I find it amusing that, dispite my role of a high-profile and caring customer service, I sure do have a lot of shirts that I wouldn't say are endearing to the position. Some are not friendly at all.
Monday 19 December 2011
Tuesday 29 November 2011
A Happy Place
We all have something or another that can instill a sense of joy, be it simply a warm feeling or (in the case of the below music) uncontrollable smiling. Maybe it takes you back to a time that was memorable, or maybe the thing itself is just so charged with it's own "joy" that it manages to be uplifting on it's own.
And sometimes we need it.
Also, 'alternate' version from the 25 year special from OverClocked ReMix here. I cannot say which is "better", as both are things of beauty and should be appreciated in their own right. Both can certainly get me all choked up.
And sometimes we need it.
Also, 'alternate' version from the 25 year special from OverClocked ReMix here. I cannot say which is "better", as both are things of beauty and should be appreciated in their own right. Both can certainly get me all choked up.
Saturday 8 October 2011
War Never Changes
So... RAGE. The big release this week. I'd originally had it in my Amazon.co.uk basket ready to buy, alongside the HD remake of ICO/Shadow of the Colossus. Oh, and Dead Island. We'll return to this for a sentence later. Anyway, each game in the basket was coming to about £27 each. Bargain!
But then I had 5 days off coming up, and with our Minecraft server burned out and having to be rebuilt, I needed a game to play. And Steam would provide it to me faster than the mail could get it to me from Amazon. And so I caved and threw in my 50 quid. Sure I'd double my costs but id has never let me down.
Undoubtedly, if you've had any interest in the game at all, or even just has the ear to the ground of games at all, you'll have heard it's not gone off without a hitch for us PC-faring folk. My initial moments into the world, where you emerge into a...well, I won't call it a sweeping vista, but it's a view of a sort, and a turn of your head, even slowly, would present to you a blurred up textures which then came into focus a second later. Literally. Not a quick flash where you had thought you'd seen something but then realised you must have been mistaken. This was a full second that the walls, the ground, the water, everything in sight would appear as an indistinguishable smudge before easing - in stages - into focus.
Feelings were, like Penny-Arcade's comprehensibly loquacious Tycho, astounded by id and their premier foray into producing a cross-platform title where they intentionally ported it to the PC (I believe simultaneously as they were to console), rather than develop for PC and then move to consoles afterwards. It felt like a betrayal in a sense. Not over that they had done it this way, of course. No, I could fully respect their id Tech 5 tech and their new bosses at Bethesda and the need to move with the times. It had simply hurt that something had gone wrong and it was the PC that took the beating. Everyone bemoans id and demands a patch for the "broken" title as it's "unplayable" in it's initial stage. Which really brought to mind the recent Dead Island release. Except that was broken, and was barely playable. RAGE, it must be said, ran and was playable. Just as long as you didn't turn around too fast and expect to see what was around you immediately.
Given time for this to diffuse into the media and back to id we find that this comes, in part, to the wide range of graphics hardware and configurations that we have, and how it would appear the id Tech 5 engine was perhaps not prepared for this. Or something. But id did come out and help people with some command parameters here and there which we could use to tweak the settings.
Once my textures were [mostly] behaving, I had a blast.
It had come as something of an unanimous hive-mind phenomenon that we all drew immediate comparisons to Fallout 3. The desert wasteland, the small camps of people pulling together a living, the outlaw factions which terrorise out in the open landscape, the mutants which threaten both, scavenging parts to sell to combine to make contraptions and weapons.
Except, I didn't feel like I cared much about their plight because no sooner had I established myself, I was whisked away to a new town. I could have happily listened to John Goodman's sultry, deep tone all day long. But no, away with me, there's a new corner of the world to go look at and a whole new town to earn the grateful trust of. You could go back and see them after, but there was nothing really there for you. Just a nod. Then you get back on your way. That guy with the double-chins they'd show in the trailers? You see him once. Perhaps we were spoiled by Fallout 3. After all, this is a shooter. id are shooter people. There's a lot of shooting to be done.
