April 2011 – Page 3 – Blue Ink Alchemy

Month: April 2011 (page 3 of 4)

Be Social, Be Real

I’m trying out HootSuite. These owls look like social creatures.

I’ve always been more comfortable with on-line conversations than real ones.

it might be because, for most online conversations one-on-one with people, I’m a known quantity. People know what to expect with me, and for the most part they like what they expect. There’s a reduced amount of anxiety involved. I’m less concerned about embarassing myself with somebody I know than with a stranger, especiall a stranger I’d like to impress for one reason or another. I guess we can chalk that up under the heading “massive nerd” in my personality dossier.

The meteoric rise of social media in all its myriad and ever-evolving forms has been a bit of a boon for people like me. It is easier than ever to put yourself and what you do out in front of an objective and potentially interested audience, where the true tests of your work’s quality lie. For writers, the process of rejection and resubmission was the only real way to test their work for a very long time. It’s still viable and I’m not going to discount how important it is to pitch as often as possible, but at the same time, you can start a blog, tweet your posts and get feedback for no investment other than time. And if your writing improves, it’s time well spent.

So it is with other creative professions, especially if they have anything to do with the Internet. Online designers and interactive developers need to discover and leverage the power of social media, if they haven’t already. Freelancers can drum up work and established employees can cultivate business contacts and fellow online pioneers with the power of these tools. You might be surprised, but the feeds and tweets from those who might seem to be impersonal or even automated can lead to new, exciting places if you pay close attention to what’s being said in which directions.

Don’t misunderstand, spam on Twitter or any other social media feed can be just as irritating as it is in your inbox. However, a Twitter bot or news feed from a company can be just as promising as a lead from a friend. Be it from a living, breathing person or a generated bit of data, turning an interesting bit of data into the next big thing takes the right timing, the right skill set, the right environment and the right need. Most of all, though, it takes you being there to take advantage of it.

So it is with the real world. You never know when the next big thing is waiting for you in your immediate future unless you put yourself out there with an open mind to process what your eyes are seeing and your ears are seeing. I would not have a manuscript under review by two fantastic ladies in the publishing industry if I hadn’t put myself out there. Getting that great job means showing up in person – not just for the interview but every day after. Don’t just heat up the seat your in, heat up the whole environment. That’s when you make your mark. That’s when you become invaluable, and invaluable is what you want to be if you want more than just a job to fill the hours and occasionally pay you some money.

It plays back into itself, as well. When you begin to inhabit a position, it pays to branch out from there. Both in social media and in person, if you know it or not, you’re putting a face on the people for whom you work. In some circumstances, you might be working for yourself, which is cool. People like to know who’s sending them hot new items in person instead of just reading text off of a screen. And if you’re employed by another, your personality, geniality and willingness to step out and be seen & heard speaks to the trust, passion and drive of the people behind you. This isn’t to say that every interaction with someone else in the industry you work in will reflect one way or another on your employers, but it is something to keep in mind when you approach the reception table, pin a name tag to your shirt and start shaking hands. Those people you exchange pleasantries with tonight may be people you tweet with in the days and weeks to come. And from those interactions, you may yeild more business. Conversion is conversion, no matter how it happens.

Creative folks sometimes fancy themselves mavericks, loners, those wild people on the fringes of society with a glimmer in their eye and gin on their breath. But when you get right down to it, if you want to make a living doing what you love you have to take what you love to the people who’ll love it and pay you to make more. That means bathing, brushing your teeth, shaking hands and becoming engaged in social activity. Social media has made it easier to do this, and expanded the possibilities far beyond what could have been considered just a few years ago. But it’s still essential for there to be a person behind the feeds. When one of them grows from a simple tweet or comment to the next step on the road between where you are and where you want to be, it’s going to require facetime. As much as social media has given us so many more ways to get to that next step, it’s not enough to just be social. You need to be social and be real.

DLC Review: Overlord & Arrival

April 13, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 0 Comments

Like an interplanetary Paul Revere, Commander Shepard has been moving from system to system, race to race, all but screaming “The Reapers are coming, the Reapers are coming!” His warnings have largely gone unheeded. Giant intergalactic Lovecraftian space-horrors? Pshaw! here’s politics and racism to worry about. Even Cerberus puts the occasional science project gone wrong ahead of preparation for the Reaper’s invasion. But Shepard never really liked those guys anyway…

Two large, mission-oriented DLC packs had gone unplayed on my X-Box until recently. They couldn’t be more different. Overlord has almost nothing to do with the overarching plot of the three Mass Effect games, while Arrival is meant to bridge the second and third games together. I did play through both of them, and it’s worth noting that some points of truly challenging combat I encountered might have been due to me doing so with the difficulty set to Insanity.

