Mass Effect 3: My Opinon

Part One: No Spoilers.

So you ready to kill the Reapers?  Not so fast, here comes ME3, reminding you that  team effort is necessary.  I mean, dude, there are tons of Reapers!  Humanity can't do it alone, even if The Illusive Man thinks so.

The start is kind of abrupt, but then you get into it.  Story is solidly well written and characters new and old are fantastic to have on the ship and bump into while you assemble the best war militia the galaxy has ever seen.

Also, I think this is the most complex they've actually made Shepherd.  You delve into what breaks your Shep's heart and how to pick the hero up and start punching reporters again.

Gameplay is fantastic.  Everything is smoother than ME2, which already seemed like a godsend compared to ME1, and leveling up feels a lot more compelling.  Powers are great, and strategy is still at the forefront.  That is, if you're not doing the narrative version which weakens everything.  Then you can do whatever you want.

And still scan those planets, but with half the tediousness!  Seriously if you want to win you really should scan those planets.  Just sayin'.

Multiplayer helps you with the end game part for ME3, and even if it didn't it's worth playing.  Now if only I could finally get my friggin' quarian engineer I'd be completely satisfied with the multiplayer.  Aww darn.

Don't forget that this is the end.  Some of your favorite people will sacrifice themselves, so be ready.  I've talked to grown men who admitted tearing up at parts.

And some of you, like me, will find it hard to say goodbye, even though you know you have to.  I was weeping and sniffling and wailing when I was saying goodbye to my squad before we did the last battle.  I am one to get super attached to fictional universes of this proportion.  This was it.  I will never get a chance to shoot things with Garrus, smash things with Wrex, or pontificate with Tali possibly ever again.  I am going to miss these characters.

Everything is extremely satisfying, and the end game is super epic.  Until the last five minutes.  When you think it's over, just escape before the credits roll.  There is a reason the internet rage exists.  However, this is less than 1% of the game, and luckily alt+f4 fixes it for you if you want.

Do I recommend playing Mass Effect 3?  Yes.  Sure, you'll get burned by the largest chunk of horrible writing at the end of the game, but there are so many other moments worth playing for that you'll kick yourself if you don't enjoy the other 99.5%.

Part Two: Spoilers

NO SERIOUSLY NO LIE SPOILERS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS DON'T READ THIS.

I hope that works.  People are touchy about that on the internet.

For those fans out there who have finished the game, I want to encourage you to think about the game as a whole and ignore the last "choices" part.  I've been seeing a few arguments for this on the internet and I have to agree.  Mass Effect 3 is more than just the last five minutes.

There are so many epic parts that I do want to relive again and I will.  The little moments with Garrus, Tali, hell I even started to like Miranda and she got under my skin in ME2.  There are things you didn't realize you love.  Eve showing us female Krogan are the best!  Udina taking a bullet because now everyone sees he's a legitimate dick!  Lasering a Reaper face!  Telling Cerberus to suck it over and over again!  And of course, getting back with the man/woman/alien you love.  My first playthough was a femshep dating Garrus, and it was sweet without rotting your teeth out.  And there are parts I can't wait to play with my "Renegon" Obama shep and my full renegade Alexi shep with their different choices and outcomes.

A lot of us got burned on the ending.  It's horrible.  It's like a freshmen year philosophy major smoking weed on the quad defecated all over the end game and Bioware didn't bother to see where the foul smell was coming from.  I totally understand.  I've lost sleep over this ending, and I think I'm catching a cold because of that.

But there are too many great things about this game that I wouldn't want to miss as a die hard fan.  It's worth playing the majority of it, especially if you know the ending is going to suck because then you know to avoid it.  Focus on what made this a fantastic game, and it'll be a lot easier to forget that child VI that gave a whole finger to the universe by limiting our choices to nothing but suck.

Okay yeah I'm still bitter about it.

The only other legit critique I have is that I don't necessarily like how multiplayer is necessary to get a "decent" ending.  Which isn't that decent and I hardly found satisfying enough to consider playing.  So Shepherd possibly breathes for a second in the wreckage.  Big deal.  Doesn't mean Shep stays alive or is anywhere near the planet that the Normandy lands on to restart civilization as we know it.  Fuck that.  In other news, a whole bunch of people are now stranded on earth with no where to go and depleted resources.  Yeah, there is no way that's going to end well.

Alright I got into the bad zone again.  Look, loyal readers, please understand that I'm not trying to defend what happened to the end game.  But there is a lot of stuff worth loving about this game, and now that you've played it I suggest you think about all the choices, dialogue, cut scenes, and fights you genuinely enjoyed.  They have to outweigh what happened in the last five minutes enough that you cane play up to that point and then quit.  You'll feel a lot better for it.

Brainstorm!

I wouldn't be surprised if this idea has been used before, but bear with me.

Again, thinking about my Titania idea and character concept so captivating just grabbed me.

Imagine a world where you are genetically calibrated before you are born to have the optimal genes of both your parents.  Any "bad" genes that carry genetic disorders are taken out, and only "neutral" or "beneficial" genes are kept in.  Imagine growing up knowing that your genetic coding was the optimized splicing of your parents, your are considered to be one of a few perfect possibilities due to the luxury of modern science.

And then imagine having a gender dysphoria in that world.

Thoughts?

Things to consider in writing sci-fi.

Recently the ideas that sprang from the DeWitt in Titania have been coming back, not necessarily with the same focus or main character, but with the same ideas that were whirling through my head.  I'm realizing what was running through my head wasn't necessarily clear in that little tidbit, but there's a lot of stuff.  And surprisingly, a lot of it are necessary answer to questions.  Here are somethings that you should think of in your sci-fi setting.  And yes, totally feel free to add in the comments.