And shooting feels good; the guns are nice and solid, and I'm a fervent fan of the shottie and it's magical powers of making whole heads disappear in the blink of an eye. Naturally so, it's of course id doing what they do best, I'd say. Driving is fun also, save perchance for when you inevitably get into situations of forever chasing your tail, turning in a perpetual circle as your sole remaining enemy does the same. But then I was forever forgetting that I had a dozen landmines that I could have dropped in my wake and swiftly ended the cycle. Still, I did have a proud moment of heading to a corner, turn and barrel-roll my car, shoot off a rocket and winning the day. Environments are varied, too, and there has been care placed into it. No invisible walls, no gaps between walls, not even an out-of-place looking rock. I'd say seamless, if I felt it 100% accurate to do so, but I'm sure fault could be found out there by people. And people will go over it with a fine toothed comb. You know what the internet is like. Oh, and it does have it's moments like Doom 3's “monster in a cupboard”, just not as bizarre and out of place as demon coming out of a hidden compartment.
I was just getting into it, too. Then it ended. I'd reached what had felt like it would be the half-way mark, perhaps two-thirds at best, but then the credits rolled.
It was a bitter-sweet conclusion, given the price I paid, the problems encountered and then the end coming too soon for me. More annoying perhaps was that you could not continue after the credits. To let you do so would not have broken anything, the world would have maintained it's narrative, and I could have gone around and finished up the couple sidequests I'd skipped on, explored the card game that is in there, gone into the sewers in the starting area which the NPCs said contains unclaimed goodies. And monsters to shoot up. If I let it sit for a couple days, on reflection I may deem it "worth it". Right now, though, perhaps it's because I have a gaming void at the moment that I've nothing to fill that makes completing RAGE leave a more pronounced emptiness.
Truthfully, however, I have dozens of incomplete games and a handful of ones not even begun. But they're not right for me, just now.
It'll be interesting to see how Doom 4 comes out. One would hope that lessons had been learned, tweaks to be made, drivers to be prepared, and a loyal customer base to appease.
But then I had 5 days off coming up, and with our Minecraft server burned out and having to be rebuilt, I needed a game to play. And Steam would provide it to me faster than the mail could get it to me from Amazon. And so I caved and threw in my 50 quid. Sure I'd double my costs but id has never let me down.
Undoubtedly, if you've had any interest in the game at all, or even just has the ear to the ground of games at all, you'll have heard it's not gone off without a hitch for us PC-faring folk. My initial moments into the world, where you emerge into a...well, I won't call it a sweeping vista, but it's a view of a sort, and a turn of your head, even slowly, would present to you a blurred up textures which then came into focus a second later. Literally. Not a quick flash where you had thought you'd seen something but then realised you must have been mistaken. This was a full second that the walls, the ground, the water, everything in sight would appear as an indistinguishable smudge before easing - in stages - into focus.
Feelings were, like Penny-Arcade's comprehensibly loquacious Tycho, astounded by id and their premier foray into producing a cross-platform title where they intentionally ported it to the PC (I believe simultaneously as they were to console), rather than develop for PC and then move to consoles afterwards. It felt like a betrayal in a sense. Not over that they had done it this way, of course. No, I could fully respect their id Tech 5 tech and their new bosses at Bethesda and the need to move with the times. It had simply hurt that something had gone wrong and it was the PC that took the beating. Everyone bemoans id and demands a patch for the "broken" title as it's "unplayable" in it's initial stage. Which really brought to mind the recent Dead Island release. Except that was broken, and was barely playable. RAGE, it must be said, ran and was playable. Just as long as you didn't turn around too fast and expect to see what was around you immediately.
Given time for this to diffuse into the media and back to id we find that this comes, in part, to the wide range of graphics hardware and configurations that we have, and how it would appear the id Tech 5 engine was perhaps not prepared for this. Or something. But id did come out and help people with some command parameters here and there which we could use to tweak the settings.
Once my textures were [mostly] behaving, I had a blast.
It had come as something of an unanimous hive-mind phenomenon that we all drew immediate comparisons to Fallout 3. The desert wasteland, the small camps of people pulling together a living, the outlaw factions which terrorise out in the open landscape, the mutants which threaten both, scavenging parts to sell to combine to make contraptions and weapons.
Except, I didn't feel like I cared much about their plight because no sooner had I established myself, I was whisked away to a new town. I could have happily listened to John Goodman's sultry, deep tone all day long. But no, away with me, there's a new corner of the world to go look at and a whole new town to earn the grateful trust of. You could go back and see them after, but there was nothing really there for you. Just a nod. Then you get back on your way. That guy with the double-chins they'd show in the trailers? You see him once. Perhaps we were spoiled by Fallout 3. After all, this is a shooter. id are shooter people. There's a lot of shooting to be done.
