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.

The Duterte Code

He caused quite a stir but that's to be expected. Duterte is an extreme personality so naturally, he draws extreme reactions. He's no joke. While it's a given that Mindanao is pretty much in his pocket, the fact that he received a sizable chunk of support in Manila upon filing his candidacy, has the traditional Northern elite a little worried. The thinking is that the boost in support is temporary and as the voters know more about him and Duterte overexposes himself, his support will eventually wane. Hey, whatever helps one sleep at night.

This is gonna be a long post so grab a comfy chair.

I have a theory on why Duterte is enjoying a lot more support than people expected. When the human body is under attack by a virus, it will of course, react by sending antibodies. The Philippines has had years of terrible leadership under PNoy. PNoy is a pantywaist to put it simply. All he does is open his mouth and then promptly put his foot in it. He's incompetent, indecisive, and worst of all, indifferent. Couple all that with the general breakdown of law and order and the demoralizing fact that the Maguindanao massacre trial is still going on, you can see how a man like Duterte could enjoy such widespread support. When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, they will naturally favor the strong horse. People look at PNoy and all they see is weakness. People see in Duterte a man who can get things done. His rise is but a natural response to the seeming inability of our government to do any goddamn thing. Must I go over the many times our President fiddled while the country burned? How are the Yolanda victims doing? Why don't we ask them what they think?

The rise of Duterte is born mainly from anger and frustration. Filipinos of course, are an unusually emotional lot. The arguments for Duterte tend to appeal to feelings about how horrible it is to be victimized by crime and so on. Filipinos are gullible too by the way. Why don't we go over this whole thing, shall we?

Death Squad

One of the selling points of Duterte is that he's tough on crime. "Tough" is an understatement. If you believe in his personal mythology, Duterte solves crime by simply killing the criminals without a trial. Trials are slow but bullets are indeed faster.

Summary executions, eh? I thought Filipinos hated killings and forced disappearances? Oh, that's right, it's OK when it's the correct people who are killed. We're such a bunch of hypocrites. It's alright to slaughter people only if they're criminals because fuck them, right? Well this whole thing with the death squads relies on two major premises: firstly, that Duterte will only use his powers for good and secondly, criminals and ONLY criminals will be killed. To believe in these is to be hopelessly and dangerously naive.

It's ironic that people who decry the justice system as irredeemably flawed (it has its many flaws to be fair) believes that a single man can be so flawless; flawless enough to entrust to him the power to play god. To say he's playing god is apt since it would take nothing but blind faith to believe that Duterte, a politician like any other, could do what he does perfectly and with nothing but warm and fuzzy intentions. Bullshit. If a man has that much power over life and death, it would be so tempting to simply take out your critics, rivals or anyone really, even if they haven't done anything. Wait, I forgot. Duterte is a god and can do no wrong, right? Right. I guess this is why arguing with his most hardened supporters is like arguing with a religious zealot. It's pointless since their trust in Duterte is based on faith and not reason. Well, Filipinos would know a lot about blind faith so it figures.

What if Duterte, as he gets even older, starts going senile and orders the wrong hits? Will anyone stop him? Suppose he dies, who'll be left with the finger on the trigger? Such are the perils of putting your faith in one man rather than an institution.

As to the second premise that only criminals will be killed, there's really no way of knowing with the whole lack of a trial thing. If a person was killed by Duterte's boys, how do we really know he was a criminal? Because they said so? I guess we'll just have to believe them. This is all pretty much a faith-based exercise at this point. Hey, remember the last time in Philippine history when the police and military were given broad and far reaching powers? What a great time that was! The authorities exercised their powers responsibly and there were absolutely no abuses whatsoever. There were definitely no innocent people illegally detained, killed or whisked away to God knows where in the dead of night. Nope, no sir! It's gonna be even better this time around now that we allow them to kill but ONLY the baddies! You see how juvenile this all sounds? You have to have a mind of a child to think roving death squads is the best solution to our problem.

False Options

It should come to no surprise that I'd rather there be due process. I'm a fan of it actually. I'm a fan of being presumed innocent, is that so wrong?

Supporters of Duterte will probably cry that I've never experienced the pain of being victimized by criminals. I have to admit that if a person murdered someone I loved, I'd probably go into such rage and grief. Being human, I would probably want the ones responsible to be killed.

But this isn't about how one feels. It's about society as a whole. This whole law thing with the due process, bill of rights, trial and hearing, evidence and all that? It exists for a reason. When we are ruled by raw emotion, we make mistakes. We gave government the responsibility of settling conflicts so that civil society doesn't descend into anarchy with people slaughtering each other for wrongs, real or imagined. We have trials and all that to make sure there's no screw ups leading to innocent people suffering needlessly.

The thing with Duterte is that he presents a false choice. Since our judicial system is so bad, we should therefore do away with it completely and resort to summary executions. I'm sorry but can I have a third option? Is this a joke? Is there a middle ground somewhere? How about we fix our system instead of scrapping it entirely? Do you burn your whole house to rid it of rats? Ah, fixing our judicial system is too much work, right? Better to just kill people and let God do the work for once.

