Game of the Week: Fire Emblem Awakening!

Sorry for lack of updates! I was traveling for the holidays and was incredibly busy! I will make another post just about that and also about future blog posts!

So this is the first 3DS game i have wanted in a long long long while. But holy crap did it live up to the hype. Now anyone that knows me, knows that I like my fire emblem hard and perfect. As in no deaths. This game added an option for no deaths but like for real screw that. You need the difficulty and the real life stakes.

Now what is my absolute number one favorite thing in video games?

Romantic interests of course!

Which is one of the main reasons I love the Mass Effect series so much.

LOOKING AT YOU TRAYNOR

You too Thane…

Romantic interests to me make role playing games complete. I am a huge DND nerd so role playing is super important to me.

In Fire Emblem awakening not only do you get a million choices for love interest you also get to pair EVERYONE UP WITH EVERYONE!

Chrom? YOU ARE GETTING WITH THIS PERSON!

SULLY! YOU BETTER BELIEVE YOU GETTING WITH VIRION!

Kelham? Well….you can be alone…

It is truly a great game that is deep and fun! honestly the best game for the 3ds I would have to say!

First Watch of Babylon 5 Season 1 Retrospective

So this is not a review.

But rather all of my thoughts on the show after finishing season 1.

When I first started the show I said how it has a lot of potential but I forgot to mention my first thought upon my watch of the pilot. It suffers from First Season-itus.

The only comparison I can make is to Deep Space Nine. In DS9 season one is by no means bad but its very different, characters and plots feel very forced it feels sort of in a mysterious gray area between where it wants to be and where the studio wants it to be. In DS9 after the pilot the first real episode of DS9 was Duet I feel. But in Babylon 5 it suffered the same thing. Plots would be introduced in the same episode they would be resolved, this wasn’t bad it was just from a show that did not know where it wanted to be and from a show that did not know if would get another season. So it had to be able to wrap its self up a little more than it wanted to. Just like DS9 it feels like it is being forced to be episodic. Where everything had to be wrapped up like the studio wanted it to. Oh the Centauri have arranged marriages? Well that problem is over now. It is by no means bad just was a little disappointing but it is doing something that something suffering from Season One-itus does. It was making plot drive character so in later episodes character could drive plot. In Ds9 we had to be forced to learn Kira was a terrorist so we could get the amazing Duet episode later. We had to get the plots of the Babylon stations so we could get Babylon Squared. A fantastic episode. This show is brilliant and has so much heart. It just suffered so hard from Season One-itus.

Now here is my sort of thoughts on some of the characters as of now.

Sinclair: Great commander! Really like that he does what has to do not just following his code (Think Seasons 3-6 Sisko). In the early episodes he was a bit forced on me but he really is wise and smart. He does what he must and has his crew in mind. I like that he is not afraid to make friends with the people in his station and who he is up against. His crew is his family, which feels real and natural. Him as a leader makes sense. And his plot! The mystery involving the line makes me keep coming back for more!

Ivanova: Good twist on the number one. Thought she was just going to be a stick in the mud but she is only about that for one thing! I like that she hates psychics almost unfilteringly and it is a good development. I feel in Science Fiction people are afraid to make main characters have prejudices. Of course the psychic that helped her learn they were alright was Jeffrey Combs…that fucker is everywhere in Ds9… LITERALLY EVERYWHERE. Anyway I feel her being Russian is being forced on me but again it is season one nothing shocking there.

Garibaldi: Reminds me of Season 3 and on of Odo but mixed with Riker. He is a fun loving but serious cop. He wants justice above all else but is willing to let the small fish go to bait the larger ones. He is also willing to kill which is interesting. He has some mild racism but nothing too serious and he is fun. Not forced fun like Riker was, but really actually fun, and funny. He is a good relief that does not feel forced a real human. Of all the characters he feels the most human. Just a normal guy that is the head of security.