And shooting feels good; the guns are nice and solid, and I'm a fervent fan of the shottie and it's magical powers of making whole heads disappear in the blink of an eye. Naturally so, it's of course id doing what they do best, I'd say. Driving is fun also, save perchance for when you inevitably get into situations of forever chasing your tail, turning in a perpetual circle as your sole remaining enemy does the same. But then I was forever forgetting that I had a dozen landmines that I could have dropped in my wake and swiftly ended the cycle. Still, I did have a proud moment of heading to a corner, turn and barrel-roll my car, shoot off a rocket and winning the day. Environments are varied, too, and there has been care placed into it. No invisible walls, no gaps between walls, not even an out-of-place looking rock. I'd say seamless, if I felt it 100% accurate to do so, but I'm sure fault could be found out there by people. And people will go over it with a fine toothed comb. You know what the internet is like. Oh, and it does have it's moments like Doom 3's “monster in a cupboard”, just not as bizarre and out of place as demon coming out of a hidden compartment.
I was just getting into it, too. Then it ended. I'd reached what had felt like it would be the half-way mark, perhaps two-thirds at best, but then the credits rolled.
It was a bitter-sweet conclusion, given the price I paid, the problems encountered and then the end coming too soon for me. More annoying perhaps was that you could not continue after the credits. To let you do so would not have broken anything, the world would have maintained it's narrative, and I could have gone around and finished up the couple sidequests I'd skipped on, explored the card game that is in there, gone into the sewers in the starting area which the NPCs said contains unclaimed goodies. And monsters to shoot up. If I let it sit for a couple days, on reflection I may deem it "worth it". Right now, though, perhaps it's because I have a gaming void at the moment that I've nothing to fill that makes completing RAGE leave a more pronounced emptiness.
Truthfully, however, I have dozens of incomplete games and a handful of ones not even begun. But they're not right for me, just now.
It'll be interesting to see how Doom 4 comes out. One would hope that lessons had been learned, tweaks to be made, drivers to be prepared, and a loyal customer base to appease.
Sunday 25 September 2011
The Balance
So are we going to see a Warcraft 4? More specially, can we have a Warcraft 4? More directly again, is it possible to produce a Warcraft 4 while World of Warcraft is current?
Where would it fit in? Would it show you events that are also played in the MMO in a new view, or would it take you onto a seperate storyline unseen running concurrently? Would it occur in place of an expansion and in the MMO have mentions of something like "well, after that huge series of events and battles that you didn't see here but the results of which are clearly visible..." or would the MMO community cry out in bloodlust about how they were being forced to buy another game and how it should be part of the MMO instead. You know, forgetting that expansions also cost money and that trying to expand story and universe via other means should be explored so as to not become stale. The books do well, after all.
Heck, why not - Take the books and construct a Warcraft 4 around that, or a seperate story entirely unconnected. Or as of yet unconnected. After all, with Burning Crusade they had said that there's the chance of other portals leading to other places and that these may be something looked into in the future. Which hasn't happened.
When the world is vast and as deep as the imagination, who is to say...
Yeah, not a huge thought today, but I had to get it out while coherent enough in my cold/'flu raddled state.
Bit like the new Minecraft video...
Where would it fit in? Would it show you events that are also played in the MMO in a new view, or would it take you onto a seperate storyline unseen running concurrently? Would it occur in place of an expansion and in the MMO have mentions of something like "well, after that huge series of events and battles that you didn't see here but the results of which are clearly visible..." or would the MMO community cry out in bloodlust about how they were being forced to buy another game and how it should be part of the MMO instead. You know, forgetting that expansions also cost money and that trying to expand story and universe via other means should be explored so as to not become stale. The books do well, after all.
Heck, why not - Take the books and construct a Warcraft 4 around that, or a seperate story entirely unconnected. Or as of yet unconnected. After all, with Burning Crusade they had said that there's the chance of other portals leading to other places and that these may be something looked into in the future. Which hasn't happened.
When the world is vast and as deep as the imagination, who is to say...
Yeah, not a huge thought today, but I had to get it out while coherent enough in my cold/'flu raddled state.