Call me crazy but I think we should seriously explore how we can fix our judicial system. Of course, this administration won't do anything since they hate the judiciary. PNoy has had it in for the third branch ever since they struck down his Truth Commission and dared to actually (GASP!) disagree with him! None of the other candidates are saying anything about the justice system. Hence, Duterte is winning on this issue since nobody else is addressing it. The judiciary may be important to us mortals but for the politicians of the other two branches, it's an afterthought.

Filipinos are fond of shortcuts. There's an undeniable appeal to the thought of summary executions. Too little thought however, is given to justice and the best way to attain it. Fixing whats ailing with our system won't happen because it takes actual leadership.

Life is Feudal

I mentioned before than I'd support Duterte since he's into federalism. Yes, I support decentralization but I'd rather not have to bargain away my fucking rights for it.

I always assumed that Duterte was actually an intelligent person with a macho facade to fool the dumb masses. The extrajudicial killings, I thought, might just be due to extraordinary circumstances existing in Davao and existing only in that geographical area. Perhaps he was a cerebral Machiavellian type who does what's necessary. However, when Duterte opened his mouth and bragged about his sex life and cursed the Pope, I guess he's not so smart. Don't get me wrong, I'm not that devout, but how wise is it to essentially call the Pope a son of a whore in a nation that is predominantly Roman Catholic? His bragging about his girlfriends and extramarital adventures are negligible, however. It's tastless sure, but the people of this allegedly Catholic country already elected Erap so yeah. I'm beginning to think he's just a vulgar thug who got lucky nobody killed him before he got too powerful.

Sometimes I wish Duterte would talk about issues other than killing but law and order is his biggest card. Can't blame him for playing it.

My Stand

You might think that I'm against Duterte at this point. To be honest, I don't mind if he wins. I've already accepted the fact that our democracy is a sham no matter who wins, the people will lose.

You might think I'm against the idea of summary executions and I am. I, however, concede that there are people who support it and there's nothing wrong with that. People are free to have their own stupid opinions. Perhaps Duterte's greatest asset is Davao itself. There's no greater argument than success. People can elect Duterte if they want. Such is the magic of democracy. Just be careful not to slip on the blood.

A Duterte presidency might be good if he could seriously implement a policy of decentralization. If he wins, it would be fun seeing Philippine society unmasked for what it truly is. The most interesting thing for me however, is seeing the clash of narratives.

On the one hand, you have the human rights crowd who go on and on about due process and morals and all that crap. On the other hand, you have people who have given in to their cynicism so much that they don't mind people being killed and would vote for a monster. I've always wondered which of these points of view were correct. Idealism versus cynicism; a classic.

Always remember that your vote does not matter, it has already been decided and everything is beyond your control.

City Games: Simulators vs. Builders

Now that the year is almost over, can we all just agree that SimCity (2013) was the worst video game of 2013? What garbage that was. Aside from the "always online" requirement, the bugs and the flawed mechanics, what bugged me the most was that it was the latest official entry into a much beloved franchise. It's a disgrace.

Do Not Buy This Game

The SimCity games are some of my favorites. For a time, it was the only game of its kind; a game that let the player build and run his own virtual city. It was also unique in that it was an educational tool as well and achieved popularity without being a violent game. Other games would have you build small towns and villages in ancient Rome or what have you but no other game came close to the greatness of SimCity and its later versions; SimCity, SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000, Simcity 4 and SimCity 4: Rush Hour.

I'm just a little nostalgic. The last SimCity game I played was SimCity 4: Rush Hour. Ever since then, no other game comes close to it. I tried other city simulators like City Life 2008 or Cities XL but it doesn't quite feel the same.

What I realized was that the other simulators could not capture the same magic because they were not simulators so to speak. Rather, they were city builders not simulators. There's a difference that needs elaboration.

A simulator to me, is one that imitates an actual real life city. The player is free to build the city of his dreams but the player must work within the limitations imposed by the simulator. These limitations are the same as or come close to being the same as the limitations a real city would face. Granted, SimCity had a lot of unrealistic parts like buildings being built instantly but for the most part, it runs in a realistic manner. Simulators are complex with different layers and interconnecting systems that provide constant challenges to the player.

A builder on the other hand is straightforward. The player builds the city of his dreams directly. There may be limitations imposed on the player but these limitations are either based on the games own internal mechanics and not based on the limitations of real life cities or are simple and don't have any connection with other mechanics. 

But enough pretentious babble. Let me give you an example.

In SimCity 4, I want to build a city. Any fool can create a basic city but I want a city with some "personality". What I want is my own little suburbia; a bedroom community filled with middle class citizens with their pretty townhouses and freshly-mowed lawns. However, there are challenges. By default, the game produces low income citizens with their trailer parks and ugly pink flamingo  lawn ornaments. To get middle class citizens, I need to attract blue collar industries and a bit of commercial office space too. But in order to get those, I need educated citizens and a stable water supply. Building a water pump is simple enough but to get educated citizens, I need to build a grade school, wait a few years for it to take effect, then build a high school and so on.

