So yeah. One of my biggest gripes is about the mysterious artifact fragments which you spend a lot of time collecting. Arthas, I mean, Valerian claims he can create a device which can reverse the infestation of Kerrigan. Raynor believes him instantly because Raynor's a stupid Marty Sue who's still not over the guilt he feels towards Kerrigan. Seriously man, let it go.
I wonder why Arthas would call Kerrigan "The Queen of Blades". I mean, it's Kerrigan's self-styled name. Nobody called her that. Would you call your hated enemy by her own title? Anyway, that's minor shit, doesn't really matter.
I really admire Matt in the above cutscene. It was damn good of him to call Raynor out for risking essentially the entire rebellion for a farfetched (in retrospect) plan to save his girlfriend. It felt, for even just a moment, like two well written characters were actually interacting and conflicting with each other. Matt makes a good point but since Raynor is the big damn hero, DoorMatt goes along with it.
My question remains: How the hell does Arthas even know what the artifact was capable of? He doesn't mention how he knows for sure. In fact, it was only in the very end when they were surrounded by all sides by Zerg that they finally got it to work. So how the hell does Arthas know what the supposed ancient piece of shit artifact can do? I thought about it and maybe the Moebius Foundation told him. But then again, how did the Moebius Foundation know? We're not told much about the Moebius Foundation and how they know so much about an artifact that was only recovered recently. No shit. They didn't even get their hands on the damn thing yet and already they know it can reverse Zerg infestation that basically mutates DNA. How can it reverse genetic mutation from the Zerg? Well, all questions can be answered in two words: space magic.
All we know about Moebius is that it's run by a Dr.Narud. Wait... Narud backwards is DURAN! OHMYGODWTFBBQ!!! Whatever. Duran was the mysterious guy, who might not even be human, from the first game who knew about the hybrids. If anyone/anything would know about the artifact it would be Duran. I sincerely hope Dr.Narud isn't Duran. I mean, COME ON. Backwards naming? The writers must think we're so stupid and easily impressed like fans of the new Transformers movie. Dr.Narud...It must be a a trick, it's too damn simple! It must be a "red herring" of some sort, oh God please!
After the exam last Saturday was over, I finally sat my ass down for one hell of a gaming session of Civilization V, the latest of the Civ franchise. After I woke up on Sunday, the session continued and ended in the evening. After all that, I decided to post my honest assessment of the game instead of rambling about how Blizzard totally ruined the story of Starcraft. Anyway, I must mention I played in normal difficulty as Washington in a small Pangaea map and won via domination.
What's new?
The biggest change was moving from a square grid to a hexagonal one. On a "board game" type of game like Civ it's kind of a big deal. Hexagons lead to a more fluid map and an entirely new combat system. Speaking of combat, Civ V has done away with the "stacks of doom". What's a "stack of doom"? A SoD is when an incredibly large stack of units occupy a single tile on the map and moves slowly but surely into your cities or to your own, hopefully, larger stack. Now, only one military unit can occupy a single tile and have different moving and attacking mechanics such as a "ranged" barrage where units can attack other units two tiles away. Also, there are city states which you can influence or conquer for some benefits.
What rocks?
The new combat system is much better and has enormous potential. Looking back, SoD was the weakness of Civ. It was pretty boring and all it came down to was who could make the biggest stack the fastest and composition. Now, advanced tactics are possible. Graphics, the game looks great. The music is pretty well done too in my opinion. City management has been simplified. There is no longer individual city health and happiness but a larger empire-wide happiness that you need to look out for. Technology has also been simplified. A lot of fat was cut out and all we have is a very basic Civ. I guess it's to make combat and other game aspects more appealing.
What sucks...
Combat has huge potential. I use "potential" because the AI is hilariously stupid yet somewhat smart? AI has been inconsistent for me. On the one hand Nobunaga pretty much stomped all the other Civilizations yet had his army decimated by a handful of minutemen. He had riflemen and artillery which were more powerful. The poor bastard left his arty undefended and attacked me across a river so yeah. The AI needs to grasp tactics on hexagons and not the old SoD "crush everything" style. Granted, I played on Normal but in Civ IV, the AI was smart enough to attack me when I'm not looking or band together to declare war on me. AI needs more work. Also, some tiles have a mysterious red spot like a graphical glitch. The user interface lacks a few things like a clock and alarm(absolutely necessary), detailed breakdown of maintenance costs of individual units, diplomacy "love and hate web" and a way to stop puppet states from producing stuff.
