Skyrim

I spent the bulk of this Monday slaughtering bandits, discovering new magic, and resurrecting my housecarl from the dead using eldritch commands against the universe.

Yeah, I got Skyrim because it was on sale and. Well you van do all that stuff. It is no longer Monday, so I shall do what I said I would. However, I did post a video of me apologizing as per parameters, but not on my blog. It's still just on YouTube as of yet. I plan to fix that, probably around the time I craft another silly couplet to sorry you with.

Skyrim as a game captures my attention primarily by the form of its progression. You go anywhere (within Skyrim) at a pace set by you, and you choose how to deal with the situations as they arise.

Shortly after the game was released (at nearly two years old, this game is practically a dinosaur) I watched a video of someone playing a pacifist khajiit. He used mostly illusion spells to dissuade things that wanted to kill him. I've discovered first hand that the calm spell is remarkably effective at convincing even raging spriggan that you're nothing to be bothered about. It is humorous to hear a calmed bandit complain gently about being magicked, too.

I hear often that the main story of Skyrim is rather lackluster. I can't defend or attack the stance, because the majority of my 70 odd hours of Skyrim have been repeatedly starting New characters on friends' copies of the game. Now that I am playing my own game, I find myself struggling to reach High Hrothgar between distracting forts full of bandits, flooded out prisons haunted by ghosts, and caves crawling with falmer and black spitting death beetles.

Not that Ragh, my high-elf who fights with orcish weapons and any spell whose tome he can flip through, feels very strongly compelled to heed the summons of a bunch of old nord guys on top of a mountain. Sure, there was the weird thing with the dragon, but I'm not sure he much cares.

That's another draw in the format of Elder Scrolls games. You always start as a prisoner, and there could be any number of reasons you decide for this. Or you could not care.

But that pacifist khajiit? Probably picked up for theft in a case of racial profiling. My high-elf? I think he was thrown in chains by the Thalmor because he killed a few too many people.

Then there's the lore. After what twenty years? There's enough of it there that the writers hardly have to try. I think they do though. The series is old enough they don't have to justify having elves in their games, which I think is either starting to be a thing or will be soon.

Speaking of elves, I would like to stop and note out elf tropes are subverted in these games. The Thalmor are imperialist pigs. Wood elves are cannibals. And honestly these guys aren't pretty. They're strange looking. The faces are stretched. The eyes are too big and too oddly shaped. And with the game advances that have been made I daresay it's not just bad graphics anymore. Elves are sort of subtly hideous by design, I think. I know few people play high elves. With their arrogance it's easier to develop racist thoughts against their golden skin, impossibly high foreheads, and magical prowess. No one wants to be that. They'd rather be social pariah oddballs like the cat-like khajiit.

Can wr also talk about how orcs and dwarves are, by their high names, implicitly forms of elf? Like the falmer are? That's a lot of elf variation.

That's not getting into the daedra and their realms, the vascillations in the pantheon, or any number of tiny things that fill in the lore. It's a rich world, and for the most part Bethesda just lets you run around wrecking it.

I don't think I need to tell you anything else to demonstrate why these games are so widely appealing despite their many flaws. For myself, I think the game is almost improved by failures on the part of the creators when they open the game to modifications that include virtually anything people can imagine.

Because it gets you thinking "this could have been better. I could have done this better.

"I will do this better.

"Once I finish this quest."

Games

Have you ever played Clue?  It's a game of intrigue, and though I think many people (including, sometimes, myself) pass it off as a children's game, it's quite engaging when you get into it.  You see, it requires you to use powers of logic and deduction in order to solve a puzzle before your competitors.  I don't tend to like board games, and in that vein I tend to refuse to play Clue when called upon, but if I can be convinced to play I have to admit I rather enjoy Clue.  I like puzzles more than I care to admit.

What I don't like are pure games of chance.  Yahtzee, then, doesn't appeal to me much at all.  This is especially true when I'm playing games in groups.  I don't find games of chance to be good opportunities to engage with fellow human beings.

I've been playing Clash of the Olympians, which is a game made by the same developers as Kingdom Rush.  It's a fun game, a well-animated flash castle-defender with the choice to play as Heracles, Achilles, or Perseus, defending against satyrs, gorgons, harpies, succubi, cyclops, griffons, minotaurs, and some sort of goblins.  As Hercules you're hurling hilarious things, as Achilles spears, and as Perseus you fire arrows.

It's addictive, which is good for a flash game.  Part of this is that the final levels are very difficult, and it often requires you to complete difficult mini-tasks in the earlier stages.  So it requires a near-perfect performance from you.  Oh man, games that stoke my perfectionism gather my time and attention like industrial-strength electromagnets.  Repetitive tasks to receive a prize?  Meh.  Repetitive tasks that must be executed with perfect efficiency to succeed and receive the prize?

Whoa wait, it's Saturday already?  Hold on, I just need to try this stage a couple more times.

To give up is to admit you don't have what it takes.  That kind of failure is not an option.  And succeeding?  So.  Very.  Gratifying.

Well, I guess that's one way to demonstrate to y'all that I'm a gamer.  There you go.

-shrugs-

Positive Reinforcement

So this weekend's an open beta weekend for Diablo III.  That's cool.  I'm gonna try it for a little bit.  Then I'm gonna be done and go do more productive things.  I'll let you know how it goes, I guess.

