Various Thoughts

I’ve been procrastinating long enough that there are too many currently piled up to comment on them similarly to how I’ve done it before. Also; writing more is a pain.

Bite Club (Rachel Caine): Pretty much indistinguishable from the other, earlier, Morganville Vampire books.

Last Breath (Rachel Caine): Here the series begins to repeat its overarching plot structure and that’s a development annoying enough to result in my dropping it.

Liminal States (Zach Parsons): I’ve followed his writing on Something Awful for some time now and already read the Reificant serial before reading this; the beginning and end are pretty damn good while the middle is somewhat dry and uninteresting.

Trick of the Light (Rob Thurman): The first in a companion series (Trickster) to the Cal Leandros novels, this is neither as dark nor as interesting.

The Grimrose Path (Rob Thurman): The follow-up to the above, this manages to be even less interesting and more annoying by having its primary characters unable to access their powers (which will presumably last the entire series).

The Isis Collar (Cat Adams): The fourth book in the Blood Singer series has me deciding to drop it due to just being annoying in general with its character behavior and authority-hates-the-protagonist mood.

Raven Calls (C. E. Murphy): I’ve never read any of the Walker Paper novels and ordered this seventh installment alone on a whim, which ended up being a good thing because while this is fairly interesting it appears that only just now has the protagonist acquired any sort of control over her powers.

Back From the Undead (DD Barant): This recent entry to the Bloodhound Files series continues to be entertaining while also advancing the background plot.

I’m nowhere near done with this game yet (heading to Prison Island at the moment), but figured I should post some things related to running it on Dolphin since it took me a disturbingly long time to work them out.

First off, you need a high base-speed processor. The number of cores is mostly irrelevant since Dolphin can only use two of them; meaning a 4-gig two-core will run it better than a 3-gig 8-core. Second of all… you need to not screw up your settings. The settings I finally ended up settling on that give only slight slowdown in some areas/battles (with an AMD FX-6100, GeForce GTX 460, and 8GB RAM) are:

- OpenGL, 1920×1080, Auto, Use Fullscreen, Hide Mouse Curser, Render to main Window
- 2x Native Resolution, No AA or Filtering, Scaled EFB Copy
- Skip EFB Access, Texture, Fast, Disable, Fast Mipmaps, Disable Per-Pixel Depth, OpenMP Decoder
- Load Custom Textures

- Enable Dual Core, Enable Idle Skipping, Auto, JIT Recompiler
- Use Panic Handlers
- DSP HLE Emulation, DSound, 48000 Hz

After you get things set-up so that you can actually play the game at higher-than-base resolution, you’ll want to go over here and grab some hi-res textures. The packs pretty much only cover the interface, but something is better than nothing.

Also, here’s an altered version of the PS3 button pack from the first link made to fit my custom control scheme:

——————————————————————
Button Setup – Wiimote Classic Extension
——————————————————————

D-Pad Up = D-Pad Up
D-Pad Down = D-Pad Down
D-Pad Left = L1
D-Pad Right = R1

Left Stick = Left Stick
Right Stick = Right Stick

A = Square
B = X
X = Circle
Y = R-Stick Button
+ = Triangle
- = L-Stick Button

L = L2
R = R2
ZL = Select
ZR = Start

Oh wow. This game is pretty bad. Not as bad as Dragon Age 2 of course, but still… pretty bad.

The problems start right at the beginning with ludicrous amounts of melodrama. Then continue on with terrible dialog, metric tons of relationship drama, and shoehorned in dream sequences involving some random dead kid you’ve interacted with for less than a minute. Renegade Shepard kills whole colonies without a second thought, yet all of the sudden she starts getting PTSD regarding some random vent urchin? Bullshit. Then of course there’s that ending… that ridiculous and completely illogical ending.

But enough about that, what about the gameplay? It’s identical to ME2; start a mission, run through a series of arenas suspiciously littered with copious numbers of heat sinks (ammo clips) killing  enemy spawns, and then leave the mission location (never to return).

So is there any reason whatsoever to play this when the gameplay is identical to ME2 and the storyline is far worse? Not really, no. The GUI is better and being able to select whatever weapons you want regardless of ‘Class’ is nice, but those benefits are just not worth the cringe-inducing dialog and plot developments.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a RPG reminiscent of a couple other RPGs; the dialog and crime system resemble the Elder Scrolls series, the loot system resembles Diablo, and everything else resembles Fable. While the storyline isn’t particularly interesting or exciting, there is a ton of stuff to do in the game and many of the more high profile quests allow you to choose the ‘less good’ (and in one notable case, the Warsworn questline, the ‘evil’) option. The main flaws I find with it are the complete lack of replayability caused by the in-game system of being able to re-level yourself more or less whenever you want and the way canvassing each new area takes on a monotonous tinge after a while. Especially once you hit the level cap, which will happen shortly after reaching the second continent if you’ve done all the available sidequests.