HOW RECENT.
Even if not set in this universe, you have to figure out how far in the "future" the technology is.  Have we mastered space colonization?  Long distance travelling?  What is the next evolution for the internet?  Cell phones?  Entertainment?  If it's recent, you may want to look at what people predict for the next ten, twenty or fifty years.  When you go significantly past that, it's easier to be a bit more creative.  I would still suggest research what tech people are researching now, but expanding on that sometimes is great inspiration.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOMEWORLD.
With a lot universes, this means Earth, but for any story setting every people has a place of origin.  Is it still where they stay?  Does it still exist?  Do they even remember it?  That last one was a great premise I first saw from Asimov.  But it's important to know what happened to the biological home.   If you're not traversing space in the story, it's important to know how the world started and how the tech has changed the world, for the better or worse.

SENTIENT SPECIES.
Even if you're staying on one planet, even if there are no extra-terrestrial beings, you have to decide what the origins and values are of the race you're writing about.  And if there's more than one, what's the relationship?  Sometimes looking at the historical relationship of neighboring countries is great inspiration.  Also looking at different cultures throughout the world, maybe even further back in the past when globalization was less present, and people were more isolated.

WHY IS IT A SCIFI?
If it's a story that doesn't need to be set in the future, do not write it in the future.  The same can be said for adding extra tech or extra species.  The setting has to enhance the story, and if it doesn't just keep it in modern times or historical fiction.  Sci-fi doesn't make things extra exciting by merely being in space or in the future.  It takes elements of the story that already exist and reveals them in a new light.

My First (amazing) experience with Hero's Banner

The great thing about RPG Chicago (gotta plug my awesome group) is that you get a chance to meet new people and try new games that you'd probably never find out about before.  That's the real reason I decided to step up and run it when the previous leader stepped down--it's a resource that not a lot of nerds have in a hobby requiring you to be social.  With that in mind, a few Friday's ago I decided I needed some nerd time with new people, so I showed up to GamesPlus to play Hero's Banner.

Hero's Banner: The Fury of Free Will is an RPG where the mechanics are there to drive a story along.  There are a lot of games that claim this, when they really mean mechanics aren't based around Dungeons and Dragons style battles.  Hero's Banner actually succeeds at that goal.  Each person plays a character who is a young noble, in a land of four countries who are constantly at odds with each other.  They're at a point in their life where they have three possible paths to take, and someone pushing them towards one or another.  While your story unfolds with the rest of the group, your character is forced to make choices that will eventually sway them to one cause more than the other.  After a certain point, your character will have to decide on one path, and tell the epilogue of how that path went.

There were three of us, so three characters who's stories did intertwine, affecting each other in little ways.  There was Victor, who's fighting family's tradition was clashing with his desire to stay home and write.  There was Uriel, who's mother was a notable Guildmistress, though he thought of leaving the family spice trade for heroic glory.  And there was Danica, my character, who was ready to marry but had the skill to be a great advisor.

Throughout over 6 hours of gaming that happened over 2 session, Victor, Uriel and Danica found their paths, although none of them were without losses.  Victor teetered the line between brazen fighter and comfortable coward, pursuing an army assignment from his father but not to completion, finding information about a spy and taking that back to the information while allowing the court to believe that high general Dragos was killed  He didn't admit to not being able to torture subjects and letting Dragos abandon Victor's leadership to pursue the original mission.  After a tall tale of victory, the traitor was found to be the brother in law of the King, Mihale.  After Mihale was almost publicly executed and awaiting the cruel judgement from the King of Prodan in a jail cell, Mihale's wife pleaded with Victor to recant the story, and with a heavy heart and a convenient distraction due to other more pressing political matters, freed the traitor that he had named, running away from his family and homeland and instead settling down far away to write a a tale that warned of the dangers of lying.

Uriel, after once again being on the run with his mother from a shipment gone wrong , settled in Prodan for a while to sell the spices that he had saved from a burning ship.  Although heroics had helped him before, they later sent him the jail when he and a friend were arrested from a bar fight that got way out of hand.  Apparently Uriel had friends who thought using chairs in a fight was awesome, and not capable of bringing someone close to death.  In jail he heard of the possibility of slaying a "demon" and was released to the church's custody to hopefully become such a hero, only to find the church wished him to slay his own mother.  Stabbing the one priest that was in his way and about to make a run for it, he finds his boyhood crush, Magda, as a stable girl married to a less than desirable husband.  Uriel ended up punching the husband, saving the girl, and with the help of a convenient lady of the court, escaping the capital of Prodan and meeting up with his mother, only to have his mother leave town without him to save her own hide.  Uriel settled down with Magda and had a family, finally finding the love of his life.

Danica's story started out with an attempt of love, from the Prince of Prodan no less.  After her father, a close and trusted advisor to the King, introduced to two and everything was going splendidly at a court function, the King intervened and made sure that both the Prince and Danica's father knew that such an affair was not to be decided on a whim.  The Prince sent a note to Danica later to meet her at night, where he not only confessed his attraction, but that he needed her help in assassinating his own father.  Danica said she'd helped, but towed the line in court when apologizing to the king about what happened between her and the Prince in court.  Danica planned a couple of events to keep suspicion away from her Prince, including a reconciliation between father and son for all to see in church.  She thought she had found a sucker to commit the murder when helping the church preach to those stuck in the local prison, convincing one prisoner that the king was a demon and releasing him to the custody of the church.  She discovered how this plan backfired when she found Josef stabbed through the gut, and through prayer a miracle occurred and she saved his life with the power of the Ancients.  Offended that her Prince never respected the church, she immediately went to the King and confessed the sins of the heir, renouncing everything she had done and preaching the truth of the Ancients, in the hope of unity across all the four kingdoms.

In the end, this game is ridiculously rewarding because it allows the player to become a character with goals and conflicts that they have to figure it out.  Now, the only downside is that this isn't a game for people new to RPGs, especially when it comes to the GM.  The GM has to be ready to take something and make a scene out of it quickly.  Like within a minute or less.  That said, once you have a GM who can master that art, you're bound to have a engaging experience that is unlike any other RPG out there.

I already know this is a game I'm going to be playing and GMing again and again and again for years to come.

Quick Question for the Masses.

My writing for my trilogy is going slow.  Was able to quickly type out two chapters, and ending the one I'm on now is hard.  But I'm suddenly re-inspired by my DeWitt on Titania blurb I did.  And for once, I'm hoping I'll get a response from you guys.

