SONA 2016

Might as well write about President Duterte's first State of the Nation speech. What else is there to talk about.

The whole SONA thing has been whittled down to a pointless exercise despite the clear significance of the President himself appearing before the people's representatives. In the past, the SONA just became a glorified showbiz party where the President preaches to the choir and toots his own horn about what a swell job he's doing and how great everything is. My expectations were low, especially considering we're barely into the President's first year in office.

As it turns out, the speech was alright. It set the agenda at least. It was a rambling speech but no surprise there since Duterte prefers speaking off the cuff. So let's go down the several things we can take away from this speech, shall we?

1. Forward, not backward

Immediately, the speech hit the right notes with me. As the handful of people who read this blog know, I've written about how the Philippines suffers from the baggage of its past, specifically, the People Power movement. This was most pronounced during the reign of Pnoy when everything he thought and did was framed in the yellow mentality. The self-righteousness was overwhelming and it led to a lot of vindictiveness and an "the pure us versus the evil them" mentality.

So we're moving forward now to new things. No more of the blame game Pnoy was so fond of. That's good. Finally. Let's move on.

2. Law and order

Well, it is his winning issue. Not a lot of people would disagree when you say that the justice system in the Philippines has gone down the toilet. However, Duterte seems to talk about justice in broad terms. He only ever goes into specifics when it's about drug crimes, speaking of which...

3. The purging will continue

If you had a problem with the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug criminals, perhaps it's time to just get used to it. El Jefe made it clear that the police and military have the backing of the office of the Presidency. He said he was going to fix our crime problem in six months. Expect the killings to continue until some measure of improvement is made somewhere.

It begs the question though; what if six months isn't enough? Whait if the killings have to go on for the whole six years Duterte is in office? Can such an effort be sustained? Is there a chance this will spiral out of control? Does anyone really care? On the last bit, probably not. We'll just have to pretend the government is really killing the bad guys and nothing underhanded is going on. No problem, I've had to live my life with even bigger delusions than that.

4. Double speak and sweet nothings

I'm convinced that Duterte is some kind of grand-master politician since nobody seemed to have picked up on these. Despite insulting the Pope and calling the Catholic Church the most hypocritical institution in the Philippines, he said that while he believes in separation of church and state, there should be no separation between God and state. That's pleasing to hear for both religious and non-religious. It means nothing but it made a good sound bite.

 Human rights must uplift human dignity but mustn't be used to destroy the country, he says. So it's good except when it's bad. There's a subtle hint that he won't let the bleeding-hearts get in his way but we know that already. Ultimately pointless.

The Philippines will address global warming but will not compromise development. Again, a crowd-pleaser for both sides of the aisle.

As for the international scene, we remain committed to dialogue and cooperation even to those who won't enter dialogue or cooperate. That's the default. We're weak We're literally incapable of any other position. If only the tough guy act worked outside the Philippines, huh? For now, we remain China's victim.

5. The only dangerous bit

Duterte wants peace talks with the Communists and Muslim separatists. In a perfect world, the Philippines would have wiped these scumbags out already. They have no legitimacy in my eyes since they are, you know, threats to our sovereignty? They're rebels? Lest we forget, these guys are no good and are hardly trustworthy with their occasional acts of barbarity.

Anyway, it's not a perfect world and the Philippines has been unable to defeat them for decades so it might as well try a new (old) tack of peace talks (again). I realize that I live in the city and not in some podunk, backwater barrio where the threat of the NPA or MILF suddenly deciding to swing by and slit your throat, is a remote possibility. I guess there's nothing to do but hope that El Jefe knows what he's doing. Forget the drug war, this thing here is actually the most dangerous play Duterte will have a part in as a bad deal would tie into another thing which he's pushing, which is...

6. Federalism at last?

He wants it done. It remains to be seen since this is all on Congress, not the President. Can Congress actually get off their good-for-nothing asses and get it done? Are they competent enough to make the right amendments and changes to the constitution without any backdoors or hidden benefits for vested interests? What standards does Duterte want so he won't veto it? 

It all remains to be seen but wow, it's surreal to hear people actually talking about it. Here I thought that serious reforms to our nearly three decade old constitution wasn't possible. I sincerely doubt that whatever Congress comes up with will be the very best possible product. Gone is the idea of Congress as an august body of the very best the Philippines has to offer. There will be a lot of hand-wringing and cries of "what about MY interests?" but maybe this President can whip them into shape.

