| Maybe tomorrow I'll want to settle down. |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|07:26 am] |
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Barcelona is great. We spent three nights here, and in a couple hours I'll be leaving for London again. But I really enjoyed it here. They've got a crazy Bike system where you pay for a year subscription and you can just grab a bike from these racks on almost any street corner, and drop them off anywhere else that has a rack. The racks aren't very big, which seems to me like it might cause troubles during really busy times, but otherwise it's kind of an awesome system. |
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| Home for the Hollerdays |
[Nov. 23rd, 2009|07:24 am] |
Zombie Messenger bag:
Topatoco, the people who handle our shirts and prints and that new messenger bag pictured above, have posted the Christmas shipping deadlines for the various methods of having things shipped to you.
Also, almost any print on the site can be bought as a print, if there's one that you think someone will love, or one that really reminds you of them whether it's flattering or not. Christmas is a time for brutal honesty after all. |
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| Dragon Age: Origins |
[Nov. 9th, 2009|08:56 am] |
Dragon Age: Origins is a game I've been excited about for more than a year. I loved Baldur's Gate II, and its expansion, and I lost more time to Neverwinter Nights than I ought to admit. So a new single player fantasy RPG by this company, billed as the "spiritual heir to baldur's gate" (spiritual because this new one is their own IP, and not a D&D game - though the mechanics are very similar) got me all giddy with anticipation!
And it's great. I've been having a really good time playing it. It isn't without it's flaws, but the overall experience is good enough that I've been all too happy to overlook the frustrating bugs. The onion AV Club gave it an A though, which I'm not sure I agree with entirely. I wrote a big comment on that AV Club review. And here it is!
The bugs in this game are frustrating.
The two big ones are:
- Quests that don't register their completion can leave you running around an area in frustration after fighting, say, the hordes of bad guys in the Redcliffe castle mission, wondering what small thing you haven't yet done. Only looking on the internet led me to the conclusion that something had gone wrong on their end. Reloaded a save game, fought the battle again, and CLICK - cut scene. Also, it didn't help that while I was trying to figure out what was going on, the aggravating fight scene music kept playing! It's great and cinematic when actually fighting, but while running around in empty areas trying to figure out what to do, it sure adds to the frustration!
- cut scenes sometimes screw up, and you'll go through a cut scene, make one of the games (actually pretty interesting) moral choices, and then suddenly be watching the cut scene again. I chose a different choice the second time, and was then moved forward in the game as though I'd only chosen the first. Later, other characters alternated between acting as though I'd chosen A or B. It sort of took the wind out of that choice. This happened to me in the Redcliffe section, as well.
That said, The game has some very good things in its favour, too:
- the moral choices themselves feel more satisfying. I really like the game's system of having the choices affect the world itself, rather than some arbitrary slider of how good or evil you are. You make a choice, and your companions approve or disapprove, sure, but also you'll find that your future options in the game world have changed, too. It really adds to a sense of immersion.
- The combat's good. Not too simple, but not ridiculously complex either, and the tactics reward the learning curve that comes with understanding how they're interpreted by the game. After playing with the tactic programming for a while, I found my party members acting just how I needed, which was useful for adapting to harder fights and made the combat feel genuinely tactical rather than like a mashfest.
- Some of the characterization is great - Morrigan and Shale are both fun and interesting, and I like the way they fit into the game world, and the major events of the game, rather than just having discreet stories of their own. Some of the characterization is sort of lame, too though. (The voice acting also runs from very very good to characters who seem to change voice actors mid-dialogue, again, in the Redcliffe quest, which led me to have most of my doubts about the game. Maybe the people in charge of the Redcliffe quest
- The skill trees feel well balanced, and it's fun to play as a warrior or mage or rogue (except for some rogue dex issues that they've acknowledged and which are being fixed in an upcoming patch) and for the most part the specializations really give a different feel to your class when you get to that stage. And a couple of the specializations are tied to the game world in a fun way. In a lot of these games, specializations just add a couple generic skills. Extra damage, and such. In this, they add skills that tie into the story sometimes. "Blood magic" being a big one, and that sort of detail really adds to the feel that you're a part of the game.
- The game gets its title from a system where you can choose your "origin" - each of which is a different way to start the game. The origins are a couple hours, before merging with the main storyline, but which will affect the game further down the line, too. Every character has to go to the dawrven city to seek aid, for instance, but that visit has a very different tone if you are a dwarf noble who was falsely accused of killing her brother the heir to the throne and then exiled.