Delenn: Ew. You look gross. That was my first thought. Then it went to oh ok you guys are kind of the diplomatic race? Then it was you evil fuckers. Then it was uhh what. She is interesting. Her being more religious is a very interesting character trait but I don’t really know if I like her right now. I feel they didn’t do a whole lot with her but do a lot of setting up. She has a lot of potential but I am really sort of neutral to her right now. Not too captivated by her presence.

Dr. Briggs: Hmmm very idealistic and very cocky. I sort of like his whole he is playing god complex I really dig that. He is not just the I have to save every body he is more egotistical but he does remind me of early Julian a bit. I don’t really know he seemed slightly forced on me but it is season 1. I like him though. I do. But I feel he needs some mellowing out everything out of his mouth feels like he is going to scream it at the top of his lungs.

Talia: Sorry who? She was introduced as a main character and then would just vanish for 10 episodes at a time. They introduced that her powers are growing but I feel that will come back later. She is not really a main character right now but she can be.

G’Kar: From the first moment I saw him I knew I would like this guy. Few Science Fiction shows make vengeance seem like a rational reaction. You know? It is usually how we should be rational and how no one should act that way. But G’Kar wants revenge, he is so angry and I am siding with him. Well not completely. Like this show has established many times no one is really fully right. He has horrible means to pretty horrible ends. But his reasons make sense he makes complete sense to me. He has manners and has culture he has deep seeded religious beliefs but yet he wants blood. Not like the Klingons who do it for honor but because his people have truly been wronged. I love this character and cannot wait to see more from them.

Londo: When I first met this guy… I HATED him. I thought he was a bullshit comic relief character that had nothing to offe.r Space European yay what a fun concept. But he grew to be more than that. He had a lot of depth longing for the olden times wishing his people could be the leaders of the galaxy again. He is an old dog that sadly will never really be able to stop being an old dog. Yeah he has a lust for women but he just wishes to love honestly he masks his pain. He wants everyone to like him… deep down even G’Kar. Reminds me a bit of Quark.

So all in all good show that is going to become a great show I can tell. I really enjoy it but man I hope this season One-Itus is cured by Season Two 🙂

Game of the Week: Proteus

Now saying Proteus (developed by  Ed Key and David Kanaga) is a game is really a loose definition.

I really hesitate to call it a game but rather an experience, no I am not high.

The experience of Proteus is that you are exploring an island. Just exploring you are not looking for something you are not trying to find a secret of the island or something you are just exploring the island and the world for what it is. This a game where the sound design is just as important if not more than the gameplay and the graphical design. Which is beautiful. The graphics are a mixture of pixel and third dimension. It looks sort of like if MineCraft had a child with Bit Trip Runner. It is a beautiful and vivid world but the jump out spectacle is the sound. The soundtrack changes depending on the player’s movements and location. It may become silent when you climb the top of a mountain or hill.  Or be a loud cacophony of music and noise as you explore a patch of flowers and birds.. Everything has a unique sound and it is randomly generated each time, there are seasons and there are  landscapes. The game truly is an experience it is beautiful. I would recommend anyone that wants a casual beautiful experience to purchase this game for the PC.

Game of the Week: Thomas Was Alone

Some games have good story.

Some have good gameplay.

Some of them have good characters.

Few of them make one experience that has it all without even trying.

Thomas Was Alone is a game that has so much heart and every single part of the game is just oozing it. The heart and love of the game is so strong the characters the story the game play all ring with it. Simple, sweet to the point and genuine.