Bit like the new Minecraft video...
Saturday 10 September 2011
Comic Musings
I've never been a huge comic book guy. Still, when it was found that the town we were in had one I felt the need to accompany my friend Scott with him on his next journey.
Amazing Fantasy, as it is called, was fairly small, but substantial for what I assume was a starting business. Not being a Comics guy, I had seen things on the shelves never imagined, from themes unexpected to established franchises I'd not even thought would have branched into a comic book run.
And of course at the back a couple bookshelves of manga. This store is how I'd gotten ahold of much of GTO.
It was a few times later I had picked up a couple Lenore comics. They were different and dark but with a self-knowing humour to it. If that's the right way to put it. Take a vampire which is reincarnated into a stuffed toy, much to his annoyance. There was even talk of a movie, and Sony commissioned a whole load of animated shorts.
Anyway one afternoon my eye had been caught by the a small poster as the till. "Coming Soon," it teased, with a funky looking poster.
When it arrived I picked it up on a whim. I certainly dug the art in it, and for that alone I had thought it a good purchase. I'd passed by much of the dialogue so was not going to be familiar with it when I started. Now, hold on for a moment, but to sum very quickly the main character, Serenity Rose herself; she's a goth, a lesbian (as far as it's mentioned), a big sister, and a witch. It's certainly not trying to bond with the reader in a "you must like goth and be angsty and dark to like this" so if the above has scared you then worry not.
I mean, I'm none of those things and I was anxiously waiting for the next one to show up on the shelves. It was recently re-released in bookform with the original run in book 1 and more in book 2. And you can read it now FOR FREE. A 3rd and final book out is in October. So that's nice.
I even went for the Silent Hill comics, again drawn in by the art and eagerly waiting to see what twisted portrails of the psyche it could display for us. It was short, and not quite what was expected. But okay.
Anyway when I had stopped by a couple years ago the store had closed and was dark and so sad in it's little side-street. I had felt sad about that, and reminisced about the times spent there and the good things it had brought us. Thoughts of over how the internet and the invention of the JPEG, followed by the Kindles and iPads of the world, had taken from us another bricks-and-mortar store where care with collecting and collating prints items in their plastic sleeves on their displays had a quality to it which was lost to time and how digitisation with convenience may have bred a society of throwaway entertainment where he time and effort spent on something was now void of value.
Of course when writing this I found out it's still around and has a website and internet ordering and everything. So bugger that.
Amazing Fantasy, as it is called, was fairly small, but substantial for what I assume was a starting business. Not being a Comics guy, I had seen things on the shelves never imagined, from themes unexpected to established franchises I'd not even thought would have branched into a comic book run.
And of course at the back a couple bookshelves of manga. This store is how I'd gotten ahold of much of GTO.
It was a few times later I had picked up a couple Lenore comics. They were different and dark but with a self-knowing humour to it. If that's the right way to put it. Take a vampire which is reincarnated into a stuffed toy, much to his annoyance. There was even talk of a movie, and Sony commissioned a whole load of animated shorts.
Anyway one afternoon my eye had been caught by the a small poster as the till. "Coming Soon," it teased, with a funky looking poster.
When it arrived I picked it up on a whim. I certainly dug the art in it, and for that alone I had thought it a good purchase. I'd passed by much of the dialogue so was not going to be familiar with it when I started. Now, hold on for a moment, but to sum very quickly the main character, Serenity Rose herself; she's a goth, a lesbian (as far as it's mentioned), a big sister, and a witch. It's certainly not trying to bond with the reader in a "you must like goth and be angsty and dark to like this" so if the above has scared you then worry not.
I mean, I'm none of those things and I was anxiously waiting for the next one to show up on the shelves. It was recently re-released in bookform with the original run in book 1 and more in book 2. And you can read it now FOR FREE. A 3rd and final book out is in October. So that's nice.
I even went for the Silent Hill comics, again drawn in by the art and eagerly waiting to see what twisted portrails of the psyche it could display for us. It was short, and not quite what was expected. But okay.