Would you, my dear readers, like to read more about this universe?

I may have an idea in the works which would be more immediate satisfaction for you, dear readers. Please let me know if you would at least like to see more.  If you don't want to comment here, email me at d20sapphire AT gmail DOT com.

And for those of you who respond--thanks.  I appreciate it.

Writing Plans

Sadly, there is no DnD game today.  Scheduling and finding a room seemed to be super annoying.  However, as soon as I have taken my usual hit of Sims 3 for the day (seriously, this phase is going on for a while) I am going to sit and write. Ah Writing.

The problem with writing is just that its very long term, and you don't get the immediate fulfillment you get with a lot of other things these days.  Even this blog gives me a short term goal that's easy to reach, rather than just a long term goal of finishing a book and getting it published.

So for now, I am going to list my writing goals for the next couple few months.

1) Four blog posts a week.

I am finding that a good number of people are actually following this blog and reading what I write.  I find it flattering.  Thanks everyone!  It's also great practice for writing.  A mantra of Stephen King is "A writer's a writer's a writer", meaning a good writer should be able to write anything.  The blog is good practice in that it forces me to write something that's not fiction.  Sometimes I actually write something that's an essay, or a humor piece.  It keeps me varied.

2) Finish the first book of my trilogy this month

I write, right now, on average a chapter every two months.  ANNOYING.  It's going too slow considering that the best ideas come half the time while I'm writing this, the other half is through random experiences that I can't predict.  I'm going to bunker down and actually write this thing.  Sure, this isn't to have a final copy to allure agents and publishers with.  I really just need to get the first part of the trilogy down on paper, and then go back and edit it later.  Also, there's another reason to chuck this thing out by the end of October...

3) Write "Consent" for NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month, and I think I'm going to do it.  Just going to buckle in there and write.  I have a story in mind that hasn't evolved much since I last wrote it, and in fact I have some of it written but I'm just going to write it again anyway to see how I've changed.  "Consent" is actually the story where my Changeling LARP character comes from.  It's a complicated tale and it really  isn't a huge universe I want to shape unlike my trilogy (I have years of writing planned for that stuff).  So it's perfect for November.  50,000 words in 30 days.  I'll take that as a challenge

4) Explore "DeWitt on Titania"

For those of you who were nice enough to read my piece base on a R.K. Milholland picture, I'm afraid it was the start of something major.  Not as major as my trilogy world, but something close.  I keep on thinking of that world, and how it's different and the ideas in that story that I could extrapolate on.  Over time I want to make a series of short stories about Titania, and possibly continue on with pictures inspiring me.  It's exploring the idea of a dystopia, something that I think Brave New World has already mastered so I fear I will never get close to that brilliance.  But that doesn't mean I can't write some more. It might be something I try to self-publish online.  I don't know, I will keep you all tuned in.

5) Remember my plays

I have two play ideas, one that is finished, had the reading, and needs some editing.  The other his only a couple scenes in, but I want to go back to it, especially since it's inspired by a Lady Gaga song.  I get inspired by music and art, what's wrong with that?  Regardless, I can't forget my plays.  Considering the great reception I got from my small reading, I got to continue.

6) Focus on those first five things.

I can become easily distracted when it comes to my goals.  I know I can.  Hell is my brain--having a 1,000 ideas and not enough initiative to start one.  I hate doing it but to get better I have to admit it's a problem I have.  I think I'm going to get some friends of mine to keep my butt in gear.  I know the Boyfriend will nag me about writing if I ask him to.  I have a couple other friends who can help out every once in while.  But I can't let another idea replace these five.  I have enough work on my hands as it is.

Wish me luck!

Story Inspired by Random Comic Panel

I am a big fan of Something Positive, a web comic by R.K. Milholland.  The comic is hilarous, and the couple of times I've met him in person (and played a Bunnies and Burrows game he ran) he's a cool guy with a dark sense of humor.  I follow him on twitter, and occasionally he'll put up a random picture, including this one:

Artwork by (duh) R.K. Milholland

He puts up the picture with the caption "I doubt sincerely anything will be done with this panel."  And me, being the writer that I am, take that up as a challenge.

So below is the short piece I thought up in my head just from the picture above.  Enjoy.

Oh, and for the story below:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
_____________

At age 26 DeWitt was still a duckling.  He wasn't ugly.  He wasn't dumb.  He had "bloomed", whatever that term meant.  He was actually, to be honest, a success story.
He had two great parents.  His father had succeeded in being a prominent figure of Public Health policy, raising the bar on extra-planetary imports.  His mother was a a fantastic salesperson who ran a branch of a successful real estate company.  He was the oldest of three sons, all of which went to the best private schools that money could buy.  He'd had decent enough grades, but his soccer career is what made him shine before he went off to college.  He ended up falling in love with economics, and excelled due to his dedication to his studies.  He had finally finished his Masters, getting into an elite program despite all the obstacles.  In between the studies he had settled down with a beautiful older woman, a biologist who was up and coming in academic circles.  He was a success in every way a man could be.
But his papers did not add up.  The Director of Human Resources at the Department of Labor had let DeWitt sit down in his office during the interview, but the pile of reports on the desk was unsettling.  DeWitt had quickly recognized some of them as his own.  He took a seat in the wood chair, something that stood out in a building mostly composed of metal and concrete.  The hum of the florescents put him on edge.  Across from him, the Director picked up a thin piece of official cello-paper, with the seal of the colony.  It was DeWitt's birth certificate.
"Mr. DeWitt, I scheduled this interview before I had taken a close work at all of the paperwork the state has allowed me access to, understand?  And this piece of paper has me concerned.  I don't see why you even applied here."
"Excuse me, Sir?"
"We have standards that I have to uphold, understand?  I have to make sure you can keep up with what we do here, and to be frank, Mr. DeWitt, you can't.  And I just hate it when people waste my time, understand?"
"Sir, I don't what you're refer--"
The Director laid the birth certificate in front of him.  "Read the CP line."
DeWitt picked it up and read the Conception Procedure line.  "Basic."
"Understand?"
"Sir, if you're problem is that I was conceived naturally--"
"Precisely the issue.  I'm glad you see it.  If you had been genetically calibrated before you had latched yourself into your mother's womb, this wouldn't be a problem, understand?"
"Sir, with all due respect can we keep my mother's organs out of this discussion?"
"Don't bother with the respect.  You can see I can't hire you."
DeWitt cleared his throat.  "Actually I can't."
"It should be crystal clear!  If you have been modified at conception, when most Titanian's are, you'd be fine.  They would've automatically made sure that your neural networks, or whatever they call them, would be fast enough to process at a regular Titanian speed.  But you're basic conception, so I can't admit you here with you slowing down the teams calculations."
"I'm applying for a job that involves policy making, Sir."
"You still have to calculate formulas to predict the labor situation, understand?"
DeWitt picked up one of the old essays.  "You obviously printed out all my work, you can see I can calculate a simulation like the back of my hand, even make new ones modified to unique situations!"
"Mr. DeWitt, none of your work is exemplary.  None of it.  I can assure you half the people who applied for this job have done work at least at your level, if not better."
"So you're telling me you didn't even read it then.  I've been published in industry journals!"
"Mr. DeWitt, I am sorry you have wasted my time here, but there's nothing I can do for you, understand?"

