Tyler F.M. Edwards's Blog, page 51

Review: Dark Matter, “Welcome to Your New Home”

It seems Space is no longer putting up Dark Matter episodes on its website. That or they’re just being exceptionally slow, but I wasn’t willing to wait. To make a long story short, I had to download iTunes and watch it that way, having exhausted every other conceivable option.

You made me give money to Apple, Space. I hope you’re happy with yourself.

Ugh.

That frustration aside, it gives me great pleasure to say that Dark Matter is back. Last year’s best surprise for sci-fi fans has returned with a new season — and honest to goodness episode titles.

Season two begins shortly after Six’s shocking betrayal at the end of season one. The crew of the Raza has been captured by the Galactic Authority, and their ship impounded.

Two, Three, and Four are thrown into the galaxy’s highest security prison, where their brutal inmates and corrupt guards soon make life a living Hell.

One, being a member of the privileged elite*, manages to get off scot-free and proceeds to begin looking into the truth behind the murder of his wife.

*(Hmm, I wonder if him being One is meant to be a play on the idea of the “one percent”? How did I not think of that before now?)

The android I have unilaterally decided to name Sally is interrogated, but offers nothing but history’s most well-mannered defiance. Go Sally.

Five is caught in limbo. There’s not much legal ground to hold her, but she knows far too much for the GA to let her go free. Also, apparently her real name is Emily, which makes this the second recent sci-fi series where my favourite character has been named Emily and continues my streak of positive associations with the name.

Finally, the man formerly known as Six desperately tries to convince himself he’s done the right thing, even in spite of ever-mounting evidence to the contrary.

The thing I like about Dark Matter is how consistent it is. You can always count on it to provide an hour (well, forty-odd minutes) of pure entertainment, and “Welcome to Your New Home” is no exception. Action, suspense, mystery, emotion, character development — the season premiere has it all.

And in the finest tradition of Dark Matter, there’s one Hell of a twist at the end.

I’ve heard it said that this season will focus more on world-building and exploring the geopolitical (astropolitical?) intrigues in the Dark Matter universe, and you can already see some hints of that in the premiere. Even as the crew struggles to survive prison, there are clues of something greater at work behind the scenes.

Season one had a laser focus on the characters, so we didn’t learn very much about the greater setting. It will be interesting to see the show’s mythology expand.

My only complaints about this episode are incredibly minor. It seemed a bit odd to me that One didn’t seem to put any effort into helping his friends. I realize there likely wasn’t much he could do, but for all his flaws, he doesn’t strike me as the sort to give up without a fight. I could see him abandoning Four and Three to their fate, but not Two.

I also would have liked to see the characters take Six to task a little more for what he’s done. Five yelling at him was nice; I wanted to see more of that. He was pretty much the only person on the Raza who was on good terms with everyone. He is the last person anyone expected to turn coat. That should have cut the other characters deep, and we just don’t see that.

Also, more of Sally being awesome, please.

But it’s still a great episode either way.

One other thing worth noting is that “Welcome to Your New Home” has appearances by some memorable sci-fi veterans. Mike Dopud, who played Varro on Stargate: Universe, appears as a gang leader, and Trenna Keating — better known as Meh Yewll to Defiance fans — plays One’s lawyer.

Overall rating: 8.2/10 Damn, I have to wait a whole week to watch the next one.

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Dark Matter, review, sci-fi, TV

Review: X-Men: Apocalypse

As a long-time fan of the X-Men movies, I had hoped to see Apocalypse before now, but, well, life.

Also as a long-time fan of the series, I had kind of mixed feelings going into the movie. On the one hand, yay, new X-Men. On the other, Apocalypse honestly didn’t look all that interesting compared to most of the past movies.

I was right to be concerned, but the good news is it’s still a decent movie all told.

In case you’re somehow unfamiliar with the story, X-Men: Apocalypse deals mainly with the titular character, the first and most powerful mutant. Apocalypse is an immortal being who has achieved nearly limitless power by absorbing the abilities of dozens of other mutants over many centuries. Entombed beneath the earth for thousands of years, Apocalypse has now been unleashed, and he plans to destroy human civilization as we know it and rule over what remains as a god.

Apocalypse is one of the main problems with the movie. Despite his vast power, he is ultimately an incredibly dull villain. He has no nuance, no motivation the viewer can sympathize with.

And honestly he’s just not that crucial to the story, strange as that may sound. If you removed Apocalypse from the movie that bears his name, not all that much would change.

Really the story is about Magneto. Again. It’s pretty much a retread of Magneto’s story to date, especially his arc in Days of Future Past. He’s angry at humans and wants to destroy the world, but Charles and the X-Men still believe he can be redeemed.

It’s a powerful story, and Michael Fassbender is a fantastic actor, so if you’re going to retread a story, you could do a lot worse than this one. I feel very torn because we have seen all this before, but it’s still such a compelling story.

The other big problem with Apocalypse (the movie, not the character) is that it spreads itself incredibly thin. It introduces over half a dozen new mutants, and also reintroduces Moira McTaggert… for some reason. Seriously, Moira spends the entire movie just standing in the background and looking shocked. She does nothing.

