT14KlgMzEeFJjyULqGay8GrEk/w400-h225/jusant004.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kbEkl6zzor70b14CK8DyKs_I0Jkphsx2vEPUh-4WQpYWk-cDbjRvBfeRkIPHn1Y9cH54Y2NA8rLvCRctpeiLD59KGw9yJiaCFbZXERiPtucO58tpTFWhhOFbW6WAgGewTYxC8xigIQ2LeLGQ03fmYLUtzQ7jJkBeHbG8W8LkrQlazxoWvQtEL-_5Cu0/s1920/jusant005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kbEkl6zzor70b14CK8DyKs_I0Jkphsx2vEPUh-4WQpYWk-cDbjRvBfeRkIPHn1Y9cH54Y2NA8rLvCRctpeiLD59KGw9yJiaCFbZXERiPtucO58tpTFWhhOFbW6WAgGewTYxC8xigIQ2LeLGQ03fmYLUtzQ7jJkBeHbG8W8LkrQlazxoWvQtEL-_5Cu0/w400-h225/jusant005.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFcmJtKnkSB8ePukYLdCgI_f-u1iBpIa9C410mWCBP5PzRzfnF5dPbHZRcD1KF_2F0AnBnAZ4kJ23xw23bAUpdn8lMar37mzfGmrt1IuMaa5Rr07_MCs-ntzIRp25k4IVC3Wmpd-RpnJNU0XkWCen7-dhN_Nc2JvRjmNJa8vQE3_xPpplARsTrZwzX-4/s1920/jusant006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFcmJtKnkSB8ePukYLdCgI_f-u1iBpIa9C410mWCBP5PzRzfnF5dPbHZRcD1KF_2F0AnBnAZ4kJ23xw23bAUpdn8lMar37mzfGmrt1IuMaa5Rr07_MCs-ntzIRp25k4IVC3Wmpd-RpnJNU0XkWCen7-dhN_Nc2JvRjmNJa8vQE3_xPpplARsTrZwzX-4/w400-h225/jusant006.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuSuYhoPVFh23ch8-34KzIHodD-QWUeuYgJ8bdxU23ZX0-x0-v8TtGFG1iNyijCH1kh-2ASUoQpYfPljAgxpj8st0ryWVGB3dSZ8JxZ2qrs5CYRToTX7PCooaAjK1I1FIZqKNFUNrqBWsRBkFwnlEH9HpLfOs7Gd_MUT14tFOXmlyjr02GRs-GSfAlSc/s1920/jusant007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuSuYhoPVFh23ch8-34KzIHodD-QWUeuYgJ8bdxU23ZX0-x0-v8TtGFG1iNyijCH1kh-2ASUoQpYfPljAgxpj8st0ryWVGB3dSZ8JxZ2qrs5CYRToTX7PCooaAjK1I1FIZqKNFUNrqBWsRBkFwnlEH9HpLfOs7Gd_MUT14tFOXmlyjr02GRs-GSfAlSc/w400-h225/jusant007.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBzSk4RZLy5BCAb3n94jI3C8p2YelY1NPQZI1pXsN1smOF60oxJzvH9VS3hk1rlinjUHuTk-9O-wzA5VWF5AY6WXe9z46kstOhWWcFXwlVpVfgEDvAfS86_W-WKeBzwZ4R2SQomAcSpefU0DKzI-AxNLr9ia-5IDqh8PBa5SPa0zKq2H9lEc0LQ581Ac/s1920/jusant008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBzSk4RZLy5BCAb3n94jI3C8p2YelY1NPQZI1pXsN1smOF60oxJzvH9VS3hk1rlinjUHuTk-9O-wzA5VWF5AY6WXe9z46kstOhWWcFXwlVpVfgEDvAfS86_W-WKeBzwZ4R2SQomAcSpefU0DKzI-AxNLr9ia-5IDqh8PBa5SPa0zKq2H9lEc0LQ581Ac/w400-h225/jusant008.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPFJAKSfymTVvEA7VRhb6nPN-vDnVBJB96oLu_90Bgol1sRadBRxYAYGgCyeRrKf6TGA-L4DaOuOcXQOgXFPC7RuRa-yMDtLc2dG7ev9feeGC2p9Z59dWp0QrwZ4msEyVxeYrKhsJ76v05by3bQpQBP-CV_lCRGPEspJR3e2YK-NKZxl_YptKpFjWi72Q/s1920/jusant009.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPFJAKSfymTVvEA7VRhb6nPN-vDnVBJB96oLu_90Bgol1sRadBRxYAYGgCyeRrKf6TGA-L4DaOuOcXQOgXFPC7RuRa-yMDtLc2dG7ev9feeGC2p9Z59dWp0QrwZ4msEyVxeYrKhsJ76v05by3bQpQBP-CV_lCRGPEspJR3e2YK-NKZxl_YptKpFjWi72Q/w400-h225/jusant009.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-40935169453716153902023-12-22T11:18:00.001+02:002023-12-22T11:22:24.199+02:00Dawnshard<p><i>Dawnshard </i>is the second "novella" (56k words) in <b>Brandon Sanderson</b>'s <i>Stormlight Archive</i>, set between the series' third and fourth volumes. Its protagonist is tradesmaster Rysn Ftori who sets out on an expedition to Akinah, a lost city on an island shrouded in storms.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Xvszriz_s72_KFf2hsSUz7F2IqLnAXxUL9RWgOKdkPkQR83s1F91Va6ZJ1YJ3Wz30vyjUlHQBNEdHcYPunWs9JIvhzJnS3568ZJ7WSly8exRH6Qt1xQxjxQUGJx9HVso15HcgV_9zvJ_qm-2SLri7nae781xSPHfmu4T7724JNuKQFKmcqFkKWnS2Lw/s636/dawnshard_cover.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="402" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Xvszriz_s72_KFf2hsSUz7F2IqLnAXxUL9RWgOKdkPkQR83s1F91Va6ZJ1YJ3Wz30vyjUlHQBNEdHcYPunWs9JIvhzJnS3568ZJ7WSly8exRH6Qt1xQxjxQUGJx9HVso15HcgV_9zvJ_qm-2SLri7nae781xSPHfmu4T7724JNuKQFKmcqFkKWnS2Lw/w126-h200/dawnshard_cover.png" width="126" /></a></div>Navani Kholin had put out a call for a ship due to another returning without her crew and Knights Radiant being unable to fly to the island due to something draining their stormlight when they get too near. Rysn also has personal motivation: her unusual pet Chiri-Chiri has fallen ill and needs to be returned to her homeland, which happens to be Akinah.<p></p><p>I groaned out loud when I learned that Rysn is paraplegic. In before times, that would have been a non-issue but in the current day's political and cultural climate, it immediately broke immersion for me. It created a constant expectation of pandering and The Message. In Dawnshard's acknowledgements, Sanderson thanks a group of accessibility and paraplegia experts - did they bowdlerize the book?</p><p>However, Rysn does feel authentic. Some years ago, there was an article in the local newspaper about accessibility around the city. They had interviewed a paraplegic about it and how people react to them being in a wheelchair. I recall their account being very similar to Rysn's experiences in this book.</p><p>I don't quite remember what kind of healing stormlight had been used for in the previous books but apparently it can't restore someone's ability to walk. At least if they're not a Radiant themselves, which Rysn is not. Rysn does eventually get magical aid for her limitation when a new use is discovered in the novella.</p><p>Dawnshard was entertaining enough of a read. I'm sure Rysn will return in the following <i>Rhythm of War</i>.</p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-84916578626465363492023-12-18T21:29:00.001+02:002023-12-18T21:29:27.122+02:00Pathfinder: Kingmaker<b>Owlcat Games</b> have been better than <b>Mundfish </b>in their claim to be an international studio based in Cyprus, seemingly having avoided bigger controversies so far. The masquerade seems to be holding up even now with their newest game, <i>Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader</i>, which came out a couple of weeks ago. Russia has not really been mentioned in the headlines the game has made up to this point.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDLrpFmtD_kckWbvEFx2pmjGOSEcjqUVRq-uVCezQgORorjNJd_8m-V9PfcEmpFnLqDlknqXrpUW0Ky9cXmO2GuLJSKPR-LI99RxwITZD3QtlakkV4kkEFn35fFTZ6EMPTM3wSbI3cVaJ068sT34MD9Oj7fAvOEGFZP1daddI8AMH0_BEya0yqTpwlt8/s306/pfkm000.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="218" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDLrpFmtD_kckWbvEFx2pmjGOSEcjqUVRq-uVCezQgORorjNJd_8m-V9PfcEmpFnLqDlknqXrpUW0Ky9cXmO2GuLJSKPR-LI99RxwITZD3QtlakkV4kkEFn35fFTZ6EMPTM3wSbI3cVaJ068sT34MD9Oj7fAvOEGFZP1daddI8AMH0_BEya0yqTpwlt8/w142-h200/pfkm000.png" width="142" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Ambitious and bloated optimization adventure</h3></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Pathfinder: Kingmaker</i> is Owlcat's first game -- as far as I know anyway -- and a highly ambitious one too. The fact it released in a state of absolute mess isn't surprising the least. A roleplaying game using an extensive tabletop ruleset is bound to have complications. Add the Unity engine's issues on top of that and there's a long road of patch releases ahead.</div><div><br /></div><div>Owlcat stuck with the game, though: Kingmaker was smooth sailing for me bug-wise except for one side quest having a noticeable, albeit minor, problem. A much bigger issue was low framerate after repeated reloads -- Unity's scripts probably getting all tangled up, no doubt. I hear the console version of the game remains a buggy state, unlikely never to be fixed: Owlcat kind of got separated from the game when they seceded from their Russian parent company. Or so the story goes anyway.</div><div><br /></div><div>The <i>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game</i> is owned by <b>Paizo </b>who used to publish <b>Wizards of the Coast</b>'s <i>Dragon </i>and <i>Dungeon </i>magazines. When the 4th edition of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> was about to come out, Paizo decided to abandon D&D and make their own RPG based on the Open Gaming License. If you're familiar with the D&D 3.5E rules (like I am), you're practically familiar with Pathfinder too already (its first edition at least). The differences are negligible and easily figured out. The oddest thing for me was the kineticist player class that is added by <b>The Wildcards</b> DLC.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRDw4VWjz0A44WN6qEsvhh4YVzOZNc-O2S43llxtqkx8_jKVz-E-arfyzmR7jq9YudH_pSAQhfV0EX671-z2L5mPTbsHEZXKb0zybGNoacR-JY8it-AWDtp1ObhmJw_mhcW_4V1IRJuAVdDL7l6ThZ3Er-uoFyQFtNKrpvCoGLeSgMurWnHe2kzs9zxQ4/s1920/pfkm002.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRDw4VWjz0A44WN6qEsvhh4YVzOZNc-O2S43llxtqkx8_jKVz-E-arfyzmR7jq9YudH_pSAQhfV0EX671-z2L5mPTbsHEZXKb0zybGNoacR-JY8it-AWDtp1ObhmJw_mhcW_4V1IRJuAVdDL7l6ThZ3Er-uoFyQFtNKrpvCoGLeSgMurWnHe2kzs9zxQ4/s320/pfkm002.png" width="320" /></a></div>Kingmaker is based on a six-module <i>adventure path</i> (what Paizo calls their premade Pathfinder campaigns) of the same name but I don't know how faithfully the game really follows it. For instance, of the many companions, Jubilost is apparently the only one that even appears in the original adventure path in some way.