Tyler F.M. Edwards's Blog, page 24

Song of the Month: Aurora, Churchyard

So it has recently come to my attention that Aurora put out a new album several months ago.

I have absolutely no idea how I missed this. I follow her on Facebook and see her posts regularly. She’s one of my favourite artists. You’d think I’d have been counting the days to the album’s release, not finding out months after the fact.

That being said, her second album did turn out to be somewhat of a disappointment compared to the first. There aren’t that many songs that grab me, and none that have blown me away like Warrior, Runaway, or Under Stars did.

There are, however, still a few solid tracks. My favourite right now is the brooding and haunting Churchyard.

Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Yes, I know I’m way late to the party, even by my standards. I meant to see this movie a lot sooner, but life just keeps throwing me curveballs lately. Better late than never.

[image error]I’m sure by now I don’t need to provide a synopsis. I think by now we all know the general idea behind Into the Spider-Verse, and honestly, even if you don’t, it’s probably better to watch things unfold in the theatres. All you need to know is there are a lot of Spider-People involved, and that this is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen in my life.

I’m not kidding. I want in with high expectations after hearing a lot of positive buzz, and it still blew me away.

Pretty much everything about Into the Spider-Verse is perfect. The characters are lovable. The animation will blow your mind and then some. It’s funny, it’s heartfelt, it’s exciting, it’s fun.

In a movie that’s excellent from top to bottom, there are a few things that I would like to point out as being especially brilliant.

One is the amount of thought and detail that went into realizing every version of Spider-Man. Not just in terms of characterization, but even simple visual touches, like Gwen’s ballet shoes.

Something really cool they did that I didn’t notice in the trailers is that several of the more exotic Spiders are actually done in different animation styles. While Miles, Gwen, and the various Peters Parker are done in a uniform CGI style, Peter Porker is drawn like an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, Spider-Man Noir is in black and white, and Peni Parker is an anime character.

[image error]The other thing that Into the Spider-Verse does so well — and what more than anything puts it over the top from a fun blockbuster to a truly excellent piece of cinema — is how well this movie gets what makes Spider-Man compelling as a character.

There aren’t a lot of superheroes I really like. Spider-Man is one of the few I have genuine passion for. The reason for this is how relatable he is. He’s not an alien, or a god, or a billionaire, or someone with top secret government training. He might have some powers, but at the end of the day he’s just a nerdy kid who’s doing the best he can. He feels like a real person.

And Into the Spider-Verse nails that. All of the various incarnations of Spider-Man in this movie all capture that feeling of reality. (Well, okay, maybe not the pig, but still.) They’re all people with vulnerabilities, and real problems. They’re not perfect. They make mistakes. But they’re doing their best.

The thing about Spider-Man is that he’s not a hero because he can shoot webs. He’s a hero because he’s a normal (ish…) person who chose to use his abilities to make the world a better place, which is something anyone can do. That’s what makes him work as a character, and that’s what Into the Spider-Verse gets so right. Anyone can wear the mask. Anyone can be a hero.

Because I am a naturally critical person, and because I’m trying to at least pretend this a Serious Review by a Professional Writer, I will mention I do have one problem with this movie: It’s too focused on being an origin story for Miles Morales.

[image error]I’m tired of origin movies. It’s the same tropes over and over again. And especially in this case, we all know Spider-Man’s origin story. Yes, Miles is a different version of Spider-Man from the more iconic Peter Parker, but at the end of the day their stories just aren’t that different.

This bothers me especially in light of how colourful and interesting the other Spiders are. Miles is a good character, and I like him, but I wanted to see more attention put on Gwen, Peni, Noir, and hell even Ham. Gwen especially was played up a lot in the trailers but doesn’t actually get that big of a role in the movie.

But even then I have to say that as much as I’m sick of origin stories this is above average as origin stories go.

I can pick nits like that, but at the end of the day this is still an amazing movie. If you’re somehow even more of a slowpoke than I am and haven’t seen it yet, get your ass to a theatre and go see it ASAP. Into the Spider-Verse is not just another superhero movie. It’s something special.

Overall rating: 9.7/10

SWTOR: Catching Up

The Jedi Under Siege Update has brought me back to SWTOR for another brief visit. I know, I’m a bit behind the curve. Things kept coming up. I played through the new story initially on my agent, but the return of Nadia Grell made this a perfect opportunity to finally bring my Jedi consular up to date, and that’s where the real story is, so let’s talk about that.

[image error]This will contain spoilers for all of the story to date, including Jedi Under Siege.

The downward slide:

When I’d left off, my Jedi had been about halfway through Knights of the Fallen Empire. Getting him caught up meant finishing off that expansion, Eternal Throne, and the subsequent patches.

I’d forgotten how good Eternal Throne was. Fallen Empire is good, but Eternal Throne is close to the best the game has ever been, rivaling and in some ways exceeding the best of the original class stories.

