Mass Effect 2: Log 1

- Begin Log 1 -

Well, here's something that may surprise some people...
I have never played any game in the Mass Effect series before. I've heard it's a great series, but I never had any interest. I'm not a fan of shooters, and it was practically impossible to avoid hearing about the ending of Mass Effect 3 there was so much hate surrounding it.
So, I don't like shooters, I've never played any of the games before, and I know how it all ends. Why am I playing this game?

Because Steam had it on sale this weekend. For 5 bucks.
I figured "Eh, why not?" and went ahead and bought it. I know a number of people who loved the series, who fully recommend it, so why not give it a try? I mean, I rather enjoyed Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and that was a shooter in the same vein as this, and it was also critically acclaimed. 5 bucks for hours of gameplay, I can work with that.


I've logged 12 hours in it, since I started playing Saturday afternoon.
Now, that's not nearly as much as Pokemon was after a couple days of having it, but the circumstances for the two differ... Mostly in the fact Pokemon came during my school break. It's not a quality problem at all, it's just the timing, and the fact Pokemon is portable.
But I'm getting off track...
I decided to do a series of logs on the game. Similar to vlogs, but in text form. (Which technically is a blog, but log sounds better, and makes the fact it's purely text obvious) This will have my thoughts on sections I've completed, as well as possible predictions, some minor confusion, and just generally anything you'd get out of a lets play... but in text form, with more thought behind it.


Going into the game, I knew a few things:

1. The choice system
     You have complete control over what your character says and does. Your choices affect the ending of the game, as well as your relationship with crew members. You also get two different morality choices; Paragon, and Renegade. Paragon is basically playing as white knight, helping people and protecting the innocent and refusing to give up one's morals. Renegade is the bad cop; a lot of bad ass actions, but poor people skills.

2. 50% of the crew
     I knew about Tali, the girl in the suit with the high-tech gas mask. Pretty much impossible to avoid learning about her. I also knew a couple things about the Asari (matriarchal race of bi-sexual "women." They basically look like the many aliens James Kirk would bang). And I knew about the Krogans and their sterility plague the genophage.

3. The Reapers
     Blame pop-culture osmosis and late-arrival spoiler, I know all about the reapers. Basically they're Daleks, but much less cool.

But beyond that, these are my first impressions.


Now, I actually ran through the intro to the game twice; once without the Origins DLC, and once with. The first time through, I knew bugger all about anything. Who anyone was, or why anything was happening. So, I went ahead and installed the Dark Horse Mass Effect: Origins interactive comic.
The comic basically re-tells the story of Mass Effect 1, and gives you some choices to alter the story, as well as introduce characters. It is basically creating a mass effect 1 save to transfer over.

The intro is simple; the ship is attacked, and the crew must abandon ship. Shepard (last name of the main character, because no one in video game sis researching the ability to name a character, and actually have someone call them by name outside of text) goes to the bridge to retrieve the pilot. She (I went with the female option, because male Shepard seems very dull to me) manages to get him to an escape pod, but before she can get in too, another laser strikes the ship, cutting it to pieces, and sending Shepard out into space, where she suffocates, and plummets down towards a nearby planet.

Two years later, she is brought back to life by a group called Cerberus (after a sequence that looks almost exactly like the one in Deus Ex: Human Revolution). Cerberus is apparently a pro-human organization. Not anti-alien, just pro-human. However, Shepard apparently fought them in Mass Effect 1, so they aren't really to be trusted. I went with the soldier class, mostly just because I'm not very good with shooters, and I didn't really want anything extremely complicated on my first go-through.

After a couple disinteresting battles, I end up on Omega, which is basically Tatoooine without the sand, and the Hutt was removed from power by someone who looks like a hand maiden. Here, I picked up Mordin Solus, who quickly became my favorite person to talk to. I just love smart motor-mouths for some reason. He was on Omega working on a cure for a plague that was infesting a neighborhood; turned out the source was a group of bat-people called the Vorcha, which are in league with the collectors (the ones that attacked the ship in the beginning), who are in turn in league with the Reapers. 6 Degrees of reapers!~
After combating the plague and recruiting Mordin, I then went to recruit "Archangel" A mercenary Turian (think part raptor and part bike helmet) holed up in a building, with mercenary groups beating down his door. Having gone through the Origins DLC, I knew the Turian to be Garrus, a former crew member. And he is awesome.
Leading up to recruiting Garrus though, you are able to sabotage the mercenary's attack capabilities... One is to make a large mech attack the mercenaries instead, and another is to disable an attack copter. I switched the allegiance of the mech, but I couldn't disable the chopper...
Well, I could, but that involved a renegade action. I figured I'd deal with the chopper when it came. However, in a moment that I had initially believed to be a very great player punch, when the chopper arrives, it blasts Garrus, severely wounding him. It really made me wish I had disabled the copter, maybe then he wouldn't have been ambushed and scarred..
Until I looked up online that the chopper attacks regardless. So great, it's a purely gameplay driven effect in making the chopper weaker and easier to fight... Would've been so much better as a flat player punch that can be changed with just one bad deed. But I guess the conversations with him would need to be dramatically different...