An Example Made by Some Other Hardcore Fan

Aside from the goal of building the saccharine, all-white American suburb of my dreams, there's the ever-present problem of electricity, garbage disposal and traffic. There's also the matter or healthcare facilities, police stations and fire departments. Recreational facilities are also important to make the city more attractive to the target class. All of these are demanded by the middle class and are therefore a requirement.. All of these cost money upfront and then must be funded regularly. You must tax the people but if you raise taxes too much, demand for housing will plummet as fewer people will be keen to move into a city with high tax rates. Oh, and they also cannot stand pollution so you need to build the factories far away, perhaps in another city and then THAT'S A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY.

See the limitations one must work with? Notice that the limitations more or less, reflect problems real cities face and also reflect principles of urban planning like the proper placement of industries and traffic networks. You can build what you want sure, and the peaceful suburb of Bonnie Dell is achievable but the steps you need to take require a lot of planning and micromanagement.

Now then, it pains me to do this but to give you an example of a city "builder", let's use the game, SimCity Societies. I did not include SimCity Societies in the main list of SimCity games for a reason. It is the black sheep of the SimCity family. It was a terrible disappointment. Woe to the man who mentions this game in a SimCity forum.

Anyway, In SimCity Societies, I want to build a farming town. Oh no, problem since the game already provides "farming town" buildings for me to simply drop and place. Same thing with suburbia. There are "suburb" type buildings I can simply drop and place right away. There are prepackaged themes like "industrial", "spooky(?)" and even "authoritarian". It goes without saying but this isn't how real cities operate. No mayor tells his underlings to "give it a Halloween theme" then roll with it.

Drag and Drop Suburbs

There are limitations in Societies but nowhere near as complex as the ones in SimCity 4. You just place a house building then a job building and watch as it produces a set amount of money without consideration of income class. Costs are also set and you can't micromanage funding and service range as much as you could in 4. Traffic is easy to manage. Electricity is easy to manage. It's just too simple.

You know what? I don't think badly of Societies. Both simulators and builders have the same core goal which is to let the player CREATE the city of his dreams but both differ on the "hows". Societies should have just dropped the SimCity from its title. It doesn't simulate anything. It doesn't imitate how a city is run from a real life standpoint. It's just a toy really and I guess the reason why it just didn't click was because it was too easy and didn't offer the "simulation" aspect that longtime fans enjoyed.

It depends on the kind of player you are. If you just want to create the perfect city right away then a builder would suit you. However, if you're the type of player that wants a simulation of running a city and then working with that to create the perfect city, you should give the old SimCity games a try. SimCity 4: Rush Hour is pretty awesome though other SimCity diehards may swear on 2000 as the best. 

All of them are great anyway (except Societies and SimCity 2013).

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker or Dragon Age: Blood Mage no Seisen if you prefer, is the animated tie-in to the popular video game series, Dragon Age. I've written about similar tie-ins to video games before and this is sort of a thing for me now. This feature film was a collaboration between BioWare and Funimation. I'd call this an anime since it was done in Japan but the style itself isn't "anime" but CG, which is refreshing.

The story stars Cassandra Pentaghast, Nevarran royalty, chantry Seeker and dragon hunter. We all know Cassandra don't we? She's the woman who was giving Varric a hard time in Dragon Age 2. If she seemed like kind of a bitch then, you don't know half of it. In this film, she's angry, hot-headed and bloodthirsty. Seriously, she just recklessly charges into battle, jumping three whole stories in the air and cleaves stone golems like they were nothing. It all seems too much but she's supposed to be a badass dragon hunter or something and "amazing" moves did happen with Duncan in the original Dragon Age, though his was more plausible. Here's Cassandra after a hard day's work.

The story begins in a dark forest where a group of obviously evil mages in dark cloaks are standing in a circle doing spooky stuff. They're led by a guy called Frenic who looks like some kind of pedophile with a mask covering half his face. He's not really a pedophile but hey, there's a mysterious girl they're doing all sort off things to so yeah. Cassandra and a group of seekers crash the party. They take the little girl while Frenic manages to get away. Whoever this girl is, she's important.

Cassandra belongs to the Order of Seekers. Think of them as the internal police force of the Chantry that is tasked with finding and rooting out corruption. For those unfamiliar, the Chantry is the big religion in Dragon Age that pretty much influences everything. The Chantry has two orders here; the Seekers, as previously mentioned, and the Templars, who are knights tasked with fighting mages.

There's tension between the orders. The film doesn't do a good job of explaining it in detail but we can infer it's a glory thing or because the Seekers have to keep an eye on the Templars. Also, Knight Commander Martel, the leader of the Templars is a huge asshole in the beginning. That doesn't help.

The girl is taken into the Seeker's custody. Cassandra's mentor, Byron, kidnaps the girl out of the Seeker's base. He reveals to her that there's some kind of conspiracy afoot and he needed to get the girl to safety. He gets killed and Cassandra is framed for it along with Byron's contact, a mage named Regalyan. They manage to escape and it seems they have to solve the mystery themselves! Oh, and Cassandra really really hates mages with the intensity of a thousand suns! How will they ever get along?

That sums up the main plot of DADotS basically. There's a conspiracy and it's up to Cassandra and Regalyan to get to the bottom of it. A lot of the focus of the story in the middle part is the relationship between Cassandra and the unfortunate mage. They gradually learn to trust each other but we're supposed to care apparently. If you can get past Cassandra's shrill personality, good for you. I won't spoil since the ending confrontations are kinda cool so here's a list of things I liked and didn't like.