It’s a shame they couldn’t keep up that momentum.

I didn’t really notice so much at the time with months of time in between each update, but when you play through it all in one go, the drop-off in quality after Eternal Throne is stark. The War for Iokath is entirely forgettable, and the Traitor arc had some interesting ideas but is far too rushed to properly flesh any of them out.

This is a bit of a tangent, but can we also take this moment to acknowledge the fact that the Republic is the evil faction now?

[image error]Seriously, the Republic’s been showing a shady side since Shadow of Revan (and arguably earlier depending on what story arcs you’ve played), but as of Eternal Throne onwards, they’re just the bad guys. The Empire has proven itself the more honourable faction time and again.

While the Republic was plotting a power grab to twist the Odessen Alliance to its own ends, Empress Acina was bargaining in good faith. While the Sith were fighting and dying to save Voss and ultimately liberate the galaxy, the Jedi were planting potatoes on Ossus and washing their hands of all responsibility. The Republic were the ones to fire the first shots on Iokath. The coming war is their fault.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, the Imperial loyalist in me isn’t going to complain about this smear on my enemies. On the other, I wanted the factions to be more gray, not for which is black and which is white to flip. I mean, I’m not saying the Empire doesn’t still have a very pronounced dark side (no pun intended), but they are clearly and decisively the better faction now.

When it came time to choose sides on my Jedi, I only picked Republic out of a desire for completionism. I really wanted to go Empire, and not just because of my personal preference. It’s objectively the right choice. Siding with the Republic after Eternal Throne means betraying a loyal ally (Acina) for people who spent the last five years abandoning and backstabbing you.

And that brings us to the latest story.

To Ossus:

[image error]The trouble with Ossus is that it’s clearly the first part of a new story arc, and therefore hard to judge in isolation. When viewed as part of the larger whole, it might take on a new light. With that in mind, I try not to be too harsh, but right now I’m not exactly thrilled.

Obviously the headline here is that the war between the Empire and Republic is taking centre stage again. I don’t have the knee-jerk negative reaction to this faction conflict that I do to the endlessly tedious Alliance/Horde war in WoW, but it’s not something that thrills me, either.

The trouble with any story like this is that, as I have said before, neither side can ever really win or lose. The structure of the game prevents it. So it’s a conflict that has no real drama.

It worked in the base game because the faction war was just a backdrop for our class stories. We each had our individual stories to give us personal motivation, whether it be unmasking the Children of the Emperor or fighting to earn a place on the Dark Council. We need a similar hook or twist now to make things interesting, and while that might be coming later, Ossus doesn’t provide that. It feels like a side quest at best.

I’m also concerned that this may be too much an attempt to reset the story. I’m okay with taking the focus away from Zakuul and back to the base factions, but we can’t totally ignore recent events. Lana, Theron, the Alliance, and the war with Zakuul have all been too much a part of the game for too long to be swept under the rug. I really hope that’s not how this is going to play out.

[image error]On a related note, what I find perhaps most concerning about Ossus is that it’s introducing so many new characters. That might not seem like a big issue, but one of SWTOR’s biggest problems is that it has an overly bloated cast and nowhere near the resources to give all the characters their due. And now they want to add even more characters to juggle?

Why?

It just shows really poor judgment on the part of the developers. And doubly so when you consider that so far none of the new characters are at all memorable or interesting. I’ve already forgotten most of their names.

Ossus is not entirely a write-off. When it’s not wasting time with faceless newbies I have no reason to care about, it does reintroduce some very beloved characters, though even with them there are stumbles.

Firstly, as trumpeted from the rooftops by Bioware for some reason, Darth Malgus is back. This frankly reeks of a marketing ploy. It comes totally out of the blue with no good explanation of how he survived, and the whole thing feels pretty silly.

That being said, Malgus is still one of the best characters in the game. Like Lana, he’s an excellent example of how to make Sith interesting, nuanced characters rather than mindless brutes. He’s as ruthless as you’d expect a Sith lord to be, but he also obviously cares deeply for the welfare of the Empire, and he’s thoughtful and pragmatic. I’ve always regretted that I wasn’t able to take his side in False Emperor, and he’s a character I’m happy to once more follow into battle.

[image error]So no matter how poorly handled his return might be, it’s still probably a net win for the game.

On the other side of things, we finally have Nadia back. That was, after all, the whole point of bringing my Jedi up to speed. He and his wife are reunited.

This also was not handled well. Of all the companions in the game, Nadia’s probably the one who was most well-equipped to track down the player when they went missing. She’s Force-bonded to you, she’s exceptionally strong in the Force, and she commands a sizable army. Her letter in Fallen Empire talks about how she’s on the warpath to get you back, and she has everything she needs to achieve that goal.

Ossus 100% ignores all of this. The Rift Alliance has apparently vanished into the aether (it’s not even mentioned), and it appears that Nadia gave up on finding you almost immediately and just buggered off to Ossus to farm with the rest of Jedi.