Verdict
Civ V has enormous potential but really suffers in terms of AI. It lacks many things and is far from perfect. The simplification was nice but I enjoyed micromanaging cities like an anal-retentive German bureaucrat. The simplification is a mixed blessing, it makes warring easier. If there's any consolation it's that future updates will remedy this. Looking back, Civ IV wasn't nearly as great as it is today until the second expansion pack, Beyond the Sword. Hopefully,I won't have to shell out more cash for an expansion pack to fix the problems. All in all, a good game with a big chance of becoming "totally awesome" in the future. It's nice but needs polishing and patching. The modding community is pretty big so this game better get progressively better. I hope.
The Pope is out there in Europe to talk about spiritual stuff I guess. I like the Pope. He reminds me of Emperor Palpatine.
They're really giving him the business though. I didn't think atheists would care enough to protest him wherever he goes. They keep talking about the supposed rampant sexual abuse across churches in Europe. Whatever, I don't think it's even that bad. I'm not defending the Pope but these secularists are pretty obnoxious.
Speaking of religion, Civilization V is almost here. If you're not familiar with the Civilization games then I can only feel sorry for you. Screw Starcraft, this is going to be way better.
I'm a hundred percent sure this won't be a disappointment.
I don't feel like making a long ass post about Starcraft 2 right now. Truth is, I haven't been feeling well lately. I feel lower than a snake's navel. It's just one of those weeks. Man, I gotta find a way to pull myself together.
The hero of Starcraft 2 is Jim Raynor. Jim is a rebel fighting against Emperor Mengsk of the Terran Dominion. He runs an rebel outfit called "Raynor's Raiders". Jim and Mengsk go way back when the two were themselves rebels against the old power of the sector, The Confederacy. Kerrigan was Mengsk lieutenant at the time.
Anyway, at one point in the original campaign, Mengsk wanted to use a psi emitter, a device which lures the Zerg to it's signal against the Confederates on Tarsonis. This was the turning point when Mengsk showed just how ruthless he could get. He ordered Kerrigan to use the device but when the Zerg swarmed the planet, Mengsk left Kerrigan to die. This was when the Overmind captured and infested her. Jim was pissed and went against Mengsk but it was too late. Mengsk won, turned himself into an Emperor and left Jimmy as a washed-up drunk running an ever weakening rebel movement against the new Dominion.
This is where our story begins. We meet Jimmy in Mar Sara, inside a bar drinkin' and stinkin'. His old pal, Tychus comes along but I'll leave him out for now. Mar Sara gets invaded by the Zerg. Infested Kerrigan is on the move it seems. As soon as you leave the planet, the fun begins.
There are six mission story lines after Mar Sara namely: colonist, covert, rebellion, prophecy, artifact and the final missions. The colonist and covert missions are not so important and the prophecy missions are just a big headache but I'd like to talk about the rebellion and artifact missions and how it pisses me off.
It is revealed that Raynor's Raiders are in a rough patch. Mengsk has driven them to the fringes, spreading propaganda against them and the Raider's are short on resources. Anyway a few missions in and this is never mentioned again. Raynor's men hold on, dedicated to the movement against the tyrant Mengsk. Oh wait, I'm sorry, fighting the Dominion as it turns out is not the point of the story.
Sure you get to defame Mengsk in a public scandal in the rebellion missions but it's cynically suggested Mengsk will weather the media storm. The rebellion quests aren't even important when they should be. My main problem is this: In the artifact missions, Raynor collects strange alien artifacts, probably of Xel'naga origin, for an entity called the Mobieus Foundation for money or something. It is revealed that the Foundation is actually run by Mengsk's son Valerian who I swear looks like Arthas from the box art of Warcraft 3. Anyway, Jimmy was about to kill him and smash his pretentious vinyl record player but Valerian tells Jimmy that the artifact can cure Kerrigan and Jimmy agrees to go along with him.