The Good

- The animation is much better than expected. It's not perfect but it's a nice change of pace compared to that off model drivel called Mass Effect: Paragon Lost. 

- The traitor-villain is very loathsome. There are different villains here; the obvious villain (Frenic) and the traitors. The traitor bad guy is really terrible and stupid and I found myself rooting for Cassandra to just kill the traitor already. A good villain is a plus.

- The final battle is pretty epic despite the ludicrous stunts Cassandra pulls.

- I don't know who Gackt is or why he's so awesome that he's all anyone mentions when they're talking about this show. He does a voice for a main character and sings a song but only in the Japanese version. Is this good or bad? I guess good. If you like Gackt, great. If you don't, well it's the English version anyway so he won't bother you.

The Bad

- Though the animation gets better and better near the finale, (it's usually the reverse in my experience) it does look "clunky" at times. That's CG for you. The faces sometimes don't show emotion very well but I think that's just me. It's a minor thing.

- The story seems very generic. I wish they would have fleshed out the location a bit more. It takes place in Orlais after all and DA fans haven't seen much of that. It would be nice if we got something in addition to the standard story.

- Frenic is a crappy villain. He's just a generic evil mage who wants power. It doesn't help that Frenic makes a hilariously stupid face near the climax.

- Cassandra is irritating. I know she mellows out and eventually trusts Regalyan but Jesus Christ, is she a hot-headed, angry little zealot. Her voice will grate on your nerves.

And that's about it. If you like Dragon Age, you will find this show amusing though the lack of any extra lore or character development other than Cassandra may leave you disappointed. If you don't care about Dragon Age the simple story, mystery plot and the action should leave you satisfied.

I thought it was OK and better than Mass Effect: Paragon Lost.

Fallout: New Vegas - Old World Blues Analysis Pt.2

A Bright New Future

One last thing I will say about OWB is that it touches on a major theme in the Fallout universe which is that technology lead to the downfall of man.

Fallout is an alternate history that doesn't just present the scenario of nuclear war. The universe is completely different with respect to the level of technology of the world. Despite the 50's aesthetic, the Fallout universe has futuristic stuff like robots, laser weapons, fusion-reactor cars and so on. You can call it "atompunk" if you like. The thing that strikes me most though is that it has a certain vibe to it that brings to mind the optimism people had about technology, specifically, nuclear technology.

Once upon a time there was optimism. People had high hopes for the bright future nuclear technology could bring. Of course, Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened. There was that business of the Cold War too. But for a moment, there was the happy thought of a future powered by the atom and not scoured by it. This is present in Fallout too. It wasn't as pronounced in Fallout 1 and 2 and was merely design. It was excessively cranked up in 3 as was all things "ironic". In FONV, it was left on the wayside since the whole NCR and Legion conflict was more important. But OWB allows us to dwell on the subject for a bit.

The world of Big Mountain is the most futuristic place in the game or even perhaps, the series. Big Mountain is at the very cutting edge of technology. It had the best minds on the planet working inside its labs and money was hardly an issue with so many clients, public and private. Yet, look at all the bullshit that's happened. The Think Tank being composed of disembodied brains in jars made sense. Not only was it meant to show their complete and utter lack of humanity but also that they were nothing but the raw power of intellect. They had no heart nor soul. It's a story of science gone wrong and goes to show that whatever new thing people can come up with, it can be ruined and used to create invisible rattlesnake coyote hybrids that stalk the desert and kill lots of people. It's the same story we've seen before with nuclear energy. Nothing has changed. Nothing ever changes.

But it's not all bad. In the ending of OWB, the Courier can choose to use the Think Tank for his own ends either for good or evil. Again, just like religion in Honest Hearts, science isn't evil per se. 

It all depends on the person and how he uses it.

Fallout New Vegas - Old World Blues Analysis Pt.1

Behind Big Mountain

Big Mountain was a private defense contractor before the War. It was a facility within a literal big mountain until an "accident" reduced Big Mountain into a big crater in the ground. Big Mountain was built with the intention to develop and invent the technology of tomorrow without any restraints. It employed the most brilliant minds of the day from all fields of study.

Even when the world was scoured by atomic fire, research in Big Mountain continued unabated without much care. At some point, the six chief scientists shed their bodies and became the Think Tank so that research can go on indefinitely. They shed more than their physical bodies as they took on new names and "reprogrammed" themselves as well. The Think Tank's research became more depraved as the years went on and eventually, all the other human researchers either escaped or were killed by rogue experiments.

At some point, Dr.Mobius realized that the experiments of the Think Tank had gone too far. He erected a radar fence around the crater to prevent the Think Tank from escaping and "experimenting" with the world beyond. Furthermore, Mobius hacked into his colleagues and reprogrammed them to lose all sense of time and history and trapped them in a loop. Mobius also waged a campaign of fear and terror to deter the Think Tank from escaping. It was so successful in fact,  that the Think Tank  believed that the world outside didn't exist at all. Mobius regularly played a broadcast to threaten the Think Tank and used his robo-scorpions, which could allegedly "steal a person's intelligence", to keep the Think Tank penned in. Ever since then, Big Mountain descended to a state of chaos and insanity as the power struggle between the Think Tank and Mobius raged on while the various experiments, lobotomites and haywire robots ran rampant around the facility.