Moira is the most egregious example of a character included just for the sake of saying they’re present, but she’s far from the only one. Other than Magneto, none of Apocalypse’s “horsemen” (half of which are actually more horsewomen) get any real development, and a lot of the good-side mutants are about as undercooked.

I think a particular missed opportunity was not delving more into Nightcrawler’s spirituality. His faith is so important to him, and Apocalypse is pretty much the definition of a false idol. You’d think they could have made something out of that. But no, he’s another character who’s just kind of there.

Also, did anyone really want to see a young Cyclops? Does anyone actually like him at all, come to think of it? I think we pretty much all agree he’s the lamest of the X-Men by far.

On the other hand, there are some pleasant surprises here. Quicksilver has gone from a character I usually remember exists to possibly one of my favourite mutants. He’s basically just nothing but awesome and ass-kicking through the whole movie.

There are also some surprise cameos by a couple of old favourites that add some real spice to the movie.

While they don’t get as much attention as they should due to the bloated cast, the core X-Men cast members — Xavier, Beast, Mystique — all put on strong performances again. Xavier, in particular, has some truly spectacular scenes this time around. I’ve never seen that character properly angry before. It’s terrifying.

Finally, something else that impressed me about Apocalypse was its special effects and cinematography. Not just the technical quality of the effects, but the creativity and artistry with which they’re used. This is a beautiful movie to look at.

So Apocalypse is one of those weird movies that’s kind of crappy in some ways but also really good in others. It’s all over the map, but on balance, I’d say it’s more good than bad.

It’s definitely not on par with the last couple of X-Men films, though.

Overall rating: 7.4/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: movies, review, sci-fi, x-men

Fan Fiction: The Black in the Red

Some time ago, The Secret World ran a series of contests as as part of their “IAMTSW” festivities. Among these was a character backstory competition, and of course, I had to enter.

I chose my Templar as the subject. While she’s not necessarily my favourite of my characters, I think her backstory is probably the most unique and potentially the most interesting.

In an effort to stand out, I chose to emulate the writing style of the in-game lore entries from the Buzzing. I wanted it to feel just like the lore you’d pick up while playing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t win anything in the contest, but I’m still fairly happy with how it turned out, so now I’m sharing it with you, dear reader. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

———————-

Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.

TRANSMIT – initiate Brutus signal – RECEIVE – initiate the Frankenstein lexicon – HAVE NOT I CHOSEN YOU TWELVE, AND ONE OF YOU IS A DEVIL? – initiate the black in the red – WITNESS – Dorotea Senjak.

A young woman works at a computer. Clickety-clack, clickety-clack. Her world is full of tax codes, surcharges, and compound interest. Money is a nonsense thing, a set of imaginary rules that governs the lives of all sweetlings. Yet she is content with her life. She brings order to nonsense. She feels safe.

She walks home, sipping her third Moca Loco of the day. She finds her bed and sleeps, but her dreams are strange. It is there that we find her.

Her fingers spit flame. She gasps, and primal forces rend her furniture, burn her clothes.

Time passes. She learns to control her new powers, but her fear does not subside. She believes she has gone mad. If only madness were so simple.

Then comes the knock at her door. A clean, polished woman greets her with the symbol of the cross.

A plane ride to London. A vision on the street. Understanding dawns, and the accountant learns that there are stranger things still than tax laws. Her mind fills with images of fangs in the night, and shadows that whisper.

Initiate biological scan: The eyes widen. The pores excrete saltwater. The heart pumps faster. The voice is silent, but the flesh screams in terror. The neat little world she knew was a lie.

She finds her way to the Templars. They fill her mind with images of pride, strength, and tradition. The flash of steel and the heat of righteous fire. The smooth baritone of a man named Richard soothes her, and she begins to feel safe again. Monsters are real, but so are heroes.

But there are no White Knights in the Dark Days, sweetling.

She thought she would save everyone. She thought mercy was the watchword. Templars do not understand mercy. “We cannot offer salvation on a case-by-case basis,” says the man behind the desk.

For every howling undead she puts down, for every slavering wendigo that meets its end at her hands, ten take its place. The horrors of the night are without end. The black water overflows.

Hope is a concept we do not understand. What is time to us? We stand outside. Everything has happened. Everything is happening. Hope is a product of a linear mind, an ambition for a bright future based on fragile emotion.

We can only see the effect hope has on sweetlings. Its presence can give you the power to withstand the darkness. Its loss can break you.

Our little accountant with flaming fingers lost hope.

Knowledge is a terrible burden. We have broken sweetlings before. We will do it again. We seek the greatest among you, but little do we understand your fragile kind, and you are cursed with free will.

Enter the other voices.

“We can make everything right again,” they purr. “We will reboot the world,” they hiss. “You need only accept our gift,” they breathe.

Tears stain her cheeks. She accepts.

Initiate biological scan: She is changing. The eyes redden. Terror metastasizes to madness. They whisper in her mind. Always whispering, louder and louder. Whispers that scream across the black voids of time and space.