7. Candy shower

Then we have the assorted bromides about the wonderful things the government has in store for the next few years. It's like the candy politicians throw at the proles during rallies. It's sweet but not filling and we've heard them all before.

I can't write a separate section for how Duterte will cut red tape, fix traffic, give free wi-fi and all that. Just put it under a tab labelled "promises" and be done with it. The only difference today is that we have a guy who just might actually mean what he says and that's what gets the people so excited. Personally, I think it's just red meat but if Duterte can accomplish at least half of these minor promises, people will probably be fine with that.

Summary

Duterte promises not just a strong government but an effective one; a government that can actually get things done. After years in the mire of the Pnoy brand do-nothing Presidency, this is like rain in the desert.

However, talk is cheap and politicians are rich men. As always, we shall see.

At least it won't be a boring Presidency this time.

Life is Strange: Episode 1 Review?

I've heard about the game Life is Strange before but I never got around to playing. Truth be told, I kind of felt that it wasn't the kind of game for me. Don't get me wrong, I actually love story games like this. I really liked Fahrenheit or Indigo Prophecy, despite its godawful ending, back when my PS2 didn't sound like a grinder. I'm still pissed to this day that Heavy Rain isn't on the PC and would have really loved to play Until Dawn. But today, The first episode of Life is Strange was free so I figured, why the hell not or "why the hella not?" as the game would probably put it.

This is just a rambling of my thoughts on it. I don't know if it's correct to call this a review since it's just the first episode. I dunno, maybe it gets really, really good later? I guess the point of making the first episode free is to draw people in so they want to buy the rest.

So the story premise is that you're this young photography student named Maxine Caulfield, who lives in a fictional town in Oregon and has the power to rewind time. You walk around, solve puzzles, grab stuff for people and make decisions which have consequences and shit; butterfly effect or whatnot. Hopefully, you get wrapped up in the characters and drama and you enjoy yourself. To add a bit of tension, you get a premonition about a huge tornado that will destroy the town. I'm guessing your decisions will be important in deciding the fate of everyone who lives there. There's a lighthouse that seems significantThere's also a mystery of a missing person.

So what did I think of it? It was... OK. I didn't hate it but I wasn't blown away by it either. Look, games like these always have what I call a "hook", right? Some games use a horror element, some use a murder mystery element  and so on. Life is Strange has that paranormal element with the time travel thing but it didn't seem to be the draw. After some thinking, I figured it out. Life is Strange's hook is Maxine Caulfield herself or rather, playing as her and exploring her life and relationships with the people around her.

The game is basically about teen/young adult angst, relationships, growing up and that sort of thing. It's a young adult story. To its credit, it looks to be character focused which is a little unusual. Games like these tend to use characters as a means to an end and we usually don't get to delve too deep into them. However, I always preferred  adventure games with a bit more edge to it. I guess that's why I liked Fahrenheit (the first half anyway before things went insane). In Fahrenheit, it starts with you being mind-controlled and killing a man. It was a compelling hook. What I'm saying is that Life is Strange's hook just doesn't work for me. Oh, I can get why people like it, it's just not for me. I'm probably not gonna get the later episodes.

Keep in mind that I could be wrong though. This is only the first episode after all. Maybe the story takes a wild turn later on. This is just the impression it left on me so take it or leave it.

There is no right or wrong here. Some people like horror movies, some people don't. Some people like Chinese food, some don't. Some like Life is Strange, some might not. If what I've described about LIS sounds great to you, give it a try. Girls will probably enjoy this game. Yeah I know that sounds sexist so sue me. 

I do have a few minor complaints. The characters look a little weird sometimes. Is it the lip-sync? Also, the dialogue is... strange. I'm not sure if people actually talk the way the characters do. "Hella"? maybe. It comes off as trying too hard sometimes, like how an out-of-touch adult might imagine how the "kids these days" talk, but it's nothing so outrageous that you can't ignore.

Give it a try. I don't like it that much but it deserves a chance. 

It's hella free anyway.

Please kill me. 





[SPOILER ALERT! TURN AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE STORY POINTS]

Apparently, I'm kind of an asshole.

Sunless Sea Game Review

Sunless Sea is a roguelike RPG developed by Failbetter Games. It was officially released on February 2015 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. The game takes place in the Fallen London setting although I never played that browser game on which this one is based.