Overlord seems to be set before the end of Mass Effect 2‘s campaign. One of Cerberus’ projects has gone awry, and the Illusive Man has tapped Commander Shepard and his team to get the science team back in communication and on schedule. All Shepard is told is that the scientists assigned to the project were pushing the boundaries of virtual intelligence (VI) technology. The remote facility is divided among several stations on the planet’s surface, requiring the use of an overland vehicle to reach them all. Thankfully, the Normandy is equipped with a cutting-edge hovertank well-designed to handle anything a hostile planet can throw at it: the Hammerhead.

If you didn’t bother getting the Firewalker DLC pack, or weren’t able to access it due to not being part of the Cerberus network, now’s your chance to see just how much BioWare improved in vehicle section handling since the first Mass Effect. That is to say, “a little.” The controls of the Hammerhead are still finicky, with the added third dimension of jumping making maneuvers slightly more complex. While using guided rockets instead of swapping between a big rail gun with a long cooldown and a coaxial machine gun simplifies combat, it’s a bit too simplified as there is no shield or hull strength indicators. The Hammerhead will flash an flicker as it takes damage and a warning siren will sound, but it’s hard to gauge just how much more punishment the vehicle can take before it pops, or when it’s safe to emerge from cover. The worst, however, is having to do precision platforming with the damn thing. I’ll say that again: precision platforming with a vehicle that handles like a flying redneck pickup full of Natty Ice kegs.

Outside of the vehicle, we have a decent, well-paced story with some intriguing and downright creepy moments made of equal parts Harlan Ellison and a carnival spookhouse. I don’t want to say too much more because it’s worth experiencing, even if it ends up feeling somewhat superfluous. By the time I got to Overlord, most of my problems with the Geth had been resolved, and Legion had become a trusted friend and fellow sniping buddy. But even without my personal inclinations, Overlord is an inconsequential yet oddly entertaining extension of Mass Effect 2‘s gameplay.

The other DLC is Arrival. Contacted by the somewhat enigmatic Admiral Hackett, Shepard is asked to personally liberate a friend of the Alliance flag officer’s, one Doctor Kenson, from a batarian prison. She has apparently uncovered evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion. As the lone voice in the dark certain the Reapers are coming, Shepard is happy to help. There are two catches, however. One, Shepard must go in alone. Two, the good doctor has plans of her own…

The early part of this DLC mission is something I really enjoyed. I’m a fan of stealth gameplay, and being able to circumvent, mitigate or barely avoid combat is an experience I can’t help but enjoy. So when I heard that at least part of this mission featured Shepard alone, slipping through the prison undetected to break Kenson out of the lockup, I was eager to play it. While there were no cardboard boxes or many clever guard-distracting tricks to speak of, avoiding sight lines and overhearing conversations still had me smiling.

After that it’s a string of familiar combat encounters, a wickedly poised decision Shepard has to make, and one of the biggest letdowns in Mass Effect history. Up until the very end of Arrival, the Reaper known as Harbinger was an aloof, implacable and cunning villain. As opposed to Sovereign’s blatant notion that Reapers are too unfathomable for puny, fleshy mortals to understand, Harbinger played its cards close to its metallic vest, working through intermediaries and seeking out Shepard directly through its Collector catspaws. That image was ruined by Arrival, when Harbinger appears to Shepard to dump an all-too-familiar “NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW” line of conversation on the long-suffering Commander. Somebody at BioWare needs to learn that villains only remain cool and interesting when they keep their big mouths shut. Only the arrival of Admiral Hackett himself in the epilogue, setting up the interesting circumstances for Mass Effect 3‘s opening, save this DLC from being a big letdown at the very end.

All in all, the DLC packs weren’t anything terrific, but each has its good points. Overlord’s creepiness and harrowing final boss fight coupled with Arrival’s stealth option made them worth the investment, and wet my whistle for Mass Effect 3.

Courtesy American Superman of DeviantArt

We’re waiting for you, Reapers. Bring it.

Dragon Tales: The Captain of the Tower Guard

April 12, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 0 Comments

It takes more than a few individuals to run a keep of any size. The small cadre of dwarves from Hammerfast have outdone themselves rebuilding the former Keep on the Shadowfell, its ten mighty towers rising up above the village of Winterhaven in the northwest reach of the Nentir Vale. A few volunteers have come to support, maintain and defend the Keep, which is now held by four known throughout the Nentir Vale as heroes: Andrasian the elvish warrior, Krillorien Brightsong the eladrin priest of Pelor, Melanie Good-Melons of the Arcane Tower, and Lyria Thorngage of the Junction Thorngages.