I would give it a B, or a B- (with it moving to an A after a bug patch or two for sure.) A lot of care and love went into the game, and despite the couple frustrating bugs above, I've put in a couple dozen hours since it's release and haven't lost interest yet!
Penny Arcade had a pretty funny comic about how they do downloadable content. There are characters you come across IN-GAME, who describe the DLC for you, and the dialogue options say "downloadable content" right on them, which takes you out of the game a bit. ( I have, of course, downloaded them )
Have you played it? What do you think? |
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| Seattle reading |
[Oct. 12th, 2009|10:58 am] |
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We're going to be in Seattle tomorrow to read at Pilot Books at 3pm. It's a weird time for a reading but I hope you can make it! Http://www.looseteeth.ca/tour |
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| Hey Bert! |
[Oct. 4th, 2009|11:39 am] |
Thanks for all the book suggestions. I'm gonna read a Murakami book, Nova by Samuel R Delaney, and Master of Reality by John Darnielle next I think. I didn't respond to the suggestions individually, though I might go comment on people who suggested books I already read and loved. Some people suggested Ayn Rand books, and a couple other authors not to my taste, to which I can only say:
"Well I don't really like any of those things but I like you!"
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| A Softer World is an upgrade from the x386 |
[Oct. 2nd, 2009|10:57 am] |
http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=486
It's been a really long time since I was able to finish reading a novel. Months! I go through graphic novels and comic books and short stories like they're water. But I just don't have the attention for novels. It probably doesn't help that I keep buying shitty novels. Maybe I need something amazing to get me back on the horse.
So: What's your favourite book? What is flat-out brilliant? |
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| A Softer World likes the way you smell. |
[Sep. 30th, 2009|12:57 pm] |
http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=485
So, we are getting very close to the tour now! I fly to Vancouver on the 8th! That's the first stop. I am touring for my book Overqualified and I am very excited to meet you. What if we become friends?
Also, are you in the UK, or Ireland? You should go to our tour page and find the facebook event for your city and sign up! The more people we know are coming, the easier it'll be to book a store to read at. We may have to cut a city or two, if there's not enough interest.
Mike from Loose Teeth will be touring with me, and he's got all the LT books on sale right now, for 5 or 10 dollars.
I am kind of excited. I love traveling. And I'll be doing every kind of travel on this trip! Plane and Boat and Train! |
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| A Softer World fought the law |
[Sep. 16th, 2009|12:31 pm] |
http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=481
It's too late for the government to train me to be a weapon. For someone to approach me on the street, and to tell me I match a certain profile. I probably won't even learn another language well enough to speak it fluently. Giant crazed attack dogs won't ever suddenly act like scared puppies when they see me. I won't ever be a grandmaster of chess, either. I don't think at this stage I can even reasonably expect to make Expert. There are some things I regret as I get older, I guess. There are a ton of traditional ways to be bad-ass, and I missed the boat. But that's okay. It just means I have to be more creative. And then later that creativity will make people think I was an evil genius, instead of just so desperate for a world with monsters that I didn't mind becoming one myself. What I'm saying is - I stole an ice cream cone yesterday from the 7-11 and I have no regrets at all. |
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| A Softer World doesn't want your excuses. |
[Sep. 11th, 2009|12:18 pm] |
http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=480
Here is today's comic.
I'm going to see Sorority Row today, I think. It has a rating of 33% on RT, and it'll probably be terrible. But it's a Sorority slasher with gratuitous nudity and gore and Halloween is coming and I love terrible horror movies. I make no apologies!
I love good horror movies too! And I have been thinking of having a night where I rent* a bunch of horror movies I haven't seen. So, what are your favourite horror movies?
Some of mine are: Exorcist III, The Descent, 28 Days/weeks later, Original texas chainsaw, Pitch Black, Evil Dead 1, The Shining, Nightmare on Elm street 1, Sleepaway Camp, Below, Devil's Backbone, Session 9, Event Horizon, Psycho, sunset boulevard, IT, Night of the living dead, legend of hell house, the mist, The Thing, an american werewolf in london,
These are the ones I love, and could watch again and again. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. But what else is awesome? Older movies that were surprisingly excellent? What are your favourites? |
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