Outsiders avoided Big Mountain for the most part since the large crater made it appear like the site of a nuclear bomb explosion. Ironically, many thought that Big Mountain, a facility dedicated to future technologies and wonders, had nothing of value in it hence they named it the "Big Empty". Those few foolish enough to wander close were either captured by robots and experimented on or killed outright by the various experiments if they were lucky.

When the courier was captured, his head wound activated a different protocol for the auto-doc which revealed to the Think Tank a way to escape. They would transplant their brains into bodies and walk out of Big Mountain. Dr.Mobius saw this and raided the Think Tank to take the Courier's brain before they could work on it.

A Little Twist

The story had a nice little twist. When you first meet the Think Tank, Mobius was doing his little broadcast of terror on them and it seemed like he was a mad scientist who needed to be stopped. As it turns out, Mobius kind of has a point. Even if the Think Tank are "funny" and have "wacky" personalities, they're pretty dangerous if you look at all the stuff they've been up to. In fact, Mobius had a pretty well thought out plan to keep them in check had it not been for several visitors from the outside world. 

 

After you beat his giant robot scorpion and meet Mobius, he doesn't even appear threatening. He seems more like a senile old man happily offering a child some candy (mentats) and constantly misuses words and phrases. Mobius seems the nonviolent type too since he needs a dose of "psycho" to get him worked up to sound only mildly threatening. The tables turn and it is the Think Tank and their ambition that is arguably the greater villain in the story. This is true since the Think Tank do attempt to betray you in the end, as futile as the attempt was.

What Has Science Done!?

One thing I like about OWB is that it's far from the "hilarious", oh-so-random humor that you might have expected. The dialogue and situations are indeed funny and entertaining but if you take that all away and look at everything seriously, OWB is pretty messed up. Many of the goings on are not just little experiments gone wrong but could qualify as full blown human atrocities. Let's go over them shall we?

1. The cazadors, the worst enemies in the game, were created in Big Mountain.
2. The nightstalkers were created in Big Mountain as well.
3. The toxic "cloud" surrounding the Sierra Madre was an experiment made by Big Mountain.
4. The experimental hazmat suits that produced the "ghost people" was also a follow-up experiment to the cloud.
4. Big Mountain operated and maintained a concentration camp full of Chinese POWs complete with slave collars that exploded if any prisoner escaped.
5. The Think Tank captures and lobotomizes people like it's nothing.
6. The spore carriers in the facility imply the toxins from Vault 22 came from Big Mountain.
7. Probably developed countless weapons and robots for war.
8. Vaporized the entire mountain and killed off much of the original staff.

I could go on but my point here is that Big Mountain produced more harm than good. Sure, they created useful stuff like the replicators and auto-docs but if only that was all they did.

The humor in OWB is certainly dark. It fits the universe of Fallout very well. Next time, I'll go over a major recurring theme in Fallout that is cranked up in OWB.

Fallout: New Vegas Analysis: Old World Blues Intro

Alright. So the previous DLCs of Fallout:New Vegas dealt with some pretty heavy stuff. In Dead Money, we learned about the dangers of greed and obsession. In Honest Hearts, we learned about human nature and the positive or negative influences of religion. In the third DLC, Old World Blues, the courier is teleported to the wonderful world of the "Big MT" where we have lighthearted adventures in wacky, funny SCIENCE! It's gonna be fun right?

Make no mistake though, OWB is a lot deeper than it looks and a whole lot more depressing than the wacky SCIENCE! would have you think.

The Main Plot

The story begins when the Courier, drawn by a mysterious and jazzy broadcast, happens upon an old drive-in theater with what looks like a satellite or at least, a highly complex machine of some sort. Upon touching the thing, he was transported instantly to the Big Mountain Research and Development Center (erroneously called the Big Empty or Big MT)  where he was experimented on while unconscious from the trip. The Courier awoke feeling a bit light-headed which was no surprise given his brain, as well as his spine and heart, were removed and replaced with implants. Stranded, the Courier stumbles on in search for his missing organs and a way out.

The Courier meets The Think Tank, a group of genius scientists who aren't exactly human anymore. He meets five brains-in-jars basically. The members of the Think Tank are: Dr.0 who is an alleged expert in robotics, Dr.Borous who has a thing for DNA-scrambling technology, Dr.Klein the head researcher of the bunch, Dr.Dala an expert in "Humanology" with a degree in Curiosity and Advanced Curiosity and finally, Dr.8 an Acoustics Expert who ironically has no voice.

The Think Tank were responsible for The Courier's organ removal but now seek the Courier's help. It turns out that the Think Tank are being terrorized by a former colleague gone mad scientist named Dr.Mobius who keeps the Think Tank trapped in their research center.

