So now armed with our Tuna Can Grenade Launcher (Patent Pending), we must find a Camera that can scan genetic information… Soooo, an iPhone.
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Air… I need… AIR. *deep breath*Okay. Now that I’ve come up for air, it’s time to talk a bit about what I’ve been doing down in the gaming depths. The past two days have been filled with little else other than one. Singular. Activity. That being Dragon Age: Inquisition. Now, of course, I’m known for my somewhat heretical enjoyment of the “Not cool to like” Bioware titles – Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 – so my opinion is going to be a bit suspect on these things, but I have to say that Dragon Age: Inquisition is probably one of the more addicting games I’ve played in a long time.
The story is pretty simple at first. There’s a giant hole in the sky where the veil between the magical Fade world and our world have been torn asunder and now demons are pouring out like it’s a Necronomicon Spring Break in Transylvania. You also fell out of the hole, being the sole survivor of the explosion that caused it and with a weird glowing thing on your hand that can actually close the smaller holes dubbed Rifts. So now it’s up to you and your buddies to close the hole! At least at first that’s what is going on. I have a sneaky suspicion after 15 or so hours of game play that something else is waiting in the wings. Considering I know there’s a place called Skyhold and I haven’t seen it yet, but we’re already marching to close the big hole… yea.
The characters are diverse but there’s none that I immediately latched onto as favorites like I did in Dragon Age 2. I’ll admit that the characters were the big selling point for the second installment for me. From Merrill’s innocent quirkiness and dark reveals to Isabella’s love of life and even Anders and Fenris and their opposing view of the mages. Here we are treated to a veritable menagerie of characters and sadly to say only a handful of likeables thus far. Cassandra comes off as a cross between Miranda from Mass Effect and an ill tempered drill sergeant. Solas (pronounced Soul-less) feels pretty much soul-less due to having that elven “I’ve lived more than 100 hundred lifetimes and am all knowing and all seeing and thus don’t need to care much” thing going on. Varric is… Varric, I can’t really describe the fast-talking, double dealing, best example of a bard in gaming I’ve ever seen any other way.
About the only character I actually dig thus far on a personal note is Sera and that is because she is completely bat-$#!* insane. Her introduction can be boiled down to she has just killed a lot of people and stolen all their pants for absolutely no reason except maybe to sell them. Too bad my first playthrough is a lawful good mage. My Chaotic Neutral rogue playthrough however is gonna love her.
There insane amounts of little things to explore, collect, and unlock but each of these little things will help you in some way. Seriously! Either by granting experience to your character, giving you more power which you use to send people on missions, or giving you Influence which is kind of like XP for the entire Inquisition and lets you unlock overall power boosts like being able to open harder locks or getting extra XP from codex entries or kills. I spent the first day doing absolutely nothing with the main story quest and just wandering around the hinterlands doing little odd jobs and finding doodads and resources.
Yes, resources. Because crafting in this game requires an insane amount of resources. But it’s not all annoying. See unlike MMOs where you need a certain kind of metal and a certain kind of wood to make an item, DA:I boils it down to just need 10 metal and 2 wood. Any 10 of one type of metal and any 2 of any kind of wood will do. Now which metal and wood you use will affect things like bonus stats or color and pattern of the item, but the fact that creating things requires categories of items instead of specifics is much easier. Especially when you will need specific crafting materials to fill requisitions from your army, essentially researching things to help your forces and thus help yourself like better weapons or gear. For instance, I don’t know how much of this was me clearing up territory and claiming it protected by the Inquisition and how much of it was me filling up requisitions but as I kept playing I noticed that a pair of Inquisition soldiers would just appear in random spots with chests of a few useful items for you.
On that note, another great thing about this game is that it actually feels like you make progress. You know how in Skyrim you would do something insane like almost blow up Winterhold but then afterwards no one pays even a single thought let alone any lasting effects? Or in well ANY MMO you can clear out an entire fortress of baddies and kill their leader only to have them all just waiting for you in a few minutes? NOT HERE. If I bring a band of bandits under my command, every bandit in that company of rogues is now an ally and will no longer attack me. If I clear out the mage and templar strongholds, suddenly the mages and templars go from open war breaking out everywhere to nearly gone save for maybe a random pack wandering the wilderness. Yea, those strongholds and camps you clean out? STAY CLEANED OUT. You control that territory now. It’s yours. Oh geeze does that feel good. Because that means you can clear out the major conflicts in areas and then have nothing to contend with exploring except beasts, demons, and the occasional highwayman or Carta team (dwarf thugs) to deal with.