Part of her still wants to save everyone. It fought to a standstill with the part of her that dreams of the stars that scream, and now each pretends the other does not exist. She saves a child one day. She opens the door for the hungry void the next. The left hand and the right hand are no longer on speaking terms.

O, poor Mr. Sonnac. If you only knew the dark little thoughts that dance in your star pupil’s decaying mind. You would weep, even as you boiled her in her own skin.

We have created a monster, sweetling. It is not the first. It will not be the last.

Be seeing you, sweetling. In the reddened half-light.

Filed under: Games, My writing Tagged: fan fic, fantasy, The Secret World, writing

SW:TOR: Space Batman Returns

Having had my fill of dallying around with various class stories, I decided it was finally time to move on to the post-launch content in Star Wars: The Old Republic. While I briefly considering bringing another character forward, it didn’t take much soul-searching to determine that my Imperial agent was the character I wanted to continue on with.

Cipher Nine is back on the job!

License to Ilum:

Before moving on to expansions, I had one more piece of launch content to do: the Ilum story and its associated dungeons.

I found it all more confusing than anything. I had taken Malgus to be the main “hero” of the Empire side, and his betrayal came completely out of left field.

And I don’t understand why I was fighting him. I wanted to join him. He seemed a lot more on the level than most Sith.

At least it didn’t take much time.

Surprise of the Hutt Cartel:

To put it mildly, I didn’t have high expectations going into Rise of the Hutt Cartel. I hadn’t heard much buzz about in the community, losing the unique flavour of the class stories was bound to be a disappointment, and… well, seriously, Hutts?

However, the Makeb storyline proved to be a very pleasant surprise.

Oh, maybe it’s not on par with the agent storyline, but it’s still very much a strong story.

I know I keep saying this, but once again I’m struck by how unlike Star Wars SW:TOR feels. Makeb feels more like a sci-fi James Bond movie, all intrigue, infiltration, and tense action. Maybe it wasn’t Shakespeare, but it was exciting.

Well-paced, too. I’m not sure if Makeb was stream-lined by Knights of the Fallen Empire like the base game, but I didn’t encounter much in the way of filler, and it was easy to skip what I did find. You can just leave the handful of side-quests be and focus on the main story without missing much. Provided you don’t need the XP, anyway, and maybe not even then.

It probably helps that I’m playing an agent. The flavour of the Makeb story fits perfectly with the Imperial agent class, to the point where if I hadn’t known better I might not have even realized this wasn’t a continuation of my class story.

I can’t speak to the Republic version of events, but something else I liked about Makeb was how it subtly but noticeably put a more positive spin on the Empire. It didn’t make them out to be saints — nor should it have, as that would be too much a stretch — but it does show they’re not just monsters, either. Cytharat’s honour-bound mentality was a refreshing take on the Sith, and even if it’s more out of necessity than altruism, it was nice to see the Empire softening on their anti-alien mentality.

On the whole, the Imperial NPCs on Makeb all feel like real, multi-faceted people, not just goons for the Dark Council.

Niar in particularly is another great example of Bioware’s character writing. She’s really a pretty nasty person, and I shouldn’t have liked her… but I did. Quite a lot.

I also found Makeb to be a significant visual upgrade compared to the base game. SW:TOR’s graphics have always been very below par, and Hutt Cartel didn’t entirely change that, but Makeb definitely looks better than the base game’s planets, and in particular I noted the cutscenes were much better — more cinematic and with more natural-looking animations.

That said, while Makeb was good fun, Oricon was less impressive. It represents one of my most hated concepts in MMO gaming: a storyline which has been entirely solo-friendly up until the climax, which requires a raid group. The good news, if you can call it that, is that it wasn’t a very interesting story to begin with, so I’m not heartbroken over missing the ending.

Thankfully, Oricon was over quickly and did not waste much of my time.

Shadow of Some Guy:

Shadow of Revan was more of a mixed bag.

My big problem is that I barely know who Revan is, and I care even less. From what I gather, he was some sort of major figure in the old Knights of the Old Republic games, but I never played those, so to me, he’s just some crazy weirdo in a mask. Without any context, he’s a very dull character.

Also, there’s two of him, apparently? Confusing.

I’m not entirely fond of the alliance, however temporary, between the Empire and Republic, either. Normally this kind of “bitter enemies putting aside their differences in the face of a greater threat” story is something I love, but this is one of the rare cases where the factional divide in an MMO actually has a good lore justification. And I don’t want to associate with those dirty Pubs.

I wasn’t too keen on how much of the expansion’s story was told through dungeons at first (even if they are soloable), but SoR’s dungeons are far quicker and less tedious than those in the base game, so it wasn’t that bad in the end. Rather liked the Manaan one. Blood Hunt was total filler, though.

That said, there’s also a lot I did unequivocally like about Shadow of Revan.

Once again the story feels very cloak and dagger, and totally appropriate for the agent. It’s once again hard to tell the class story ever ended. I’m starting to think the Imperial agent was meant to be the main character for the game, and the other classes are just side content.