</div><div><br /></div><div>You are one of the adventurers tasked by a Brevoy noble to tame a neighboring region called the Stolen Lands. After taking out the initial big bad around, you establish a barony that eventually develops into a kingdom. Kingmaker's main story runs out of steam pretty early, considering the game's total 200-hour playtime (for a completionist like me). The Season of Bloom chapter already pretty much reveals what is going on and there are many chapters still left after it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Like with <b>BioWare</b>'s <i>Dragon Age Inquisition</i>, there's a plausibility issue in how you are the ruler but also the adventurer. Once you are a king/queen it becomes particularly silly: a person in such a position would never leave to do dungeon crawling without a massive entourage. At least Kingmaker doesn't have Inquisition's busy-work tasks to make it feel like a singleplayer MMO like Inquisition.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdLq8IIVMeQNtakOXAyGBzYKZKQnJrLYmWhktx8QL2qu9RaKjWrTmD1b2lExZKkMbw-cWg3Vg30V7I18O2xQkQRLk9nPktlkbPi5YjZmzhyPW3z8NkutOk4bMAI8iDZ7KLJBLCXmLZj9-DeVmVn5rz9JeYZV_u3QXdFrCgURSTZuN2jXXj0Wy0P3tEn8/s1920/pfkm003.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdLq8IIVMeQNtakOXAyGBzYKZKQnJrLYmWhktx8QL2qu9RaKjWrTmD1b2lExZKkMbw-cWg3Vg30V7I18O2xQkQRLk9nPktlkbPi5YjZmzhyPW3z8NkutOk4bMAI8iDZ7KLJBLCXmLZj9-DeVmVn5rz9JeYZV_u3QXdFrCgURSTZuN2jXXj0Wy0P3tEn8/s320/pfkm003.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Too involved secondary game mode</h4></div><div><br /></div><div>Kingdom management is Kingmaker's worst feature. It is an incredible time-waster that often feels frustrating and never satisfying. Difficulty can be customized and kingdom management can be set to automatic. That however causes you to miss certain things, I've heard. So instead I set it to Effortless. I suppose that, when looking at my kingdom's flourishing stats at the end of the game, one might conclude it was indeed effortless. But the journey there sure didn't feel like it. I spent a long time reloading quicksaves so that my advisors would succeed in their event checks which can have very high Difficulty Classes despite the low difficulty setting.</div><div><br /></div><div>Randomness sure is the bane dialogue and kingdom event checks. With D&D-like game rules, it's not a surprise inclusion but in a computer RPG, there's no dungeon master to balance things out when you fail. It's too bad that so few developers do static checks like <b>Obsidian Entertainment</b>. Successful skill checks grant experience points based on the DC. Thus when given an opportunity to lower a DC, one should not take it. You can get ridiculous amounts of experience by savescumming the highest checks.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KDGwBR5kbwiguUPviKk10bTwXlRVlpYxSxQNx7o6DsJ9_q-zHiVpG-ZXR_GLOAC1pbRfGIfs6Nm0BGp7E7Dgmwf12rWfkN22Fb6ezrilIre8vfAwv-JWCsb9_h3maBa5Zqqp-i0elIPtz-jwWnsO1mcQW3wwve3zbtcvQNDJLHW2UEgaICXbGe_-LJc/s1920/pfkm008.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KDGwBR5kbwiguUPviKk10bTwXlRVlpYxSxQNx7o6DsJ9_q-zHiVpG-ZXR_GLOAC1pbRfGIfs6Nm0BGp7E7Dgmwf12rWfkN22Fb6ezrilIre8vfAwv-JWCsb9_h3maBa5Zqqp-i0elIPtz-jwWnsO1mcQW3wwve3zbtcvQNDJLHW2UEgaICXbGe_-LJc/s320/pfkm008.png" width="320" /></a></div>Then there is how you need to take care to not roll over an event starting date -- by having your character locked in some project -- because that starts causing troubles for your kingdom stats the longer the event stays unattended. Chapters are set to start at specific dates and finishing a chapter main quest early might leave you with only simple side quests to do while waiting for the story to continue. There are times you probably have to spam that skip day button.</div><div><br /></div><div>Kingdom management also involves improving your capital and other settlements. It feels inconsequential outside few key buildings. Notice boards (lawful-kingdom only) are a cheap way to get +2 to a region's advisor checks, aviaries allow you to enter the kingdom management screen from neighboring regions, and teleportation circles/mage towers will later allow you to shortcut slow overland traveling, which is another realtime-consuming activity.</div><div><br /></div><div>Until the endgame, your kingdom provides very few building points to even construct buildings. The points are used for kingdom projects as well -- of which many are simply traps. There are all kinds of expensive trade agreements and whatnots that will never pay themselves back. You can buy points with gold and it sure feels funny to sell your personal item collection to a vendor so that you can build stuff. But as it is, prioritizing your kingdom's artisans' needs is important due to the valuable magic items they keep providing you.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pvDsGz7-s9K04Wvky5kVeYXkOYfdRKAKHt5rWF-HZe2asejGBbZIHBa8qcAmQkrSf01OOUmK6OJM8B_kWDWLkbg1SCPxG2X2tq-dVo-lQeEhA4Rg3agjfWSFW2TbH_6_1hRkFzqyWJvo9o6gyX5YyCLnGzoaj3kq8AkV4hkFgNMG9tAT3tG-mpgoVmk/s1920/pfkm005.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pvDsGz7-s9K04Wvky5kVeYXkOYfdRKAKHt5rWF-HZe2asejGBbZIHBa8qcAmQkrSf01OOUmK6OJM8B_kWDWLkbg1SCPxG2X2tq-dVo-lQeEhA4Rg3agjfWSFW2TbH_6_1hRkFzqyWJvo9o6gyX5YyCLnGzoaj3kq8AkV4hkFgNMG9tAT3tG-mpgoVmk/s320/pfkm005.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Plenty of challenge</h4></div><div><br /></div><div>Unlike the D&D CRPGs of old, there is no Core setting for main difficulty. The closest you can get to the tabletop Pathfinder rules is by setting the difficulty to Challenging and then lowering the two enemy scaling settings back down to 100%. If you desire the ultimate challenge, the main preset goes up to Unfair which is exactly what it says. Enemy stats and difficulty checks will be bloated onto a ridiculous level. A better way to increase challenge would be to have more enemies and/or different group compositions. That would involve a lot more effort though, considering the amount of encounters in the game.</div><div><br /></div><div>Originally Kingmaker shipped with only realtime-with-pause combat but turn-based mode toggle got added later (after there had been a mod for it first). I bet playing through the whole game on turn-based would make a playthrough even longer. Some players like switching to turn-based for difficult fights but I stayed in realtime through the whole game.</div><div><br /></div><div>How Kingmaker's realtime implementation works took quite a bit to get used to when coming straight from <i>Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition</i>. Combat movement felt very slow in comparison. Once I had access to movement increasing utilities, melee characters' effectiveness grew considerably. There is the Charge action but in Kingmaker initiative rolls did seem to matter (which is a first for me in a realtime adaptation) and enemy positions had often changed to make the Charge no longer possible once it was the character's time to act.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk7ANG3W-nrNpLWnbZvxXSu7yVaXhbVcVejrHVhlCKz0FWXq8eE1hUp_O3xPjuISUNUY8TISorFbixt6SCUpxsZd5yE2ZLSvRfmVtuQb77VnC59PncVWcxdx0DZ0bwUk9KPc2ek3GhLN_OY3SRC48ecfc4Y9gzHI46IIUapvhn3MqcXTwFfkpGWq1cnL0/s1920/pfkm004.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk7ANG3W-nrNpLWnbZvxXSu7yVaXhbVcVejrHVhlCKz0FWXq8eE1hUp_O3xPjuISUNUY8TISorFbixt6SCUpxsZd5yE2ZLSvRfmVtuQb77VnC59PncVWcxdx0DZ0bwUk9KPc2ek3GhLN_OY3SRC48ecfc4Y9gzHI46IIUapvhn3MqcXTwFfkpGWq1cnL0/s320/pfkm004.png" width="320" /></a></div>Baldur's Gate 2 is more lax: spellcasting and attacking are on different timers. A character can immediately swing after casting a spell and vice versa. Turns are more vaguely defined to make the game's combat smoother. (Not that I can recall anymore how AD&D 2E's actual rules worked but I'm pretty sure there was no casting and attacking on the same turn.)</div><div><br /></div><div>In Kingmaker, AI's targeting was at times questionable, characters not always choosing the sensible, the closest enemy in melee range, instead going around to someone else, which can be hazardous when attack of opportunity is a thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Core" difficulty provided overall a pretty good varying challenge. Having buffs can make a huge difference but that's not too unusual for a game like this. Early on, Kingmaker made me use all the tricks I had -- probably due to how I tried to avoid resting as long as possible.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's an infamous side quest early on: baptism by fire, one could say. I had heard about the spider swarms yet I was still unprepared how difficult they were at that point of the game. It's easy to end up trying the quest too soon because it's on the way to the main one. By midgame, the swarm enemy type ceases to be an issue until endgame brings them back tougher than ever. Your available resources may affect how dangerous they are; my party composition wasn't often optimal.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitIux06lfmPKYpUM6CzG8fQ6mGFMxOX2Sb3q3JvfyPOyvG352_q0XOF_jCFvVIh6MEFE4rFDm5Fc50j0-TztWp-ZiRyKrzgIw8JtH6ueOoiTWRVxrrfXCK1SQg-YU0Kt9AZMwhd55xDIalVfh8I47l4rvqZ-l1J62B_RBXVK6c1MwFm5brhyphenhyphenWSVQG_74U/s1920/pfkm001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitIux06lfmPKYpUM6CzG8fQ6mGFMxOX2Sb3q3JvfyPOyvG352_q0XOF_jCFvVIh6MEFE4rFDm5Fc50j0-TztWp-ZiRyKrzgIw8JtH6ueOoiTWRVxrrfXCK1SQg-YU0Kt9AZMwhd55xDIalVfh8I47l4rvqZ-l1J62B_RBXVK6c1MwFm5brhyphenhyphenWSVQG_74U/s320/pfkm001.