DeWitt walked from the interview in the dark.  The colony was always dark outside, but the indoor lights had been calibrated to imitate the solar cycle back at Earth.  He followed the neon street signs to his wife's office.  Her building was a grey monolith, next to many other grey monoliths.  There was barely any indication that the building housed test subjects, or viles of microorganisms.  It did hint that there was something sterile inside.
DeWitt was let in by the receptionist to his wife's office.  He looked at the degrees on her wall, the pictures of her graduation, of their wedding and their families.  It was a good life she had.  So was his, in spite of his origins.
She walked in, her goggles and gloves still on.  "I came in as soon as I could.  I want to know how it went."
He responded as softly as he could, but he he couldn't hide all his anger.  "No you don't."
She sank right next to him, on the arm of his chair.  "Oh no, my starlight."  She never liked the words honey, or babe, or darling, so she used starlight.  It was still corny.
"He immediately went to the CP line on my birth certificate.  Explained it like I thought he would.  Kept on saying 'Understand?', as if I spoke some other language."
"You should've responded 'Que?' or something like that."
"Doesn't matter.  If the government won't hire me, I doubt any company will. "
"Don't say that, starlight."  She embraced him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  "It's only been a couple months.  Not time to give up yet."
"You and I both know that in this boom phase I should have a job.  I mean, I studied this stuff.  I know I should have a job now.  Titania is just not going to let me, with this genetic caste system."
"It's not like that."
"It is that!"
She let go of him, and slowly took her seat at the desk.  DeWitt knew he shouldn't have said that.  She was always guilty that she had been calibrated and he hadn't.
"I'm sorry.  Look, earlier today, I figured I wouldn't get the job.  I'll... start looking somewhere else."
She smiled.  "That's the spirit.  I'm sure there are plenty of other jobs for someone with your skills.  Or you could just got straight to a Ph.D."
"I can't, remember?  CP basic."
"Oh.  Well, there has to be another job, even if it's not something you studied the last eight years."
DeWitt started to laugh.  "So you're telling me I wasted eight years?"
She frowned.  "You know I'm trying to encourage you."
"Hey, I was thinking.  I'm wondering if... well, Titania is the only planet that has the genetic qualifications.  If we thought about moving to somewhere else, another colony is bound to hire me.  Maybe Walter's Gate or Man's Progress."
Her face was sad.  "Starlight, my research is only happening here.  This is the only place that's looking at microbiotics at this level, not to add with the right tools.  I can't be anywhere else."
"So what, I'm stuck here with a Masters unemployed the rest of my life?"
"You're not going to be unemployed the rest of your life."
"I'm not taking a job selling fast food to people out the drive thru, so I'm afraid I am."
"You don't have to get like this.  No reason to be this angry."
"Of course you're the reasonable one, part of your breeding, right?"
She stood up.  "If you came her to upset me, you have to leave.  I still have work to do today and I can't--"
"You get to work and I get to stay home after all I went through?"
She rushed out the office.  "I'll see you at home.  You'll have cooled by then I hope."  She slammed the door.
DeWitt just stayed there, looking at all the pictures.  He stared at the happy couple they were on their wedding day.
"Had I known then I was to be your duckling, that I was to follow you single file wherever you went, I would've reconsidered my options, love."

Found my calling at age 23?

Last night the reading I had went really well.  I don't want to bore you all with the details, but the reception was mostly positive, and people were convinced that I was going to get this produced somewhere.

Really?  Little old me?

So I guess I'm good at this writing thing.  But I was thinking about it, and about what's out there and how to make myself different, and then I realized...

There isn't enough sci-fi plays.

I'm serious about this.  I know I posted about the one Capek wrote, the one where the word robot originates, but there aren't a lot that come to my head.  Or any, really.  It's something absent on the stage.  Does it need to be on stage?  Not really, I can understand why film and tv work better for the genre.  Doesn't mean I'm not going to try though.

I think I mentioned to you guys that Lady Gaga's Bad Romance inspired me to write a story (can't really look up links while at work) but now that I think about it, play makes a lot more sense.  I'm partly writing this down here because I don't want to forget this idea, I think it could be rather riveting if I do it right.

I had a hard time sleeping last night, in the same way children can't fall asleep Christmas Eve.  Something exciting is happening and it's hard to rest.  Well I think the exciting thing that happend for me, after all the feedback and the whirlwind of ideas in my head, is that I realized I've been a writer all this time, and I don't have to let that go.  Officially, I'm calling myself a writer now.  And I feel like if I don't continue writing, I'm denying myself and all those people who were touched by my work something that at least some people out there want to connect to.

Achievement Unlocked: Finished Play

It's really just a finished draft that needs some tweaking, but it's pretty finished right now. Whee!