The story is well-paced, and once the bits with Revan are done, it really hits its stride. Ziost is possibly the highlight of the game to date — it’s at least on par with the best parts of the agent storyline, anyway.

More than ever I see nothing of Star Wars in this game. And again, coming from me, that’s praise, not criticism. I see no common thread (beyond the superficialities) between the smart, intrigue-laced sci-fi that is The Old Republic and the simplistic adventure that is the film franchise.

The character of Lana Beniko was also a highlight of the expansion. I find her quite fascinating. A good(ish) Sith is not too far-fetched, but a dispassionate Sith? Now that’s unexpected. I really want to learn her history, and what makes her tick.

How did someone like her get where she is in the Sith hierarchy? Is there some furious cauldron of passion beneath her icy surface that she somehow keeps under wraps? Is she just a natural savant with the Force? Is she so cunning she doesn’t need raw power?

There’s something about her speech pattern that reminds me of myself, too, which is strangely fascinating. I’m not used to seeing anything of myself reflected in video game characters. Especially not in ones that aren’t villains.

And she’s the perfect counterpart to my agent. Lana works within the system, and Cipher Nine works outside it. Lana is the Gordon to Nine’s Batman.

The prospect of having her as a full companion sorely tempts me to abandon my plan to not start Knights of the Fallen Empire until all the chapters are out…

As for her Republic equivalent, I don’t mind Theron Shan as a player (though I’m not a particular fan either), but for RP reasons, I’ve decided Cipher Nine hates his guts, and it’s amusing to constantly put him down and argue with him. I especially like getting all jealous and possessive where Lana is concerned.

Beyond the story, Shadow of Revan was a mostly solid experience in terms of gameplay, as well. The pacing is good — without too much filler — and the quest design is slowly getting better, with better story-telling mechanics and more diversity of gameplay.

I was particularly impressed by how the daily quests on Ziost manage to provide a satisfying experience with almost no combat. The loneliness and lack of enemies serves the story very well, too.

And the graphics continue to improve. Yavin 4 is the first area in the game to date where I’ve found myself pausing to admire the scenery. Most of SW:TOR ranges from ugly to barely adequate, but Yavin is genuinely pretty. I especially like the sunbeams and other lighting effects.

Despite some hiccups, I’m gonna chalk Shadow of Revan up as a win on the whole. Its earlier parts were weaker than Hutt Cartel, but it sure ended on a high note.

Now I need to keep my impatience in check until all the Knights chapters are out. Maybe tool around with more alts in the meanwhile…

Filed under: Games Tagged: sci-fi, Star Wars, Star Wars: The Old Republic

TSW: Night at the Museum

Gather around, friends, for you are about to witness one of the rarest events in nature. Tyler is going to say something negative about The Secret World.

Funcom has now launched the new British Museum of the Occult feature. I was fairly skeptical of the feature going in, but even so, it’s still managed to disappoint me.

The general idea of the museum is to study the game’s many and sundry monsters by fighting them and collecting lore related to them. Kills are tracked retroactively, and some of the game’s pre-existing lore is used by the museum, but a lot of the lore you need is new (more on that later). There’s also a fairly substantive ability point cost to setting up an exhibit. Despite repeated claims from Funcom that the museum is “for everyone,” the AP costs ensure it’s only relevant to people with full ability wheels, and maybe not even then.

Displaying a particular monster in its most basic form isn’t too hard, but completing a wing, upgrading a wing, and completing the museum as a whole will all add up to pretty big grinds pretty fast.

To be fair, I screwed up. I went to the trouble of unlocking every wing in the museum before I went to the gift shop to see what the rewards are. In the process, I spent several million pax, losing about two thirds of the wealth I’ve accumulated over the past few years.

And then I checked the rewards vendors.

The main rewards for building your museum are mnemonic guardians, consumables that give you a chance to randomly summon certain monsters to briefly assist you in combat.

It turns out the selection of guardians is much, much smaller than I expected. You can only summon a handful of monsters, and none of the ones I’d been looking forward to having are options.

I also discovered that each guardian type requires you to complete an entire wing. Which is not a huge hurdle, but it’s not nothing, either.

Worst of all, though, guardians cost black bullion to purchase.

There is absolutely, positively no way I am ever going to spend bullion on a consumable. Even with how much easier bullion is to earn these days, I am not spending it on something that can be used up when I could use it for permanent upgrades.

So I bankrupted myself for nothing. Pax is easy to make, but six million will take me a while to earn that back. So needless to say I’m not very happy.

As it stands now I can’t see myself putting any further effort toward the museum. Or even going back there. The upside is, like a lot of things in TSW, it seems like you can pretty much ignore the museum if you’re not interested in it. It won’t harm your gameplay.

Provided you’re not a dumbass who spends all your pax without looking at the rewards, anyway.

Silver-linings Lorebook:

It’s not all bad this update, though. A massive amount of new lore has been added for basically every monster type in the game. Over two hundred and fifty new lore entries in total.

It’s a bittersweet parting gift from our dear Scrivnomancer, who is sadly stepping down as the lead writer for the game.