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Not optimal for roleplaying</h4></div><div><br /></div><div>One should not try to roleplay in Kingmaker -- at least not an evil character. The game favors power gaming; trying to stick to your alignment can result in some terribly suboptimal results. I really started to miss the dispositions from the <i>Pillars of Eternity</i> games. In those, I felt I could pick options to match my character instead of having to pick one with the most beneficial results. I was bemused by how often the choice to refuse a companion quest in Kingmaker was tagged as Lawful Evil -- why? In general, dialogue options way too often didn't match my understanding of the D&D alignments. If you end up straying from your alignment enough to have it change, you can simply buy a scroll of atonement to reset it. That's kind of cheap.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted to make an evil paladin type of character, like I had in Pillars of Eternity. But paladin is restricted to the Lawful Good alignment and there's no evil counterpart (without mods). An evil cleric is close but isn't as cool. Instead I ended up on choosing inquisitor, which is sort of a divine jack-of-all-trades class. My intention was to try roleplaying the character but the game doesn't really support it. And the character had other problems too. If I had to choose again, I would just go with paladin, which has usually been my first choice when given the option in an RPG.</div><div><br /></div><div>I based my character on Ynthel Duumin who's the protagonist of the <i>Forgotten Realms</i> novel <i>Maiden of Pain</i> by <b>Kameron M. Franklin</b>. Ynthel is a priestess of Loviatar, the Maiden of Pain, whose counterpart in Pathfinder's world of Golarion is Zon-Kuthon. Loviatar and her priesthood make sense but Zon-Kuthon far less so: nothing suggests to me that he's Lawful Evil in alignment. According to his description, his servants don't really include inquisitors either which made my character Nyleth odd from the start. The god is barely worshipped except in the land of Nidal after which I named my kingdom Nidalia, and my capital New Pangolais after Nidal's capital Pangolais.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_yIOhtLGpUuZO3TYTYmB_CDwq-wtoR5mvwD4eyALcMzP6nMzIILVk5O6f03p8b0AkQ12VArM5qZEv9Dvl9Obi7XJdTq0CNWpLa45Qq_sii5LVHThOJlqZXqEH_nk3dGR75pt4PQ8vAwFjm5YqK0PM5KYYpmnESPiZWeKcXJvrinA4Zq1pL27qYcoiQE/s1920/pfkm007.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_yIOhtLGpUuZO3TYTYmB_CDwq-wtoR5mvwD4eyALcMzP6nMzIILVk5O6f03p8b0AkQ12VArM5qZEv9Dvl9Obi7XJdTq0CNWpLa45Qq_sii5LVHThOJlqZXqEH_nk3dGR75pt4PQ8vAwFjm5YqK0PM5KYYpmnESPiZWeKcXJvrinA4Zq1pL27qYcoiQE/s320/pfkm007.png" width="320" /></a></div>Like clerics, inquisitors get proficiency with their deity's favored weapon. The optimal choice would be a deity with an exotic weapon because they're usually better than simple and martial ones. Given Zon-Kuthon's portfolio, I guessed that his weapon of choice would be something like a whip or a spiked chain. Those kinds of weapons are rarely, if ever, implemented in games and instead the fallback weapon is flail. That turned out to be exactly the case in Kingmaker too. Unfortunately the flail is a simple weapon, which the inquisitor knows how to use by default. 1d8 damage with x2 critical damage is terrible, definitely not the most powerful choice. But I did like that there was a +5 flail, named Tyranny to fit a Lawful Evil ruler.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Companions aplenty</h4><div><br /></div><div>While I planned my character through all the 20 levels on my own, I didn't bother spending the time to learn the rest of Kingmaker's 15 classes and their 45 archetypes to know how to spec my companions. Instead I used <a href="https://www.neoseeker.com/pathfinder-kingmaker/guides/Builds" target="_blank"><b>Neoseeker</b>'s builds</a>. I believe they're meant for Unfair so they should be plenty good for anything below it. You should still check the comments on each because they might point out issues. Octavia's build, for instance, has some completely incorrect choices like a spell from a prohibited school.</div><div><br /></div><div>I originally hoped I could play the game by sticking to just a set party but that is not the best thing to do in Kingmaker. By recruiting everyone, you will get more quests and more people to pick your advisors from. However, when not on a quest for a specific companion, I tried to stick to the party I had originally decided to go along with my evil character: Valerie, Amiri, Jaethal, Nok-Nok, plus Kalikke/Kanerah from The Wildcards.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0yLg7K6LItUDj4M-Tre-Fq9IY8gTyskerBdClUgztmLfdov9TqxLwmIKaZ6kBvHQJJeBg8rg4v1yxNChtcQg84-m6rYUcA8W_yln7F_rcZUgtzupv69m7S3mTdI8eS7ulxJzGigvFSGeZW7el5qMnQ-38Un731J2InLfW4KWHQyYVRBjOJi7HzONt6c/s1920/pfkm006.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0yLg7K6LItUDj4M-Tre-Fq9IY8gTyskerBdClUgztmLfdov9TqxLwmIKaZ6kBvHQJJeBg8rg4v1yxNChtcQg84-m6rYUcA8W_yln7F_rcZUgtzupv69m7S3mTdI8eS7ulxJzGigvFSGeZW7el5qMnQ-38Un731J2InLfW4KWHQyYVRBjOJi7HzONt6c/s320/pfkm006.png" width="320" /></a></div>It's a melee heavy party which caused some issues but worked well enough. Things didn't get as hopelessly packed in close combat ranged as I had feared but there was some serious redundancy in how a lot of melee builds use the intimidate feat family. Haste spell is one thing I mainly missed but Use Magic Device and spell scrolls/wands get you a short duration one. The final boss of the <i>Beneath the Stolen Lands</i> DLC was an interesting power check if the party had what it takes. I did manage to beat it even if I had had doubts after the first attempts I did before fully resting.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nok-Nok gets kind of ridiculous with his kukri sneak attacks and Kalikke/Kanerah are extremely useful to have at the endgame. The latter's high level kineticist's area-of-effect abilities ease the endless tough fey enemy spawn considerably. Even if Jaethal is an inquisitor like my character (I used the Inq 3/Clr (Herald Caller) 17 build for her), I predicted that her undead traits would be a useful utility to have. (I was right.) Of the other possible companions, Jubilost would have been a great permanent inclusion because he's on the same power level as Nok-Nok. Alchemist is apparently a strong class -- very useful against swarms too.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Adequate presentation</h4><div><br /></div><div>Kingmaker's UI is stylish and thematic but it has some usability issues. It's not the first topdown RPG to use the layout it does but I'd prefer message/combat log to be in the middle. And be wider as well. Tooltips would have needed some rewriting: concise descriptions instead of the full feat/spell texts. It would also be helpful if feat descriptions told how the game's implementation differs from tabletop. For example, inquisitor gets at some level the ability to make their weapon have the bane property against a creature type for X amount of turns per day. But when you click the ability in the game, nothing seems to happen; you don't choose any type. Instead your weapon will be considered to have bane against everything you hit. That perplexed me for quite a bit.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCiSGFGlyILnvO7k36cN1MPhDXOEFlrCNMs_JhJyV9hRrnkLxV2a3OEXl3K6KSy6gHZnp-IjwZlXJu6f7eiyRhbnXgeA1c6MTJOmQTAU5xZINRwbcE-CKdY18LX8ya-4tNhS9VNUhMFTq0t3I4DVikAOnHXAt2hnnjYftsb-3WCI_maseXGQ50Kq6gI4/s1920/pfkm009.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCiSGFGlyILnvO7k36cN1MPhDXOEFlrCNMs_JhJyV9hRrnkLxV2a3OEXl3K6KSy6gHZnp-IjwZlXJu6f7eiyRhbnXgeA1c6MTJOmQTAU5xZINRwbcE-CKdY18LX8ya-4tNhS9VNUhMFTq0t3I4DVikAOnHXAt2hnnjYftsb-3WCI_maseXGQ50Kq6gI4/s320/pfkm009.png" width="320" /></a></div>One odd annoyance -- and I'm surprised it hasn't been removed -- is how the main menu starts zoomed out and angled when you launch the game. You can click on it while it's still moving but it's a bizarre decision to have it be like that. Maybe they wanted to make sure you listen to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8En1WOlm0c" target="_blank">the main menu theme</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I immediately recognized the tune to be <b>Inon Zur</b>'s work. It's quite reminiscent of <i>Icewind Dale 2</i> and <i>Dragon Age: Origins</i>. Zur didn't compose the entire soundtrack; the title track might in fact be the only one from him. It's definitely the best of the lot.</div><div><br /></div><div>Kingmaker's voice acting is mainly found in main and companion quests. I would've preferred them to scatter it out a bit. Instead of having long back-to-back paragraphs voiced, they could've done that to the first line of minor stuff to have more an even experience. Also, having characters do a lot of "talking" in non-voiced cutscenes that you can't skip is not great.</div><div><br /></div><div>One final thing I want to mention is the <i>Varnhold's Lot </i>DLC. The idea of it is pretty cool: playing the events of something your character will later learn about and have your choices affect your main playthrough. In practice, though, it doesn't quite work out. Having to make a new character (or more if you don't like the default companions offered) in the middle of a 100-hour run turned out to be annoying. The payoff for the DLC wasn't very satisfying either. The DLC became a rather hardcore dungeon crawl in the end. It was a bit too meta to have the fey at the end to confess having done everything just for funs, there being no point to any of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know if/when I will play Owlcat's second game, <i>Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous</i>. I do have the base game on Steam but I'd prefer to play it on some other launcher where I don't care about my average completion rate. Wrath looks like a game that would take few hundred hours to 100%.