Here's the beef. Going along with Valerian totally derails the whole point of Raynor's Raiders. Suddenly, not only is Raynor working with the enemy but also agreeing to invade Char, the Zerg's fucking home planet to use an artifact nobody knows how to work. That's right. It's only in the very end when they're completely surrounded by the Zerg do they conveniently discover how to use the artifact. All they needed was for the the giant green cursor in the sky to click the activate button. What a joke.
Naturally, the crew isn't too happy about this. When hearing Jim talk about working with Valerian, Matt, Jim's lieutenant, gets upset. You see, since the beginning of the story, Jim has been all emo about not doing enough to save Kerrigan. He has her cliche picture in his cliche wallet and all these years he still hasn't gotten over it. Then he drinks some more. He now seems prepared to compromise everything his rebels stand for and work with Valerian for some dubious cure for Kerrigan. Matt even calls Raynor out on it saying he's ruining everything for his "stupid girlfriend". This is the most sense any character has ever made and this is the best part of the story. Mutiny is in the air.
Oh wait, it's all cool. Raynor just does some macho shit and suddenly the crew is impressed. Impressed enough to go along a suicide mission with their sworn enemy. How convenient. Seriously, that's all it took? It doesn't make any sense. Raynor's Raider's jump the shark just like that and go along with risking their lives for Raynor's girl issues. Kiss my ass.
But Wait! In the optional prophecy missions, it's revealed that Kerrigan is the key to saving the fucking universe so Jimmy has to save her right? Not really. If keeping Kerrigan alive was important then Raynor could have just opted not to give up the artifacts or help at all thus not having to risk his crew. How do we know whether Kerrigan has to be cured or not has any bearing to the prophecy? For all we know from the spooky conveniently vague prophecy, curing her could ruin everything. In fact, turning her into a squishy human again would make her more vulnerable...
To summarize, Jim Raynor betrays his own cause to work with the Dominion to cure Kerrigan and his crew go along with it because they are easily impressed with displays of violence like a typical Michael Bay fan. Raynor wants to cure Kerrigan because he knows she is destined to save the universe despite not knowing if curing her could affect the prophecy instead of keeping her as she is.
I know people can come up with all sorts of answers to the questions here but I'm only trying my best to reason out why the characters behave so stupidly with what plot I'm given. If questions are as huge as say, "How does Valerian know how the ancient alien artifact works?" then we ought to be told why which is precisely why...
It's been a while since I finished the campaign of Starcraft 2. It's only now that I've gotten over the shock at how terrible it was. Starcraft is a legendary real-time strategy game for the PC. It's one of the first RTS games I've played and I was a huge fan. It's like a childhood thing you know? Now, the story is ruined. Granted, the original story did have it's holes especially in Brood War but yeah.
I'm going to try my best to articulate the reasons I find it so terrible but keep in mind this is only my perspective. Some people like the story and that's cool. After all, some people have incredibly low standards and are just as easily impressed by Michael Bay movies. This is my perspective. Call me a nerd if you will but I've got time to kill.
This post contains spoilers, needless to say. By the way, I'm not really into the "novels" and other "expanded universe" crap. Maybe my opinion will change If I read the extra stuff but I really don't want to research too intensely like it's a college course. I'm trying to recall from memory of the first game.
To understand the Overmind and how SC2 totally butchered his character, let's get a little back story. There existed a race of superior and hyper-advanced aliens called the Xel'naga. The Xel'naga travelled around the universe developing and uplifting lesser races of aliens. Why? Well, It seems the Xel'naga have cyclical lives as explained by some stupid tie-in novel (I found after digging for answers to this brick wall) . Because of this, they developed lesser races into the "perfect being" through which they would be reborn.
Thus, they created the Protoss, their first experiment. The Protoss had the "purity of form" the Xel'naga desired. Well, things didn't work out. The Protoss were tribal and ideological. The Protoss even descended into civil war (high and dark Templar). Eventually, the Xel'naga decided to create a new race that would fix the flaws of the Protoss. Hence, they created the Zerg.
The Zerg are an insect-like race with a knack for evolving rapidly. To prevent the Zerg from becoming like the Protoss, who's egos got in the way, the Xel'naga created a single sentience that controls the Zerg. This single entity was the Overmind. The Zerg consumed other species to evolve. They remind of the Borg. The Zerg assimilate creatures to form part of the "swarm". It's how they roll. The Overmind eventually discovered the Xel'naga and turned on them. The Xel'naga had their ass kicked by their own creation. The Overmind also became aware of the existence of the Protoss and desired to consume them so it could become "perfect".