Big Mountain, as it turns out, isn't a mountain at all but a huge crater. A small laboratory accident blew the mountain up but no worries, an advanced shield system surrounding the crater prevents anything from escaping. This is good seeing how all sorts of dangerous monsters and "experiment" stalk the facility grounds and abandoned laboratories. Will the Courier survive? Of course he will. He's the mythical badass.

Next time, let's talk about the sinister undercurrents of this bright and cheerful place.

Fallout: New Vegas - Honest Hearts Analysis (Pt.2)

The God Father

"I tell them to read and to learn and to make the most of their new home. I tell them I'm giving them Zion as a gift to make up for all the sorrows of their lives so far and all the sorrows man has visited on man. I tell them to be kind to each other and modest. I tell them never to hurt each other but that if someone else comes along and tries to hurt them to strike back with righteous anger."

 

"The Father in the Caves" who the Sorrows worship isn't a make-believe being; he is very much real but not what you'd expect.

 

The Father was a man named Randall Dean Clark who was a former soldier from the Great War who inhabited Zion Park. He was an American soldier stationed in the annexed land of Canada. When the bombs dropped, he was in the wilderness on a hiking trip. His family no doubt perished and he was left alone. He hiked back to Zion and hid out in a cave. Fortunately, the caves were abandoned by the United States Geological Survey and the leftover supplies helped him greatly. He hid out in the cave systems of Zion Canyon, hiding supplies and booby trapping most of them. The computer terminals in the caves provide the player with information about his life and the troubles in Zion.

 

Randall was a tortured individual. He found his time as a soldier in Canada sickening and was appalled at the "criminality of it." He deeply regrets not being with his family when the bombs hit and suffered guilt until the end of his life. He was also forced to do some ugly things in his life even after his service. After the bombs fell, he was forced to mercy kill an old couple blinded by the flash of the bombs. It didn't stop there. Some time after the bombs, a group of refugees made camp in Zion. He grew to care for them and even secretly left medicine for one of them who broke his leg. Unfortunately, a group of vault dwellers from Vault 22 came in to establish camp too and ended up slaughtering the refugees. Randall then waged a covert war against the vault dwellers and drove them out using explosives and his service rifle. So successful was he, that the vault dwellers ran in terror from the "vengeful spirit that stalked the canyons".

 

Randall developed a relationship with a vault dweller named Sylvie who was caught in one of his bear traps. However, she died in childbirth, pregnant with his unborn son. The death of his second family got him thinking of suicide though he never went through with it.

 

A group of children wandered into Zion Canyon a long time after the Vault 22 incident. Randall decided to help them by leaving them food, medicine, supplies, messages and, as they got older, medical books and weapons manuals. He preached to them the importance of kindness and respect but he did all this in secret. He didn't want to shatter the illusion and for them to see he was just a battered old man who was dying from some kind of lung disease at this point. Near the end, he left each and every child a personal message and tells them though he will be silent, he will still watch over them. When he knew his time was up, he climbed onto the highest peak where none of the children could find him and there he died, overlooking Zion Canyon.

 

These children were the ancestors of the Sorrows and Randall unintentionally became their deity. The religious symbolism is obvious. We find his remains with a crown of leaves on his head producing a kind of halo. When Daniel preaches to the Sorrows, they immediately associate the "God, the Father" of the Christian trinity with the Father in the Caves.

 

Honest Hearts has a pretty strong pro-religion message though not necessarily Christian. The Sorrows were enlightened so to speak. However, it is important to note that the Father was just a man. Maybe this plays into the notion that there is a "necessity to create God" or that our understanding  is limited no matter what because we are, after all, human. But perhaps, whether God exists or the Father is real is ultimately irrelevant. What remains is the message. You decide.

 

Speaking of religion...

Holy Warrior

Joshua Graham has a very simple way of approaching the problem of the White Legs; kill em' all and let God sort them out. This puts him at odds with Daniel, who just wants to leave while it's still possible. Joshua attempts to convince the player many times about how important it is to keep Zion and his charismatic nature does shine through.

 

However, the most interesting part of Joshua is it doesn't seem to be just a war for him. Listening him babble on about doing "God's work", "Yea, we remembered Zion...", dashing babies on rocks and so forth, makes him sound like some kind of crusader from the middle ages. Oh it's not just a war all right. It's a holy war. He's on a mission from God and you're gonna be part of His army!

 

It's easy to dismiss Joshua as some guy who's there to show you how religion can be wrong or bad. What, with gems like: "I don't enjoy killing, but when done righteously, it's just a chore, like any other". But there's more to this character than being a self-righteous zealot.

 

If you take Joshua's path in the story, you, Joshua the Dead Horses and the Sorrows attack the White Legs head on. With Joshua's help, (and yours I guess) the tribes overrun the White Leg encampment. What happens in the camp is the most important event in Joshua's arc. Yes, he has a character arc too in addition to being awesome at everything else.

 

In the camp, the White Leg's chief, Salt-Upon-Wounds, is trapped. Joshua calls him an "animal" and that the only use for animal's in God's temple is sacrifice. The player can make a choice: either he lets Joshua kill the chief in cold blood, fight the chief or be merciful and let the chief go. If the player tells Joshua to let the him go, Joshua admits something he's been hiding the whole game.