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">My character</h4><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Nyleth du Muin, Lawful Evil Human Inquisitor of Zon-Kuthon</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Str<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>16 (+2 from Human)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Dex<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>13</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Con<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>14</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Wis<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>15</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Int<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Cha<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>14</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Deity: Zon-Kuthon</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Domain: Destruction</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Skills: Athletics, Knowledge (World), Lore (Religion), Perception, Persuasion</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Feats & stats:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">1<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Power attack, Human bonus feat: Persuasive</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">2<span style="white-space: pre;"> -</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">3<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Weapon Focus (Flail), Teamwork feat: Precise Strike</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">4<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>+1 Wis to 16</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">5<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Extra Bane Weapon</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">6<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Teamwork feat: Outflank</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">7<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Dazzling Display</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">8<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>+1 Dex to 14</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">9<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Shatter Defenses, Teamwork feat: Shake It Off</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">10<span style="white-space: pre;"> -</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">11<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Improved Critical (Flail)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">12<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>+1 Str to 17, Teamwork feat: Back to Back</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">13<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Cornugon Smash</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">14<span style="white-space: pre;"> -</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">15<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Critical Focus, Teamwork feat: Shielded Caster</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">16<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>+1 Str to 18</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">17<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Combat Reflexes</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">18<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Teamwork feat: Seize the Moment</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">19<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feat: Blind Fight</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">20<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>+1 Str to 19</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Spells:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">1<span> </span>Cure Light Wounds, Divine Favor, Bane, Shield of Faith, Bless, True Strike</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">2<span> </span>Boneshaker, Hold Person, Cure Moderate Wounds, See Invisibility, Lesser Restoration, Effortless Armor</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">3<span> </span>Cure Serious Wounds, Heroism, Communal Resist Energy, Communal Delay Poison, Prayer, Remove Curse</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">4<span> </span>Divine Power, Cure Critical Wounds, Freedom of Movement, Death Ward, Communal Protection from Energy, Burst of Glory</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">5<span> </span>Righteous Might, True Seeing, Communal Stoneskin, Spell Resistance, Resounding Blow</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">6<span> </span>Overwhelming Presence, Heal, Blade Barrier, Inspiring Recovery, Harm</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><span style="white-space: pre;">Kingdom a</span><span style="white-space: normal;">dvisors:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Regent: Valerie</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Councilor: Shandra</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">General: Amiri</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Treasurer: Kanerah</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">High priest: Jhod</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Diplomat: Bartholomew</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Warden: Ekundayo</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Magister: Octavia</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Curator: Jaethal</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Minister: Jubilost</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Deity: Abadar</span></div></div><div><br /></div>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-8031064429881363612023-11-09T01:22:00.002+02:002023-11-09T01:22:53.592+02:00ExhalationThe 2016 science fiction film <i>Arrival </i>is based on <i>Story of Your Life</i>, a short story by American writer <b>Ted Chiang</b>, which I thought might be interesting to read because I recall finding the movie rather unimpressive. I probably should have read the blurb on <i>Exhalation: Stories</i> more carefully because the anthology doesn't include that particular story -- it's in another one. That didn't stop me from reading this one, though.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_HWYeNgX_K5pjWab_6RyCZKF4vCMXSwG8HP56eD6wChovECyEw-FStTRXvnlav-rZY8xnT5UcpzIAeJjRcHuXSmgc0HFLvHLFQF-G5x3JEvPMJNKiFs_eeAB8piEMR8xGcQwJzqC-_nBIW8DHdbSdbbLp9nUw3A8cM6iGmgJbX5AAc4nM5qQOGD_flPU/s494/exhalation_cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="320" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_HWYeNgX_K5pjWab_6RyCZKF4vCMXSwG8HP56eD6wChovECyEw-FStTRXvnlav-rZY8xnT5UcpzIAeJjRcHuXSmgc0HFLvHLFQF-G5x3JEvPMJNKiFs_eeAB8piEMR8xGcQwJzqC-_nBIW8DHdbSdbbLp9nUw3A8cM6iGmgJbX5AAc4nM5qQOGD_flPU/w129-h200/exhalation_cover.png" width="129" /></a></div>I would say that the short stories and novellas in Exhalation are pretty much what one would expect from science fiction works of their scope: built around one or maybe few ideas related to science. The novellas perhaps go on too long, the point having already become clear and the plot not adding to it anymore. Despite that, Chiang's works do tend to get nominated for various awards regularly and win them too, it would seem.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Lifecycle of Software Objects</i> is one of the novellas that is too long to my liking though it was the best of the longer stories. It's about ethics involved in the creation of sentience from artificial intelligence. There's also an element of capitalism to it because the entities in their infancy need upkeep and that takes resources. I liked the Web 3.0 backdrop the story had going on although it suffers a bit from being in novella format, changes happening in leaps instead of having a more gradual progression.</div><div><br /></div><div>The titular story of the anthology is what I would expect from a science fiction short story -- and maybe even from some adjacent genre. It begins with a rather mundane, everyday life situation but there's something odd about it that just keeps getting weirder until you understand what's going on. <i>Omphalos </i>is another such story in the book.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom</i> deals with parallel realities, which have been a bit too common elemental in entertainment media in the recent years -- damn theoretical physicists and their string theories. At least in this story it doesn't create too much nonsense.