The Protoss however, were powerful psychics. How could the Overmind compete with that? Simple. It used the Terrans (humanity), an up and coming race in the sector. The Terrans had psychics too so why not make use of them? The Overmind captured a Terran named Sarah Kerrigan and infested her, turning her into a weapon to be used against the Protoss. I'm going to stop here but basically the Overmind manages to sack the Protoss homeworld of Aiur, an impressive feat. It was eventually defeated though by the combined forces of the Terran and Protoss but that's another story.
My problem is this: The Overmind in the first game was a powerful menace. The Overmind rebelled against it's creators and was driven by a need to consume the Protoss and all races of interest. The Overmind was established as a magnificent bastard who was quite a match for the Protoss. Now, that's a good villain! Starcraft 2 ruins the Overmind because the Overmind, as it turns out, wasn't in control of itself. What? In the prophecy missions of SC2, it's revealed that an entity called "The Dark Voice" (ooh scary...) was manipulating the Overmind after all. The Overmind as it turns out was programmed to consume the Protoss and couldn't do anything about it and actually knew "The Dark Voice's" plan and resented it. Really? The Overmind seemed so in-control in the mission briefings of the first game and was even fucking giddy when it was about to invade Aiur.
Okay, so the Xel'naga were just going to use both the Zerg and the Protoss for their own ends and the two races were ultimately destined to combine. But remember, the Overmind killed the Xel'naga. So the Overmind was motivated by some hidden directive programmed by the "Dark Voice"? That totally ruins the Overmind as a villain. So everything the Overmind had done, all the cunning plans was all according to some guy's bigger plan and not a natural impulse to evolve? This sucks. The Overmind had no free will which is why it managed to REBEL by IT'S OWN WILL and kill the Xel'naga? It makes no sense.
It also begs the question, "What the hell is this "Dark Voice?" Since the "Dark Voice" was controlling the Overmind, it's at least safe to say the "Dark Voice" is not one of the Xel'naga as it wouldn't make sense how a creature he controls completely would attack him. This totally sucks how they would introduce this villain all of a sudden. Who's ass did they pull him out of? Not even a hint of foreshadowing. What if he's a Xel'naga gone bad? Then what advantage would the "Dark Voice" possibly gain by annihilating his own kind? Wasn't their purpose to be reborn? I guess we'll have to wait till the expansion pack and pay even more fucking money to find out.
To summarize, the Overmind went from a badass, all-consuming galactic terror to a poor misunderstood plaything to some cliche ancient cosmic horror villain who's identity and motivations are yet to be adequately explained. Even Tassadar, the Protoss hero who sacrificed himself to kill the Overmind, praised the Overmind for it's courage. Seriously, Tassadar praised the creature that raped his beloved homeworld for it's courage.
This blows. Check in next time where I'll whine some more about stuff I don't like in SC2.
Almost everyone has said their piece on the whole hostage crisis where several Chinese from Hong Kong died. I grew irritated upon reading about how citizens of Hong Kong are holding rallies and demonstrations demanding justice from the Philippine government. "What a bunch of whiners." I thought. "If they want justice from the Philippine government, they should get in line with the rest of us." I snort to myself. But upon further reflection on the whole damn thing, I came to the stunning realization of a depressing truth. The truth is that it is us, the Filipino people, who should be rallying against our government not them.
I thought about it. Supposing I was in a life or death situation and my life depended entirely on the Philippine government, I would think it better to make peace and get ready for death. No offense, if the government somehow saves me, I'd appreciate it but my point is, like many people, I have grown cynical with my own government. It is generally accepted that the government is incompetent at best and corrupt at worst. This has led to us simply shrugging our shoulders and simply taking all the bullshit that government throws at us.