I'm having a playing reading right outside of Chicago on the evening of April 11th, so I'm super excited. And now, to write more of my trilogy that is the prequel of the DnD campaign I ran/will run.

P.S. you guys figured out the last post was a joke right? I try not to be too good at pranks April 1st. That one was for those extremely easy to fool.

Finally writing about Dragon Age

I know the game isn't new and exciting anymore, but I essentially don't care about that.  I have been meaning to write about it for a while.  Also want to write about it first before I write about Mass Effect 2.

Warning: Spoilers for Dragon Age below

First of all, I played at a mage for the playthrough I'm talking about now.  I started one as a dwarf but the results of my choices didn't make any sense to me, and didn't feel like any character I wanted to connect to.  Also, the prospects of me getting in Alistar's pants were slim to none, so I gave up and started a new character.  Yes, I am that shallow.

So I restarted as the human mage, who I named Thia.  I decided that she'd mostly do the morally "good" choices, but if there is a chance for a joke or hilarity she would take it.  That did make it a lot more fun. And that is definitely something I do appreciate about Dragon Age: it's a lot less binary when it comes with the character choices you make.  You don't necessarily benefit for going one way or the other, you just either sever or keep ties and alliances according to what you say or do.  And just because you think one thing is good and other people don't, you're not immediately chastised for disagree with the "morals" of the game.

I don't need to go through every quest and decision I made.  I doubt you guys are super interested in that.  So this will just touch upon my general thoughts about the game.

As I posted around November, when I first started to play I  noticed a theme of betrayal.  It's a theme that most of the origins stories have.  For example, I went out of my way to break rules and help my friend Jowan, a mage who was afraid of becoming the emotionless, monotone, Tranquil.  But after I helped him it turned out he was lying about who he was and his powers, and there I was left to take all the punishment.  And then you introduction to the Grey Wardens in battle turns to Teryn Loghain leaving the King of Ferelden and all of the Grey Wardens except you (and hottie Alistar) to DIE.  This game definitely teaches you that life is unquestioningly unfair, even if you are the hero.

Yet as people time and time again lose your trust, you still have to reach out and find help with a huge diverse group of people.  You have to reach out to every contact you have to fight this war against some epic evil knowing that you can't trust most of the people you are talking to.  Partly because if everyone outright agreed with you the story would suck, but also because everyone is distracted by problems that affect them right now.  The blight isn't immediate.  It is a slow takeover.  No one really notices it until it's too late, because they have communities and families and friends to worry about that are right there in front of them. You have to be the one to say "Look, I know some stuff is happening now, and I'm here to help you, but OH GOD THE BLIGHT!"

The epic fantasy feel, the whole "I'm on a journey to save the world" vibe, didn't feel old and rehashed excessively.  Sure, some of the same themes that have been prevalent since Tolkein were there.  They definitely got a facelift though.  For example, in almost any fantasy story with elves, the elves look down on humans from their ivory towers of immortality and are snooty assholes.  Not here.  Elves are recovering from their traditions being stripped away and generations of slavery.  They're either in the slums of the city or on the fringes of the forests keeping away from human cities.  Sure they still have the pointy ears and lighter frames and they have a good set of archers, but they aren't what you grew up with.  They have real issues now.  Also the standard set ups of bastard children and witches and god-blessed martyrs are there, but not the old, dust-gathering ideas of them.  This definitely kept the story intriguing.

I do like the harkin back to D&D style structure when it came to leveling up, but I'm biased because that was my first RPG.  I also liked the playing style in general.  I love strategizing and managing people in general.  I know of some people who got bored with pause and play, but I feel like I am a much better play for having it available.  Going to Mass Effect 2, I kind of missed it, but then again I wasn't controlling four people at once so I understand why it can't be utilized all the time.

If I have any complaints about the game, it's definitely not gameplay.  Nor is it graphics like everyone else--I really couldn't care less about graphics if I like the game.  It was the body proportions.  The arm lengths and size of the hands were WAY off.  All the women had man hands!  All the dwarves looked like they could walk on their fists!  I hope they fix that in the sequel, or even better in Awakening.

Sticking to the "good jokester" idea of a character that I decided on, I was able to befriend most of my quest buddies without much effort.  I became best friends with Leliana and Morrigan, two very different characters whose morals are totally on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Now in this game the more yours allies like you the better bonuses they have in combat.  This was fantastic for me since my three closest chums were a mage, a rogue and a fighter.  Totally balanced out.

Thia definitely worked out for me.  She was a mage who could talk her way out of trouble, could deal out a good amount of damage, and I didn't regret looking at again after creating her.  That is one thing that can go wrong with making your own character.  You may end up regretting what they look like.  But Thia totally worked out.

Playing this game, for me at least, was like reading a good book.  You had no idea what would happen next but you needed to know as soon as possible.  That's part of the reason why I spent hours and hours playing it whenever I had the freetime.  Each scene was another chapter in a fantasy novel that I was helping to write.  It's a testament to the writers over at Bioware that they kept me this engrossed.  It's actually really easy for me to just stop picking up a game and not finish it.  It's something that happens with me for a lot of other stories too, in books, tv series, etc.  I just stop caring that much.  But that didn't happen with Dragon Age.  I was so excited for the end of the game, and when it was over, I was kind of sad.  I looked forward to seeing those characters after work or during the weekend.  Now, I didn't really have to anymore, did I?  At least, not with Thia's story.

Oh, and the romance with Alistar that caused me to have the superb crush on him?  It was cute, poignant, and although not super realistic not super improbable either.  The stuff junior high crushes are made of. Also, can I just say it's refreshing to have a bastard heir to the throne who thoroughly doesn't want to be king?  Mmmm, lack of power trip.

Romances, or at least having the choice of a romance, are always something I appreciate in games.  Partly because in stressful situations, people always want to lean on someone.  Friendships definitely do that as well, which is why they're nice to have in this game.  Human connections in general, ones that aren't strained and ones that are genuine, are intriguing to watch.  That is why TV producers can get away with reality tv--the connections are already there, they don't have to fake them.  What's more fascinating is to see these connections grow, and how they blossom, and why they do.  That's what these romances in video games allow you to do.  Sure, the way the friendships grow in this game are great to watch as well, because they do grow and people do react to them.  But romances are a more tangled web than mere friendship, and watching to see if the knots tighten or unravel are definitely entertaining.