</div><div><br /></div><div>The final short story worth mentioning -- and the best one by far too -- is <i>The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling</i>. A journalist is working on a piece about Remem, a lifelogging technology that allows its user to remember everything they've experienced in perfect accuracy, effectively granting a complete eidetic memory. With the tech, memories can be shared as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's a parallel narrative in which an African tribe is being introduced to writing by European missionaries. It contradicts with the natives' oral tradition, which has separate -- especially in quarrels -- truths about what actually happened and what is agreed upon to have happened: what is fair and appropriate. To have an unchanged record of events clashes hard with their culture.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to Remem, the journalist learns that his perception of why his relationship with his daughter went so sour had been completely off the mark. He notes the drastic change to human behavior the technology will have.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think the story was far more deserving a literary award than the many Chiang's stories that have actually won one. Human memory is so fallible and we trust it way too much. To have an absolutely objective recollection of events would be incredible.</div>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-18624583535981926062023-11-07T00:32:00.005+02:002024-01-06T01:22:51.809+02:00EchopraxiaIn 2014, <b>Peter Watts</b> released <i>Echopraxia</i>, a continuation to his thought-provoking 2006 novel <i>Blindsight</i>. Echopraxia is a sidequel: it takes place largely concurrently with Blindsight. (And apparently Watts wrote a lot of it while surviving a flesh-eating disease on his leg!)<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSf4ShrUiAR2S75yoMrcW6iG69i21rQj-rxuTK5s6yCyTdSaGtN96ONAxTHtLrCHm1BTioZFlcObUwDlzoS9sSocx5p8IpHcHx9dlYJY5zFWTF2FvIFgEmdjkrs_wsK6NFMmUx2feGZrDtaDQL_AJmNQF5kkbNLLn1v1JdHBimKisozU8b3aomvHyGYc/s388/echopraxia_cover.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="260" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSf4ShrUiAR2S75yoMrcW6iG69i21rQj-rxuTK5s6yCyTdSaGtN96ONAxTHtLrCHm1BTioZFlcObUwDlzoS9sSocx5p8IpHcHx9dlYJY5zFWTF2FvIFgEmdjkrs_wsK6NFMmUx2feGZrDtaDQL_AJmNQF5kkbNLLn1v1JdHBimKisozU8b3aomvHyGYc/w134-h200/echopraxia_cover.png" width="134" /></a></div>The novel's protagonist is Daniel Brüks, a parasitologist doing solitary research in the Oregon high desert. He's kind of keeping low profile after his previous work was used in an unfortunate way. Dan's only nearby neighbor is a monastery of Bicamerals, transhumanists whose goal is some sort of collective hive mind existence. Older members of the order seem to have already reached it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Dan hasn't been really interacting with the Bicamerals until vampire Valerie and her zombie soldier minions attack the monastery. Dan gets caught in between and is roped into quite an adventure, soon finding himself aboard a spaceship, the Crown of Thorns.</div><div><br /></div><div>Dan is augmented far less than what the technology in the book's world would allow. He's practically a baseline human, as they call him. That makes Dan also far less smart than the conjoined-mind Bicamerals are, for instance. Watts is great at keeping superhuman intelligence as mysterious and unpredictable for lowly human-level intelligence.</div><div><br /></div><div>Dan's involvement in the unfolding events seems happenstance. For the longest time he has no idea where or why they're going. The other, near baseline humans aboard the ship are more or less in the same situation although they do have assigned positions. Eventually, I suppose largely towards the end, it dawns to Dan that maybe he's not there by accident.</div><div><br /></div><div>Echopraxia continues with the theme of consciousness from Blindsight -- and how could it not with story elements such as it has. However, at the end of the book where Watts lists the again numerous sources and their uses, he says to have taken his shot at the consciousness topic with Blindsight already. Instead, Echopraxia's key theme is free will -- or rather, the complete lack of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>The novel's title kind of brushes it: echopraxia is the act of involuntarily imitating someone else's actions. The actual condition appears briefly in the book when Dan encounters a couple of augmented people having been infected by an echopraxia causing virus, doomed to mirror each others' movements.</div><div><br /></div><div>While echopraxia may be bit of an extreme example, the same principle applies to the core functionality of the brain. Neurons react to stimuli: nothing happens if there is none. Once learned about, I find the concept of determinism very easy to believe in. There's no randomness; merely vast complexity built from the simplest pieces -- the strange loops of <b>Douglas Hofstadter</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know if I would go as far as the Bicamerals, though. In the novel, all the advanced-brain people believe in some sort of higher purpose, god as a process -- it's evidently impossible not to when you're on that level. Even the vampires believe -- and they're probably the most intelligent of them all. In some discussion, with novice monk Lianna Lutterodt I believe, it is suggested that science is based on belief as well. How would you know if physics working the way they do is true outside the local area of the universe you're able to examine?</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm still of the opinion that the vampires in Watts's novels are too a silly thing. I feel their existence may work even against the author when people mention them, attracting new readers with wrong expectations. I enjoyed the imaginative crucifix glitch and how Valerie worked around it -- but at the same time it is so farcical. The existence of a resurrected vampire race hurts the seriousness of the hard scifi.</div><div><br /></div><div>I saw recently a reddit thread about how google search is terrible now because almost every result is some search-engine-optimized AI-written trash. Someone (who clearly had not read the book) mentioned they've noticed the phenomenon on reddit too with the "space vampire novel" Blindsight being recommended everywhere. Space vampires? I'd expect it to be some campy-ass story based on that description. I also found it amusing that the person trying to correct that impression failed to mention the actual key theme of the novel despite listing many of its elements.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Media Death Cult</b>, a youtube channel I've watched for scifi book recommendations, added to the misconception and put "SPACE VAMPIRE" in the thumbnail of his review video. The same channel did do <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_a_2lWvZCA" target="_blank">an interesting 2-hour interview with Watts</a>, though, the initial topic being how we're fucked. Peter Watts is evidently bit of a doomer.</div><div><br /></div><div>I haven't followed the general doomer discussion but I wonder if it has sparked any ideas for actually surviving the inevitable collapse, whatever its exact cause may be. One particular thought that tickles my brain is if a nation or some other entity for instance decided to abandon half-assed attempts to slow down the biosphere's destruction, and instead started actively working towards the goal of still being there past the end -- by building vaults or whatever -- what would the reaction of others be? <b>Paul Harrell</b>, the firearms youtuber I've mentioned in some older post, has noted how some people get weirdly upset if they notice someone prepare for a bad situation, like by having a bug out bag. As if the preparation invited the actual thing to happen. It would be interesting to see the international intercourse on apocalypse survival.</div><div><br /></div><div>Watts and the Media Death Cult guy -- I guess he goes by the name <b>Moid </b>-- ended up talking about other stuff too -- not vampires though! One intriguing suggestion Watts presented was that consciousness emerges when the world no longer matches the model brain has built of it. Doing the same drive to work every day allows the action to become subconscious, not requiring active thought to perform. But when something surprising happens, like when an animal jumps on the driveway, consciousness emerges to try to solve the situation.</div><div><br /></div><div>I got the feeling Watts could have been probed more about it but Moid was so stunned by the whole idea that they switched topics. I would have wanted to hear the author's thoughts for instance on an entity that had the capacity to create a mental model so massive that the it wouldn't be surprised by anything and thus would never have a conscious thought. I suppose that's what Blindsight was about though.</div><div><br /></div><div>Out of interest I checked out one of the sources Watts had listed at the end of Echopraxia -- mostly because it was a youtube video, not a research paper behind a paywall (which Watts mentioned having been smuggled past on an occasion or two). The video in question was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WwAQqWUkpI" target="_blank"><b>Dr. Robert Sapolsky</b>'s lecture about biological underpinnings of religiosity</a>. How the tendency for obsessive compulsive disorder has been passed down countless generations despite it clearly being a harmful mutation, in the worst case completely paralyzing the person, trapping them in meaningless repetition.