Anyway, after picking up Garrus, I went and got Jack, who is basically River Tam from Firefly, but bald and with a lot of tattoos. She did not particularly want to join, and would only do so if Cerberus gave her all their information on her. I have zero qualms with that, I am looking for any excuse to completely cut ties with Cerberus if I can, and I want the information they have too. I look forward to unlocking the blocks on the AI's information so I can learn everything about Cerberus. Sure they revived Shepard, but they are looking to use her (or him) as an icon for the organization, to make it appear "not as bad."

After picking up Jack, I ventured to the Citadel (think Corussant from Star Wars). For two reasons, one to pick up some higher-end rations at the request of the cook, and to speak to the ambassador for the humans. During that meeting, there was a meeting with the council (pretty much what it says on the tin; a group of ambassadors from several alien races). The council wanted to know why I was with Cerberus... I told them I wasn't with them, and I accepted the reinstatement as a Spectre (special ops, allowed to do whatever is necessary to get the job done). However, they told me I'd be fine as long as I stayed within the Terminus systems...

... What are the Terminus systems? Is it the galaxy I'm currently in? Will I get in trouble if I go to the other side of the galaxy? But the normandy crash int he beginning was on the other side, so is it a part of the Terminus systems? Is it even possible for me to leave the terminus systems? Obviously it must be since they have to tell me not to leave them, but just how limiting is that? Am I just going to have to break that clause immediately just to continue? Bureaucracy really sucks when things are unclear...


And, apart from doing some planetary scans and gathering materials, that's where I left off.

I don't know when I'll have the time to play again, but I shall try and make another log when I do.


- End Log 1 -

The Stanley Parable

BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM.

Follow the loverly yellow adventure line™ through the halls~

BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM...


     The Stanley Parable is an Indie game that has its roots as a Half-Life 2 mod. The entire thing is a parody and deconstruction of tropes surrounding video games, form the illusion of choice to the innate beliefs of gamers. This game does mess with your head, though not as much as a game like Antichamber.
      What's the plot? Move forward. The plot does not move forward if you don't. It's where you move forward to that determines the plot.

     But, the game starts as thus: Stanley is a boring average joe, working at a company where his job is to press buttons as he is told to do so.
     Now, that's sounds like the first clue in a Doctor Who mystery, where it turns out each button press is a piece of code that would murder anyone who saw two of the sequence in the same proximity, thus necessitating multiple people, and seemingly random button presses. You know, like Monty Python's funniest joke in the world.
     But one day, Stanley discovers that the orders have stopped, and that everyone in the office has disappeared. So he heads off to investigate.
Or stay in his room, if you elect so.

     That is the bread and butter of this game: choices leading to an ending. You are presented a number of them throughout the story. Choosing the right ones will lead to a happy ending, while choosing the wrong ones will give a bad ending. Sometimes. It depends on your view. and your stamina. This game is incredibly short, and impossibly long. I'll explain...

     If you just want one ending, the game lasts about 5-10 minutes. If you want to see them all... It will take more than 4 hours. Even with speed running, it will take at least four hours to get every ending. Why? because one ending requires you to press a button for two hours, and you are then given another button to press in addition to it for another two hours, and then you get another ending. FUN!

     Needless to say, I have not even bothered with that ending. It could impart the knowledge of the universe and grant super powers and I would not care enough to press two buttons for FOUR HOURS.
That is where the game is impossibly long. If you are going for every single ending possible. You don't get anything for it; no achievement, no trophy... You simply get to experience it.
And it is AMAZING.
     I spent three hours in the game experiencing a lot of the endings myself, and despite how cynical it all is, it is quite fun.

     Oh, you're wondering how it is cynical? Well, there is a narrator narrating the story, and talking to Stanley, or about Stanley... Believe it or not, the "good" ending (and the only one with an achievement) is found by following what he says. It is not even possible to progress in one spot without the narrator giving information Stanley would not know. All that the Stanley Parable is, relies on this narrator. He is the one giving a story to your decisions, and allowing you to make decisions... Unless of course, he gets tired of it and simply puts you on a railroad.