While the lore is required for the museum, I don’t believe the museum is required to collect any of the lore. So even if you’re not interested in the museum (like me), there’s still something new to entice you.

Personally I’m very excited to start delving into the lore of some of the more enigmatic of TSW’s creatures. I’ve always wanted to know more about revenants, ghouls, and Jinn, since there was so little information about them in the game.

I’ve only found a fraction of the new lore so far, but there’s definitely some good stuff here. It’s not just minor flavour; the bestiary lore is doing a lot to fill in the blanks of the story throughout the game. I especially like that we’re finally getting a clear picture of Archibald Henderson and his story. We’ve seen lots of little hints of it over the years, but never a clear and coherent image of it all.

I could have done without the heavy “Shadow Over Innsmouth” references in the Deep One lore, given that story was basically just written as racist propaganda, but I suppose at this point it’s an inextricable part of the Lovecraft mythos from which TSW draws its inspiration.

Despite ominous statements that the new lore would be harder to earn than past lore, so far I haven’t had much trouble. Most of it is just scattered around the world as per normal, or drops from mobs at a fairly high rate.

I have heard of a handful of cases where the bestiary lore is a bit harder to acquire. I know some of it only drops from group bosses, which is a bit of a drag for mainly solo players like me, and there’s one piece that can only be found in a raid. This is worrying precedent because up until now Funcom has done a pretty good job of making raids totally optional from a story perspective.

But it is only one piece, at least.

And some of the new challenges for lore are pretty clever. For example, there’s one piece that only appears if you can track down a rare mob who only appears at midnight on the in-game clock. That’s the creativity we all love TSW for.

So even if the Museum of the Occult is a dud, at least we have the new lore to enjoy.

Filed under: Games Tagged: fantasy, The Secret World

Cheating on WoW: Landmark

The endless cycle of MMO tourism marches on. This time, we’re making a stop at Landmark. Between the game’s tortured history and the fact I’ve never been much for sandboxes or building games, my expectations for Landmark were pretty low, but I maintained a mild curiosity, the game is very inexpensive, and I found myself with a brief window where I had nothing else demanding much attention on the gaming front, so I decided to give it a shot.

But my expectations didn’t turn out to be entirely correct. Head on over to MMO Bro to learn about how Landmark Is Surprisingly Good.

While there, consider checking out my other recent articles for them, where I look at the most stable MMORPGs and the areas you’ll find in every MMO.

Back to Landmark, I don’t think it’s a game that’s going to keep me engaged for a super long time, but I am going to try to keep my claim up and running for as long as I can. As it stands now I’d consider it largely done, though I’ll still be tweaking and polishing for a while, I expect.

If anyone would like to check it out, it’s listed as Maigraith’s Grove in the gallery, and if you want to take the long way, you can find it south of the spire in the Silver Shallows zone of the Serenity server. Look for the giant pine tree. Likes and feedback are welcome.

My general concept was to build my ideal fantasy retreat, full of beauty and mystery. Beware, though: Beauty can conceal darkness, and some mysteries have teeth.

I tried to fill it with as much detail, Easter eggs, and hidden areas as possible. Make sure to look around carefully.

I may or may not have been drawing heavy inspiration from The Secret World for one section…

Filed under: Games Tagged: EverQuest, fantasy, Landmark

Review: Warcraft (Film)

For me, this is a movie twenty years in the making. I was five years old when I started playing Warcraft games. I’m nearly twenty-six now. “Highly anticipated” doesn’t quite describe it.

Still, it’s here. It’s actually really happening. Let’s see if I can put my thoughts into something resembling a coherent order.

Right away, everything about this movie just oozes the very essence of Warcraft. The moment the lights go down and the music swells, it’s like stepping into Orgrimmar. This is Warcraft.

And that’s true throughout the whole film. Everything about the look and feel and sound of it is quintessentially Warcraft.

To begin with, the movie follows the events of the First War pretty well. Having destroyed Draenor, the Orcs must find a new world. Gul’dan opens the Dark Portal so that they may claim Azeroth as their own. The humans in their way are but fodder for the fel.

But it doesn’t take long for things to start diverging from the original lore, in ways both big and small. For the most part I didn’t find the changes too egregious. In fact, there’s one change near the end I liked quite a lot. It may actually make for a better story than the original.

Some other things do disappoint me, though. Warcraft the film is not nearly dark enough. The story of the First War is an epic tragedy, and while the movie makes some admirable nods to that, it’s ultimately still closer to a standard action movie than the grim tone of the First War.

I also have to agree with the common criticism that the movie is rushed. I’ve heard nearly an hour was cut from the film, and it definitely shows. Things skip ahead far too quickly at times, and some big changes happen without sufficient explanation or foreshadowing.

But don’t think it’s all bad news. Far from it.

By far the highlight of this movie is the Orcs. They are executed perfectly, from their visuals to their culture. I’m very glad that Duncan Jones chose to show that the Orcs are not simpler monsters, that they are unlike humans but still a multi-faceted people. The film puts a special emphasis on showing their keen sense of honour, and how it defines who they are.

Durotan and Draka are well-done, but while they get the most attention, they’re not actually the most interesting of the Orcs.