If you romance her, that’s also mostly ignored but for a few lines that could be interpreted as vaguely romantic if you squint and tilt your head. I was wondering if I was bugged and the game wasn’t recognizing the romance tag or something. Only at the very end do you get a very brief patch of dialogue in which you can choose to reaffirm your relationship.

All that being said, there is still a fair bit of Nadia in this patch, and Nadia is still an absolute and utter delight. I particularly enjoyed her effusive delight over what the Alliance had accomplished, and her truly inspiring vision for peace after the war.

[image error]Man, we all need a Nadia or two in our lives.

It’s a long way from everything I wanted, but it’s good to have her back all the same.

* * *

So it’s not all bad news, but I can’t say I’m feeling very good about the state of SWTOR right now. I really hope that once Anthem launches and more resources are freed up things will improve.

Dungeons and Dragons: Meet My Characters

As tabletop role-playing continues to take over my life, I have of course rapidly built up a sizable stable of characters. I thought it might be interesting to do a rundown of them all, and what I enjoy about each one.

[image error]Maigraith Numin:

Race: High Elf

Alignment: Neutral good

Classes: Paladin 5, cleric 1

Sub-classes: Oath of the Ancients, Life Domain

Backstory: In her youth, she was a warrior. She served as a mercenary, an adventurer, a hired bodyguard, and much more. At first, it was wanderlust that drove her. Then, she simply knew no other life.

The centuries of bloodshed wore her down. She came to hate her life of violence, and her role in it. In the end, she could take no more. She spurned the mercenary life, and swore an oath to use her skills only to defend and preserve life.

She follows no gods. She believes in none. Her faith is only in herself, and the belief that there is still good in this world that is worth preserving.

Mai is my “main.” I played her in the short-lived Storm King’s Thunder campaign that began my D&D career, and after a while I imported her to our current campaign, where she replaced Rabican.

I love this character. I love her role-play, her backstory, and her mechanics. We tweaked some of the paladin rules (as previously discussed) to make her work as a ranged character, as I really wanted to make her an archer. She’s since become firmly established as our party’s main healer/support, while also putting out some pretty respectable damage.

Her only weakness is that she’s very squishy for a paladin. Her AC isn’t bad (16), but she has a -1 constitution modifier, so her health pool is pitiful. It’s become a running gag in our group. A stiff wind could knock her over.

Mai is heavily inspired by a couple of my WoW characters. Her backstory and personality are a mixed of my paladin and my shaman, though ironically she’s closer to the shaman than the paladin.

Rabican:

Race: Tiefling

Alignment: Chaotic good

Classes: Monk 3, bard 1

Sub-class: Way of Shadows

Backstory: Those who dare the slums of Baldur’s Gate may see Tieflings dance the Firefoot. What few outsiders understand is that the Firefoot’s acrobatic leaps and graceful kicks actually form the basis of a deadly martial art, developed to allow the downtrodden to defend themselves from all who might exploit them.

One of the Firefoot’s more accomplished practitioners is the man named Rabican. He travels between inns and taverns, performing his dances for the crowds… and if the crowd should get too rowdy, he knows just how to deal with that.

Rabican has little trust of outsiders or the “proper” authorities, but he would do anything for his friends and neighbours, and when trouble comes calling, the residents of the slums always know who to turn to.

Rabican was my initial character for our main campaign. He was inspired by the Brazilian martial art of capoeira, which was designed by African slaves and disguised as a dance to give them a way to train without arousing suspicion. Given Tieflings are a bit of an underclass in D&D lore, it made sense for to me for them to develop a similar martial art.

There’s a lot I like about Rabican. Whereas most of my characters are cautious and thoughtful, Rabican prefers to rush in and let his fists do the talking, which can be pretty fun. His combination of monk and bard abilities also make him very versatile and well-rounded, which I enjoy.

However, I came to realize that I don’t like playing melee very much in this game. Also, as fun as Rabican is, I do like Mai better as a character. She’s more “me.”

I may still play him again at some point. No specific plans have been made, but I’ve discussed the possibility of swapping back to him for a session or two with our DM.

Dorotea Senjak:

Race: Drow

Alignment: Chaotic good

Class: Sorcerer

Sub-class: Draconic Bloodline*

*(I’m using the mechanics of the Draconic Bloodline origin, but RP-wise, I explain her abilities as the result of demonic heritage.)

Backstory: Even by the standards of the Drow, House Senjak was among the worst. Dorotea does not remember what sparked the house’s demons to run amok. She remembers only that they killed everyone she had ever known, and that she would have died too if dark power had not erupted from her, slaying her attacker — and revealing that she too carries the blood of the Abyss.

Hating what she is and where she came from, Dorotea retreated to the surface, where she ekes out an existence as a vagrant.