Thomas Was Alone is an indie puzzle platformer created by  Mike Bithell. At first glance it appears to be just another flash puzzle game but it is far more than that. It is the most sweet and carefully sculpted game. The game takes place in a computer mainframe where many of the AI’s have suddenly gained personalities. The game’s characters are all single colored shapes, mostly squares, and each of them has more personality than anything most modern games have. This red square named Thomas has made me care for him far more than any brown haired white protagonist from any big studio game. The game is narrated not by the characters but a kind wise narrator who is telling you the events as they happen as the characters. The narration is not intrusive but appears just when you need it most, just when the story and the gameplay would require it. You don’t feel that you are being talked at but really being talked to, you feel the narrator is REALLY telling you this story. I personally when playing was just waiting for the next character to come on screen so I can meet them. You want these squares to be real to have the best things happen to them. You want Thomas to not be alone. For you are along for the ride.

The plot is so effective at what it does, when that white text comes on screen to let you know a thought is going to happen I would get on the edge of my seat waiting for it. It did not take me out of it, every part of the game from the dialogue to the music to the controls only immersed me more into this world. Only made me care more about these singular colored squares. Sorry Bioware. Your characters are cool and all, but have you met Chris?

THIS HANDSOME GUY

Thomas Was Alone is a perfect game. I honestly have no more words, but that everything about it was flawless.

Babylon 5 first impressions

Let me start off by saying:

I cannot properly judge a series from the first episode alone, I will probably give more episode reviews and more opinions as I form them but here is what I thought upon my initial watching of the pilot.

“Lot of potential.”

The show has a relatively captivating idea behind it and I hope to see more from it.

How ever there was one negative aspect.

It seemed pretty generic on it’s surface, maybe this inspired many ideas but it feels very predictable.

Such as every planet having a number to follow it, the star ships looking like I expected, you can’t trust the lizard people, alien races are dissolved into one thing etc. It is very Star Trek while not quite having the established lore of Star Trek. That being said that is not bad, it is good to form a basis on something you know so that you can expand on it.

I am aware that DS9 might have actually stolen a few aspects from Babylon 5 but this still feels somewhat…dated? It looks and feel very 90’s. Even the theme song is what you would expect from a 90’s science fiction. How ever it has a lot of heart and a lot of joy to it. I definitely can see this growing into something that is deep and captivating. I am interested in it, I will definitely watch more. This show has a lot of potential but it’s first episode might not of been able to properly captivate it, trying instead to transition me into a world that is completely new and a universe that is going to take a while to understand.

Also why does every alien race need to not have hair?

ew

Game of the Week: Papers, Please

Papers, Please is a semi puzzle indie game made by former Naughty Dog developer Lucas Pope.

This is one of those games that is hard to put a label on, it is a puzzle game officially but I don’t know if that quite works. There is not really a puzzle to solve, you just do your job. You work as a border patrol guard in the fictional country of Arstotzka. You win a lottery and are placed in that job.

What makes this game so efficient at what it aims to do is one simple thing, money.

Rent, heat and food are charged to you daily and you get paid based on how many people you see through the gate. Either reject or deny. To break even at the start of the game I believe you need to see 10 people which is hard at first when you don’t know what to do. So to keep your family fed honestly sometimes you don’t have time to go through the whole procedure. Oh you say you changed your name? DENIED. You say this passport is correct and not fake? DETAINED. Sorry I really can’t care about you as a person, I need the money my sick son. HE GETS SICK ALL THE TIME.

Really I find myself wanting to replay levels just to get better endings. There is a rebel force you can ally yourself with, or the dictator. But you can tell its almost all in vain. For you are just a lowly worker, and can’t change a whole lot.

If you like feeling unimportant, weak and mean then THIS IS THE GAME FOR YOU!!

I love it, but its definitely odd.

THIS IS FUN TO ME

The Orb

Sorry for lack of updates guys, been really busy and not been dedicating myself to nerd stuff as hardcore as I should.

So this is a short one to let you guys know about my all time favorite podcast.

The Orb.