I love how the movie depicted Orgrim Doomhammer, whom I have long felt is one of the most interesting characters of Warcraft lore. The exact events in this film don’t exactly match the original story, but the spirit of the character is captured perfectly — his conflicted nature, his moral ambiguity. His darkness, and his honour.

What really surprised me is how great Garona is. Going in, I was expecting her to be a weak point for the movie, but they put a very interesting spin on her character, and Paula Patton’s performance is really strong. I like original Garona, but movie Garona is much better.

And Daniel Wu’s Gul’dan is just pitch perfect. Absolutely perfect. He is a villain as terrifying as he is despicable. Darkness Incarnate indeed.

The human cast members are a bit more inconsistent.

I liked Khadgar. He feels recognizable as the character I know, and his portrayal in the movie is very endearing.

Medivh and Llane’s depictions are adequate, but not spectacular. I rather liked the grace and poise of Queen Taria, who is to the best of my knowledge a new character created for the film, but she didn’t get enough screen time.

I’m torn on Travis Fimmel’s Lothar. He’s a very good actor, and the character he plays is very charming and exciting to watch. The standard wise-cracking action hero, but a good rendition of the old archetype.

But whoever he’s playing, it’s not Lothar. The character in the movie bears no resemblance to Sir Anduin Lothar, the Lion of Stormwind, grizzled veteran and elder statesman of the Alliance.

There are a few other things to appreciate in the Warcraft movie. The visuals are spectacular. The soundtrack is one of the best I’ve ever heard. The action is fantastically brutal and visceral. When Orgrim smashes someone with the Doomhammer, you feel it.

And there are a lot of nice Easter eggs for the fans. I particularly liked seeing Tammis Foxton at the very end. That they went to the trouble of finding an actor who strongly resembles Foxton just for that one little shot is really impressive.

So in the end, this movie is typically Warcraft: It’s flawed, but when it hits its stride, it’s glorious.

I definitely recommend this movie. Even if you’re not a Warcraft fan. Especially if you’re not a Warcraft fan — you’ll have nothing to compare it to.

Overall rating: 8/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: fantasy, movies, Warcraft

TSW: Loregasm

It only took a few years, but I have finally collected every piece of launch lore on my main character in The Secret World.

It was obviously quite a journey to get here, but it really doesn’t feel that way.

The great thing about lore in TSW is that it’s fascinating, but totally optional. The XP you get from it is negligible, and there’s little other reward for it beyond being able to read the lore itself.

So there’s never any need to stress over lore. For most of my time with the game I’ve just collected lore here and there as I go, viewing it as a nice treat when I do stumble across it. Only if I’m particularly interested in a subject or just one or two pieces away from completing a set will I put any real effort into finding lore (sometimes consulting a guide if necessary).

The first collection I ever completed — back during my free trial before I’d even bought the game — was The Black House. I was really entranced by the story, and I set out to learn all I could about the tragic history of Carrie Killian.

I don’t find the Black House as frightening as some do, but I always find its story deeply saddening, and all the more so because it is so believable (supernatural elements aside). It has some very uncomfortable things to say about human nature.

Rumour mongering became ostracising. “Fraud” became “freak” became “devil worshipper.” “That handsome house” became “that den of evil.” A shrieking primate finally gets the courage to poke the curiosity, before running back up the tree, and soon all the talking monkeys are grabbing sticks.

Lore collecting is very low stress, and a nice way to unwind when I’m tired or in a bad mood. I welcome the challenge of TSW most of the time, but there are times when you just don’t have the energy for the game’s more strenuous aspects. Lore-hunting is a good option for such times.

I was also laid-back about lore hunting because I did not believe I would ever be able to finish my collection. Since I all but ignored dungeons, I figured the dungeon lore sections would always be incomplete.

The dungeon finder changed all that.

With dungeon groups now easy to find, I was able to finish my dungeon lore, and after years of on-and-off collecting, I had only a handful of lore entries left to collect in the greater world.

The hunt was on.

Lore collecting, as mentioned above, is mostly a low stress activity, requiring nothing more than a keen eye and lots of footwork, but there were a few pieces that presented a greater challenge.

In order to complete my lore collection, I had to finally muster my courage and complete the game’s most infamous mission: The Cost of Magic.

After hearing so many horror stories, I had given up ever even attempting this mission. But I needed that lore, so it was time to swallow my hatred for platforming and slog through it.

I was right to be scared. The Cost of Magic can rot in Hell.

Oh, the stealth sections aren’t so bad. They’re hard, but not much harder than average for these things. Nothing to write home about. The jumping puzzle, though?

Horror. Utter horror.

I despise platforming at the best of times, but in TSW, it’s a whole other level of awful. The jump physics in that game are unreliable, buggy, and downright nonsensical, obeying nothing resembling real world physics. If you’ve ever shot yourself off the side of the Black Pyramid, you know what I mean.

The Cost of Magic very nearly broke me, but on the advice of an old forum post, I tried lowering all my graphic settings to the minimum, and that made the difference. I don’t notice significant lag during normal play, but for something as precise as the jumping needed in Cost of Magic, the slightest latency will foul you up.