Anyway when I had stopped by a couple years ago the store had closed and was dark and so sad in it's little side-street. I had felt sad about that, and reminisced about the times spent there and the good things it had brought us. Thoughts of over how the internet and the invention of the JPEG, followed by the Kindles and iPads of the world, had taken from us another bricks-and-mortar store where care with collecting and collating prints items in their plastic sleeves on their displays had a quality to it which was lost to time and how digitisation with convenience may have bred a society of throwaway entertainment where he time and effort spent on something was now void of value.
Of course when writing this I found out it's still around and has a website and internet ordering and everything. So bugger that.
Saturday 3 September 2011
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Deus Ex: Human Revolution. a.k.a Deus Ex 3. a.k.a Deus Ex 0. It is a prequel, after all.
So while I certainly acknowledge Penny-Arcade's experiences with jarring shifts in paradigm I had myself a near identical experience but after just one death I had found the method to ascend to the occasion and wouldn't have quite thought it too much of a deviation for everybody.
That is until I reached the 2nd boss.
Here it then becomes apparent that we've run into a case of "it appears you've got your shooter in my stealth game". True, it can incorporate a level of sneaking in order to avoid detection and pick your time to strike, but then comes the retaliation. And it comes hard, so much to the point that unless you have spent your points to tailor for it's current flight of fancy and the eccentricities which come with it along with the right weapons at your disposal, you may be up combat creek without a rifle. It did of course hint at what was to come with strewing heavy rifle ammo along the shelves in the rooms before me, along with the gentle prod of a handful of soldiers on the way supplying the prerequisite heavy rifle itself.
But we don't want it, we like our stealth sniper rifle, our combat rifle and pistol both loaded with silencer and laser sighting, and what we hope will be enough ammo that we can fit into the tiny space left. Even with full inventory space, it's never enough.
This boss fight itself brings a taste of Metal Gear Solid to the mouth, specifically the 4th for me, and why I do not think it was used as an archetype there are still flavours which, while perhaps not intended by the chef to do so, conjure up past memories in that curious way that these and sights, smells and sounds do. It's not to know what dishes you have sampled in your restaurateur days much as same as cannot pretend to understand what your mother gave you as a child. Then there is the ever present truth that all dishes must come from a set of stable ingredients from which they need to be mixed and without them it can fail to adhere, similarly where if you lack the finished touches it can simply fall flat.
You can tell it's nearly time I made dinner.
Anyway, I'm probably getting to the heart of the matter, which is the boss fights are a battle of guns rather than a battle of wits or even battle of attrition - missing a side route that is optional depending on chosen play style. After all, it's a given that this game is about choice and even more so that stealth is heavily open to you, if not outright screamed at you for occasional corridors.
For example, you get given a room of laser tripwires sweeping around and the expected small islands of shelter from which you may observe and dance between these havens to the safety at the other side. Or turn on your cloak and walk right through it all. Delicious. Please, sir, can I have some more?
So while I certainly acknowledge Penny-Arcade's experiences with jarring shifts in paradigm I had myself a near identical experience but after just one death I had found the method to ascend to the occasion and wouldn't have quite thought it too much of a deviation for everybody.
That is until I reached the 2nd boss.
Here it then becomes apparent that we've run into a case of "it appears you've got your shooter in my stealth game". True, it can incorporate a level of sneaking in order to avoid detection and pick your time to strike, but then comes the retaliation. And it comes hard, so much to the point that unless you have spent your points to tailor for it's current flight of fancy and the eccentricities which come with it along with the right weapons at your disposal, you may be up combat creek without a rifle. It did of course hint at what was to come with strewing heavy rifle ammo along the shelves in the rooms before me, along with the gentle prod of a handful of soldiers on the way supplying the prerequisite heavy rifle itself.
But we don't want it, we like our stealth sniper rifle, our combat rifle and pistol both loaded with silencer and laser sighting, and what we hope will be enough ammo that we can fit into the tiny space left. Even with full inventory space, it's never enough.
This boss fight itself brings a taste of Metal Gear Solid to the mouth, specifically the 4th for me, and why I do not think it was used as an archetype there are still flavours which, while perhaps not intended by the chef to do so, conjure up past memories in that curious way that these and sights, smells and sounds do. It's not to know what dishes you have sampled in your restaurateur days much as same as cannot pretend to understand what your mother gave you as a child. Then there is the ever present truth that all dishes must come from a set of stable ingredients from which they need to be mixed and without them it can fail to adhere, similarly where if you lack the finished touches it can simply fall flat.