Or in one case, an adventure line™.

BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM.


     The game is more of an experience than anything else. But it is more than just a movie, because you do have some choice about the outcome, even if you didn't know what that choice was.


     There is only one thing I can say I am sad about the game: it is too short. I do want more options, and more endings, and more paths. I want the game to have many more branching paths, so more possible endings come about.
      I hope this game gets a sequel... Actually, the game could work on mobile devices, given its very simple control scheme. Maybe they could look into that market as well, and use subsequent funds to make more games.


For story, I give the game a 9/10.
For gameplay, a 6/10. It is just too short, and you realize very quickly how few routes there are, and how you don't even need to be methodical about the endings.
Averaged score: 7.5/10. It has a great and fun story, but that unfortunately left me wanting more, with no way to satisfy it...


Though I do love the Confusion ending.
Because of this music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n7cx1ZmKjk&list=LL3t9wNv2T0xPksf6z_dEFoQ&feature=mh_lolz

BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM.


This has been Fixer Sue.

Playing the Lyre- The Emperor's New Groove, and Yes Man

Introduction

     We've all probably heard the term "Tugging at our heart strings." It refers to the act of trying to garner sympathy through a sad story...



     I hate that.
     I HATE it when something tries to say "you should feel bad because of this!" If I want to feel bad about it, I will, but I don't want to when you try to forcibly tell me I should. Tugging at the heart strings is like pulling a single chord on a lyre and saying "Isn't that beautiful?" Yeah, maybe, but it is just a single note. How much can one care about a single note? You have to give us a song, actually play the lyre, and play it well, before you can begin to make claims about its beauty.

     In a less abstract fashion, this applies to movies as well. I hate sad stories because they want you to feel bad for everyone involved, yet I see no reason to care for them. Sure you want them to get a happy ending, but if the entire movie is sad and somber, how much do you expect that happy ending? And when it comes, how much less do you care because you lost interest in the characters because you knew only bad things would happen to them?

     You remember the trope "Comedy Relief?" There was a time where it wasn't just in comedies; it used to be in dramas, where it belonged. It was a scene or person that could release the tension, and help the audience relax, and allow the audience to care what happened again. After all, if something funny can happen in a sad story, then it surely must be interesting right?

      That is just it. Pathos doesn't work when you only work on one emotion, it requires that you use the full range. In a comedy, you need drama. In a drama, you need comedy.
To quote Joss Whedon: "Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke."
     It really works wonders when it comes to making people care about characters; because people like to laugh more than cry.

     Thus we come to my point: the pathos in a comedy is greater than that in a drama.
(Saying it out loud, it sounds like something that'd come out of my "philosophy" teacher...)


To prove my point, I have two movies: Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, and Yes Man.
Both of them are comedies, and both have much stronger moments than anything even an Oscar-winning drama can drum up, because they play the lyre well.


First, the Emperor's New Groove.

The Emperor's New Groove

A Comedy through and through, that was funny as a kid, and has gotten better with age. Unlike other Disney films, this movie does not have any big depressing moments (like Bambi's Mom, Hazel the squirrel, Mulan being discovered, et cetera), and quite frankly, such a moment would not be fitting. There is a bit of a somber moment leading into the third act, but the somber moment revolves around a character lost in their own blue screen of death, and acceptance of their fate, as well as character development.
The movie plays a very happy tune... But the true strength lies in what notes are not played.
I'm pulling a song lyric here to explain:

"I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord"
Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah"
-Courtesy of AZ Lyrics

On the heartstrings Lyre, there is a note that resonates very well. Undesired attempts to pull it will have the opposite reaction, and a note won't sound. That chord is what a film wants to hit. Emperor's New Groove does not hit it... But it doesn't need to.

Consider this: Kuzco (the eponymous emperor) is only 18 years old. Recall what you were like at 18. Likely it is no different from when you were 15 or 16; you know, still a kid. He has also been waited on hand and foot all his life (so of course he's going to be spoiled and not care about the lives of others). The closest thing he has had to a family is Yzma, who is scary beyond all reason, and is the cause of Kuzco's predicament. We know this because Yzma said she practically raised him, and he has been emperor for at least 10 years if not his entire life, meaning his parents have been dead for quite a while. And by the end of the movie, Kuzco does gain a good friend, and a pseudo-family. These are all things that would allow the movie to hit that secret chord, yet the movie does not hit it. Why? Because it never brings it up, just sets it up and implies it. The movie does not have to play the chord, because it is letting you play it.