So far, I’ve only played this character once, but after months of break, there are some more sessions for her campaign coming up this week. This campaign uses Adventurers’ League rules, which I’m not overly fond of. I would have preferred to give Dorotea one of the Unearthed Arcana subclasses (likely Phoenix Sorcery), but I had to make do.

That said, she’s still a character I quite enjoy. She’s sort of halfway between Mai’s utter stoicism and Rabican’s wild ways. She’s cautious, but she has a harsh edge.

Mechanically, unlike all my other characters, I have not chosen to hybridize her or give her any support abilities. Instead, she’s pure “burn the world down” damage. If a spell involves fire, she probably knows it.

Dorotea is a significantly modified adaptation of my ranger character from Neverwinter. The stuff with demons is new, but both are exiled Drow princesses who’ve come to hate their own people.

Myrdred:

Race: Shadar-kai

Alignment: True neutral

Class: Druid

Sub-class: Circle of Twilight

Backstory: Dispatched into the material plane by the Raven Queen, it is Myrdred’s duty to hunt undead and maintain the balance of nature by ensuring nothing escapes its fated end.

Knowledgeable, curious, and patient, those whose goals align with his will find him an amiable, if inscrutable, companion.

What others are unlikely to ever see is the desperate fear in Myrdred’s heart, for he has come to love the warmth of the living world, and he dreads completing his mission and being drawn back into the cold embrace of the Shadowfell…

I created this character for a couple of side-sessions we did in the Ravenloft setting, and I really enjoyed playing him. I love the idea of the Circle of Twilight spec — a dark, necromantic druid wielding the powers of death to hunt undead — and it felt like a perfect match for the anti-undead attitudes of the Raven Queen and her Shadar-kai.

There’s obviously a strong inspiration from Diablo’s necromancers, as well, with the concept of maintaining balance.

Also, as my only character who isn’t good-aligned, he’s a bit of a change of pace RP-wise. I love playing goody two-shoes types, but Mydred’s detached perspective is refreshingly different.

Like Mai, he’s a mix of support and ranged damage abilities, leaning perhaps a bit more toward damage than Mai.

Merrill:

Race: Half-Elf

Alignment: Neutral good

Class: Ranger

Sub-class: Hunter

Backstory: Abandoned at birth, Merrill was raised in an orphanage by a kindly Halfling couple. When her Aberrant Dragonmark manifested, it became too dangerous for her to remain at the orphanage, and she took to living on the streets.

In House Tarkanan, she has found allies who accept her, but while she’s grateful for their assistance, she doesn’t entirely trust them, and has refused full membership in the House as a result.

I made this character for a one-shot we played in the Eberron setting a few months back. Yes, she’s named after the Dragon Age character, and while it wasn’t my plan, as the session went on I increasingly began to role-play her as Dragon Age Merrill. I even started doing the accent a little bit after a while.

I love her personality, but to be honest ranger is probably the least fun class I’ve played in D&D so far. It feels like a class that only works in a very realistic campaign with a lot of survival mechanics, which is not how we play. With all of their abilities focused on exploration and survival, in combat all you can do is plink arrows at people. It’s super one-dimensional.

Macro:

Format: Guardian

Alignment: Chaotic good

Backstory: Armed with his trusty KeyTool, Micro, Macro has spent many long minutes of his life patrolling the seedy lower wards of the Super Computer. In that time, he’s developed a deep contempt for viruses and those who aid them, and a casual disregard for the regulations of the Guardian Code.

This character was for our DM’s experimental one-shot in the Reboot setting. I didn’t take him at all seriously. I just went full cheeseball with him. He’s a growly, hardboiled, loose cannon detective who plays by his own rules. It was fun. Not sure he’d hold up over a long campaign, but I wouldn’t mind playing him again once or twice.

Future concepts:

Of course that still isn’t enough to satisfy my alt lust. I’ve toyed with the idea of rolling a warlock for a long time, though I’m having trouble nailing down a good backstory for one. I really want to go with the Great Old One patron, but it’s hard to come up with a character who fits that but isn’t the stereotypical power hungry lunatic or nihilistic cultist.

I’m also tempted to import my warrior from WoW (the Dwarf), as I really like her personality, but fighter holds little appeal to me mechanically, so I’m not sure if I’ll do that.

I don’t expect I’ll ever play my TSW homebrew as anything but a DM, but if I did manage to make it work as a player, I’d probably be a Dragon (of course). Either a blood hunter replicating my old main from the MMO, or a druid with the new subclass I designed for it.

Then again, a Council of Venice character is also tempting. Perhaps that new Way of Gun monk subclass I designed…

What I’m up to + New Article

I haven’t really done or experienced anything lately that deserves its own deep-dive post, but I thought I might do a quick run down of the various nerdy passtimes I’ve been engaging in as of late.

[image error]First, after finishing Limetown, I bounced around for a bit, trying different podcasts before I found one I like: Welcome to Night Vale.