I decided to write something about this game since it's a game that I enjoyed a lot. Also, an expansion named Zubmariner is going to be released some time in the future so I figured there might be some renewed interest in it and there will be people looking for reviews and honest analysis on Sunless Sea.

Premise

Long story short, London has sunk underneath the Earth. You are a zee captain of a steam ship and you sail across a vast and terrible underzee for reasons known only to you. "Zee" and the like are the game's terms by the way. The world of Sunless Sea is one of fantasy and it's full of all sorts of bizarre stories and adventures that are sometimes humorous but are more often dark and twisted. 

How it Plays

You have a sky-view (if there even is a sky in Sunless Sea) of your cute, doomed little vessel. You sail it from port to port completing missions, and acquiring money and trinkets. The zee itself is home to some dangerous beasts which you probably don't want to mess with until, at least, you earn enough to get the more sturdier vessels.

You have four resources to manage: fuel, supplies, hull points and terror. Fuel is needed to run the ship, of course. Supplies refer to food which your crew consumes from time to time. Hull points refers to the integrity of your ship. Terror is a small bar measured from zero to a hundred and is a measure of the sanity of you and your crew. 

Management of these resources is crucial on top of whatever objective the player is working toward. The player may want to uncover the mystery of his character's dead father but that won't go anywhere if his boat is stranded in the middle of the zee and the insane crew members are drawing straws to see who goes inside the stew pot first. Fail to manage fuel and you'll be stranded with no hope of rescue. Run out of food and your crew will resort to cannibalism and subsequently spike the terror meter. If hull points goes down to zero, you sink and it's game over. If terror reaches a hundred, let's just say it won't be pleasant. You get the drift.

Obviously, it's easy to die in this game. Even if you get the hang of it, death can come quickly if you get sloppy. It is a rougelike after all. However, your character can create a "legacy" in the game and leave valuable heirlooms, books and even a mansion for your next character. This eases the burden of building up your character on subsequent playthroughs. There are many different ways to win depending on the questline you choose at character creation.

There are five stats in the game; hearts, veils, pages, mirrors and irons. Completing certain tasks require checks on these stats. For example, you are presented with a scenario where you can either fight a band of pirates or attempt to flee. Fighting requires a check on your irons while fleeing requires a check on your veils. The higher your stats, the higher the chances of doing certain actions.

Money, referred to as "echos", can be acquired by doing certain missions or by trading goods (or smuggling contraband) between the different ports in the underzee. Echos isn't the only currency in the game. You can trade in all sorts of curios and items. You can even trade more abstract items such as stories and secrets.

Combat that takes place on the top layer of the game where you're controlling your ship, is fairly straight forward. You must keep the enemy vessel or beast within range of your guns to prepare a charge for your cannons. Once charged, fire away. Some creatures are more dangerous than others, not to mention enemy ships. Needless to say, don't expect to take on a living mountain or a twenty-thousand ton dreadnought on your starter ship.

To sum it up: you explore, do the things you need to do, get the things you need to get, learn the things you need to learn,  manage your supplies, try not to die, die horribly and then start again but a bit stronger than the last attempt.

The Good

What makes Sunless Sea a great game is its narrative element. Seriously, this game has some pretty awesome writing. The narrative and the setting is what really sells the game. If you're into RPGS or games with cool and interesting worlds, then you can get a lot out of this game.

The mechanical elements of it: the exploration and combat, are respectable enough. I know that doesn't sound like high praise but the game is alright at what it does for the most part. Balancing your resources requires some thought, especially when you start sailing on the bigger ships, the SUVs of the underzee if you will, that burn fuel and eat supplies like no tomorrow.

The game encourages risk. Often the most profitable options are one's where you have to make dangerous trips to the farther locations.

The music is great and fits the setting perfectly. The art style and design of the whole world is also great though artstyle is a subjective thing.

The Bad

Sunless Sea is really amazing on the first try. On the subsequent tries, less so. When you're already familiar with all the locations, stories and secrets, everything starts to become tedious. At some point, the game becomes grindy and monotonous. You'll start to hate just how slow your ship is moving. As you become familiar of the ins and outs of the map, you'll learn where all the good spots to resupply are and the game gets a bit less tense.

The game has poor replay value is what I'm saying. You can never enjoy it as much as the first time playing so the player should savor it if he gets a chance to do so.