With lowered graphics settings, it was still frustrating, and it took a few tries, but I did manage to get the lore and complete the mission.

I also wasn’t thrilled to learn the last Draculesti lore piece I needed was part of The Castle, but I don’t think that mission is quite as bad as it’s cracked up to be, and after Cost of Magic, it seemed almost relaxing.

Those crates in the basement have scarred me for life, though.

And now my journey is complete.

Having now collected and read all of the base game’s lore, I still judge my favourite section to be that on the Blue Ridge Mine.

And what of the echoes? What past horrors do they enunciate?

O, sweetling. Your mind moves so linearly. In the half-light, in the alien gravity of filth, echoes move backwards. You hear the future coming.

It won’t be the future for long.

A close second would be the Facility’s lore. I think a lot of sci-fi geeks like myself can identify with Halina’s childhood dreams of exploring the stars, and it’s heartbreaking how the Red Hand exploited her innocent curiosity to turn her into something terrible.

TSW’s writing is mostly excellent, but one criticism that could be leveled against is that its villains tend to be fairly one-dimensional, lacking in nuance or sympathetic motivation. Halina is the exception.

The static and crackle. Halina sent out so many calls. Long after she is gone, after this planet is dust, after your sun collapses to a gravity smear, her voice will survive as a radio wraith, exploring the universe as she always wished.

Poor Halina. Sleep now, little one. Sleep as you did when a child, and smile and dream of stars that scream.

Of course, my lore-hunting days are not over. I have a lot of the lore added post-launch, but not all of it, and more is being added all the time. The new museum feature is looking to be the biggest lore-dump the game has seen since launch.

No, I’ll have plenty more honeycombs to collect.

Be seeing you, blog readers. In the half-light.

Filed under: Games Tagged: fantasy, The Secret World

Superior Realities Fifth Anniversary: My Favourite Posts

It has now been five years to the day since I launched Superior Realities. In that time, I’ve written hundreds of posts, deleted thousands of spam comments, and wasted the time of countless people with my horrible, awful, wrong opinions. And I guess I had some fun or something.

Last year, I celebrated by posting my top ten posts as determined by traffic. This year, I’ve decided to highlight my personal favourite posts. The scale of my narcissism is such that there’s too many to fit into a top ten list, but I tried to avoid going too overboard, and considering I’ve published just shy of six hundred and fifty posts at this point, I’d say I’ve narrowed things down pretty well.

If you started following this blog relatively recently, consider this a good highlight real and perhaps check out some of the earlier posts that you might have missed.

If you’ve followed me since the beginning, how have you put up with me this long?

And if you have any favourite posts that aren’t on the list, let me know what stood out for you.

Into the Mists: The Wandering Isle:

I liked the entire “Into the Mists” series, in which I reviewed each new zone in Mists of Pandaria as I played them, but linking every post seemed a bit much, so I figured I’d just start with the beginning.

I really enjoyed writing this series, and it’s interesting to come back now and again to revisit my first impressions of Pandaria.

I neglected to do a similar series for Warlords of Draenor because, well, Draenor blows, but I think I’ll get back to the idea for Legion. I’m thinking of “Under the Burning Skies” as a title.

My trinity of posts on the trinity:

Not that I’m not proud of this series, but if I’m going to be honest, I’m mostly linking it because I poured a lot of effort into it and am a little bitter it didn’t get more attention.

I’ve never pretended not to be an attention whore.

Off Topic: A Plea for Sanity:

Discussing such serious topics on the Internet may not be wise, and drawing further attention to it perhaps even less so, but there were things in that post that needed to be said, for my own peace of mind if nothing else, and sadly the message is not any less relevant now than it was a few months ago.

I doubt my little blog can make any significant positive impact, but I had to try.

Why the Abramsverse Is True Trek, and Why I’m no Longer a Trekkie:

Ah, the catharsis of the epic nerd rant. Frankly I’m almost a little disappointed I didn’t get more hate for this.

Raving About The Secret World, Part Two: The Thinking Man’s MMO:

I write so many posts lavishing praise on The Secret World that you’d think Funcom was paying me to do it. Alas, that would require them to actually spend some money on marketing.

Of them all, this post probably does the best job of encapsulating what makes TSW so special.

I apologize for the crumby screenshots. I was still using my old computer when I wrote this.

The Great Horde Bias Rant:

If there are two things you can always count on me to produce, they are giant Warcraft rants, and controversial opinions that very few people agree with. This post covers both nicely.

And I think I made my case very well.

TSW Anniversary: MegaJoel, Livestreaming, and SO MUCH XP:

Just for the memories, really. This was probably the single best day I’ve had as a gamer. To this day, I’m still friends with Moiren, and I still smile whenever I think back on Joelzilla.

It’s a day I will probably never equal, at least as far as gaming goes.

My Love/Hate Relationship with RPGs:

I think it was interesting to analyze the core traits, good and bad, of the RPG genre, and why it has at times been both my most and least favourite game genre.