The friend who first recommended Night Vale went on and on about how indescribably weird it was and how I just had to experience it for myself. I thought he was exaggerating.

He was not exaggerating.

Welcome to Night Vale is spectacularly strange. The best way I can describe it is it’s like Douglas Adams on acid, with a hefty dose of conspiracy theories and Lovecraftian influence. It takes the form of a community radio show operating out of a small desert town that appears to exist in a surreal alternate universe dominated by a ruthless totalitarian government and filled with eldritch horrors as a matter of every day life.

I think?

It’s best described as a dark comedy, but it really is unlike anything else. My only complaints are it can be a bit samey, and that the overwhelming scattershot weirdness prevents it from being as relaxing as you might expect from such a silly show. It really demands your full attention.

On the reading front, the most interesting book I’ve read recently is Diablo’s Book of Adria. This continues the series of lorebooks that also included the Book of Cain and the Book of Tyrael.

As with its predecessors, it’s a beautifully made book full of stellar artwork. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of any significant new lore revelations, but it does provide a very interesting insight into Adria’s motivations as a character. I wouldn’t say it makes her more sympathetic per se — she remains a viciously ruthless schemer — but it does provide some nuance to her beyond the power hungry madwoman one might take her for at first glance.

All in all, I’d say the Book of Adria is less revelatory than the Book of Cain, but more interesting than the Book of Tyrael. I’d recommend it.

When it comes to gaming, I’ve little to report. Still messing around with ESO and feeling very ambivalent about it. I’ve been trying to get my consular caught up in the story in SWTOR, and I’ve started running my TSW homebrew mini-campaign in D&D, but I’ll have more to say about both those things later.

Finally, I’ve had another article published at MMO Bro, in which I discuss the importance of stability in MMO design.

Song of the Month: Sloan, Unkind

I was having a bit of trouble picking a song for this month. Then it occurred to me that I’d started out the month by referencing a Sloan lyric, so why not share a Sloan song? (Though, ironically, the song I’m sharing is not the one I referenced.)

Sloan is sometimes referred to as “the Canadian Beatles” (or at least my father is always calling them that), due to their upbeat power pop sound. They’re an interesting band in that their music has never stoked the kind of fervent passion in me that, say, Metric or Chvrches does, but at the same time, I can’t think of a single Sloan song I don’t like.

Considering Sloan has been around basically forever and has a massive library, that does tell you something. They’re nothing if not consistent.

Unkind is one of my favourites of theirs, but really, you can’t go wrong with anything they’ve done.

ESO: Buy This Car to Drive to Work, Drive to Work to Pay for This Car

I seem to be referencing a lot of song lyrics lately. Perhaps I’ve been reading Inventory Full too much.

[image error]Anyway, the last few weeks have seen me playing more of Elder Scrolls Online than anything else, and I have some fairly mixed feelings on that.

First the news, then the navel-gazing.

Rise of the alts:

Recently over the course of two days I manage to get both my alts (well, both the ones I actually play) to max level with the aid of a lot of XP boosts and dungeon spam.

By now my main has maxed out every crafting profession except for jewelry, which appears to be have been designed as punishment for mankind’s sins, so I was able to immediately outfit both characters in gear 100% crafted by myself, with mats I gathered myself, all of it epic or legendary quality.

That is a good feeling. I love being this self-reliant. No need for other players or prayers to RNGesus. I have all the power, and it feels so good to read “Made by Maigraith Santh” on all my gear (again, except the jewelry). Also, being able to choose the styles has effectively given me a second outfit slot for both characters, though with the disadvantage that I can’t use any armour type the way I would with a “real” outfit.

Also, why can’t I dye weapons without using an outfit slot? Can you answer me that, Zenimax? With all your science?!?

[image error]I know that if you really want to min/max dropped sets are often better than crafted, but this gear is still more than powerful enough for any of the content I’m likely to do. The first thing I did on my templar after equipping her new gear was solo a world boss that kicked her ass when she first arrived in Stonefalls. Took a while cause her damage isn’t great, but I did it.

In fact, ironically my alts are now much more powerful than my main. My main is using a hybrid magicka/stamina build that I find fun and flavourful, but which is deeply sub-optimal. My alts may not be perfectly min/maxed, but they do hew much closer to traditional builds. My templar is a tank, and my warden a pure caster.

Though, I have to say, I have some regrets in regards to the templar. Turns out I don’t like tanking in ESO very much.

This is not a problem with tanking itself. The lack of an AoE taunt or even any threat boosts to help hold crowds is a bit weird, but mostly the tanking mechanics in ESO are fine.

The problem is this game doesn’t need tanks.

Oh, I’m sure if you do really high end stuff like raids you probably need a tank or two, but the more casual content I frequent can just be zerged by a bunch of DPS. You barely need a healer, and you definitely don’t need a tank. If you try to actually play as one, you’ll quickly realize how worthless you are. You can keep the boss taunted to make yourself feel useful, but there’s really no need.