The sun rises above the westernmost Frostjaw Peaks. There is a light coating of snow on the ground, a testament to the odd weather of late. While much of it will melt even as more falls, it adds an extra layer of chill to the men and women standing at uneasy attention in the courtyard in front of the main hall. As the sun’s light spills over the walls and across the assembly completely, the doors open. Instead of the castle’s masters, four unfamiliar individuals emerge. Leading them is a tall, broad-shouldered dragonborn, clad in a suit of plate and carrying a sword at his side and a shield across his back. His scales look as if they were hammered out of pure mithril, the way they catch the dawning light. Cool, emerald eyes look from one face to the other amongst the volunteers before him. When he speaks, his voice is rough and heard easily in every corner of the courtyard.

“All right, recruits, listen up! My name is Silverscale, and you will refer to me as ‘Captain Silverscale’, ‘Captain’ or simply ‘Sir.’ I have been given the great honor of putting the defense of this Keep in order. You may be here because of the heroes who made this Keep their own, or because you’ve heard of the snow orcs or frost giants or the Winter King to the north. Frankly, I don’t care why you’re here. What I do care about is your performance as guardsmen, your dedication to the defense of this Keep and your willingness to die to defend those that dwell within it and in Winterhaven below us. If you don’t believe you can do that, the gatehouse is immediately behind you. I’d rather see your backsides now than see them running away from us on the battlefield!”

After a moment, Silverscale nods and looks down. Directly in front of him, arms crossed, is a dwarf in a very fine suit. His beard is immaculate, with a number of braids containing delicately-spun gold thread. He is, if possible, even less impressed with the would-be guardsman than Silverscale.

“Immediately in front of me in Bensun Stonecarver, the Keep’s seneschal. His dwarven crafts and craftsmen made this Keep what it is today. I’m sure a couple bards you might have heard may refer to Seneschal Stonecarver as a ‘butler.’ But he is in charge of the Keep when its masters are away, so when he tells you to do something, YOU DO IT.”

Bensun nods solemnly. Silverscale gestures to his left, where a young human stands, his face the only sympathetic one the recruits will find. Dressed in a smith’s apron, a roughspun shirt and dark gloves, he looks like he was pulled away from either a hot forge fire before his work was done, or his bed at too early an hour.

“His apprentice, to my left, is the young man who will be tending to your arms and armor when you go and get banged up. He comes to us from the Harkenwold, as do many of you. His name is Alton Gramath. He’s also joining us on the Guard, but don’t take it easy on him just because he’s our smith or because his father died for defending your homes. You should be so lucky to leave this life the way Dar Gramath did!”

Alton looks a bit sheepish at the mention of his father. He runs a hand through long-cut dark hair and manages to smile a little. On Silverscale’s otherside is an older human, his grey-white beard spilling down to the embroidered breast of his arcane robes. He leans against a tall staff topped with a faceted crystal and decorated with runes another eldritch symbols.

“To my right is Quillion of the Tower. He’s a mage, a scribe and our Keep’s local herbologist. He’s here to study the interesting phenomena in the Keep’s bowels, which brings up another point of order. The subterranean levels of the Keep are off-limits for those not on duty to guard the mage or any of his guests. If any guardsman is found below ground afer hours for any reason, you will answer directly to ME. Is that understood?”

There’s a murmur from the assembly. Silverscale scowls.

“I didn’t hear that.”

“Yes, sir.” The response is half-hearted. Silverscale roars.

“LOUDER!”

“YES, SIR!”

The dragonborn crosses his arms and nods.

“Welcome to the Tower Guard. Your training begins NOW.”

All locations, NPCs, spells and equipment copyright Wizards of the Coast unless otherwise noted.

Review: Dragon Age II

April 11, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 1 Comment

I may very well be the last person in the world to review this game. There’s already been a Zero Punctuation on the subject, as well as an Extra Punctuation that everybody should read. Just about everybody from top-tier professionals to amateurs with forum logins have gotten in on the act. My wife recently posted a rather balanced review, so it’s far past time I did the same. Anyway, grab yourself a drink, let’s get started.

Fenris is way ahead of you.

Instead of picking up where Dragon Age: Origins left off, Dragon Age II actually takes us back in time, to the aftermath of the rout at Ostagar. As the tide of the Blight washes over the little town of Lothering, the Hawke family flees from the oncoming darkspawn. Helping their mother escape is Carver, the headstrong warrior; Bethany, the fearful apostate mage; and you. You are not the savior of Ferelden, a Grey Warden or anything else particular special. You are Hawke, and the game would have you believe your path is not determined, as this story is more personal and less sweeping.