</div><div><br /></div><div>After watching that, Youtube started recommending me other Sapolsky stuff, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX6jKdIBNKI" target="_blank"><b>Skeptic</b> interviewing him</a>, mostly about determinism. Sapolsky believes strongly that the criminal justice system (of USA, I gathered) to be wrong in focusing on punishment. His reasoning is probably best heard from himself but there was an interesting point in the discussion.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite things being deterministic, predicting something like a person's behavior is nigh impossible due to the sheer number of things that affect it. However, Sapolsky points out that despite the unpredictability, we can still collect statistics. <b>Isaac Asimov</b> may have indeed been onto something with the psychohistory in his <i>Foundation</i> series.</div><div><br /></div><div>To yet return to Echopraxia a bit: on <a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2022/09/children-of-ruin.html" target="_blank">my post about <i>Children of Ruin</i> by <b>Adrian Tchaikovsky</b></a> I noted how that novel reminded me of Blindsight and wondered if Tchaikovsky had read it. Thus I found it oddly coincidental that when the crew in Echopraxia encountered the alien lifeform, they decided to name it Portia after the same genus of jumping spider that appears in Tchaikovsky's novels. Now I wonder if he had read Echopraxia as well.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Edited 2024-01-06</b>: Fixed some language errors</span>.</div>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-44169230965263817282023-10-30T02:07:00.004+02:002023-10-30T02:10:26.229+02:00Roadside Picnic<p><i>Roadside Picnic</i> (Пикник на обочине - Piknik na obochine) is a science fiction novel written by brothers <b>Arkady </b>(1925 – 1991) and <b>Boris </b>(1933 – 2012) <b>Strugatsky </b>in 1971. The book has been the source of inspiration for various works and been adapted onto various media over the years. One of its merits in influence is coining the loan word <i>stalker </i>in its specific meaning (which I've gone over in <a href="https://patternsinrandomness.blogspot.com/2023/06/metro-2033.html" target="_blank">my <i>Metro 2033</i> post</a>) in the Russian language.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEismh_YYR3jtVrZFFPCSSFMJgkVoKgNaNFtmcBQH89lp3cM2ac3W4iU0kw3Y3JapnVkll1BYRddXH9MRaVVcfO1pViV1e1Jjk4-ncv6023ZK7LYZAmBXAAdtFTMhvKFkTbu_-x9nkyIy_Usi9Pb2cSngyaOTIqfpk1nSlwVt8LReTWAqBcRjOajKrMVYSM/s318/roadside_picnic_fcover.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="213" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEismh_YYR3jtVrZFFPCSSFMJgkVoKgNaNFtmcBQH89lp3cM2ac3W4iU0kw3Y3JapnVkll1BYRddXH9MRaVVcfO1pViV1e1Jjk4-ncv6023ZK7LYZAmBXAAdtFTMhvKFkTbu_-x9nkyIy_Usi9Pb2cSngyaOTIqfpk1nSlwVt8LReTWAqBcRjOajKrMVYSM/w134-h200/roadside_picnic_fcover.png" width="134" /></a></div>I read Roadside Picnic in Finnish (translated by <b>Esa Adrian</b>) and its Finnish title is in fact just <i>Stalker </i>-- or at least that's the case on the print I borrowed. In some instances it does seem to carry the roadside picnic part ('huviretki tienpientarelle') as its subtitle in Finnish. The translation is from 1987 and there are quirks in the language. I wonder if they were due to the translator's dialect or just Finnish inflections and conjugations being slightly different in the '80s. It might have been worth reading the English translation because the available copy seems to be a SF Masterworks print which has an afterword by one of the authors.<p></p><p>I checked out a couple of reviews of Roadside Picnic after reading it, and found it amusing that one said it to be set in Canada and the other in the United States. The actual anglophone country -- based on the names of people and places -- is never specified in the book. I got the impression that it was overseas from Europe though.</p><p>In the book, an extraterrestrial lifeform visited Earth briefly but made no actual contact with humanity. They just left behind a few zones where reality is no longer quite the same -- much like in <i>Annihilation </i>by <b>Jeff VanderMeer</b>. Roadside Picnic doesn't have the weird vibe to it, though: it is more lucid in its science fiction and storytelling. That doesn't lessen the otherworldliness and strangeness of the zone in the novel. The Strugatsky brothers did an excellent job describing the protagonist's feelings.</p><p>Redrick "Red" Schuhart is a stalker. He does officially sanctioned trips into the zone, working as a guide. The zone is extremely dangerous, with a lot of unexplainable phenomenon. Only the most sangfroid people can keep their calm. Failing to do so often results in a quick death. Red ventures into the zone unofficially as well -- it's lucrative. The aliens left behind numerous weird objects whose purpose and workings are not understood. And for that they are valuable; there's a lot of money to be gained by smuggling them out.</p><p>The novel's title comes from an analogy suggested by a character in the novel. Animals and insects can't fathom the purpose of a littering roadside picnic -- and that is what the zones and their treasures are to humans.</p><p>Technically the novel has four sections but I divide it into three: the first and last feature stalking in the zone while the middle, the kind of boring part does not. It focuses more on Red's character and other elements. I suppose it's slowly building up the climax of the story: the chase for a mythical, wish-granting object in the zone.</p><p>At least one of the <i>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.</i> games features an ending with the very same thing. The games also copied the bolt-throw safety check Red does.</p><p>Reviews of the novel like contemplating the novel's possible political message. It was, after all, written by two Russians in the Soviet Union. Is the message for or against communism, or what -- I don't find pondering that terribly interesting an activity. The ending may have had something to do with it -- probably why it felt quite indifferent to me.</p>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352516310553222517.post-4522942782360758022023-10-27T23:59:00.001+03:002023-10-28T00:18:53.797+03:00Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced EditionI picked up my paused <i>Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition</i> run again. Actually beating the game took longer than I recall it taking back in the day, though -- I could swear I used to get through it from start to finish over one weekend. Maybe due to not playing it for years I had forgotten the best routes to take for optimal time saving.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTTWMa2nn3M4EpuWH0sMI_nsAvN_oa3RgGNSaoHUy4LkUyWyToYb4CM9qbHi34-y01Jvb8vock_PHlrp4LRixuZyCVwwT1y9dldbnbh2m4h6ZBonb8fDbHRHpVxNNM6dGFm5Tf5S56g8TMP6jTyQpxL4O0oUYmqDqCw2tlv-AInAKQgcMMKXwNxcuFhRA/s640/bg2ee000.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="444" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTTWMa2nn3M4EpuWH0sMI_nsAvN_oa3RgGNSaoHUy4LkUyWyToYb4CM9qbHi34-y01Jvb8vock_PHlrp4LRixuZyCVwwT1y9dldbnbh2m4h6ZBonb8fDbHRHpVxNNM6dGFm5Tf5S56g8TMP6jTyQpxL4O0oUYmqDqCw2tlv-AInAKQgcMMKXwNxcuFhRA/w139-h200/bg2ee000.png" width="139" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Mostly a great remaster of an absolute classic</h3></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Beamdog </b>was smarter with this second game's enhanced edition: the original 3D cinematics are intact; there are no half-assed replacements like in the previous one. The three entirely new companions are unfortunately in this one too though. I ignored them (to the best of my ability) but I probably should've used a mod to remove them entirely. I noticed immediately one of them standing in the Copper Coronet tavern. I hoped she would be happy just idling there but of course she had proximity-triggered dialogue -- it was so jarring. I just wanted to play the cherished game without unwelcome additions.</div><div><br /></div><div>The item renames from <i>Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition</i> continue in this one too. I also noticed that some magical ranged weapons had gotten self-supplied infinite ammunition like the Shortbow of Gesen always had. Brynnlaw had foggy weather, which I am not entirely sure was a thing before. At least I don't ever recall seeing it -- pretty cool.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVp6XfGhjOCMIyA7F9UAlv9Y37ZyODB596p6RW_LHSQuiOzHViwGT-1MyqhqzD4YSeDZMz067_axRQi0w68iuhMWacS9MownmypUMIlF5sT3YOgk9saWB-d5Bp7aJeNLlf5awbATfL7-Txw1g4YeW_YbUz_k04ed_nY775KPIg5dm8-vfZ-Z5XxOReatE/s1920/bg2ee001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVp6XfGhjOCMIyA7F9UAlv9Y37ZyODB596p6RW_LHSQuiOzHViwGT-1MyqhqzD4YSeDZMz067_axRQi0w68iuhMWacS9MownmypUMIlF5sT3YOgk9saWB-d5Bp7aJeNLlf5awbATfL7-Txw1g4YeW_YbUz_k04ed_nY775KPIg5dm8-vfZ-Z5XxOReatE/s320/bg2ee001.png" width="320" /></a></div>In the starting dungeon, I briefly wondered if dialogue had been altered because I didn't remember the riddling djinn using the gender neutral <i>they </i>in the sibling-prisoner dilemma. I dug up a video of someone playing the original game and apparently it was there back then too. I know the singular they is not that recent of an invention but it definitely wasn't in as common usage back in the year 2000. <i>Magic: The Gathering</i> cards at that time for instance said 'his or her hand' instead of 'their hand'.