You can tell it's nearly time I made dinner.
Anyway, I'm probably getting to the heart of the matter, which is the boss fights are a battle of guns rather than a battle of wits or even battle of attrition - missing a side route that is optional depending on chosen play style. After all, it's a given that this game is about choice and even more so that stealth is heavily open to you, if not outright screamed at you for occasional corridors.
For example, you get given a room of laser tripwires sweeping around and the expected small islands of shelter from which you may observe and dance between these havens to the safety at the other side. Or turn on your cloak and walk right through it all. Delicious. Please, sir, can I have some more?
Saturday 30 July 2011
Art Immitating Life
Whiling away the day with Civilization V (thanks, Steam sales!) and I'd been thrown a campaign as George Washington.
I'd prefer a British-centric theme, but sure, I'll bite.
I'd soon encountered a couple City-States, they gave me little bits of gold as a "oh hi there don't invade us thanks" gift, and I walked a unit over their border thinking I was "safe" now. They didn't take kindly to that and I soon withdrew my next move and said sorry, things were going well.
And then I met China.
They opened up a pact of friendship, and while they were not powerful I still felt that we could better benefit from coopperation, both mutually and on our own. A win-win. And other countries I soon encountered after I looked to the seas agreed on this, all offer friendship and accepting me with open arms. Sure, they all seemed to have a problem with the French and were claiming they were shifty bastards not to be trusted, but whatever. I left them to whatever they wanted, I was just sure to not open up my borders to them. They seemed to have subtle little hints of strategic planning in their requests. Maybe it was them telling me it was for strategic battle plans that got me thinking.
China though were wanting to be best-buddies. Opening up offers for mutual research, so we could better ourselves and advance onwards. Sure, they'd occasionally ask me for gold, resources, freedom to have their armies enter my lands and walk about. It's all in the name of friendship.
Even the Ottoman Empire joined in; since I was having such a good relationship with China, and China asked if they'd be friends, they signed up. And we all skipped happily into the future together.
A few of the City-States had little squabbles but they cleared up after a little time. I didn't get involved, because they'd mostly all had allies and people protecting them, and fighting the wars for them. During this time I pushed on with research and science, a few wonders here and there, and my people loved me. We were secure and I even let my armies slack. We were safe with our allies all bound together with me as their figurehead, forging our bright destiny.
Except the French, whom nobody trusted anymore, and thought as pompus jerks.
Then around the 1960's, something changed. I'd noticed a few armed units of China up on my north border. There'd been a bit of hassle with one of the City-States up there, and it just looked like they'd helped out and left their units milling about, as there was not much else for them to do. The friendship pact expired and they'd requested our open borders agreement. It would be needed for them to go over and fix up that troublesome City-State that shared our border, but lay more to my side.
And then came the announcement.
China had confessed, they never liked me and had been using me to their own means. They turned their forces towards me, and released. Treachery! They had taken advantage, leeching off my research, abusing our supposed friendship, planting themselves in a position where they were posed to walk in and consume the fruits of my last millenium-long labours. In one turn, they'd taken out the General special unit that I'd placed up there and had begun on my tanks and infantry. I'd become complacent with the end in sight and me at the helm and was now paying the price. So much for thinking they'd be different in this game.
After helping out China, sharing research, they'd turned and thrown it back at me. I was dumbfounded by the irony of it all. I could maybe fight back, but it would take a couple turns to be ready and by then they'd easily have eaten, digested, and crapped out enough of my nation to prevent me from bounding into the space race and instead hobbling to invent velcro or something.
I reloaded up from 20 turns back, and checked back at the research tree. The nuclear weapons were but 14 turns away. There's an axiom I want to test...
I'd prefer a British-centric theme, but sure, I'll bite.
I'd soon encountered a couple City-States, they gave me little bits of gold as a "oh hi there don't invade us thanks" gift, and I walked a unit over their border thinking I was "safe" now. They didn't take kindly to that and I soon withdrew my next move and said sorry, things were going well.
And then I met China.
They opened up a pact of friendship, and while they were not powerful I still felt that we could better benefit from coopperation, both mutually and on our own. A win-win. And other countries I soon encountered after I looked to the seas agreed on this, all offer friendship and accepting me with open arms. Sure, they all seemed to have a problem with the French and were claiming they were shifty bastards not to be trusted, but whatever. I left them to whatever they wanted, I was just sure to not open up my borders to them. They seemed to have subtle little hints of strategic planning in their requests. Maybe it was them telling me it was for strategic battle plans that got me thinking.