[image error]Worse still, the community knows it. Everyone just bolts through in full “go-go-go” mode. Try to keep up if you can. I’m not a fan of that playstyle at the best of times, and as a tank I find it intolerable.

I suppose I can use her to solo hard stuff my main can’t. She laughs at public dungeons, and seeing if she can defeat more world bosses could be an interesting challenge, I suppose. Perhaps I could finally play through the Craglorn story. It seemed interesting, but my main couldn’t hack it.

Then again, I’m not really sure what I’m doing with any of my characters these days.

Running on a treadmill:

Leveling my alts led to a bit of a revelation. See, I leveled them almost entirely without questing. I mostly run dungeons, dolmens, and the occasional battleground. My warden has completed maybe two or three non-dungeon quests ever. My templar finished Stonefalls and started on Deshaan, but that’s about it.

And you know what? I didn’t miss it.

This is a strange experience. Questing is generally my focus in any MMO. Exploring worlds and stories is the entire reason I play video games. And yet in ESO I find I enjoy it most when I play it as a sandbox game — wandering, gathering, crafting, thieving, decorating, and generally doing anything but the story.

[image error]Somewhere out there, a sandbox purist is smirking and tenting their fingers.

But this is not some change in my tastes, or at least not a radical one. It’s unique to ESO, a combination of unusually engaging non-combat activities and unusually dull story-telling.

The thing is, everything in ESO is the same. Every zone has the same collection of quests, group events, world bosses, delves, and skyshards. And all of that content is built around standard formulas. If you’ve seen one delve, you’ve pretty much seen them all.

This is normally where story comes in to save the day. While ESO takes it to an extreme, formulaic content design is hardly an uncommon quality for an MMO to have. But stale gameplay can be given life by an engaging plot or characters — see SWTOR.

But even the story in ESO comes from a cookie cutter. It’s all the same. Bland generic cultists are trying to blow up the world in service of a Daedric Prince. The only thing that changes is which Prince, but they’re all the same, too. In theory each Prince is meant to have their own domain and personality, but they all come across as the same megalomaniacal mustache-twirler. I just stopped caring.

I am enjoying playing sans-story, but it does leave me with a nagging question: why? Why am I doing any of this?

[image error]I like to have purpose in games. It’s the reason total sandboxes have rarely held much appeal. I want to know what I’m working towards; I need a good motivation.

Usually, that’s story. I earn gear so I don’t find myself outmatched when new story arrives. I explore to earn a deeper understanding of the setting. I make alts to repeat old story or experience it from a new perspective.

Absent any investment in the lore, I don’t know why I’m playing. This is such a foreign way to approach gaming for me my brain is having trouble processing it.

Part of me feels it’s good to broaden my horizons like this. It’s a new way to enjoy gaming. But another part me of feels like I’m going to look back in a few years and wonder why the hell I wasted so much of my life picking flowers in Tamriel. I grind to make better gear to wear while I grind. I fear I may be flunking my “will this make a good memory” test.

I’ve reached this point in other games, but usually I quit soon after. When I stopped caring about Guild Wars 2 from a lore perspective, I quickly stopped playing, even though I still largely enjoyed the gameplay. Yet ESO lingers. I think it’s some mix of a satisfying gameplay loop combined with sunk cost fallacy, but I’m not sure what the balance of those two forces is.

Sometimes I wonder if the course of history might have changed if I’d never played Thieves Guild.

[image error]Thieves Guild was really, really good. In both game mechanics and story-telling, it was full of wit and creativity, and it played to ESO’s strengths very well. The good will from that DLC kept me going for a long time, but only now am I beginning to realize that it was an aberration. The charm and cleverness displayed by Thieves Guild is largely absent from the rest of the game.

I will say again that ESO is a very well-designed game, and it does many things very, very well. But it has no soul, and that’s a problem I’m still struggling to solve.

It’s Not the Band I Hate; It’s Their Fans

I have never played Path of Exile. I probably never will.

[image error]This is not entirely because it’s a game that doesn’t appeal to me. As a free to play fantasy ARPG, it’s in my wheelhouse enough that it should theoretically be worth a look, if nothing else. Unfortunately, its community has done a singularly good job of turning me off the game.

You see, I can’t recall ever hearing anyone say anything good about Path of Exile that wasn’t couched in the form of a dig at Diablo III.

This is a turn-off on a number of levels.

Firstly, if the only good thing you can say about your game is that it’s not another game, well, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? Drawing comparisons is one thing, but any game should be able to stand on its own merits.