</div><div><br /></div><div>I discovered that I didn't really recall much at all of Baldur's Gate 2's dialogue outside the highlights of the main story. There was a lot of party banter -- even with voiced lines -- I had no absolutely recollection of. I like the partial voice acting of these games: you get an idea of how someone sounds like without there being needlessly voiced paragraphs you read much quicker yourself. Baldur's Gate 2's voice acting is generally better than in the original. Particularly noteworthy is the performance of <b>David Warner</b> (1941 – 2022) as Jon Irenicus, the antagonist of <i>Shadows of Amn</i> (the original subtitle of the game). Warner was so convincing in his role that he elevated the rest of the cast with him.</div><div><br /></div><div>Like in Beamdog's <i>Icewind Dale</i> and Baldur's Gate releases, the message box in this one too is oddly fiddly. The current message and possible dialogue options are in a separate scrollable area from the past messages log. I'm pretty sure they were originally in the same and that was much clearer. It's a weird change. Entangle spell's sound effect is glitched too, being way too loud. And finally, way too often your party members get stuck on top of each other -- sometimes even the whole party. They do eventually manage to free themselves though. But that's about all the entirely new issues I noticed in the Enhanced Edition.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf-mxIZK7bU5QxXLFqmxxWjlD2vG45jEyriM2YOg5on328tsbgd-ujL5J8klW79LAAi-UGloHr0eqv8AvP11rDDi44wys855qKOW4Gx2rewDx2As9w9kCsd_w5Qf-r38fk9BG3v3x9lROJI2ekMA14VPmTGixdZl0FsgBVg7KUF1i6UnWHZstvbdwHp5c/s1920/bg2ee003.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf-mxIZK7bU5QxXLFqmxxWjlD2vG45jEyriM2YOg5on328tsbgd-ujL5J8klW79LAAi-UGloHr0eqv8AvP11rDDi44wys855qKOW4Gx2rewDx2As9w9kCsd_w5Qf-r38fk9BG3v3x9lROJI2ekMA14VPmTGixdZl0FsgBVg7KUF1i6UnWHZstvbdwHp5c/s320/bg2ee003.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Unevenly spread goodness</h4></div><div><br /></div><div>If I recall correctly, in Baldur's Gate 2's post-mortem, <b>BioWare</b>'s developers were not too happy how unevenly the game's content got spread over its chapters. Once you get out of Irenicus's dungeon, the city of Athkatla and the surrounding Amn open up -- so many locations to visit and dungeons to crawl through. Chapter 2 and 3 are so open and full of optional things, only for the rest of the game to become quite linear in comparison after you set off to Brynnlaw.</div><div><br /></div><div>Chapter 2 can be quickly over too. Your goal is to gather 20,000 gold pieces to get the city's Shadow Thieves to aid in your chase for Irenicus and your kidnapped half-sister Imoen. 20k gold is nothing in this game, to put it frankly, and you even need only 15k because competition causes the price to go down. I usually have that already when I'm done with the slavers quest in the Slums district you start the chapter in.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghf3HBzAY19p2Ok775cNKODKoGQQQmErwOSwST3F4-QCQ1kTruS-89mwapOYghjS8GmnrdXZ-_D3T3ZQxrkn96XgjGuBGY_5ywCuA0tocZHjRoOrIs_bgFj18o9w5MlOTcPkCQKIjHC_oaUrIP4F125TtbqghHiDDdgseXaCj-j9s3gaEFXtwzR2mxmrI/s1920/bg2ee004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghf3HBzAY19p2Ok775cNKODKoGQQQmErwOSwST3F4-QCQ1kTruS-89mwapOYghjS8GmnrdXZ-_D3T3ZQxrkn96XgjGuBGY_5ywCuA0tocZHjRoOrIs_bgFj18o9w5MlOTcPkCQKIjHC_oaUrIP4F125TtbqghHiDDdgseXaCj-j9s3gaEFXtwzR2mxmrI/s320/bg2ee004.png" width="320" /></a></div>I, however, like to linger in the second chapter because once you start Chapter 3, you're no longer neutral in the guild war encounters around Athkatla. If you choose to go with the thieves guild -- like most good-aligned parties probably will -- the hostile faction will be vampires. I have in the past found their charms and level draining melee attacks to be problematic at lower levels, especially if the vampires manage to hit someone with spellcasting abilities. Memorized spells will be lost and require resting after a Restoration spell. I'm not entirely sure, but I think Beamdog may have changed level drain behavior in that regard: after Restoration, the uncast memorized spells seemed to be still there, ready to go. But even then, if the Restoration is cast by a party member, they will become fatigued and you need to rest anyway lest you want to listen to the complaining. I like going through the game with as few rests as possible because it feels more immersive.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another thing I like to do, is never buying a spellcasting license. As players quickly discover, the Cowled Wizards have banned unlicensed magic use in Athkatla and will come after anyone continuing to do so after a warning. I came to the conclusion (on my very first playthrough, probably) that I don't really need to use arcane magic in the open anyway on the Core Rules difficulty setting I play. You can buff up for a street brawl if you go indoors to do it and back alley ambushes are not regulated by the wizards either. You can decide to fight the enforcers too and apparently they will stop coming once you've defeated the toughest ones. I guess I've always gotten so used to avoiding arcane spells in the city that I never ended up fighting them.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Challenging for the uninitiated</h4><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPb0_UBXy5KBDwYEAEchhxFuJbqCwjiQCAmJXHI7MLapU3NOsT8xiMZxye3fXnbXGrK8NLbHSNYiu6soYz2EkDfJYSn6VZNhYXjzIjv13_DlsVw3hNDecSt8n2pJDy7OX5GfitD7xR7W_VJqJo6rpdil0Zc6Mr3XHcT3ig9C53qxa1tKiC5XRsMs0MLu4/s1920/bg2ee005.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPb0_UBXy5KBDwYEAEchhxFuJbqCwjiQCAmJXHI7MLapU3NOsT8xiMZxye3fXnbXGrK8NLbHSNYiu6soYz2EkDfJYSn6VZNhYXjzIjv13_DlsVw3hNDecSt8n2pJDy7OX5GfitD7xR7W_VJqJo6rpdil0Zc6Mr3XHcT3ig9C53qxa1tKiC5XRsMs0MLu4/s320/bg2ee005.png" width="320" /></a></div>In addition to vampires, Baldur's Gate 2 has nice a selection of other tricky enemies that weren't in the first game: trolls, beholders, and mindflayers among others. The most iconic troublesome enemy, however, are spellcasters. I have yet to play another roleplaying game in which it is as important to take mages out first. Simply focusing your attacks on the casters is not enough either: the game's protection spells can make casters completely immune to your attacks.</div><div><br /></div><div>In practice, the equation is not complicated (most of the time): a single dispel of the correct type will be enough to open a physically weak mage's defenses long enough for your brutes to shred them to pieces. But then there are the liches, who come with inherent resistances. They are immune to weaker magical weapons and supposedly up to level 5 spells too. Of the latter I'm not convinced because Breach seems to work against most of them in my experience. It may just be the short, 4 rounds lasting Protection from Magical Weapons expiring though.</div><div><br /></div><div>I sometimes used to kill a certain tough lich when I didn't even yet have weapons that could harm him. Ring of the Ram from the Planar Sphere deals some sort of unstoppable damage. While it has only 1 use per day, in the original game you could recharge it by placing it in a gem bag. That particular exploit has been fixed in the Enhanced Edition. Finding a +4 weapon is not that difficult though -- the bug-fixed Daystar from the Gate district for instance. Another thing you need is Protection from Undead scrolls which make the lich completely ignore the protected characters. In the original, one party member would need a rare Protection from Magic scroll instead because the lich's second phase transition wouldn't trigger if it couldn't talk to anyone due to the scrolls. I don't know if that's the case in the Enhanced Edition.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGAGr5JUKFllAXjA_8CRDUIDaFa3ZG3ihfaMijW2bCLIIJkXdimI3kJZODAqNVl39ij10hI86HnjPcQdoxa3s08JnJ2skm-AOmY88QXvfh3cGb8J05UlOafDA4I-FwVchvs6LV2nOEEVjr2Y11KYVow_HE79FkLqjbO78yq8kR5UHT1iGF5JFl7g8RAaE/s1920/bg2ee006.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGAGr5JUKFllAXjA_8CRDUIDaFa3ZG3ihfaMijW2bCLIIJkXdimI3kJZODAqNVl39ij10hI86HnjPcQdoxa3s08JnJ2skm-AOmY88QXvfh3cGb8J05UlOafDA4I-FwVchvs6LV2nOEEVjr2Y11KYVow_HE79FkLqjbO78yq8kR5UHT1iGF5JFl7g8RAaE/s320/bg2ee006.png" width="320" /></a></div>The original developers were rather merciful in how they didn't make any enemy utilize spell protections to the degree what the game would allow. For instance, Protection from Normal and Magical Weapons combined with Greater Invisibility and Spell Immunity: Divination & Abjuration would make a caster completely immune to physical attacks and dispel magic. (Chain) Contingency and Spell Trigger are so unique to this game too, allowing casters to become instantly protected or launch multiple spells at once. I love the depth <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> spellcasting is implemented in Baldur's Gate 2.