Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Made In China Thoughts about Holiday Shopping
Made In China Thoughts about Holiday Shopping
The holiday shopping season is almost in full swing. Our local food store already has candy canes! I cant help but think about the commercial and material overload that is out there already. Every year I try to find the balance between needs and wants, quality and quantity, what we give and what we get. This year, I am trying, more than ever to support local people and our countrys economy. Im thinking about quality toys made with loving hands close to home. Im thinking about the process involved and the people who made the products. I am thinking about natural products that once lived and grew not far from here. I am thinking about spending carefully and thinking about the future.
In a world where 80% of toys made are made in China, a toy shopper has to be pretty selective. I am not saying we dont have toys made in China or that I have never bought them, but this year and this Christmas I am making more of an effort to not purchase these products and to pass the word. I think we are all aware of the recalls from toys made in China (almost 1 million toys in one Mattel recall in 2007 and there have been 17 in the past 10 years). But it doesnt end there. Consider these photos from toy factories in China.
(For more photos visit this link)There are terrible working conditions the employees endure which have lead to riots and suicides at the factories. There are cases of child labor, dangerous chemicals, unsafe working conditions and much more. When I think about my child opening a toy on Christmas day I dont want it to be the result of someones suffering or mistreatment. I dont want a special toy to be one that was handled with plastic gloves by someone wearing a face mask or the 1,000th toy that person made that day. So this year I will probably have to spend a little more time thinking about holiday shopping and then more time being selective in my shopping, but I think it will be worth it.
Available link for download
Friday, March 3, 2017
Many Thoughts On Skyrim
Many Thoughts On Skyrim
With about fifty hours in, Ive completed about as much of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (on the 360) as Im likely to. Its been a great break from fixing bugs in our upcoming games. Skyrim is more fun that iOS development. You heard it here first.
Ive done the main quest plus whatever side quests were interesting or insane enough to attract my interest. I dont want to write a full review because it would be entirely redundant. Everyone already knows its an excellent game.
Instead, I wanted to say a few quick things about what worked (or sometimes didnt) in Skyrim.
The Quest Writing
For a game this size, with multiple quest chains long and involved enough to feel like full games in themselves, uneven writing is to be expected. Some of the major quests were, indeed, better than others in this regard.
I thought the best writing, going away, was in the Dark Brotherhood (assassins guild) quest. It was over the top, deranged, and entirely fun. Alas, since players tend to shy away from the evil and deranged, most people wont get to enjoy this bit of concentrated insanity. Its a pity. In Skyrim, having a voice in your head telling you to kill people isnt a handicap. Its a career choice.
Sadly, I thought the least involving writing was in the main game quest, which was just another retelling of, "See that guy over there? Hes evil. Kill that guy." Except, in this case, "that guy" is a dragon without much dialogue or presence in the story. The storyline would have been much more involving if the player were able to have more interaction with the main villain.
On the bright side, while the Empire and Rebel quest lines get a tad repetitive (with all those fort assaults), they also do a great job of depicting an epic struggle, full of sacrifices, risks, and hard choices. The bit where the Jarl of Whiterun tries to decide which side to support was really suspenseful and nicely done.
Selling Items
All fantasy RPGs have tedious inventory management and selling of stuff. Its just part of the genre. In recent years, designers have looked for ways to make the economic side of things go faster and eat up less precious play-time. The best example of this is in Torchlight you can have your pet dog take all your junk back to town and sell it for you.
Thank you! More killing, less realism!
But in Skyrim ... Look. If you want to have each shop only buy a limited range of items, fine. And if you want to have shops have a limited amount of gold, fine. And if you want to have stolen items only bought by one character, who doesnt have much money on hand and is well out of the way, fine. But having all three of these means that you hate me.
You might say, “Hey, they want a more realistic feeling world.” Fine. I get that. Just bear in mind that when someone says he played Skyrim for 60 hours, at least 20 of those were spent trying to find someone who will buy eleven pairs of elven boots.
(Yes, I know you can buy feats to change how this works. I prefer to spend my feats on the sort of combat skills that keep me from getting slaughtered the moment I try to ride to the next town, thank you.)
Killing Elves
You spend a lot of time in Skyrim killing elves. In this world, elves are obnoxious and ugly, and you kill them.
This is awesome.
The World Map
The roads in Skyrim are really nicely laid out. I spent just the right amount of time wandering around lost. In a big world like this, you want the player to get lost sometimes. Its a rare pleasure to have a game you can actually get lost in.
On the other hand, Ive looked at a lot of maps in my life, and Ive never seen one where the cartographer drew in the clouds. Having the in-game world map be a depiction of Skyrim as seen from space, clouds and all, is malicious. It really obscures where you can and cant go.
(Also, the printed map that comes with the game has inaccurate and incomplete roads, and the roads are the most important part of the map. Paper maps are awesome, but the developers should give them a once-over to make sure they’re accurate. This is just the sort of extra that gets people to buy instead of rent.)
Arrow In the Knee
I know Im supposed to think the whole "Arrow in the knee" meme is overplayed. Sorry. Still cracks me up every time. Especially whenever a guard passive-aggressively says it to me as I run by.
Awesome Evilness
If you are ever in Markarth and some guy asks you to help investigate an abandoned house, do that quest. Its really, really, really evil and deranged. Its audacity should be rewarded with play. In fact, play through it in front of your loved ones. My wife watched me play it and, a few weeks later, she can almost make eye contact with me again.
Its a Great Game
OK. Done nitpicking. Its buggy, sprawling, uneven, and an entirely brilliant game experience. It overwhelms you with sheer size. You cant go for a horsey ride for five minutes without the game trying to distract you with some new cool thing. You can simply get lost in it.
After what seems like an endless parade of games where you mindlessly shoot/slash your way down a corridor, see a cutscene, and then are funneled down another corridor, Skyrim is a delight.
Available link for download
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