For example, in this city, occasionally people are shot and killed by masked men on motorcycles. These masked men are thought to be vigilantes or contract killers. It doesn't happen every day but it happens often enough. How do we react? Nothing. Nobody talks about it hell, even the former mayor was a rumored to support vigilante killings. He certainly wasn't against it and neither were we. Where was the outrage? Sure, some lawyers and human rights groups whined about it but generally nothing. Has society decayed so much that we don't find anything unusual at all about people being murdered in the streets and the perpetrators easily eluding justice? "That's just the way it is." shrugs some. No, that's not the way it should be. The point I'm making here is that we have become so used to the incompetence and the evils of our government that it would seem we have given up. Not all of people of course, but I don't see even half the amount of effort shown by the Chinese here in my country.
The truth is that it wasn't annoyance I felt towards the Chinese but envy. I envied them. I envied how motivated they were in voicing their grievances even to a foreign government. I wish we had that mentality. I wish that we would actually realize that killing people without trial is not how any society should carry itself and that people being killed in gangland style hits shouldn't be a common occurence. I wish we weren't so cynical and jaded and still believe in people power. But no. We seem totally satisfied wallowing in our own filth. It's our own filth because it is our government meaning it's our fault it's like this. We don't have an activist spirit nowadays but we used to I believe.
I must admit, I too am a cynical and jaded person especially concerning government. I joke about it on my blog and even take some misguided pride in it. But if I may be serious for a moment and assess my true feelings, I realize I am a coward. I am a coward who likes to pretend he's above it all. To be honest, I really don't like things the way the are. I wish I could do something, anything, but I feel the same powerlessness that many others feel. What could I possibly do? I'm just one guy. To take offense at every injustice, at every miscarriage of government's sacred duty to it's people would drive any person mad. So I hide it behind a veneer of indifference and apathy. That's how I cope but I am not proud.
Good for the Chinese. I applaud them for taking the Philippine government to task even when it's own citizens won't.
What happens when you cede the battlefield to the enemy?
I love Dim Sum or at least the Filipinized version here. Dim Sum means "touch the heart" in Chinese and I don't mean "touch the heart" via sodium and cholesterol clogging your arteries. It refers to delicious little snacks to cheer you up or something like that while you drink tea. Now, Dim Sum is a cuisine in it's own and not just about tiny snacks.
Whenever I feel hungry and absolutely cannot wait, I just go to a Dim Sum restaurant, sit down and eat. It's fast. That's one of the things I like best about it. Dim Sum is the Chinese equivalent of an American Diner where people could just sit down and start shoveling food down their throat holes quickly and efficiently.
When I sit down in my favorite Dim Sum place, I feel like a king. You got these carts of food lining up for you to choose dishes. You got the cart with the rice, the cart with the steamed dishes and that weird misfit third cart with the chicken feet. A dessert cart even shows up later. It's like the cooks made all of this stuff JUST FOR YOU. You are the customer and you're spoiled for choice and you're always right, damn right. I like having to choose among dishes right in front of me. Isn't that refreshing? Instead of the obviously doctored photographs the infidel fast food places, who I suspect are injecting horse steroids in burger patties, are using, I actually get to see and smell things in front of me.
There's this new Dim Sum restaurant in the fancy ass "entertainment center" part of the mall that features a conveyor belt that just brings the food around and around and keeps it coming. Well, hallelujah. The restaurant has a conveyor belt section, and a sit-down "dine in" section which I find completely preposterous. Dim Sum is supposed to be fast and efficient. Are you going to sit down and order it from a MENU? You should starve to death if you see nothing wrong with ordering Dim Sum from a menu. Did the first Emperor of China have to order food from a menu and wait? Of course not! I bet when the Emperor got hungry, he just snaps his fingers they just sent him stuff on a conveyor belt and that's the way it should be. It makes sense as a business. Less time waiting and making stupid mandatory small talk means the sooner people can stuff their faces, pay and leave so that more customers can come in to take their place. High turnover rate...more customers served...you see how great Dim Sum is? How do you think the Chinese feed a billion people? You don't even need heavy service, the conveyor belt is self service basically.
There are times when I don't get enough sleep or I force myself up too early. What I notice is that a lack of sleep gives me a cold. It's a hundred percent certain. Lack of sleep = cold. Well, everybody's health is unique and I guess lack of sleep weakens my immune system or some shit like that. I wonder how it is for others. I'm sure people have noticed peculiar things with their bodies when they lack sleep.
Why am I typing this so late? I should get some sleep,