I dub this action "Implied Pathos." Where if you're not interested, you can ignore the pathos as the film does not play it. But if you are, you can complete the song. Implied pathos does not need to mention it or discuss it, it merely lets you play the notes.

This only really works in a comedy, because the implied pathos needs something to hide behind. In a drama, it is front and bare. In a comedy, it is safe, and can arise when it is called.

The Emperor's New Groove is hardly a perfect movie, but it ranks highly on my list of top 10 Disney movies. It is still below Wreck-It Ralph, but that is for a reason explained by the next movie...

Yes Man

     You know why Spiderman 2 is considered by some to be the best super hero movie ever? I don't entirely know, but one piece of it is watching a character we like put his life back together.

    Yes Man is basically Carpe Diem, without the ties to the stupid actions of "YOLO." It's a man learning not to pass up living your life, and to enjoy every day. It would make a decent drama... But a significantly better comedy. Why? 

     It all comes down to sympathy and empathy. It's easier to empathize with someone you like, than someone you're indifferent to. And it is easier to like someone when they make you laugh.

     In a drama, Carl (our main character) wouldn't be as enjoyable, because he's just a normal guy who happened to live a boring life. So when he improves his life, we don't care nearly as much.

     While in a comedy, (Or rather, this movie), we are brought along for the ride. We care what happens to him, because it can mean making us laugh. It's the same thing with Buddy from Elf. 

There is also another factor: if a character's going on a ride, the audience needs to experience it in some way too.

just take this scene:

     You don't need context.

     That scene is what I mean by bringing the audience along. Don't lead them by the nose, but let them follow. Entice them. If a character is having fun, help the audience have fun too.

     Make a character fun and funny, people will like him and care what happens. Take them on a ride with that character, and they'll love them more.

Why does a comedy have better pathos than a drama?
Because it does not need to force it on you. It can hide the pathos and let you find. It gives you a reason to care about the characters, and lets you join the ride.
It starts the heartstrings lyre, and lets you join in.



Now I want to learn the Lyre so I can turn hearstrings lyre into a thing...























.........
I am a terrible Brony. It is only just now, after writing this entire essay, that I recall there is a background pony named Lyra Heartstrings

Herp derp.

Pokémon X -A Fan's Review

     I have been a Pokémon fan for well over a decade. I have played the original blue version, and yellow. I have owned Gold. I have Sapphire and Emerald, and I classify the Hoenn Region as my favorite of all the regions (despite the massive amount of water, tentacool, and Wingulls...). Of the games, generation four, Diamond and Platinum are my least favorite; they're not bad, I just don't enjoy them very much. Heartgold was good, but seemed to pale in comparison to it's elder version, despite the awesome addition of having your lead Pokémon following you around. Generation 5 had the best story out of all of them, and having only new Pokémon in the region was a very good idea, though it overstayed its welcome with it's sequels Black 2 and White 2.
     Generation 6's Pokémon X and Pokémon Y blow all of them out of the water.

There are so many good things to come with Pokémon X and Y... let's start with the quality of life changes.

1. Exp Share
     The Exp Share used to be a held item, where the pokémon holding it would receive 50% of the battle's experience points. Now, it is a key items that gives every pokémon in your party 50% of the experience, while the one sent out receives 100%. This has made leveling SO much easier, to the point where you will usually over-level without doing anything special (and go way over by doing some special things.)
     The over-leveling is a bit of a tuning problem, but the quality of life adjustment it brings helps a lot. I suspect the function will remain the same in future games, but may come a bit later into the game, to keep people from blowing through it so easily.
     There is another downside to the Exp Share going to everyone in the party, and it is a slightly hidden function. It has to do with EVs, or Effort Values. EVs are points you earn for defeating a pokémon and earning experience from it. they go into the various stats, and help to scale those up faster. By giving everyone experience, they all also get EVs, which may not be beneficial for some pokémon (For example, attack is a useless stat for an Alakazam). But, that is fixed with another quality of life change...

