I'm There Now

I'm moving to Tumblr.  Feel free to join me.  Updates here will cease from this point forward.  

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The past week was a little weird.  The punctuation on the whole thing was Friday, when I was operating on less than two hours of sleep from the previous night.  The entire day, I felt like I was floating around rather than walking.  I assume that to some degree, that's how people strung out on drugs tend to feel all the time.  I remember the entire day with surprising clarity, however.  I also remember how I felt.  I barely had enough energy to physically function, let alone control my own thoughts.  As a result, I let things bother me more than they usually would.  With the Boston Marathon Bombings fresh in my mind, a rather depressing book I was reading, a sore neck, along with a few other items falling into the category of Kick-You-While-You're-Down, Friday ended up being a lesson in timing and perspective.

But now it's Monday, and I feel fine.  Things have worked themselves out, or I have worked them out for myself.  The two men who bombed the Boston Marathon have been identified.  One of them is dead and the other one is captured.  I finished the book I was reading and found out it wasn't really that bad after all.  Things are better now.  And I'm awake.

I hear you asking about the book I was reading?  It's a dark-fantasy novel by Joe Hill, called Horns.  To put it most simply, it explores the idea of the devil being an anti-hero, rather than purely evil.  The book was fascinating while at the same time depressing.  It left me with the feeling that there were no good people in the story, and that everyone has an ugly side to them.  My thought on the matter is that I already realize that everyone has a dark side.  I don't need to be reminded of the fact in a work of fiction.  Still, the storytelling in the book was fantastic.  I can see why it's being made into a movie coming out this year.

Let's see.  What's new?  It was rather cold as balls this weekend, so I didn't get outside to do anything.  However, the seeds in the back room have mostly sprouted.  I'm not sure yet if I'm going to manage to avoid having gnarly seedlings or not.  It's a bit too early to tell.  I think I'm doing the lighting correctly, but who knows.  

Dead Island: Riptide comes out tomorrow.  I didn't pre-purchase it, nor do I plan on getting it unless the reviews are favorable.  I will say that I -enjoyed- the first game, but it didn't leave enough of an impression upon me to warrant getting exciting for a sequel.  I'll play the wait-and-see game on that one.  The only thing it has going for it is that right this moment, I wouldn't mind having a new shooter to play.  And I do like killing zombies.

Seed Starting Supplies

I got my stuff in the mail the other day.  It's still too early to do anything with them, but I figured I'd share.  Keep in mind that my camera isn't the best, so the images will be blurry.  Also, there seems to be a cat in most of them.

First off, the six packages of seeds.  I mentioned already how I went about picking them.  (Hint:  I went with the EASIEST.)



Now, obviously I need containers in which to plant them.  So I got some round, biodegradable planters that you can put right into the ground, plus a flat with smaller compartments (for the flowers, since they are smaller).







And finally, I'll also need SOIL.




One last thing is the lighting.  I had a bit of a problem last year with the seedlings getting a little spindly.  By that, I mean that they got unnaturally tall.  I think this was due to two things:  One, I may have had the light up too high, which caused the seedlings to stretch up to reach it.  Second, I think perhaps I didn't have a very good schedule with when I had the light on.  I can adjust the height of the lighting with no problem.  In order to get a good schedule down, I purchased a cat...er...I mean I purchased a TIMER that will control when the light is on, which you can see below.  

It's almost the time of year for gardening.  Though, being outside this morning, you wouldn't have thought so, given the fact that it was fifteen fucking degrees.  But despite the fact that winter refuses to fuck right off, it is quickly becoming time to consider what seedlings I would like to start indoors.  Last year, my attempts were, admittedly, only mildly successful in that regard.  I got a pumpkin.  A few of the flowers also bloomed.  I think we may have gotten some green beans as well.

So this year, I did a little bit of research first and I picked some things based upon two known facts:  That they are -supposed- to be started indoors first, and that they are relatively easy to grow.  I don't have the set-up to try anything challenging indoors.  I would like a green house.  But as Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite says, "I want a puppy, too, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get one."

I purchased six different kinds of seeds.  Three vegetables, and three flowers.  The vegetables you will undoubtedly recognize:  Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage.  With regards to the flowers, I'll be quite surprised and and impressed if you have heard of any of these:  Cleome, Celosia, and Nasturtium.  Don't worry, I had no idea what these were, either.  But, they are supposedly rather easy to grow, and they look very nice.  So I'm going to give them a try.  Seeds are cheap, so I've really nothing to lose.