 

"I want to have my revenge. Against him. Against Caesar. I want to call it my own, to make my anger God's anger. To justify the things I've done."

 

To say that Joshua is an angry man is an understatement. He's angry at Caesar but most of all, himself. He blames himself for the massacre at New Canaan. He thinks if he hadn't gone with Caesar or if he had chosen differently, they wouldn't have died. See, despite all the bad things he's done as the Malpais Legate, the people of New Canaan still found it in themselves to forgive him and take him back in. They payed the ultimate price for it. So it's understandable why he's frothing mad but the worst part of it is how he justifies his actions with religion and it all comes to a head in the climax of his story.

 

Salt-Upon-Wounds is thoroughly defeated, completely surrounded and utterly helpless. He drops on his knees and begs the player to call off Joshua while Joshua's positions himself to whack the chief like some gangland mob hit. At that point, just how far off the deep end Joshua was became apparent. It wasn't a war anymore, it wasn't even a matter of self-defense or self preservation. Salt-Upon-Wounds was finished but Joshua's bloodthirst hadn't abated. He realizes this and admits that he's been using religion as a crutch, pretending what he was doing was the Lord's work and that it was a righteous war. Well, it stopped being righteous at that moment and it took the player to make him realize that. He must forgive as he was forgiven.

 

Honest Hearts produce honest actions. Was Joshua honest? No, he wasn't. Unlike Randall, Joshua had no good intentions for his religious creed. He went about everything like it was a religious duty. But when you think about it, a lot of the things he did were pretty disturbing. He took the Dead Horses to the park to wage his personal war of vengeance under the claim that he had to protect Zion. He wanted to drag the Sorrows, a peaceful people, into it. He arms the natives and so forth. When the Dead Horses idolize him and his warlike ways, he acts disturbed, like he realizes what he's doing is wrong but he doesn't stop anyway. He's a Christian and probably knows what he's doing is terrible but he continues lying to himself. His dishonesty produced impure actions and thus, was far from the command of a loving God.

 

So that's Joshua's character for you. Originally, I thought Joshua was just there to show the dark side of religion but when you think about it, religion didn't make him do the things he did. He was a liar, we covered that. It was a case of man corrupting religion and using it and twisting it to assuage his guilt. So I guess Honest Hearts really does have an upbeat message hidden beneath the violence and chaos.

 

"Sometimes I tell myself these wildfires never stop burning, but I’m the one who starts them. Not God. Not them. I can always see it in my mind. The warmth, the heat. It will always be a part of me. But not today."

Well, that's about it. At it's core, Honest Hearts is really about religion as a positive force, tempering man's tendency for violence. You're free to agree or disagree but it's a surprisingly upbeat message in a crapsack such as the Fallout Universe.

Fallout: New Vegas: Honest Hearts Analysis (Pt.1)

Honest Hearts was the second DLC to Fallout:New Vegas. It takes the Courier to Zion National Park where he is ambushed by violent tribals and gets embroiled in a greater conflict. But first, some history...

Joshua Graham was a Mormon missionary who accompanied an expedition into the Grand Canyon put together by the Followers of the Apocalypse to study the dialects of the tribals there. Graham served as the translator as he was familiar with the tribes languages. However, Joshua Graham, Edward Sallow, Bill Calhoun and the rest of their expedition were captured by the Blackfoot Tribe. Whether this was caused by a miscommunication between Joshua and the tribals or that it was an ambush from the start is not clear.

As it turns out, the Blackfoots were at war with several other tribes and losing. Edward decided he could use the situation to his advantage instead of dying along with them. Against the advice of Calhoun and the doctrines of the Followers, Edward abused the knowledge he gained studying with them to teach the Blackfoots in the ways of war. He taught them how to use guns, explosives and apply combat tactics. He impressed them enough such that he was made their leader. Edward took the title of "Caesar" and began dividing and conquering the other tribes brutally and without mercy. Bill was allowed to leave but Joshua remained, serving as Caesar's translator.

Soon, Joshua not only translated orders for Caesar but became the military commander of Caesar's "legion", forged from the conquered tribes. Joshua became known as the "Malpais Legate" and committed numerous atrocities. His brutality became legendary among the Legion warriors as well as the NCR, who Caesar was chomping at the bit to start a fight with. Joshua was also notorious for being hard to kill and survived at least five assassination attempts from NCR snipers.

Despite his brutality, Joshua was no strategist. He lost the First Battle of Hoover Dam and Caesar had to make an example. Failure would not be tolerated even in the higher ranks. Joshua was covered in pitch, set alight and thrown into the Grand Canyon. That was the end of the Malpais Legate...or was it?

The Courier's story begins when he/she signs up to join an trade expedition by the Happy Trails Caravan Company. The caravan hoped to establish a trade route to New Canaan through Zion National Park. However, the expedition was a disaster. A group of tribals known as the White Legs ambushed the caravan and slaughtered everyone except the Courier, who had a knack for avoiding certain death.

To go on about the story in Honest Hearts would take quite a lot of time so I'm just going to assume you, the reader, have played through it and are familiar with the events in it. After all, if you aren't, you wouldn't be reading this would you? Let's go on to the themes of Honest Hearts and why this game has a lot nore to offer than would first appear.