So thus far this game has been so much more addicting than Skyrim ever was. It’s that right blend of basic to use but expansive to master mechanics, a truly consistent world, and engaging characters that I might not instantly cling to like in previous installments but are interesting enough for me to want to see where their character paths take them while we try to save the world. Except Solas. He’s kinda just boring. Screw you, Solas.
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I got a chance to go see Disney’s newest flick ‘Big Hero 6’ this past weekend. I really didn’t know what to expect going in to the theater. I was roughly familiar with the source material: a 90’s-tastic Japanese super hero team created by the ever loathsome Scott Lobdell and starring every Japanese movie stereotype known to man – ninjas, samurai, giant monsters, robots, etc. I was also aware that the team working on this film were also the ones behind Wreck-It Ralph, a film that now ranks among one of my all time favorites. So what does this strange collaboration of Disney magic and horrible 90’s comic schlock produce? Actually something pretty fun.While the film was based on an American comic book, it doesn’t really draw its overall influence from there. In fact, I’d say the film has stronger ties with Eastern media like Astro Boy (in many ways this film reminded me of the underrated 2009 Astro Boy film that Imagi Animation made). The film centers around a young genius named Hiro who loses his mentor/best friend/pseudo-criminal-accomplice big brother in an accident leaving him horribly depressed. Hiro also comes into possession of Baymax, his brothers final invention. Baymax is a big inflatable robot designed to help take care of people who are injured or in need of medical or psychological help. With Baymax at his side, Hiro discovers the accident that took his brother may not have been an accident after all but the works of a super villain. So Hiro, Baymax and Hiro’s friends must suit up as super heroes to stop the villain.
If that sounds a bit run of the mill, it kinda is. One of the films… I hesitate to say “flaw” because it really isn’t but one of its traits is that it is a very formulaic film. If you’ve seen super hero movies, you’ll recognize all the major story beats here. From the fact that the group isn’t coordinated at all in their first fight with the villain and end up taking each other out, to the newly energized and ready to work as a team battle that gives them more direct challenges to overcome from the villain which they use a lesson from earlier in the film to help overcome. If that sounds familiar to you, then the rest of the story will probably as well. It gets to the point where superhero comic book fanboy character Fred even starts pointing out tropes. However, as they say, god is in the details.
What makes the film wonderful is all the little details that break the mold. From the vividly diverse cast of characters, voiced by an equal diverse cast, to the fortitude to risk releasing a Disney super hero movie without a love story stuck in there in anyway. Think about that. Disney AND Superheroes. Two groups who are known for the token romantic interests with guy gets the girl endings. Not here. Not even a hint of it. Which is quite the breath of fresh air actually. In the original comics, Hiro and Honey Lemon WERE an item and I was wondering how they would pull that off, especially since the main character is around 14 years old and the rest of the cast is 18+ and in college. There’s been some complaints against Honey Lemon, that she has the quickly becoming cliche “Disney Face”. You know, that Rapunzel, Anna, and Elsa all use the same rough face. Luckily, they did change it up a bit with Honey. She is somewhat implied to be a Latina character (voiced by a Latina actress who brings that out with various vocal inflections) and she is also a friggin twig. Like not “princess skinny” where they are thin but still have hips and a bust and toned legs, etc. No. Honey in profile would like more like a straight line. Not like anorexic sickly skinny either. Just a twig. Reminds me of my real life sister who is also a twig. So at least there’s SOME deviation there.
At its heart, the film is about a young man coming to grips with loss and dealing with the grief that resulted from losing someone close. From isolation and depression, to lashing out in anger and accidentally hurting your friends in the process. It handles it magnificently as well. With the care and understanding that such a story deserves. You never feel Hiro’s actions are because he’s being annoying or going over the top. The film is very clear about his actions coming from a place of deep hurting, and it conveys that to audience perfectly. At the heart of this is Baymax, who serves as the emotional foil for Hiro. Baymax is designed to be calm, gentle, and understanding. He’s a robot whose sole purpose is to help those in pain, be it physical or emotional and as such is there to help Hiro through this journey.