Second, there is a strong streak of elitism in the criticism leveled at Diablo III, and therefore also in the praise of PoE. While some people do have legitimate grievances of D3 that I won’t argue with, a lot of the time it’s people who seem to think it’s too “dumbed down” and childish, whereas PoE is a “real” ARPG with “proper” skill trees and an appropriately “mature” tone. UPHILL. IN THE SNOW. BOTH WAYS. LIKE A REAL MAN. GRR.

Related to the above, a lot of the things people hate D3 for are the very same things I like about it. I like that I don’t need to Google a guide to figure out my build. I like that experimentation is encouraged. I like that freedom and flexibility.

[image error]The end result is that I have been given the overwhelming impression that PoE is not just a game that isn’t for me, but a game designed for and occupied by people who don’t want players like me around.

Now, I grant it is possible — nay, probable — that I am being unfair. I don’t doubt that a great many people playing Path of Exile are perfectly fine, and not embittered edgelord elitists. It’s also quite possible it’s a fine game I might enjoy.

Unfortunately, the embittered edgelord elitists are the ones you hear from most often, so for me they have become the face of PoE and its community. They’re the first thing I think of when I think of the game, and it’s a negative association that’s gotten so ingrained over the years that it’s hard to overcome.

I started off this post thinking only about Path of Exile, but mulling it over, it occurs to me that PoE is not the first gaming experience I’ve been turned off of by the community.

Despite the fact I’ve playing MMORPGs avidly for the better part of a decade now, I’ve never really gotten into raiding, as longtime readers undoubtedly know. I flirted with it during Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm, but once the Raid Finder was added, I gave up on “real” raiding forever. Not even my beloved Secret World could make me care about its raids. I never even attempted them.

On reflection, this has at least as much to do with raiders as it does with raids.

[image error]My experience with the raiding community has been almost uniformly one of bitterness, scorn, and elitism. Raiders are the ones who spent years calling me a “filthy casual,” and that’s by far the least offensive label I’ve been given. Raiders are the ones who fly off the handle the moment anyone like me has even a shot at minimal progression. Raiders are the ones I saw treating everyone outside their clique as something less than human.

And again, I know not all raiders are like that. Many are just fine, I know. But that was the prevailing experience I’ve had with raiders. That is the public face of the raiding community, and that bile is what immediately comes to mind for me when I think of raiding.

And that is one of the driving reasons why I never became a raider. There are other things I don’t love about raiding — such as the time commitments — but the community turned me off so badly I never had much motivation to give it a serious shot. Maybe I never would have gotten into raiding anyway, but we’ll never know.

My disinterest in PvP is also affected by this kind of community negativity. Never, in my entire WoW career, have I seen a battleground team lose with good grace. It always ends in name-calling and rage, without exception.

Now, PvP is fairly outside what I find compelling in games to begin with, and I have other issues with PvP outside the community, but the experience I’ve had with people who PvP hasn’t improved matters. PvP was never going to be a favourite activity for me, but it might have made up a larger portion of my gaming diet if my experience with its community had been one of sportsmanship and respect rather than a teeming mass of homophobes, tea-baggers, and nerd-raging man-children.

[image error]All this is just more testament to how negativity and toxicity is poisoning gaming. If you want your hobby to prosper, you need to present a welcoming face, not elitism and hostility.

Exploring Audio Dramas: From Quiet, Please to Limetown

Lately I’ve been looking for new ways to occupy my time during dinner. Usually I like to watch “TV” (on my computer — I haven’t owned an actual television in years), but I’ve been trying to save money on streaming services like Netflix, especially since there isn’t much on said services I really want to see at the moment.

[image error]This past October I had the idea for a seasonally appropriate diversion. One of my favourite ever pieces of content in The Secret World was the Halloween mission “The Broadcast,” which involved a series of haunted radios. Exorcising all nine radios awarded the player with an in-game item they could use to listen to the audio dramas playing on the radios at any time.

It’s an incredibly cool idea, but I’d never really gotten around to sitting down and listening to them, with the exception of the famous Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast. I suppose the idea of radio plays just seemed a bit quaint in this day and age, though I now regret that rather narrow-minded view.

At any rate, this year I decided to finally dig out my Paranormal Shortwave and listen to the remaining eight dramas. They were a bit hit and miss, and some really haven’t aged well, but on the whole it proved a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

It takes a little getting used to, but once you become accustomed to the lack of visual stimuli, it’s amazing how easy it is to get lost in the stories. There’s something deeply immersive about pure audio.

My two favourites of the dramas I listened to in TSW (Northern Lights and The Thing on the Fourble Board) were both from a show called Quiet, Please. They were delightfully surrealistic pieces of Lovecraftian horror.

I find there’s something about the audio format that makes horror much more palatable for me. Normally I’m not much of a horror fan, my delirious love for TSW notwithstanding. But as I’ve talked about before, I do enjoy horror that can create a sense of ambiance. Something that’s spooky, rather than scary.

Audio is less immediate and yet somewhat paradoxically more immersive than most other forms of fiction, and that hits a perfect sweet spot for delivering the kind of ambient experience I seek from horror.