The Nature of Man

If we're going to anlyze a story, where do we start? Simple. Let's start with ourselves, or rather, with how the subject matter treats the human being. How are human beings portrayed in HH?

HH presents us with a scenario where there are tribals fighting for a land called Zion. Not too subtle, eh? The religious symbolism isn't tossed about recklessly. Joshua, at one point, calls Zion a "natural temple" and "monument to His glory."

 Zion National Park, despite being a park of the Old World, is presented as a nature that is pristine and almost primordial even. Compared to the barren Mojave desert and the desolate hellhole that was FO3's Capitol Wasteland, Zion provides a rare opportunity for the player to see an unspoiled wilderness in the Fallout universe that was spared from the ravages of the Great War. Keep this "uncorrupted nature" idea in mind.

It's not just the nature that's reduced to a pure state, so too are the people who call (or would like to call) Zion home. Here we have people living in the most basic form of human organization which is the tribe. The tribals live off the land and are generally ignorant of technology and even suspicious of anything related to the Old World. To put it simply, we are given a situation where everything is a "clean slate", man and nature in it's simplest form.

What is the nature of man? Let's answer the question by looking at some of the happy locals.

 The White Legs

These guys are the very first tribe the player meets. They also murder everyone in the caravan but the player barely manages to escape. Not a warm welcome to Zion. The White Legs are a savage tribe who attack anyone not of their own. They are always hostile to the player and all the other tribes.

But why? Joshua offers an explanation. Apparently, the White Legs do not have the means to sustain themselves and don't know basic stuff like agriculture. Instead, they found it easy to just take from others and so built their society off raiding and pillaging. Immediately, Thomas Hobbes classical philosophy comes to mind. The natural state of man is a state of war simply because he has license to take from others whatever the hell he wants. The game goes no further to establish the need for a government as Hobbes did but still, the idea is here. Man is warlike in nature simply because he is driven by his needs.

The White Legs have a bigger role in the story however. For reasons not explicitly mentioned but easily inferred, they want to join up with Caesar's legion. If war is your way of life, why not join up with the biggest, baddest warband in town? The fact that the White Legs scalp their victims implies a culture that is centered on and celebrates war.

In exchange for their membership, they were given the task of destroying New Canaan and everyone in it. Why? Because Caesar didn't like Joshua Graham and decided to order a literal genocide against Joshua's "tribe". Caesar is that goddamned petty. The White Legs eagerly obliged and killed almost everyone in New Canaan, even the children and elderly. They even salted the earth afterwards.

It's depressing but yeah, the White Legs show that man's nature is one of conflict and bloodshed.

The Sorrows

Way waaaaay over on the other side of the spectrum are the Sorrows, a tribe of peaceful people living by a cave system called The Narrows. They are led by Daniel, a surviving Mormon missionary from New Canaan.

Daniel describes the Sorrows as peaceful and, more importantly, innocent. It's true. By complete contrast to the White Legs, the Sorrows seem like a bunch of hippies. The Sorrows are kind and hospitable and are a very emotional people. Daniel even mentions how the Sorrows feel and weep for the dead even if they are their enemies, the White Legs.

Here's the interesting bit. The Sorrows are not a kind and gentle people because they were born that way. The Sorrows worship this being called, The Father in the Caves. The Father taught them to be kind to one another and left Zion to them as a gift to make up for all the sorrows man has visited on man. I'll explain what this "Father" is much later but the point here is that the Sorrows appear to live a peaceful modest and self-sustaining existence because of the teachings and influence of the Father.

So what does this imply? It means that man can be taught to avoid a warlike existence and that man can live a good life free from war but needs some kind of rules or code. This, my friends is what you call morality. The Sorrows needed to be told that hurting one another is to be avoided. So you have a people here who were given a set of morals by a seemingly supernatural being telling them to love one another. Sound familiar? The Sorrows are doing quite well for themselves too if it weren't for the White Legs.

 The Dead Horses

The Dead Horses tribe are led by none other than Joshua Graham. They originally lived in Dead Horse Point but were convinced by Joshua to move to Zion after teaching them how to use guns and how to fight. Remember this ugly fact.

The Dead Horses occupy the middle ground. On the one hand, they're not as violent as the White Legs but they're no strangers to war either. However there are strong hints in the game that they're slipping into dangerous territory with their idolizing of Joshua and his ways as well as their decorating of their tribal clubs with the .45 shell casings of Joshua's trademark weapon. They're not warlike but they're getting there.

I guess this creates more of an interesting conflict between Daniel and Joshua. On the one hand, Daniel wants to preserve the Sorrows' innocence while on the other, Joshua is nudging the Dead Horses down the bloody path. Joshua would never admit it though (Remember this) and seems to act repulsed when told Follows-Chalk regards him highly.

Conclusion

Honest Hearts seems to imply that man, by nature, lives a warlike existence (White Legs). But man can be influenced to be above this sort of thing (Sorrows) or the other way around (Dead Horses). Notice that it's a man corrupting the Dead Horses while the Sorrows are influenced by a seemingly otherworldly being.

I will explain the Father in the Caves next time as well as the strong religious symbolism in the game.