As for the Legend of Dead Kel DLC… it’s surprisingly enough actually worth checking out. However, you should definitely wait until after the main quest is completed before visiting the new island it adds. Both to avoid over-leveling yourself and because there are a number of infinitely repeatable quests that pretty much demand your constant presence on the island (as you cannot fast travel there from the mainland). It has two issues however. The first is merely cosmetic: there are a ton of items that are marked quest-specific that can never be removed from your inventory even after the related quests are completed (and there are some that aren’t even used in quests). The second is a bit more serious: the various treasure chests on the island continuously respawn their contents… which is just ridiculous.

Rage is a FPS/Racing game that reminds me (unfavorably) of Skyrim. Basically it’s a series of corridor-shooters broken up with some overland vehicle-based racing/combat and town exploration to pick up quests and restock on ammo. Now I’m not a huge fan of conventional FPS gameplay, but even so I was enjoying myself until a few hours in, when the babying quests and respawning/suddenspawning enemies finally forced me to call it quits. It has some interesting features (such as a built-in collectible card game) but at the end of the day it’s just the standard FPS formula with a post-apocalyptic coat of paint.

Fortune Summoners is a side-scrolling Action RPG with moves preformed like a fighting game (half-circle forward, attack; quarter-circle back, forward, attack; etc.). The graphics are crisp, what I saw of the storyline and dialog isn’t particularly problematic (albeit simplistic and youth-centered), and the combat is fluid. Unfortunately… I’m absolutely horrible at fighting games and cannot consistently pull off the moves. Add to that the fact that you have to play the game with a controller (it’s somewhat difficult to do an effective half-circle with WASD) and I was forced to stop playing shortly after the second ‘boss’ battle against a skeleton warrior. Is the game worth the price? Absolutely… so long as you enjoy fighting games.

Magical Diary is a visual novel type of game with a bit of character customization thrown in and an unusual number of options for the genre. The problem with this game is twofold. The first half of the issue is the art style, which looks like what you would find in the fanfiction section of Deviant Art and not even the slightest bit professional (this game costs $25). The second is the way the school weeks are structured; you can only schedule one class per day… which just doesn’t make any sense. It’s extremely over-simplistic and contributes a fair bit toward the general shortness of the game (a playthrough will only last a couple hours). Is it worth the price? Not even close. $10-15 would be more its speed.

Patricia Briggs‘ latest Alpha and Omega novel contains pretty much everything I enjoy about the urban fantasy genre. I was going to expand upon that but instead decided I really just don’t feel like it.

Shadow’s Fall is Dianne Sylvan‘s third Shadow World book. While its character interactions are still holding up, the general… overlay… is not. What I mean is that the universe itself, what can and can not happen as well as the racial/supernatural relations within it, is beginning to wear on me a bit. Basically, the semi-sortof-hidden supernaturals along with the main character’s power levels are becoming seriously dissonant elements.

Most books I read are either parts of trilogies or perpetually ongoing series. Elantris is neither of those; it’s a fully self-contained story. If you have read Brandon Sanderson‘s Mistborn novels, you’ll likely notice some similarities in the character personalities and dialog. There’s also this pervasive sense of optimism… of inherent goodness… even the antagonists are doing what they do based on (or because of) good intentions. It’s weird. On the one hand I like that it’s not simply good vs. evil, yet on the other I don’t agree with how everyone is simply misunderstood and evil not really existing. Moral quandaries aside the book is an interesting enough read if you’re looking for some quick fantasy.

The most recent entry to Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series begins in the same style as Black Magic Sanction… which caused a sinking feeling to start developing. Thankfully, this only last for a couple of chapters. Soon enough events began to seem much more similar to the earlier novels and the magic of the series was successfully recaptured by the halfway point. I’m now once again looking forward to future installments.

Tim Pratt‘s Venom In Her Veins may or may not be the start of a new series. It feels like a one-of, but the ending is open enough to support a continuation. The story focuses on a pureblood yuan-ti ranger who was raised by a merchant family after her clan was abducted by Derro slavers, as she embarks on a mission (supported by the god Zehir) to free her original family after eventually learning about her heritage. It’s an interesting story with some interesting characters that sheds some light on the Derro as well as touching on the Far Realms a bit.

Doubletake is the seventh novel in Rob Thurman‘s Cal Leandros series. It has three concurrent storylines; the periodic gathering of the entire Puck race, the appearance of the missing Auph/Human hybrid, and Nico’s father suddenly showing up along with an invulnerable death machine he says he needs to stop. The first of those is wrapped up quickly while the latter two are somewhat intertwined and take up the majority of the story. There aren’t any off-notes here and those familiar with the earlier books won’t get any surprises, but the ending raises the very real potential for the series to start blatantly repeating itself… and I can’t see that as being a good thing.

I’ve just cleared this game for the second time now and can safely make some final comments on it before starting the third and presumably final playthrough. Turns out that the game’s central plotline after Chapter 3 is radically different depending upon which girl you ‘choose’.

My first playthrough I ended up on the elf path by accident (although in hindsight the route choice was clear since those are the only times you’re able to choose a dialog path). The plotline for that playthrough consisted of environmental concerns and race relations culminating in a strange battle against plague-bearing demons. For the most part the entire series of events felt perfectly natural and besides Chapter 8 being extremely short it was an enjoyable experience and I saw nothing much out of place.