While this film isn’t the amazing, jaw dropping experience that was Box Trolls or Book of Life, it does bring a lot of heart, fun and originality to a fairly predictable formula. So yea, you may have seen this story before. But at least you can sit through it knowing that at least its a well done iteration of that time worn tale of capes & cowls. If I actually used stars, it would be a solid 4 out of 5 from me with a definite recommendation to see it at least once. It’s more debatable whether it will be just as enjoyable on subsequent viewings (definitely will be just as quotable), so it may not be a “BUY IT DAY ONE BLU RAY NAO!” kind of flick, but definitely a go see it once. Preferably in the theaters for that big screen experience.
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Nothing like visiting a brand new place, is there kiddies? A chance for new friends, new toys, and new MAYHEM.
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Oof. If you ever needed a reason to feel burnt out on a game, it’s trying to burn through all the class stories during a small window of 12x experience. Holy cow. I just finished up the bounty hunter storyline again, and don’t worry faithful readers the reviews are currently in the draft pile on that one. But between just playing the game, and then trying to write some NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND words or so trying to summarize each class story, I suppose burn out was inevitable. Just like… /whew am I right? So where does that leave us?
Well, it means I clearly need to clear my head for a bit. Cleanse the pallet of TOR a bit before the new expansion drops and I dive head long back in. Oh trust me, true readers. I am far from The Old Republic. The reviews will be done in good time. But the Class Story Summaries ARE done, and I always considered that the more important of the two projects since they offer people an idea of what the class will be like chapter by chapter without spoiling it. I am proud of that and it is pretty much the most visited thing on the website right now, trailed only by the occasional visit from the once HUGELY popular couple of World of Warcraft Achievement guides I did way back in another life as a blood elf. /awkwardcough.
So what is there to look forward to? Well, I have finally gotten set up to start delivering semi-regular Let’s Play videos. The BioShock ones have proven to be quite popular so far. I mean I’m not Markiplier or Pewdie Pie or anything. But I’m not trying to be. I’m trying to be me and my usual silly self while playing games I love. I’ve got a massive steam library of stuff to play and a bunch of console games as well. So I plan to keep those up as long as they’re fun. I’ve taken feed back from quite a few people and made them much shorter, usually 10-15 minutes in length. So folks put off by my original 45 minute video of Shadowrun Returns back in the day need not worry. You can always check out my videos by using the YouTube link at the top of the page and hey feel free to show your support and subscribe!
In the online front, I’ve hopped over to my favorite palette cleanser of choice: Final Fantasy XIV. If you also dabble in there you might bump into me on either the Gilgamesh or Jenova worlds under the trademark name of “Vrykerion” (Shocker) or the lesser known “Puff Tanix” (My default gnome name and also the name of my chinchilla.) There is just something wholly appealing and being at the opposite end of the spectrum of The Old Republic as a game where you can level every single class with a single character and never need to switch alts for crafting or other play experiences. So you can probably expect some rambling from that end soon.
Also there’s one other thing in the works, but it is a sloooow burn on that one so I don’t want to say too much about it. But the design work on it has been going on for nearly a year and it’s finally getting to a workable point, so there may some news on Vry’s Super Secret Project as well.
So worry not faithful readers and viewers, between all that and my usual yakking about offline games and movies (Speaking of which, Book of Life. Go see it. The Hat demands it.) There will be more then enough content to sink your teeth into during this minor vacation from the galaxy far far away.
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HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
You were asked! You chose! And now you have only yourselves to blame! Now the fate of the Little Sisters of Rapture shall be revealed in this fifth installment of Vrykerion Versus Video Games: BioShock Let’s Play series.
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You can pick up your friends, you can pick up your enemies, but you can’t pick up your friends and throw them at your enemies. Wait… you can? Huzzah!
VOTING IS CLOSED. CHECK BACK ON HALLOWEEN TO FIND OUT THE FATE OF THE LITTLE SISTERS IN VRY PLAYS BIOSHOCK PART 5!
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Doctor Vry will see you now. Take two shocks of plasmid to DA FACE and call me never cause your dead, ya splicer. Exploration of the sunken city of Rapture continues into the Medical Pavilion, with more Luigis, more explosions, and more insanity!
You can find the previous episodes here.
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They always find a way to pull me back don’t they?