I got some positive feedback on my manuscript, which is super cool and makes me happy.  I have to be humble about it, though, because that's the right thing to do.  Honestly, it's just encouraging when I go for a certain thing in my writing and people have the response I'm aiming for.  Makes me feel like writing is actually a thing I can do.

Last night I did more productive things with the helpful, loving prodding of my wife, and I hope to do more of the same, as I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post.  At some point I'll give you a video of something, and you'll get to watch it and have thoughts (and maybe feelings).

After my presentation, I might even post my video project up here.  We'll see how that goes.  For now, I'm gonna go.  Peace out.  Chill off.

Le Shrug

Greek Mythology and Let's Plays

I've been watching this playthrough of Kid Icarus: Uprising. The game plays fast and loose with the Greek Mythology it's kind of almost based on. The Good Guys are an angel named Pit and the goddess of light, Palutena (which is a sort of portmanteau of Pallas Athena), and they face off against Medusa, Queen of the Underworld. Yeah, that's not really how the myths go.

In comparison, the God of War trilogy is canon.

I keep watching it, though, because the characters are well-written and well-acted for a 3Ds game. It's not like the pinnacle of drama, or of video game storytelling, but it's entertaining, especially since every stage is essentially a long skit (or miniature play) putting you into the world even as you play through. Oh, and every fourth wall is broken. All the time.

I won't lie, it's glorious.

It's called Kid Icarus because the handle character, Pit, is an angel who can't fly on his own. Palutena gives him the power of flight for five minutes at a time, but after that his wings burn off. But... Greek mythology didn't really have angels. I mean, there were daemons, but that was different. Pit's wearing a toga and a halo/golden laurel, and his iconic weapon is a bow—which actually tends to fire like an automatic rifle.

I haven't played it, but I can't afford a 3Ds or the game. I can afford to watch someone else play it, though, and that's enjoyable enough.

Is this a weird thing, watching Let's Plays? Does it defeat the purpose of gaming?

This is me, shrugging.

First World Problems

My friend and former roommate Kyle posted this as his status at some point today, and I think it's a pretty good summation of what's going on in Christendom at the moment:

"This is the in-between day. The day when the reality of Christ's death sank in. The day when they were forced to recognize that it really happened. He was really dead. The day in which nothing happened. On Good Friday God asks us, "do you trust Me?" On Saturday He ask, "No, really, I mean it. Do you trust me?""

I'm facing an interim year. Once I graduate, I'll be moving back home with my parents (with my wife Rachael in tow) for the time being. My current plan involves applying to various MFA creative writing programs (specifically the ones with fellowships attached) and waiting a year to find out if I get in, because I was late for the party for the coming academic year.

What this means for me is that I have time to make bank, if I can find a way to make bank. As was so recently hammered home for me, this means making connections. And that means interacting with people. My Kryptonite. Whelp, that's just the way it goes. Time to deal, right?

Merf.

So anyway, that's the sort of thing on my mind today. There's fun stuff happening with Guild Wars 2, like that it's now officially rated Teen (I think). I spent some time watching a Let's Play of Kid Icarus: Uprising, which is another one of those pretty games I'll probably never get to play because I can't afford a new game system and won't be able to until I make bank, like I was talking about earlier.

I could spend some time creating a backlog of games I want to play.

I could spend some time creating a reading list of books I want to read.

I could spend some time creating a watchlist of films I want to see.

Each of these things would cost me money, unless

1. I can borrow games (and their respective systems).

2. I have reliable access to a library with a good collection of books.

3. I manage to bum my way through the theaters.

None of this I can realistically expect to happen. I can look forward to spending my money on gas, food, and bills for the foreseeable future, which renders one array of my writing-resource sucking tendrils totally paralytic. I'm aware that one must intake if one is to put out art properly. Another concern.

I'm noticing that I don't tend to write these blog posts until the end of the day, and that they're egregiously organized. Maybe I'll work on that. Or not. We'll see. For now, I'm going to work on not having to punch my own face.

Defensive Gaming

Today, I played Brawl with my friend and my sisters. I used to be way better at the game than any of them, because I had more access to the game. Now I'm about even with Ethan, and my sisters get better every time I play against them.

My best character is Link. In my family we always do five-man stock matches, and the reason I do so well is I'm able to keep from being K.O.'d until it's just me and one other person, and I can use the many tools at Link's disposal and my experience with the game to win a one-on-one.

I'm a very cautious person, so my gaming strategies reflect this. I'm quite poor at games that require me to aggress for success—for example Starcraft 2. I also like to be able to handle myself in many situations. Thus Link, who fights with a sword but also sports several long-range options to rely on when the fire gets too hot.

From my extensive reading into Guild Wars 2, it's a very aggression-oriented game. Because every character has primary responsibility for his/her own well-being, the game mechanics are designed so that no one can rely on turtling to stay afloat. Even the guardian, a profession based on the idea of protecting one's self and others, can't just bring all the best defensive skills and armor sets and then stand there exchanging blows with a cave troll. You do have some particular tools, like the dodge mechanic and movement-while-casting, but that must also be coupled with making sure you're doing damage.

I am a mite-bit concerned that I might not be as good at Guild Wars 2 as I'd like to be, considering I've never been so hyped up about a game in my life. Maybe I'll need to relearn some things, but I can't know how things will go for sure until I put fingers to keyboard and try the game myself.