Bioshock Infinite, Night Three!

So, since I found Elizabeth, it's been pretty much all about her.  And while a lot of the standard concepts of an NPC companion are here, a lot are enhanced greatly.  For example, you never have to worry about her in a fight.  She's invincible.  She also doesn't fight.  So therein are two annoyances of companions eliminated:  Worrying about failing a mission because they die, or getting pissed because they're killing everything before you.

And, when there's no fighting going on, Elizabeth is wandering around, exploring, finding things.  She's never underfoot and never getting in the way.  And oftentimes, she will point out things of interest.  Additionally, she'll find coins and toss them to you.  I love that interaction.  More surprisingly, during one fight scene she was actually finding weapons for me and tossing them my way while I took cover.  It was brilliant.




Aside from these things, I don't have much else to report that isn't spoilery.  The game is moving along at a good pace, and I'm never finding myself bored.  It's fun as hell.  I just want to keep going, keep exploring, keep finding more out about both of these characters.  It's really interesting to me to notice that Elizabeth has single-handedly transformed this game into something different.  The rest of it is all by the numbers for a shooter.  Or, I suppose, by the numbers for a Bioshock game.  Throwing her into the formula changed the dynamic, and all for the better.




I expect, as I progress further, that I'm going to have less and less to say until the very end.  The only things I haven't touched on deal with the story, and I won't do that here.  So, don't take my brevity to mean I have nothing good to say.  Take it to mean that I have nothing I -can- say, because otherwise I'd be spoiling major parts of the game.  For the simple question of, "Is the story good?", the answer is so far, a resounding yes.

Bioshock Infinite, Night Two

I played tonight with but one goal in mind:  To get to Elizabeth.  I wanted to finally find her and see what all the fuss was about.  I didn't think I was going to make it -- I didn't want to stay up too late this evening and it seemed like I was on the run through the city forever.  (Though, I don't mean that to sound like it wasn't enjoyable, because it was.)  But at last, I found her.  So what did I think?  Well, let's get there first, shall we?

First things first.  It seems that last night I stopped right before the first boss.  So, I had that to deal with pretty much first thing.  It wasn't much, really, and quite easy.  But, as with any game worth its time to play, killing the boss yielded its power!  Which I now have.  It's fire.  And the ability to set people on fire.  The introductory animation to this vigor was so cool.  Have a look for yourself.




Pretty cool, eh?  What followed was a lot of running from the police through the streets, houses, rooftops, and even the sky itself.  It's pretty standard fare for a first-person shooter.  First you have your introduction where you get accustomed to your world and the movements within it, then you get your first weapon, and then what follows after that is your standard few hours of getting used to the combat.  The game usually throws in new abilities during this time, and BI is no exception.  I have a pistol and a machine gun, now, along with three vigors.




It was during this time that I began to notice a couple of strange things, gamewise.  First of all, remember when I said that the game isn't open world?  That may not have been entirely accurate.  There are at least some small open world elements to it, in that you do get optional side missions and you can return to just about any area at any time.  Within reason.  It very much reminds me of how Dead Space 3 handled things.  BI even has the little "follow the light" system that the Dead Space series has.  Press "N", and it appears on the ground briefly, pointing the way.  For the most part, it's executed well.  The only problem I had with it was that there are audio cues for your character strewn about in random places.  I found myself setting these off at inappropriate times.  So, for example, I was getting shot at by a whole group of police officers while Booker is nonchalantly saying, "Hm, I need to get to higher ground to reach that skyrail."  And then two seconds later, he's yelling at the antagonist.  It was a bit jarring, but this is a minor complaint.

Up until this point, what I've been liking most of all is how mysterious Columbia is.  This is both good and bad.  The good being that I'm frickin' loving it right now.  The bad being that once I know the mystery, that's going to make replaying the game a bit less enjoyable.  And that's a shame, because the game is so well done, so smooth, and so fun to play that it deserves multiple playthroughs.

Before meeting Elizabeth, my favorite part so far was my time spent maneuvering through a building that seemed to be the home to some kind of cult worshiping John Wilkes Booth.  The game takes place in 1912, which is 48 years after Booth murdered Abraham Lincoln.  Given the racist undertones of the denizens of Columbia that I briefly mentioned, and without spoiling any of the story, given what Lincoln accomplished during his presidency it's no surprise these people worship Booth.  There was also some pretty fucked up baby back bullshit going on there.  As you can see.