While the story does open up more of the world of Thedas, in the form of Kirkwall and some of the surrounding countryside, it also eliminates many of the features that made Dragon Age: Origins such a daunting, time-consuming and ultimately epic experience. The result is a game that is much shorter, but also lacking in many areas that, given more time, could have been fleshed out and made it an overall better experience.

Get used to the Wounded Coast. Hey, at least it looks nice.

For one thing, just a little more time in development could have yielded some variations on the caverns, warehouses and basements you have to traipse through for various side quests. Changing the entry points and door locations doesn’t make up for using the same map over and over, nor does BioWare get away with it because they hang lampshades on it. It’s pure laziness, and one of the indications that this game was rushed out the door before it was really ready for play.

I’m not just talking about things like bugs, either. The story needs work, as it’s barely there. You have three strung-together acts with increasingly engaging subject matter. While the framing device works, it still feels like one act has almost nothing to do with the others. On a level, they almost feel interchangeable, with the exception of the very end of the game. While I feel the second and third acts had some decent story points, and characters changing over the years is always good to see, the first act felt particularly shallow and disposable, given the plethora of side-quests one has to engage in to get the appropriate amount of money to undertake the main quest to make even more money. I’d like to think, at least on my first playthrough, that there’s more to Hawke than that.

He does look good in furs, though.

While I’m still not entirely sure why the proportions of the elves had to be changed so dramatically to differentiate them from humans, most of the art direction in Dragon Age II is very well done. In addition to its looks, there’s also a feel of actual life to Kirkwall. Hearing snippets of conversations from others and being greeted on the street lent the setting of the game a bit of weight and immersion that I appreciated. It gave me one more reason to power through side quests, other than being sick of the copy-pasted maps. I wanted to get back to Kirkwall, wander between its high stone buildings and listen to my party members banter.

One of the true saving graces of the game is its characters. They’re well-rounded and rather deep, as is appropriate for a BioWare game, but they all have very different reasons for supporting and travelling with Hawke. Another good thing is the somewhat simplified combat mechanics, coupled with a vastly improved skill tree system. I was very happy to not have to spend any skill points on Coercion, Herbalism or anything else that took away from my ability to melt faces. I played a mage, as I tend to do, and my skill points should go to magical skills, not potion-making. Speaking of mages, let’s get back to the characters and one of the reasons I feel this game is worthwhile.

Hawke will stab you in the face, then melt it.

As Dragon Age II carries on, you get to know the characters, develop friendships and even engage in romances. One of the things that the writers never forget is that everybody has disparate motivations for doing what they do. And sometimes, those motivations will test their relationship with the player. I encountered such a moment, right at the very end of the game. I won’t say what happened, but the impact of the event was so great that I had to sit back, take my hands from the controls, stare at the character I considered a friend and weigh my options carefully as I would were I in that actual situation. That moment, that sort of immersion in the moment, making a decision that I felt had weight; that is what I want to take away from a game like Dragon Age II. A lot of what got me to that moment sucked, yes, but in the end, I have to say I felt it was worth the journey.

Stuff I Liked: Replacing the Arcane Warrior spec with new staff designs and mechanics was a neat change, and I liked it. Kirkwall’s a very cool fantasy city. There were some great nods to the previous game along with the usual BioWare shout-outs. Smooth combat and a simplified skill tree system. Neat ‘crafting’ mechanics.
Stuff I Didn’t Like: The copy-pasted environments. The look of elves kept throwing me off. The feeling that just a little more polish could have made the story more coherent. And why is there no isometric view anymore?
Stuff I Loved: The characters, from the main party to the arishok and Flemeth. Getting pulled into the story when it bothered to be there. Hearing my party members banter.

Bottom Line: Dragon Age II was something of a disappointment, as in there were a lot of things that could have been done better. That said, it’s still a decent game with strong characters, smooth combat and enough good story points to balance out the negative, lacking aspects in the rushed design… but only just. I do plan on replaying it, and I’m more than likely going to enjoy those replays, which I guess makes this a game I would recommend. Be prepared, however, not to be entirely blown out of your seat. It isn’t a great game, but neither is it a terrible one.