The second playthrough was deliberately on the loli route since I was planning on testing out the NG+ and Gold Alchemy quests and wasn’t intending it to be a serious game. This turned out to be a solid decision, because not only is Emelita’s storyline cringe-inducingly horrible, but all of the extra quests (Wailing Legion, Roka, Hannah) are nothing but ludicrously unbalanced grindathons versus 50+ monster swarms. Thank the gods for that SpoilerAL program. My resolve to press on to the end to start the third playthrough was seriously tested many times.

Beyond the horrible romance of the main quest and lazy level design of the bonus quests, the storyline went in a totally different direction with some laughably over the top political scheming and extended rivalry ’drama’ with Leguna. Nothing, not one single thing about it, felt right. It all felt contrived and tacked-on at best. So what is the moral of this story? Never pick the loli. Which, honestly, is just common good sense.

Also, I feel I should elaborate on something I alluded to earlier: This game would be far, far better without most of its eroge content. Gameplay-wise it’s solid enough (for the most part) that the spontaneous sex scenes are extraneous at best. The vast majority do not feel natural and they detract quite a bit more than they add. Sex can be used to enhance something, to give it a spark of realism; it does the exact opposite here… albeit with a few exceptions.

Now to do the last playthrough focused on Yuela (with those extra quests flipped off again because they are terrible)… and pray it flows as well as Servalwe’s did.

I’m just now starting out Chapter 4 and it seems I was mistaken about two things.

The first is that the character events are not really all that similar to Agarest War after all, except in the most general sense. This would appear to be the primary difference between a Galge and an Eroge. The former stays at effectively a PG rating the entire time, while the latter starts PG-13 with every intention of going R. Kamidori‘s scenes have an overtly sexualized aspect to them that Agarest‘s just didn’t. It’s somewhat annoying actually because it feels heavy-handed and overdone.

The second is daily expenses or the soft time limits being an issue. They aren’t. That misunderstanding arose from my ignorance of the ‘Treasure’ class of item, which have no other purpose then to be sold for obscene amounts of gold at the church. Once I noticed them sitting in my inventory and sold them off I was set for pretty much all of Chapter 2, in which I acquired enough party members to be able to toss some into the role of Store Clerk and finally get some item sales going.

A new aspect of the game that comes into play in Chapter 2 and beyond that I didn’t mention earlier is the ‘Dress-Up’ subgame. After awhile you can start crafting new elemental clothing for the three primary heroines (and maybe for others later on, I don’t know). I’ve only gained access to five of them so far but they range from offensive, to ridiculous, to surprisingly tasteful. Yuela’s (the tsundere) first is laughable while her second is somewhat interesting; Emelita’s (the loli) first is a feathered monstrosity of mind-bogglingly horrific taste while her second is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and actually makes her look pretty awesome; and finally we come to Servalwi’s (‘the motherly one’) first… which is both restrained and tasteful.

Hopefully the rest continue to lean more toward the practical.

This game reminds me of two previous games I’ve played; Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale (the selling items and having to deal with expenses) and Record of Agarest War (all of the Eroge/dating-simulation aspects). I noticed an English patch had been released for it a few days ago, and since the screenshots looked pretty cool and the collection/creation system appealed to my completionist OCD tendencies I decided to check it out. It’s been surprisingly fun and apparently just as much, if not more, of a timesink than Agarest War was.

My main issue with the game so far is the ever-present time limits. Combat is turn-based and each map has a maximum number of turns you can spend on it before it auto-fails you. If this was the only limit there wouldn’t be much of a problem since the turn limits are fairly generous. No, what compounds the problem is that you have to pay expenses for each ‘day’ that passes and your only source of money (at least in the early game) is praying to the god(s) of luck that one of your items up for sale will be sold by the crappy guild-issued salesperson.

This is because while each map has a monetary reward for 100% area control, map rewards are only granted once… not to mention that 100% control is sometimes not even possible to achieve on certain maps depending on your party makeup. That each trip to an outside area takes 2+ days makes this money crunch a pervasive worry that all your effort clearing a map may end up a phyrric victory when you return to town and find you’ve been bankrupted due to non-existent salesmanship.

Putting the (perfectly tailored) OCD-tweaking aspects of the game aside, what about the Eroge portions? Well, I’ve not gotten very far in the game yet (just started it yesterday and have been clearing areas while avoiding advancing to Chapter 2 due to a fear of missing chapter-specific events). From what I’ve seen so far the events are very similar to Agarest‘s, with the minor addition that humanoid female monsters can apparently lose their clothing if they take enough damage (this happened to the Harpy).

I’m trying very hard not to hunt down a wiki or something similar and instead play this ‘naturally’, but I strongly suspect that’s a losing battle with all the different party members, events, item combinations, and hidden triggers. A minor example: In the first map you enter where you have three party members, there’s special dialog that pops up if you move the main character next to each of his teammates before a certain trigger. Are these dialogs important for triggering something else later? I don’t know and the uncertainty has me wanting to do a re-start and get both of them since I forgot about it and missed one on this re-start.