Now, I mentioned open world elements, didn't I?  So, if you are a veteran to such things, you may be wondering if there is a fast travel system.  Well, kind of.  All around the city are hooks attached to buildings, and also skyrails that wind around all the buildings.  Remember the hook I mentioned from the beginning of the game?  Oh, probably not, because my description of it was nothing more than "WHERE DID THAT MAN'S HEAD GO?!"  Yeah, well, that thing I used to decapitate the man looks like this:




It's magnetic, too.  So, when you jump towards a hook or a rail, it pulls you to it.  The hooks are used to get to higher buildings or to jump long gaps.  The rails you can ride, at very high speed, around the city.  It's quite the rush, really!

Now, this below shot shows a loot of good stuff.  If you look in the background, you can see a green aura around the two vending machines.  I used Possession on them.  When you use that vigor on a vending machine it gives you some free stuff.  Usually coins.  Using it on a turret is better though, because that makes it attack your enemies and ignore you.  You can also see my Murder of Crows in this shot.  The yellow bar at the top is my shield, red is obviously health, and the bottom left bar is Salts.  Salt is mana, pretty much.  You can have two vigors on your bar at once, and can switch between them at any time.  You can also hold down the vigor-switch key to pick ANY of your vigors at any time.  So you're not fully limited to just two.  You simply pick the two you want to be able to quickly use.  The rest are all still available to you, which I really like.




Okay.  Now with that out of the way, let's move on to Elizabeth, shall we?




I was surprised when I read that the game was delayed for an entire year solely because of her.  They wanted to make her character right, and I can certainly appreciate that.  Given this knowledge, and given the praise that I have seen critics give her, I was very much looking forward to this.

I wasn't disappointed.




A few very important things changed about Bioshock Infinite the moment I met her.  Up until this point, the game has been about me.  About MY character, Booker DeWitt.  I wanted to know who sent him, why he was there, why he was there, and how the antagonist knows so much about him.  I wanted to know his history. The meaning of his nightmares.  The source of that demonic sounding voice speaking to him.  After meeting Elizabeth, I still want to know these things, but they are now secondary.  Now, my focus is on HER.  It completely and irrevocably changed the dynamic of the game for me in the greatest of ways.

When it comes to companion characters in games, especially shooters, I rarely take them along willingly.  I send my companions in Skyrim and Fallout packing as soon as I can.  I don't like them, I don't want them, and they get in my fucking way.  Alyx in Half-Life 2 was probably the only exception to this rule.  Until now.  I'm going to be pissed if/when the game separates Booker and Elizabeth.  So the question is, what is BI doing correctly to make me feel this way?

First, she's not intrusive.  I'm not tripping over her, I don't have to move her out of the way to fit through a doorway, etc.  Second, she's fascinating.  She is a mystery in and of herself.  But I think most importantly is the fact that they have succeeded in giving her a personality.  Her voice acting is stellar.  But more than that, her facial animations are utterly amazing.  They are successfully portraying emotions with only her facial expressions.  She eyes me suspiciously when I won't give her a straight answer.  She rolls her eyes when I say something silly.  The corners of her mouth tilt up in a grin when she sees something she likes.  It's borderline uncanny.

I read somewhere that her design would actually be so close to human that it would have been creepy had the game been developed with a more realistic graphical style.  I can see their point.  It may have actually crossed the line into creepyville if the graphical style wasn't so whimsical.  But as it is now, it's perfect.  I can see the results of them putting the extra time into perfecting her.

I look forward to the day when developers have the tools they need to make EVERY character in a video game as alive and wonderful as Elizabeth.  It would take years, maybe even a decade or more, to do such a thing today.  But I think that BI has really moved the ball down the court in that regard with this character.

Bioshock Infinite, In Progress!

I'm sitting here about to start playing my early birthday present from John, that amazing mon that he is, and I'm currently on step 3 of 4 in regards to the first-time launch process.  That is, about to play Bioshock Infinite.  I've been looking forward to this game for quite some time, but was actually balking at purchasing it due to the publisher deciding they were going to give Americans a huge middle finger and charge them a full $15 more for the game than the rest of the world.  Not only did John solve this dilemma by getting it for me as a present, he also got it in his home country of jolly 'ol England, meaning it was cheaper.  So he just wins in every regard.  As usual.  