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was dismayed to discover that in the Test of Selfishness in the Hell Trials, Contingency'd Dispel Magic on self on helpless condition would no longer remove the hold effect. I had always thought that a clever use of game mechanics. I really didn't fancy the -1 Dexterity penalty and had to read up if there was some alternative way to avoid it. Evidently Maze on the person being kidnapped will prevent the hold effect from applying and another Maze on your main character while the kidnapped character opens the doors will prevent the penalties being applied. That felt more of an exploit than the original trick.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another exploit that had been removed was the final boss of Watcher's Keep being accessible even if you chose to read the ritual scroll: there used to remain a sliver of a clickable area next to the sealed door to get back in. However, you can still do both routes by first killing the boss and then reading the scroll upon exiting before the script to delete it kicks in.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkExALKIUV9WACivcgTVD5sdw1zsYcjcEGMmH2GePCwzHkbUjY1JV5MGWIRVbeqa9sdi4-iHqiKRM7RxbO-BxyWKxq5V4PcoNg7ftSyFMo9Nh_8TQ8Is2BGFvuEvYQqZhKqj4f14MDPqQNclhC-4iS0QEynvtvF6X4xJuDyiDSOJaEpwOWznwzVn7DR8I/s1920/bg2ee007.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkExALKIUV9WACivcgTVD5sdw1zsYcjcEGMmH2GePCwzHkbUjY1JV5MGWIRVbeqa9sdi4-iHqiKRM7RxbO-BxyWKxq5V4PcoNg7ftSyFMo9Nh_8TQ8Is2BGFvuEvYQqZhKqj4f14MDPqQNclhC-4iS0QEynvtvF6X4xJuDyiDSOJaEpwOWznwzVn7DR8I/s320/bg2ee007.png" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Familiar faces</h4></div><div><br /></div><div>I imported my paladin from Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and <i>Siege of Dragonspear</i> for yet another run I had basically done in the past. I don't think there's as much of a canon party in the second game but obviously Jaheira and Minsc need to come along. Imoen/Yoshimo are practically essential for the story too. Aerie I like to pick for a priest: she's not as annoying as Amoen (though your mileage may vary) and not evil like Viconia. I didn't recall how bad Aerie's mage side was, though. Even at the end of the <i>Throne of Bhaal</i> expansion, she had only a single level 9 arcane spell slot. But that's why Imoen's there.</div><div><br /></div><div>In addition to being a mage, Imoen retained/retook her place as the party's thief once in Spellhold. She needs few items to boost her skills but she will then be good enough to find and disarm every trap and open every lock even in the expansion. Not having an active thief class in the party will cause you to miss out on the powerful and occasionally very cheesy thief high level trap abilities though.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydihEhY7mcsaFPUYsLn5mqacBZhF93rgMrghrx4TLQPcEKRPprUnaOZFRNff5gzUdNIuEDZHjeSaLDm1aaPR6GVyYDQ6PSytjKcJY3Q-_ue5JQ-f-t6rMTn49vUYhuJNZzBkm68yKVgE5diaw4BMGghyphenhyphenvvcxYdrtMonMffA6_vk4FERH_AE6kLc2FAFk/s1920/bg2ee008.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydihEhY7mcsaFPUYsLn5mqacBZhF93rgMrghrx4TLQPcEKRPprUnaOZFRNff5gzUdNIuEDZHjeSaLDm1aaPR6GVyYDQ6PSytjKcJY3Q-_ue5JQ-f-t6rMTn49vUYhuJNZzBkm68yKVgE5diaw4BMGghyphenhyphenvvcxYdrtMonMffA6_vk4FERH_AE6kLc2FAFk/s320/bg2ee008.png" width="320" /></a></div>The sixth party member I usually take, even as a paladin Bhaalspawn, is another paladin: Keldorn. I like his attitude and his quick-to-use Inquisitor True Sight frees your casters from having to cast the spell. Keldorn usually gets Carsomyr the Holy Avenger but because my character had called dips on it, Keldorn became a dual-wielder. Minsc and Jaheira too I made use two weapons: it's just better for damage and you get to use utilize more weapons. Imoen and Aerie used bow and sling when they were not casting spells.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>In expansion, I swapped Keldorn for the secret party member (and immediately started wishing I still had Keldorn's True Sight). The expansion companion starts evil but via dialogue you can change their alignment and I had never done that. It turned out to be more difficult than expected. Party banter is on a realtime clock and it is easy to not get all the required triggers during your playthrough. I had to resort to using console commands to pass the timer because the expansion doesn't take long enough for me to get through.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jaheira's romance in the base game is infamously easy to fail, and not just because of time counters. I had trouble completing merely her Harper questline now because I had forgotten you need to rest in the wilderness at point for an event. The romance, should you choose to pursue it, is tied to the quest and gets easily delayed with it. Originally some triggers were even bugged but they are hopefully fixed in the remaster -- like they used to be with a community fix patch.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOxwL3_FGogupZqIU-6cib0touH5Cr1ul3rBMsOmX5Th4d-OeZFvp952ItCZIlu-_ubEIw23nndDD0FNcfTWB6Ulo9QlcDNZ8JapL5O6CYxw-y1j7rZPpP-7VGVC0L0es7rJmNhF_4KkuOvY5ujJUexwDec94nb4F5zdmU0xeEL28ccHLhCROg68tz95g/s1920/bg2ee009.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOxwL3_FGogupZqIU-6cib0touH5Cr1ul3rBMsOmX5Th4d-OeZFvp952ItCZIlu-_ubEIw23nndDD0FNcfTWB6Ulo9QlcDNZ8JapL5O6CYxw-y1j7rZPpP-7VGVC0L0es7rJmNhF_4KkuOvY5ujJUexwDec94nb4F5zdmU0xeEL28ccHLhCROg68tz95g/s320/bg2ee009.png" width="320" /></a></div>If your romantic interest doesn't get kidnapped when entering the Graveyard district in endgame by a villain, you should go back to a previous save: trying to fix the romance afterwards with console commands is simply a nightmare and maybe even impossible.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Baldur's Gate and its sequel don't allow that much character customization -- largely due to the AD&D 2nd Edition rules. Once you have a character, there aren't many choices to be done at level-ups. I think I prefer it. It avoids analysis paralysis that more recent RPGs offer: in <i>Pillars of Eternity II</i> you choose your companions class(es) from few options upon recruitment, in <i>Pathfinder: Kingmaker</i> there are very few multiclass restrictions (and a huge number of classes), and in <b>Larian Studios</b>' <i>Baldur's Gate 3</i> you can respec people even out of their starting class, practically destroying their identity.</div><div><br /></div><div>I like that there's no camp or the like in this game for companions to tag along either. There's no burden of having more companions than can fit into your current party. Less is more and makes replays more unique experiences. Although you can keep switching people around if you really want to.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Full plate and packing steel</h4><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil84M0vT9NKNBrce7jJXCjZ4oGHZe71ZXwE8GuzO78Nv85-RLs4w-_4heGDL636te00n0M5YVGTGsQpOq_2LNzGyblGExxJ8BsEqU6Polpq_mKi_7uGvi6iprjQyp1WXxu7m-DpMe6JWEsZq75r6Tmrds5qdiurjlyAQmRjiO4T2USjW-rbDdGppzcnDo/s1920/bg2ee010.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil84M0vT9NKNBrce7jJXCjZ4oGHZe71ZXwE8GuzO78Nv85-RLs4w-_4heGDL636te00n0M5YVGTGsQpOq_2LNzGyblGExxJ8BsEqU6Polpq_mKi_7uGvi6iprjQyp1WXxu7m-DpMe6JWEsZq75r6Tmrds5qdiurjlyAQmRjiO4T2USjW-rbDdGppzcnDo/s320/bg2ee010.png" width="320" /></a></div>I love the itemization of Baldur's Gate 2. There is a large selection of unique weapons and gear pieces. The limited inventory space makes the variety problematic -- at least until you get a bag of holding. Before that, it's sometimes a tough triage to decide what you want to carry with you just in case. Also, when you replay the game repeatedly, you tend to use the same armor and weapons every time because some of them simply perform the best. I feel in the expansion, it is not as easy to pick a weapon over others. Power level is so much higher; everything has more effects and buffs.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's inconvenient that Throne of Bhaal gives you only four additional pairs of boots of speed, in addition to the single pair you had in the base game. In a full 6-member party that means one has to be a slowpoke, dragging behind. I had had enough of that and chose to use Gromnir's armor on my main character due to its speed effect. It's a sacrifice of 3 AC compared to the best plate but I'd say it's worth it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I used to think that Throne of Bhaal was a tightly packed nice expansion -- and I still do -- but there are definitely signs showing that not everything got properly realized. After Saradush arc and Watcher's Keep, the path to the rest of the powerful Bhaalspawn is pretty straightforward -- a lot of linear fighting.</div><div><br /></div><div>One thing that is indubitably high quality in the expansion is its music, composed by <b>Inon Zur</b>. <b>Michael Hoenig</b>'s soundtrack for Shadows of Amn is good too but I think the commonly played combat tracks get old and annoying. Throne of Bhaal's music is great all around. It is thematically coherent too; creates rather a uniform atmosphere. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEv4v7uzxWE" target="_blank"><i>The Five</i> boss battle theme</a> fits perfectly a clash of demigods fighting for the heritage of their dead divine father.</div>Tanthiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184520990217365927noreply@blogger.com0