I think for me, it's the characters that are going to keep me coming back for more.  I want to see what happens in the sequels--where are they and how have they fared?  Will they still be my friend?  Or will they be my foe for some odd reason?  Did they go where they said they would?

I'm going through my second play through finally, and I'm realizing how much I missed these people.  Although this second character is going to be a complete jerk, it's still going to be nice to hear Morrigan pissing everyone else off, or Sten suffer culture shock, or even pet the dog again!

If you like RPGs, good stories, and making choices (and for once, not solely binary choices!) in your video games, you'll probably love Dragon Age.

Have found a muse!

I had mentioned earlier that I had been feeling a little uninspired as of late.  This is always disheartening for me to feel.  I hate not being able to the type the words I know are waiting to be written down somewhere.

However, it seems my writer's block is over.

On Pandora (which everyone should use!) I had been listening to a lot of A Perfect Circle, and couldn't get the songs from Mer de Noms out of my head.  So I broke down and bought.

I haven't really stopped listening it since I bought it.

And then I couldn't stop writing.  Now I haven't gotten RPG ideas like I complained before, but I've been able to go back to my story and start writing again.  And I'm getting a lot of writing ideas.  Helping the Boyfriend with his story made me want to write it in my own style.  I'm thinking about writing more things for my LARP characters.  I think that the trilogy is the most important though, because it's something that's been stuck in my head for quite some time.  Mer de Noms is making think of certain characters in different ways, looking at them in different angles.  And I've gotten a scene or two from this album that has helped fleshed out everything for me.

For me, music unlocks a lot of things in my head.  But not in such a long time has an album inspired projects I was already in the middle of tinkering with.  Hooray!

Now if only something could give me the kick in the pants I need to get inspired for half of my other projects.

Uninspired?

I realize that I haven't been posting enough about RPGs, or specifically running them. I don't know what's wrong, but I recently haven't been as inspired as I usually am to run a game.  Maybe it's because I haven't bought myself a new RPG or maybe it's because I've been focusing on my trilogy when it comes to my creative outlet.  But it feels like there's something lacking.

On my other blog I've mentioned that I would like to do some experiments involving running games.  But I can't find myself thinking of a story for other people to become a part of.

There was a time last year where every week you could see me DMing at school.  I do miss that.  Gaming in person is so much fun.  Seeing the reaction on people's faces is FANTASTIC.  But I don't have a story that I think has the same engaging qualities that my previous campaign did.

I hope that campaign isn't a once in a lifetime thing.  Maybe it is.  I really hope not.  I hope I haven't already acheived GMing gold by age 23.  That would be kind of sad.

Well, I'm working on thinking of something to run on Google Wave, so I can do that experiment.  Just the question is... what the heck is it going to be?

Just Finished Dragon Age

I don't want to go into detail about everything right now, because it literally just happened.  I literally just finished watching the credits.  And now, I am feeling slightly emotional about it.

I easily sympathize with characters in stories, which is something that happens in great intensity with a well written story.  Once the game was over, I realized I wasn't going to play Thia, my Grey Warden, anytime soon.  And I almost got teary-eyed.

I invested so much time into creating a character that I loved playing, and that was the kind of character I wanted to play.  Thia became friends with all the people she brought along the way, and she was hilarious.  She was an awesome mage that kicked serious butt.  And a lot of the choices I had to make in the game were seriously hard.  I put in a lot emotionally, partly because I'm sensitive like that, but partly because the game encourages you too.

And now it's over, and the thing I looked forward to every night after work is gone for a short time.  It's like saying goodbye to a friend you only see once a year or something like that.  It's bittersweet.

I think I will do a more in-depth post later about my choices that is somewhat spoiler-rific, but for now I'm going to look back and enjoy what I just did... beat my first PC game on my new computer Adonis.  Sweet.

My Gaming PC: am I a traitor?.

I've been meaning to post about my new gaming PC, which I named Adonis.  I had a chance to buy all the parts cheap on Newegg, and since the Boyfriend loves to build computers, I got it put together for practically free.

That's part of the reason I've been playing Dragon Age exponentially.  And next Mass Effect!  WOO!

But in some ways, I feel like I am betraying my roots.  I was raised a console gamer.  Started out with a Super NES and I didn't really start getting into it until I got older.  I've always loved video games, but I never really considered myself a "gamer" in that regard.  Sims 2 was really the most hardcore I went.  Everything else I played but never finished.  Spyro, Super Mario 64, Yoshi's Island, Dark Cloud...  Never finished any of them.

I was always around people who loved video games, and I could see why people loved them too.  It wasn't until college I got into games for real.  I got a first generation Nintendo DS and it was awesome.  I played it to escape from my first summer job in the evenings.  Kirby Canvas Curse is the first game I got for myself and actually finished.  Or at least that I can remember.

And from then on I was hooked.  I loved gaming and would play or watch as much as I could.  I made a friend in college that would play JRPGs and I would watch all the time.   Soul Caliber battles were awesome.  And I was seeking out stuff to play.  But it was always on a console.  I didn't even consider PC games.  Partly because my main computer was a mac and partly because I grew up with consoles.

Within a year I've totally converted.  I prefer the input with a keyboard and mouse.  Point and click!  No double joysticks to deal with!  I don't want to operate the camera and the character at the same time like that!  And if you don't like how it looks or operates, you upgrade it yourself!

I think I was officially sold when one of my friends let me try out Prototype on his beast of a laptop.  It was so fluid!  It made perfect sense!  Who knew I could be this good at video games?!

I think that when I knew I needed a gaming PC.  There are a lot of video games these days that revolve around really good stories.  Dragon Age is one of them, but let us not forget other games I wanted to play and never really got around to like BioShock and Fallout 3.  And with Mass Effect I didn't actually play.  Instead I did all the character choices while the Boyfriend was nice enough to do all the shoot.  Well now I can do my own shooting!  WOOT!  And I'll actually hit!  YEAH!