2. Super Training
     Super training is a mini-game where you can level-up a pokemon's EVs. A pain in theory, really quick and easy in practice. It took me an hour to get my Gardevoir's EVs to be max Special attack and Defense, and that's with using a reset bag before doing so.
     That's another thing. Have a pokemon that has terrible EVs? Stay on the Super Training screen for a while, and you'll eventually receive various training bags, including one that with set all your pokémon's EVs to zero, allowing you to start over and get them perfect.
    The bags and events even come with set, even numerical values, allowing you precisely measure where you place them (Provided you keep track. there are some graphs measuring progress, but no numbers after the addition is done).
    The mini-game itself is okay. It is basically a 3D soccer game (and by 3D I mean it in both ways, in that there are goals placed on an XYZ plane) where you have to dodge your enemy's soccer balls, while trying to score in your enemy's goal. Simple, but requires some skill... and in the case of the speed challenges, luck.
     If you really, REALLY care about the EVs, you can do them as soon as you get your first pokémon. If you have all the challenges unlocked, it doesn't take that long.

3. Pokémon Amie
     Super training is for EVs, and Pokemon Amie is for friendship. And Friendship is Critical hits and dodging. Pokémon Amie is basically nintendogs with your favorite pokémon. It is both more awesome, and more adorable.
     There are three minigames in this mini-game: a berry matching game, a tempo-based yarn juggling game, and a puzzle... ...game.  Completing them and earning more than three starts unlocks the next rank, from easy to hard and unlimited, and gives you poképuffs, food items to give your pokémon to increase its friendship, and fullness.
     Unlike past games, a pokémon that is completely friendly with you has other gameplay effects than just the attack "Return." Now, being best friends with your pokémon adds some flavour text to battles, and has effects like landing critical hits and dodging. There are supposedly other effects associated with fullness and enjoyment, but they are unknown at this time.

4. Trainer Customization
     We have been waiting for this for YEARS. Finally we can make our characters unique, and dress them in more interesting clothes. This better be a feature in all future games, with more expansion upon it.

5. Mega Evolution
     Number one: awesome beyond belief. Number 2: adds more complex strategy in times of held items, rather than it being dominated by a handful of items like the leftovers. Number three: Mega. Gardevoir. I am completely sold.

6. More battle variations
    Included in the game are two new battle types: horde, and Sky Battles. Hordes consist of 5 pokémon, all attacking one of yours. They can be quite deadly, unless you have a move that affects a larger area...
     Sky battles are what it says on the tin; battles only flying type pokemon, and those with levitate, can participate in. They're optional, but fun. And also a likely way to lose money, since you are likely to only be carrying one flying type at a time, and when they go down, you lose.


There are several other quality of life improvements, but I am not fully equipped to talk about them, since I have not fully explored them.

Now, lets move on to other new features, like new pokemon and the evil team...

     One can tell a lot of time went into making all the gameplay improvements, because X and Y have probably the weakest story out of all the games. It's the same deal as the other games; you have a rival (that you don't get to name), there is an evil team blocking paths, and a bunch of gym badges to collect. If it ain't broke, don't fix it I guess. But, it is not the standards that make it weak, it is how they are played. Team Flare (the bad guys) are rarely seen. You tend to forget they are even around most of the time... They only become interesting when their plans come to fruition, then they become the most insane team in all of the games.
     Your rival and circle of friends are a bit dull... They're nice enough, but they are like cardboard when it comes to their personalities. Considering there are 4 of them, it would've been better to have cut that number in half; basically making the group the same size as Generation 5. Would've helped with their personalities...
     The new pokémon are sort of "meh" too. There aren't a lot of them; the majority of the pokédex is pokémon from previous generations, with maybe 50-66 new pokémon. The new ones are okay; nothing particularly interesting... They fit within the world and theme, so they're okay, just nothing about them says "THAT IS GOING ON MY LIST OF MY FAVORITE POKÉMON."
      That is, except for the Mega Evolutions. Those are AMAZING. They are only on older pokémon which tend to be fan favorites, like Blaziken, Lucario, and Mewtwo, which completely justifies the large amount of older generation pokémon. And Mega Gardevoir, I am happy just with that. (In case you haven't guessed, Gardevoir is my favorite pokémon.)


     If you are a fan of the Pokémon series, definitely pick this game up. If you don't have a 3DS, the 2DS is cheaper and can still play the game, just minus the 3D.
Gameplay score: 9/10. Some tuning on the leveling would've helped the pacing.
Story score: 6/10. The story is fine, but with no surprises.
Mega Gardevoir Score: 11/10.

Final Verdict: 8/10. All the gameplay elements make this probably the best Pokemon game in along time, but the story is too stale for me to be shouting praises of it form the roof tops.
Except for Mega Gardevoir.

MEGA GARDEVOIR!!!!!

That is all.