As an aside, that post was written almost three years ago, and my main in TSW is still using the same sword. Now that’s gearing done right.

Wyrmrest Accord Shows Its Pride:

I have to say that participating in a gay pride march in World of Warcraft remains one of my all-time favourite gaming memories.

It’s not a party until the Goblin drag queen riding a woolly mammoth shows up.

My Favourite Word:

Verisimilitude!

In Her Sister’s Pose:

As a rule, I don’t think I’m particularly good at short fiction, but this story turned out very well, I think, and I’m very proud of it.

My pair of posts on female armour in fantasy:

Another controversial opinion. If I had to do it all over, I may have been slightly more tactful and less judgmental in my initial post, but on the whole I still stand by all points made, no matter how unpopular they may be.

When in Doubt, Elves:

Because Elves, that’s why.

Odin Is the Writer’s God:

There’s a reason there’s a statuette of Odin sitting above my bed (along with Skadi, Athena, Lakshmi, and Buddha — I’m covering all my bases).

Gaming: The Love/Hate Developers:

This post was just a lot of fun to write. Criticism is good, but often it’s easy to get bogged down in the inevitable gripes and bitterness that come with the passion of fandom. It was good to remind myself why I’m so passionate in the first place.

Filed under: Misc. Tagged: because Elves that's why, fantasy, mythology, Off topic, sci-fi, Star Trek, The Secret World, video games, Warcraft, World of Warcraft, writing

Review: Warcraft, Illidan

It’s been quite a while since the last Warcraft novel was released. They seemed to pretty much skip having any tie-ins for Warlords of Draenor and go straight to Legion stories. Given what a debacle WoD has been, that may have been the wisest choice.

But Warcraft literature has come roaring back with the simply titled Illidan, written by franchise newcomer William King.

Illidan, naturally enough, focuses on the story of Illidan, essentially serving to fill in the blanks of everything we didn’t see of his story in the games, especially during the Burning Crusade era.

It also does a lot to flesh out the story of the demon hunters, granting the reader a glimpse of how desperately driven one has to be to choose such a life, and the terrible price they pay for their power.

There is also much attention given to Maiev Shadowsong and her never-ending need to take vengeance upon Illidan.

What struck me most about this book is how incredibly dark it is. William King pulls no punches when it comes to either the brutality of combat or the tortured mental states of the characters.

Nobody in this book is sane. That much is clear early on. You can clearly see how ten thousand years of solitary confinement have warped Illidan’s mind. A nice touch is that Illidan will often pace for exactly nine paces — the length of his cell. Even after achieving his freedom, he can’t break the habit.

Yet despite all he’s suffered, all his narcissism and his ruthlessness, Illidan is ultimately the most sane character in the story.

The demon hunters amount to a sanitarium population given weapons and trained to kill without mercy. I’m sure you’re picturing a very bizarre, very frightening bunch, but trust me, they’re weirder and scarier than you’re imagining.

But no one’s madness can equal that of Maiev Shadowsong. King takes every possible opportunity to showcase how every waking moment of Maiev’s life is defined by naught by rampant paranoia and unquenchable hatred. How other people can never be anything but tools to her in her endless quest for vengeance.

Illidan’s imprisonment has warped him, yes, but Maiev also spent ten thousand years in darkness, and she did so willingly. She built a cage of her own hatred and locked the door behind herself.

I’ve never liked Maiev, but Illidan has really shown me what a monster she truly is.

The dark, twisted nature of Illidan is what makes it memorable, though. This was never going to be happy story, but King makes it not just dark but gloriously dark. It is a gripping, if sometimes horrifying, story, and much as I admire the previous Warcraft authors, King’s macabre style is a welcome change of pace from Christie’s Golden’s emotive stories or Knaak’s rollicking adventures.

Illidan is also the first time in quite a while that the Burning Legion has actually seemed scary, and that is long overdue. Seeing them through Illidan’s eyes — almost literally — illustrates just how horrific they are, how hopeless it is to oppose them.

And that shows you just how amazingly strong, how utterly determined and cunning, Illidan must be to oppose them even still.

All that said, the book does still have its rough edges.

By necessity given the amount of time it covers, the story jumps around a lot and is therefore somewhat disjointed. No one who hasn’t played the games would be able to make sense of it all.

Inevitably, the ending is quite a downer, and it paints players as villains almost as much as Mists of Pandaria did. That may not have been possible to avoid given the existing lore, but what could have been avoided was how incomplete the ending is. It amounts to a giant neon “BUY LEGION TO SEE HOW IT ENDS” sign.

It does increasingly feel as if the Warcraft novels are being used as advertisements for the game as much as tools to expand the lore. That’s a worrying trend, and Illidan is the most egregious example to date.

Finally, the story of the main demon hunter character, a Night Elf named Vandel, could have been handled better. It offers some good insights into the demon hunters themselves and how they become what they are, but once that’s done, his story doesn’t really go anywhere. It has no climax or satisfying conclusion.

Still, on the whole, Illidan was a pretty enjoyable read.

Overal rating: 8.3/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: books, fantasy, review, Warcraft