Hosts Christopher Jones and Matthew Rushing dive deep into DS9 and analyze not only episodes but characters themes and behind the scenes. One episode could be a commentary to be played during the episode and one could be about how Jake definitely needed to be in more episodes. Or how great Garak is or the Breen influence on the Dominion War. It is a simple concept that works to the highest caliber. I seriously would recommend this podcast for anyone who is a fan of DS9. HOWEVER this is definitely not one for people who want to avoid spoilers, this is meant as a post show analysis or a rewatch tool, not a line to follow. So they could spoil something from season 7 in an episode about season 2. Seriously everyone check it out, it is truly fantastic.

Game of the Week: Binding of Isaac Rebirth

So I am starting a new weekly blog post called the Game of the Week. Where it is not really a full review but just an update on what game I am playing and my thoughts on it. So because of this a game might repeat or the game of the week might not even be a good one, just something I am currently playing or very interested in.

Binding of Isaac Rebirth is a game that is a semi remake/sequel to The Binding of Isaac. Saying a remake is wrong because it is so different but saying a sequel is wrong because it is really more of an expansion or an add on but it is a whole separate game.

It is a randomly generated rogue like dungeon esque game with bullet hell elements. Where you play as a boy named Isaac, whose mother is trying to kill him. She hears a voice from god and decides to sacrifice you to him, so you escape into the basement, or symbolically you escape into escapism. There are a seemingly infinite number of items and power ups, also it is the first game in a long time to have real secrets, that even with the internet I did not have spoiled for me.

I swear you can unlock him! My friend said!

Edmund McMillen is known for his indie games that have high peaks of difficulty but to me he is most well known for his ability to give as little concrete story as possible while giving you a world that is continuing to be fleshed out and twisted. In Rebirth you have to ask is anything really happening is mom bad, is Isaac true, are the other characters real? Things like that. The game is much deeper than you would think just by looking at it and that is by the terrific game design.

Honestly I can’t put it down, I find myself with moments of down time between work or class and I will just turn it on out of instinct basically.

I think this is the best indie game of the year and the best rogue like game of the generation. Hands down.

Besides if you play your cards right something like this can happen.

BOOM UNSTOPABLE

So I say pick it up. Go deeper into the basement, find the trapdoors, and discover what it means to be god and satans favored child.

Happy Collecting.

My Next Venture

Well as some of you know from my post “Lost in Space” After finishing Deep Space Nine I had a hole left in my heart. The show ended and had me wondering just what did I leave behind (See what I did there) So I asked around for show suggestions and I tried out Voyager but it was a little too black and white for me, Deep Space Nine had that gray in there that no other show had. Deep Space Nine had the realism the space opera tone that transcended just Science Fiction. That is when someone I love very much recommended to be Babylon 5. Another Science Fiction show with a number in the title is it too good to be true? Needless to say it had to be pitched to me a tiny bit. But it seems like a genuinely interesting concept! I love Space Opera, DS9 and Mass Effect are some of my favorite things so it just seems like an easy fit. I also heard that the studio rejected Babylon 5 in favor of DS9…so I bet there are more similarities than one might think. Which only gets me more excited.

My only complaint though is that one of the races kind if reminds me of little gray aliens, which as you know are my biggest fear on this blue orb.

BLECH BLECH BLECH

I have high hopes though! So stay tuned as I venture into the world of Babylon 5 and hopefully this blog gains another interest!

I hope to become as much of a 5’er (Is that the word for them) As i am a 9’er.

Best part of Thanksgiving?

To read this post you must listen to the link provided below.

Uh oh, did someone say Leftovers?

What you want, you got more of them? What you got, you can make anything? The world is your oyster with leftovers baby! No need to waste food or throw it all away you can just eat it again but this time better!!

Without your shitty family around no one is there to judge you for making a brown mash of things in a bowl and ingesting it faster than a Targ eats its prey. Don’t be a wasteful jerk bag just make sure to eat ya leftovers! Try some combinations out you hadn’t before!!

But for real though, followers and non followers alike I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I will be back to posting nerdy posts in no time flat. Just had to take a wee break to spend time with friends this lovely break.