My twitter followers may remember a while back when I ranted and raved about the ending to the first season of Korra, where they stripped the villain of any back story or motivation they had thoroughly established for the sake of a less than satisfying plot twist and how the civil movement pushing for equality for non-benders in a world run by benders is immediately dropped upon finding out that the villain was a bender. Which is kind of like if a white person spoke up in defense of civil rights, all African Americans realize that hey things aren’t so bad and immediately dropped it. Yes, Amon’s motivations were sinister but no one in the movement knew that. They just said “Oh, he’s a bender. So I guess it’s back to happily living in fear of fire-bending mob bosses. Oh well.”
Suffice it say, the ending left me a bit irked. But I had hope. Maybe season two would continue the equalist storyline in some way as the Avatar works to restore balance between benders and non-benders – a very interesting issue in the world they inhabit. What’s that season two premiere? Six months later you say? Everyone’s talking about Mako and Korra dating? No one is talking about equality? Well &%$* me. So I walked away from Legend of Korra and decided it just wasn’t worth trying to get excited again only to be let down. But then they tease bringing Toph back. Toph. My favorite character in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Drat. Now I have to catch up.
So I sat down and binged my way through Books Two and Three, praying that maybe they improved from the ending of Book One. I mean, everything up to the ending was pretty good. Downright awesome at times. So did the rest live up to my hopes? Well… kind of? Let me explain. The absolute worst thing about seasons 2 & 3 of Legend of Korra is quite honestly Korra herself. The villains are more interesting than our hero, the side plots are more interesting than the main plots, and Korra seems to be there to carry us between the better storylines while she is just trying to not die most of the time.
In Book Two, we’re treated to the history of the very first avatar. It’s a great story that quite honestly could have been its own season. The season is also book-ended with the start and end of a civil war between the Northern and Southern water tribe which we barely get to see any of. Also the reconciliation of the three children of Aang and facing the truth that maybe Aang wasn’t the greatest dad. In Book Three, you have the reformation of the Air Nation, the world of humans and spirits learning to co-exist for the first time in forever, and the reunion of the Bei Fong sisters – all of which are far more interesting than a group of anarchist benders trying to kill Korra because Avatars are a force of balance and not chaos. Heck the spirit/human relations thing is only mentioned for like two episodes and then Korra leaves and we get no additional resolution until the prologue of Season Four which mentions that 3 years later and everything is fine and dandy between humans and spirits. It goes from everyone hates spirits and wants them gone to peaceful coexistence in 3 years AND WE GET NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHAT CHANGED.
The villains are equally baffling in some regards. In season two, the villain seems to be motivated by a clear power grab under the influence of a dark spirit, but then in Book Three its revealed he was also a member of the anarchists who broke away for his own goals. But even before that when they were younger, he made a power grab for the Northern Water Tribe… so was he an anarchist or not? “I’m against governments and order except when I’m not.” The book three villain at least is fanatically driven by his beliefs, but out of his team of four he is the only one to get any kind of personality or development. Making claims like “Just one of these four can overthrow a nation, all four can destroy the world” seem a bit of an exaggeration when there appears to be one threat and three flunkies. Queen Beryl’s minions got more development and their entire purpose was to unleash the monster of the week.
But as I said, there are some great stories in these two seasons. It’s just unfortunate they’re side plots and not the main course. Instead we get Korra who spends her time shouting about how she’s the avatar, having extremely forced romance troubles (honestly, some of the fights she has with Mako can only be the product of bad writing. No one argues like this in real life) and acting without care of the consequences of her actions. She serves as a bridge to the better stories without offering much herself. Even worse is that when all is said and done in the main plot, Korra’s lot in life is to just suffer. Book Two ends with her connection to the past avatars destroyed leaving her without guidance of her past lives, and book three is just a straight ‘kill the avatar permanently’ mission that leaves Korra in a wheel chair. Which is a shame and something I’m hoping season four actually fixes with a lot of previews showing Korra striking out on her own and abandoning the avatar identity and hopefully will be a chance for Korra to actually grow instead of just being repeatedly broken.
So would I recommend it as someone who felt burned by the first season? Sure. Just go into it knowing that there are diamonds in the rough that make the rough worth it. Here’s hoping the final season has a bit less rough to it.
Final Thought after seeing the first episode of season four: What is with the Earth Kingdom having TERRIBLE leadership?
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With all of Rapture going to hell, it’s up to Vry to give psychological help, fix marriages and save lives. Or end them. Which can also be helpful!
VRYKERION 