My positive experiences with Quiet, Please and the other dramas in TSW left me wanting more. I was already peripherally aware that the audio drama format is undergoing something of a low key renaissance and that there were many free audio dramas online, so I began researching them.

When I looked for recommendations, one name came up over and over: Limetown.

[image error]From its description, I took Limetown to be a supernatural mystery in the vein of TSW, and I jumped on it. I’ve spent the last few weeks getting caught up, and I’ve now enjoyed every episode of the two seasons that have been produced so far.

Limetown blew me away out of the gate. The voice acting, the mystery, and the sheer ambiance of it was just impeccable. It’s strange to praise the sound design of an audio drama since sound design is basically all it is, but still, the sound design of Limetown is flawless. The subtle background sounds and foley effects put you in the moment so brilliantly.

I think it’s fascinating that at no point has Limetown given any significant physical description of its main character, Lia Haddock, yet I can picture her perfectly in my mind.

I will say that as time went on my love for Limetown did wain a bit. Going in, I was worried it would be another story where questions keep getting piled on without any answers, but it actually ended up being the opposite extreme. Limetown is perhaps a bit too quick to offer answers and resolve its big questions.

Also, I found it slowly became less about the speculative elements of the story and gravitated more towards being a simple thriller a la Jason Bourne or its ilk. As a sci-fi/fantasy nerd, that disappointed me.

That being said, it’s still pretty damn good. All the praise above regarding voice acting and sound design remains true throughout, and it never fails to be a thrilling, intense story. It might not have 100% lived up to the promise of its first few episodes, but at the end of the day I’ve only downgraded Limetown from “absolute masterpiece” to “pretty good and definitely worth your time.”

There’s no word yet on if there will be a third season of Limetown, but I certainly hope for one. The story is there, waiting to be told.

The producers seem to have ambitions to make this a whole franchise. There’s already a prequel novel (which I will probably read at some point), and in theory there’s supposed to be a TV series at some point (on Facebook of all places).

For my part, I need to find a new audio drama to listen to.

I feel silly for not pursuing the idea long ago. As I said, I have been aware of audio dramas for some time. I produced* a short series of them when I was a teenager, for Pete’s sake, and I’ve also listened to Blizzard’s forays into the medium with its audio Legion tie-ins.

*(By which I mean did very little and somehow got nearly all of the credit.)

Well, better late than never. Now, I understand the appeal. Now, I have heard the future.

(Limetown fans will understand that last bit.)

Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

I almost didn’t bother seeing this movie. The various controversies surrounding the film, and especially Johnny Depp, left a very sour taste in my mouth, and I started to feel as if paying to watch it would be a violation of my own values.

[image error]But perhaps my values aren’t so ironclad, because here we are. Hey, I loved the original.

In an attempt to balance my karma and/or assuage my guilty conscience, I did make a $10 donation to the North York Women’s Shelter. If anyone else is feeling similarly conflicted, I’d recommend making a similar donation to a charity in their community.

Anyway, on to the movie.

As I said above, I was very impressed by the last Fantastic Beasts movie. It provided a surprisingly dark and powerful tale with far more depth than I anticipated. Crimes of Grindelwald is perhaps not quite so impressive, but I still enjoyed it.

Once again, my expectations were defied. With a title like “Crimes of Grindelwald,” I was expecting an action-packed, Empire Strikes Back style tour de force. Instead, the experience is much more introspective and character-driven.

The theme of Crimes seems to be the wizarding world choosing sides. Grindelwald is marshaling his army, and people must choose to either stand with him, or against him. This takes place both on a grand, societal scale and a more intimate scale as the cast — including all the main characters from last time plus a few new faces — also must begin to take sides.

I don’t want to say too much, but you should expect to be surprised by how some characters choose to place their loyalties. I sure as hell was.

[image error]The cast of Crimes of Grindelwald is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.

On the one hand, every character is once again excellent, both in terms of writing and acting. Even Newt’s started to grow on me.

Much as it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, I must give special praise to Johnny Depp, who absolutely nails Grindelwald’s dark charisma. The cartoonish evil of Voldemort this is not; as sinister as he is, Grindelwald is a man I can believe people would want to follow.

However, there is a downside. The cast has become quite bloated. On top of all the characters from the first movie, quite a number of new ones have been added, and while they’re also good characters played by talented actors, there just isn’t enough time in the movie to give every character their due. It’s spread too thin.

As a devoted Tina fanboy, I was particularly distressed by how small her role in this movie was. She’s hardly there, and she doesn’t contribute anything of value to the story. Honestly, she doesn’t need to be included at all. It would be almost exactly the same movie without her.

Aside from that issue, though, Crimes of Grindelwald is another surprisingly dark and thoughtful movie that is worth your time if your morals are as evidently flexible as mine.

Overall rating: 8.1/10