This is going to be a review in progress as I go through the game.  I'm currently on the start screen and tabbed out to ensure the game doesn't explode when you do that.  It doesn't.  It also defaulted to my native resolution, so it's certainly off to a good start.  I will timestamp the rest of my entries below, so you'll basically be following right along with me.  And heeeeere we go.






9:12 PM:  Okay, so for starters the style of the game is really interesting.  I heard that they weren't going for a realistic look to the game, and that is true.  It feels very much like a fantasy, and I like it.  It's very cool.  The start of the game is very reminiscent of older first-person shooters like Half-Life 2, where you are basically just thrown into the game and not told anything.  I like that, obviously.  It has a checkpoint save system, though.  Boo!  But I'll survive.  Also, it alt-tabs like a frickin' pro!  Very well optimized and smooth in every regard so far.  Hey look, a lighthouse!  Also, the bible/religious references start almost immediately.

9:15 PM:  I wonder what this blood is from?  I got my first glimpse of how violent the game is going to be.  Image with held to avoid spoilers!  It's probably safe but I won't take the chance.




9:23 PM:  Suddenly, I'm in Columbia.  That was pretty frickin' awesome.  The music here is a bit creepy. It almost sounds like it's "Amazing Grace", but it's not.  Here's my first view of the city, from within my transportation.




9:36 PM:  So many bible references.  Holy hell.  (Pun intended.)  Note:  45 minutes in and I still don't have a weapon.  I love that.




9:43 PM:  I ate a hotdog and now I'm hungry.  BRB.  Yes, this is an in-game screenshot.




9:50 PM:  Okay, so seeing huge buildings moving around and sliding back and forth between each other is quite amazing and disorienting.  That's going to take some getting used to.  Also, MOST DESCRIPTIVE MANHOLE COVER EVER.  Below that, the one thing I love about Columbia is that everywhere you look, things just seem WRONG.  You see normal stuff like this, but it's WRONG!  WHAT IS WITH THAT HORSE?!






10:03 PM:  That...was a barbershop quartet that just floated by me.




10:07 PM:  PRE-MARITAL HANKY PANKY!



10:20 PM:  The fair is a very clever way of the game introducing several things at once.  First, it lets you get accustomed to the shooting aspects of the game with the air rifle shooting gallery, before giving you a proper weapon.  Second, I'm -guessing- that I'm seeing at least one enemy that I'll be fighting later on, in the Freak Show.   And lastly, I got my first power.  THAT was weird.






10:48 PM:  WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?  WHERE DID THAT MAN'S HEAD GO?  THE FUCK?  EXPLETIVE DELETED!




10:53 PM:  Okay, so the story is starting to surprise me in a number of ways.  I'm quite shocked that I haven't heard about all the things I'm seeing, because they are, in my opinion, very controversial.  Either I did a really good job at avoiding spoilers going into this game, or everyone else is getting as floored as I am.  And I'm not just talking about violence here.  This game is touching upon topics that games usually avoid like the plague, such as sexism, racism, and religious fanaticism.  And, yes, the game is very violent, too.  Moreso than I even imagined.





I'm calling it quits for the evening, having played just a little over two hours.  So far, I'm immensely happy with the game.  One of the best things that I can say about it right now is that it doesn't feel rushed, and for this I have a double meaning.  First that the game is polished and it feels like they put all the love into it that they wanted to do.  But second, the game itself isn't rushing me.  I'm not being pushed from objective to objective.  It's not open world, either.  It's taking Half-Life 2's approach, where you have a clear path that you need to take, but you know, you don't have to go right for it right away.  Have a look around.  Take in the sights.  Explore.  Get rewarded for exploring.  That's the type of closed world game that I want.  And that's exactly what I got.  So kudos to them for getting that very important part of it correct.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Oh alright, just one more thing.  This isn't THAT much of a spoiler.  See that man below?  He's beating himself to death with his own baton because I made him.  It's a power.  A pretty fucked up power, I'll admit, but there you go.  Don't want to kill an enemy yourself?  No problem!  Just make them do it for you.  Choices.




Okay, so a lot of the stuff I encountered at the end of my evening of playing was pretty fucked up.  The game just opened up, so it will be interesting to see where things go from here.  We haven't even met Elizabeth yet.  I so cannot wait to see where this game takes me.