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans

April 8, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 0 Comments

[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/bad_lieutenant.mp3]

In 1992, vocal independent director Abel Ferrara teamed up with Harvey Keitel to make Bad Lieutenant, the story of an abusive and sleazy cop of the NYPD charged with solving the case of a raped nun. While he was self-indulgent, scandalous and even downright cruel, there existed a glimmer of humanity in the man that few rarely saw. I’m talking of the nameless Lieutenant here, not Ferrara. When revolutionary director Werner Herzog picked up the notion of the corrupt cop for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans, Abel Ferrara loudly and repeatedly declared that everybody involved in it should drop dead, despite the fact that this is neither a remake nor a sequel. It’d be like calling Moonraker a remake of Goldfinger.

The film opens in New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Katrina. The lead character of the title is one Terence McDonagh. He’s a bit of a selfish prick, keen to gamble and quick to dismiss the plight of others, but he’s still a cop in service to the public. Mostly. The events of the hurricane leave him with a back problem that puts him on Vicodin, which in turn leads to a whole slew of harder drugs and a lifestyle that verges on entirely self-destructive. If it weren’t for his work as a homicide detective, he’d unravel faster than a spool of yarn trapped in a spin cycle. But he does have that work, and he is good at it… when he’s not abusing his position to get whatever he wants from whomever he wants, whenever he wants.

This is going to be a divisive film. McDonagh is completely unapologetic in his pursuit of pleasure, intoxication and money. He’s either going to be seen as an unredeemable monster barely kept leashed by his ties to the police department, or the magnificent sort of crazy that just needs to be pointed in the right direction to get dizzying results. New Orleans is the perfect environment for him to fester, given its heady mix of music, magic, sleaze, indulgences and mystery. And I can’t think of an actor better equipped to give this character life than Nicholas Cage.

I’ve previously mentioned my affinity for the man, even when he’s being grossly mishandled. He, too, is a talent that requires a particular touch to get the most out of his manic energy. And McDonagh is just manic on his best days. The rest of the time he’s indulging in one behavior or another that’s going to land him square in an early grave, be it from overdosing or bullets. When they say “cop on the edge,” in the case of McDonagh, they mean it. Only in this case, that edge is the edge of total insanity. Cage projects this extremely well, etching the character of the bad lieutenant firmly in our minds and making his antics as memorable as they are deplorable.

Speaking of “the cop on the edge” in terms of movie cliches, there’s something I noticed as the film’s plot unfolded. There’s a teenager who witnessed the murders in question. McDonagh gets saddled with a dog. His girlfriend’s a hooker with a heart of gold. More and more of these get piled on, until one gets the impression that we’re not just watching a cop movie. We are, in a way, watching every cop movie ever, fed through the drug-stained filter of the bad lieutenant. These little tongue-in-cheek elements mixed with the noir nature of the case and its participants and the insanity of the lead character might have been too much for another director to handle, even the venerable Mr. Ferrara or even Tarantino, but not Werner Herzog. He makes it look easy.

Not only does Herzog mix these elements in just about the perfect balance, he underscores just how strange the world of McDonagh becomes. As quickly as we are made aware of the lead character’s skewed world view, the more adeptly that view is conveyed to us in a way so coherent our own masks of sanity may begin to slip. In most other productions, things like dancing souls or phantom iguana might seem like a totally out-of-nowhere, but here it’s only slightly more strange than some of the other stuff that happens. This is probably the most coherent incoherency you’ll see for quite some time, drive by the most memorable, sadistic and completely bonkers protagonist since American Psycho.

As I said, this is likely to be a divisive film. Some will appreciate the high-wire act Cage and Herzog are performing, others will wonder exactly how McDonagh pulls off some of the things that would make him a good cop if it weren’t for his off-duty habits, and still others will downright hate the thing due to the casual drug use, abusive language, violence, insanity and general sleaze. I feel that, whatever camp you fall into, you should check out Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans via the Netflix Instant service, because I guarantee you, you will not see anything like it any time soon, if ever again. The script is well-plotted, the acting is great on all fronts, the direction is top notch and the overall effect will stick with you long after the credits roll. Granted, you might want a shower to get that filthy stickiness off afterwards, but that’s up to the individual viewer. If nothing else, here is the perfect example of how to get the most out of Nicholas Cage, instead of sticking him in something completely lifeless like Trapped in Paradise. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans is anything but lifeless. It’s energetic, powerful, completely out of its mind, oblivious to any objections you might raise against it and while you might be wondering whether or not you want to watch it, let me assure you: it’s a bit like the One Ring. It wants to be watched.

Josh Loomis can’t always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it’s unclear if this week’s film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain… IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

Month: April 2011 (page 3 of 4)

DLC Review: Overlord & Arrival

Dragon Tales: The Captain of the Tower Guard

Review: Dragon Age II

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans

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