China though were wanting to be best-buddies. Opening up offers for mutual research, so we could better ourselves and advance onwards. Sure, they'd occasionally ask me for gold, resources, freedom to have their armies enter my lands and walk about. It's all in the name of friendship.
Even the Ottoman Empire joined in; since I was having such a good relationship with China, and China asked if they'd be friends, they signed up. And we all skipped happily into the future together.
A few of the City-States had little squabbles but they cleared up after a little time. I didn't get involved, because they'd mostly all had allies and people protecting them, and fighting the wars for them. During this time I pushed on with research and science, a few wonders here and there, and my people loved me. We were secure and I even let my armies slack. We were safe with our allies all bound together with me as their figurehead, forging our bright destiny.
Except the French, whom nobody trusted anymore, and thought as pompus jerks.
Then around the 1960's, something changed. I'd noticed a few armed units of China up on my north border. There'd been a bit of hassle with one of the City-States up there, and it just looked like they'd helped out and left their units milling about, as there was not much else for them to do. The friendship pact expired and they'd requested our open borders agreement. It would be needed for them to go over and fix up that troublesome City-State that shared our border, but lay more to my side.
And then came the announcement.
China had confessed, they never liked me and had been using me to their own means. They turned their forces towards me, and released. Treachery! They had taken advantage, leeching off my research, abusing our supposed friendship, planting themselves in a position where they were posed to walk in and consume the fruits of my last millenium-long labours. In one turn, they'd taken out the General special unit that I'd placed up there and had begun on my tanks and infantry. I'd become complacent with the end in sight and me at the helm and was now paying the price. So much for thinking they'd be different in this game.
After helping out China, sharing research, they'd turned and thrown it back at me. I was dumbfounded by the irony of it all. I could maybe fight back, but it would take a couple turns to be ready and by then they'd easily have eaten, digested, and crapped out enough of my nation to prevent me from bounding into the space race and instead hobbling to invent velcro or something.
I reloaded up from 20 turns back, and checked back at the research tree. The nuclear weapons were but 14 turns away. There's an axiom I want to test...
Saturday 9 July 2011
Back And Forth
Oh, and watched Back and Forth. As much as I like the Foo Fighters, I wasn't aware of how much had gone on over the years. I think maybe I like them more now.
What Dreams Are Made Of
The last day of my weekend is the only day with any rest. And with it is a malaise, of sorts. A lazy one. A...lazaise?
InFamous 2, L.A. Noire, Little Big Plnet 2, Witcher 2, my Steam collections, even a veritable library of PlaySation 2 games - both unfinished and unstarted - rests awaiting attention they all so lavishlhy deserve. But yet Minecraft calls. Which is all the more frustrating as the current opinion from the userbase of our little corner of the internets is for a reset of the world.
This finds me not being too motivated to build. The update known as 1.8 (or the "Adventure" update if you fancy more of an explanatory naming convension) is a while off still, or at least this is the flavour we get when consuming each morsel of information served up by our master chefs, but when you know that the proxy-end is coming then to carry on as if it's business as usual may be an unproductive. Which sounds odd when describing the virtual construction of blocks inside an electronic world that exists purely at the whim of our benevolent host whom does not himself even play.
But hey, you don't pay any month fees.
InFamous 2, L.A. Noire, Little Big Plnet 2, Witcher 2, my Steam collections, even a veritable library of PlaySation 2 games - both unfinished and unstarted - rests awaiting attention they all so lavishlhy deserve. But yet Minecraft calls. Which is all the more frustrating as the current opinion from the userbase of our little corner of the internets is for a reset of the world.
This finds me not being too motivated to build. The update known as 1.8 (or the "Adventure" update if you fancy more of an explanatory naming convension) is a while off still, or at least this is the flavour we get when consuming each morsel of information served up by our master chefs, but when you know that the proxy-end is coming then to carry on as if it's business as usual may be an unproductive. Which sounds odd when describing the virtual construction of blocks inside an electronic world that exists purely at the whim of our benevolent host whom does not himself even play.
But hey, you don't pay any month fees.
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