Though... I'm still playing on easy...

Anyway, I don't know if I am actually abandoning what originally brought me to gaming.  I still love my Wii, and the games that are on it.  And console games are a lot more social.  But a lot of the games I want to play are like reading long books.  They have unique stories, and the best way for me to play through without dying all the time is on a PC.  I guess it's just me adapting to the changes in the gaming world.

Dragon Age: A theme of betrayal

SPOILERS AHEAD

Well, for a very small portion of the game.

Blame the Boyfriend.  He is an enabler.  I mention I'm really intrigued by Dragon age and BAM his laptop is in my house and I can't stop playing it.  Well, I do for work but dammit, I would play this all day if I had the chance and the right set up.

Like always, I'm drawn into the story. You choose what back story you start with by choosing your race, class, and status in society.  I was a dwarf warrior noble, and I really like the back story that they give you.  I want to play the game again to see how it would be different as a mage (you can't be a dwarf and a mage) and see if I can start out with a fuller group.

Anyway, talking to the Boyfriend about his character's back stories, and then looking at what I've seen of my story so far, betrayal is HUGE.  And this is where the spoiler marking matters so look away those who haven't played and plan to.

No matter what your back story is, you help out at a battle against the Blight (wretched creatures created by the sins of man infecting the lands like a plague) in an abandoned fort called Ostagar.  You're there with your people, the Grey Wardens, to help King Calin's troops.  The Grey Wardens are trained specifically to cast out the Blight.  Your job, along with another Grey Warden Alistar, is to light a beacon for Calin's war aid Loghain to bring troops after Calin and the other Grey Wardens start out killing some darkspawn (creatures of the blight).  So you finally battle a ton of darkspawn that shouldn't have been there in the first place, you light the beacon and you are excited to do your part when...

Loghain pulls his troops back and lets King Calin die.

First of all, you feel stupid for not realizing it would happen.  When I first met Loghain I thought "he's so going to betray me" but then I took it back.  I had already dealt with something similar earlier on in the story (and almost every back story has its own betrayal issues) so I figured it wouldn't happen again.  I was so wrong.  It was like a hard slap to the face.

Second, it prepares you for similar acts on a smaller scale to happen again and again and again.  You have to do actions that you are suspicious of from the get go for the story to move.  And then your suspicions are confirmed!  It's like an abusive relationship!

As the game continues I'm going to see if this theme continues, and how important it is.  Is it also a weapon against the bad guys?

If you know how it ends, don't answer that question!

Magic in a Story: A Balancing Act

I have just finished the first "chapter" of the web comic my friend Proptart and I are going to be doing, and I'm told I can still write.  As long as I can write better than I did in high school, I'm all good with that.  But soon after the next chapter, magic is going to be a big item in the story, and if you want magic to be good, you need to make it logical.

This is hard to do.  First of all, nothing in known physics supports anything that human lore refers to as magic.  Therefore, it is inherently illogical in our world.

However, you can't just put in a fancy spell any time you feel like it's cool and awesome.  I find when that happens in fantasy stories, the reader just stops believing.  It's hard to get immersed when the protagonist can essentially solve every problem with a spell the reader has never heard of before but conveniently works exactly the way the protagonist needs it to.  It's also hard to believe a random collection of handy spells with no clear ties can be learned.  This is the one thing that annoyed me about Dungeons and Dragons: the magic has no real theme to tie it all together.  Sure, there were schools of magic but there was no clear theme of manipulation of something that made the magic really cohesive.  Now that didn't stop me from loving D&D as much as I do.  It was just annoying.

I like magic when there's a main theme to it.  A good game that I know of that works like this is Unknown Armies.  Your character would have a world-view so skewed that you see things most people don't, and hence you manipulate parts of the world with that magic.  There are conditions to keeping that magic but with one's world view so skewed, it's usually easy to keep to those restrictions.  Another game that has a good sense of themes or worlds of magic is World of Darkness' Mage.  Each mage is awakened to the secret ways of bending the world.  They can only affect certain aspects of the world around them, but over time master it very well and make friends that have different specialties.

I feel like this helps a world make more sense.  There has to be some system that works in the world that allows physics bending magic to happen.  Whether you're an Urbanomancer in tune to the city so well you can occasionally have hobos do your bidding, or you have figured out how to talk to the dead while you work at the morgue, a system of bending the rules is easy to get lost into when it comes to story.  So that kind of system I'm hoping to use.

Right now my idea is to use nature as a system.  Of course this would mean using the four elements: earth, wind, fire, air.  But I want to intersperse that with other parts of nature too.  Plant growth is something I think would be good to manipulate, and I have to think of some other natural forces that can be manipulated.  But all of this will be rather limited as well.  On with intense clarity and concentration can one move a substantial amount of earth.  Air is the easiest to manipulate, but it takes years of practice before someone can actually knock someone over with wind, let alone several people.  Fire is so dangerous that usually mages specialize in it and can't make much use of it until a decade of honing their skill.

One thing I think is dangerous to dabble with is the manipulation of things that have free will.  People controlling animals will probably not exist in my world at all.  Any kind of mind magic, or psionics (a dirty word to many D&D lovers) will be of very limited power.  I will say it will exist in my world, but not as a way to manipulate characters with hypnosis or mind control.

I'm hoping I've got the perfect balance of logic and fantasy going on in my magic scheme.  You won't know until I've got the web comic up and running how it's going to take shape, but I hope you readers will think my story is full of epic win.

p.s I got the picture for this blog post here.

Another writing project

I hate to say it readers, but I've been cheating on you.  Writing-wise, that is.

I have a dear friend of mine I've known since junior high who was like me not too long ago--bored and unemployed.  She's kind of like the sister I never had, especially since my mother claims her all the time as her missing daughter.  It's funny, let me tell you.  Any my dear friend and I decided we should do the awesome thing we said we would do years ago.

We should make a web comic.