A lot of reading is required in this game, which is a turn off for some. While I said the mechanical aspects were good, they could have been better. Combat isn't as pulse-pounding as you'd expect. It gets the job done but it's not terribly exciting.

Being a roguelike, the whole trial and error way of doing things can be frustrating, especially when many of the the decisions to make in-game may lead to irreversible consequences. There is manual saving though, if the player so chooses.

Summary

Sunless Sea is a hard game to recommend but I'll do my best to give a good assessment of it. At its best, it has great stories, a great setting and has well designed sailing gameplay. At it's worst, it's too heavy to get into, is grindy and gets old and repetitive the more times you play it.

If you're the type of player who has a lot of patience, enjoys stories and lore and can immerse himself in the universe of a game, then Sunless Sea will be a great game for you. If you enjoy games with heavy narrative and can deal with games that can become grindy, then this game deserves your consideration.

 If you're a player who really isn't into story or doesn't have the patience for slow paced and grindy games, this isn't for you. The "roguelike" label should be warning enough. You're initial interest may carry you far but it really is a game that's easy to become bored with.

Sunless Sea isn't the type of game for broad, mass appeal despite the praise it received from mainstream review sites. It's the type of game that is liked by people who already know that they'll like it. Doesn't make sense? I know you get what I'm saying. People who have some real doubts that they won't like it, probably won't like it.

It's just that type of game.

Down

Been feeling down lately. Maybe it's the weather. Dark skies, strong rains...

Yeah, it's totally the weather and not my own self-inflicted misery.

Caravan Palace - Lone Digger

Cebu Flood 2016 Edition

You know, you'd think that since we're a tropical country, we would anticipate things like this. But it seems it just keeps happening. What a terrible Friday that was. It rains for an hour and suddenly everything goes down the toilet. Granted, it was a particularly strong rain but the effects of it were disproportionate. Major portions of the city were paralyzed, commuters stranded and misery everywhere.

Philippine weather has two settings: intolerably hot and unbearably wet.

It was the two infrastructure problems of Cebu coming together in a marriage made in hell: bad traffic and bad  flood drainage. Oh, but I'm sure our leadership is hard at work on this. We've only had this problems for years. Killing a few criminals should fix this. That's the only solution our leaders seem to obsess over.

Wait till it's dry season and we forget about the other half of the year.

Sympathy For A Devil

Last Monday, a funeral service was held for Jeffrey Diaz, also known as "Jaguar", and the "number one" drug dealer of Central Visayas. He was killed in a shootout with police on June 17. It's pretty much accepted that he was going to surrender but was rubbed out so he wouldn't give away the crooked politicians and police that protected him. Of course, everything about this is shrouded in mystery. Just swallow the official story line of "drug lord gets killed and deserved it" and try not to think too deeply on the matter or its implications.

Was there celebration? Well, people weren't jumping for joy on the streets and handing out candy or anything. I doubt the average Juan ever even heard of Jeffrey. Just another corpse. Perhaps common people have the decency not to show their happiness, unlike Mayor Tomas who couldn't help but gloat  and brag about handing out generous reward money to the police who shot the guy.

Anyway, an estimated two thousand and five hundred people attended Jeffrey's funeral procession. Some of them were even wearing shirts with Jeffrey's name and face on it. There's official Jeffrey "Jaguar" Diaz merch apparently.

How could so many people come out in support of someone who everyone says is a drug lord? You'd think that the election of Duterte meant people hated these guys. When asked, the attendees would invariably describe Jeffrey as "kind". He was mabait. Jeffrey would hand out Christmas gifts and stuff. He'd give away a few kilos of rice here and there. Who knew people's souls were so cheap?

I've heard the Jaguar being called a modern day "Robin Hood". That doesn't sit well with me. Robin Hood robbed the rich to give to the poor. I don't recall the story being Robin Hood getting rich from giving meth to the poor. Heh, is this what "giving back to the community" means? It's like some macabre fairy tale. A man selling drugs to the poor and using the profits to keep the poor alive to buy more drugs.

The more I think about it, Jeffrey really was no different than your average politician. That's how it goes here; just give the poor free shit and they'll sell themselves to you. The mentality is also similar to those who support vigilante killings. Who cares about the means as long as it accomplishes a "noble" end? Who cares where the food comes from as long as we get it.

The same sickness runs through everything, it seems.