Now mind you, I don't think I will ever get to some of the same fame as Penny Arcade or Something Positive.  It would be arrogant to say that this is an eventuality.  But my friend wants to practice drawing, and this is a story I've been trying to work on since high school.  In fact it was used as the setting in my D&D campaign in college.  These characters and this story have not left me in about 7 years.  For me, that's a long time.  And I'm very loyal to my stories it seems, so I have to write it sooner or later.

Now that I'm a bit more settled in my new job and I'm finally getting a good pace with this writing stuff, I'm not going to be as absent as I was previously from this blog.  But I'm hoping you all can see how this can benefit you!  You will soon have a new web comic to be entertained by.

It's not going to be a web comic that you readers will be used to.  Its a fantasy setting with political intrigue and religious prophecy.  It's not going to be all fun and games.  It's going to be a real story, with a real ending I know of too.  We'll see how that works out for us.  Also, don't expect it anytime too soon.  There is a lot that the two of us need to work out.

In the meantime, please forgive me!  I'll never cheat on you writing wise again!  I will always come back to you readers!

Also, this means some hilarious posts about my writing process.  I promise.

How much detail?

I'm writing again, specifically the trilogy that helped spark the campaign that I'm trying to make into an RPG.  But I'm running into a problem--how much should I describe of the world?

With a fantasy setting, everything is new.  I'm throwing the reader into a new world that has a different feel and look than anything her or she is used to.  Therefore I should describe some things in high enough detail.

However, I don't feel the need to right now in the first chapter, because those details aren't extremely important to the story.  I feel that most readers will be able to fill in all the gaps they want if need be.  Give someone a few context clues and that give him or her enough to figure out a general idea of what things look like.  Why should I go into superb detail?

I know for a lot of things I will when I start writing the RPG setting, but I feel that's because a setting is a world for other GMs to borrow.  If the GM wanted to fill all the gaps she would create her own world.  Therefore the details are necessary.  But in a story the flow can easily be bogged down by too much description.  I've seen it happen before and I would rather avoid it.

I guess I'll just have to write now and see what cracks need to be filled in, if any.

So much nerd inspiration

Since I am unemployed right now (and looking, if any of you in the Chicago area find something that could suit me) I've been trying to think of a side project to do, and I keep coming back to one thing:

My previous campaign.

I loved my campaign, especially the characters.  Some of those characters I have been working on for years now that I think about it... almost seven years.  And I find I can't let go of them, or their world.  So what do I do?

There are two obvious answers to this.

1) write a book

It would probably be something targeted to a younger audience, girls in junior high or high school.  The characters I created were made in that vain, around the same time I really got into Tamora Pierce.  She's a fantastic writer who has a lot of strong, young female characters in her stories.  From her I was inspired to make one of the protagonists.  With that in mind, the story I will be writing will be for that age group.  And I would have fun with it too, since I have technically written some of this before.  In high school this was supposed to be a trilogy, and I wrote 2/3 of it.  I have a lot I want to change at this point, so it would be a huge rewrite, with a lot of background written before I would start the actual story.  The background idea leads to the next idea...

2) create a campaign setting for an RPG

I've ran a campaign in this world, why not use all the characters that made this world the way it is?  There is a question if to use a pre or post PC world.  Both have a lot of potential, but I think I would rather go pre with some twists.  Certain PC-NPC connections became pretty important, and a lot of my PCs are worth immortalizing.  The question is with what system?  Considering how important politics are in this game, I don't think it would work with the current D&D system.  Too much focus on combat.  I could also just write my own system but I rather just work with the characters and the setting, and use a good system created by someone else.

And then there's the idea of 

3) write both.

This could potentially suck out all my energy from finding a "real" job.  I doubt this will even be slightly profitable.  But I might just do the crazy thing and actually do both.  It's a risk, I know, and I do need a real source of income soon.  But if I could help make one person's RPG experience awesome, or give one person a fantastic story... why not?

Over the last month I realized how hard it is to get these stories away.  I can't run away from them.  I have to write them down.  Why not share the story?

Also, if I did the RPG idea, I would definitely keep you all updated here, with sneak peeks and such.  I just have to figure out everything.

Someone told me I seemed like a person that needs big projects.  And he was right.  So now, since I'm out on my own, I need my own big project.  This will be it.

Explaining RPGs to the lay people

The other day I was at the dentist getting the umpteenth filling I need.  I'm in the process of reading Hush Hush, a book for the Unknown Armies setting.  One of the nice dental assistants asked what I was reading, and at that point I have to explain what the book is... and I think I did a good job.

It's hard explaining to someone that doesn't know what a tabletop RPG is not only the basic premise of how to play that kind of game, but then the setting you are reading.  And then do it in 3 minutes before you dentist drills a hole in your tooth.  At the same time, I don't want it to sound too weird.  "My friends and I circle around and one of us it the Master and he tells us when to roll dice!" So how do I explain it?

The key is to focus on storytelling.

Everyone loves a good story, and understand the magic in a good story.  Knowing this, the way I explained it was that there was one person who sets the story and a group of people who play characters in the story.  We use dice to follow the rules.  I think the assistant got the general idea pretty well before I had way too much Novocaine to talk without drooling.

I'm always afraid to mention my geeky hobbies merely because people have a tendency to associate with them with the people who obsess about their hobbies.  We all know who I'm talking about.  That guy (or gal) who spends all day taking meticulous notes about their favorite show/movie/game and waste a big amount of their money of collectors items.  It's also not rare for them to not have good social skills and for them to not shower regularly.  I try not to associate with people like that because they're usually not fun.  They're the rule lawyer at the game table, the guy who has to pwn you on your favorite MMO, and the gal whose one true pairing in her manga fandom cannot be wrong even if it's not cannon.

If you relate what makes your fandom fun in the first place, it becomes a lot more universal.  Storytelling is universal. 

I guess what I'm suggesting is if there is someone out there who doesn't get why you like rolling dice with your friends once a week, ask them "When was the last time you participated in a good story?"  It's hard to argue with that, and even harder to not understand why that's fun.