Dilligas.com HomeFebruary 5, 2006 - Another hodgepodge Yikes; what to write about? There have been so many things recently that I have wanted to write something about, plus a couple old standbys that I've been meaning to get out also. I've also wanted to do a couple things around the site as well, and have been too deep in my standard combination of busy and lazy to actually *do* any of it. Standard procedure. So, you get a compromise instead: this particular entry will be a hodgepodge of miscellany, and then hopefully I'll write up something more meaningful about a few subjects soon. So...
Remember how I said I was busy? Yeah, that's because of work. Giant surprise, I know, but it's still something of an adjustment for me, coming from school to this "job" where I'm now supposed to devote the greater part of my time and effort. But the good news is that work has started to be borderline enjoyable sometimes! I guess I feel like I've just been tolerating the job thus far, mostly because I've been so ridiculously confused. But, seven months later, I feel like I'm starting to get a handle on things. I'll occasionally answer a question, instead of just asking them. I'll complete entire bug fixes without needing to consult anyone else. And the help that I do ask of my teammates is much more "help me understand this", instead of "I don't know anything; help me". It's a very nice feeling, even if it is long overdue.
I've never been much on New Year's resolutions and all that, but I like the idea of self-improvement and all that business. I noticed that I was watching a lot of sports on TV and not really enjoying it; really, the only reason it was on was out of habit. I even have a TV card in one of my computers, hooked to a monitor that's always on. So I figured I could do something about that, and am proud to say that I've since turned largely away from ESPN and have started watching a lot of the Discovery and History channels. That seems like a small, silly thing, and maybe it is, but it's a big shift in my TV habits, and I'm quite happy with it.
And right after mentioning that I've shied away from sports, I think I'll talk about the Superbowl. Aside from not having any terribly engrossing commercials, it was a pretty poor game for the first half. I'm pretty ticked about the game, also; for one thing, I think Seattle outplayed Pittsburgh by an awful lot, and have nothing to show for it. The Steelers had exactly three good plays in the entire game, and somehow ended up getting a score out of all of them. And then every time Seattle was driving or had a big play, there was some bogus call thrown in to stop them. See the "offensive pass interference" that killed a touchdown, and the "holding" that killed a thirty-yard pass to the one yard line. Oh, and Hasselbeck getting called for a "chop block" during a tackle. Absolute garbage. I really thought this was going to be the kick that actually got Seattle some credibiity. Oh well.
And lastly, I may have quite a lot of videogames to talk about soon. No thanks to Microsoft, Circuit City, or the Seattle area in general, I have an Xbox 360 on the way! Extreme amounts of props to Scott for finding and shipping that bad boy to me. So starting about Thursday, I don't think I'll leave my apartment again anytime soon.
Hooray, that's it for now. Hopefully some actual entries coming soonish.
February 13, 2006 - Dragon Quest VIII: The Journey of the Cursed King For the first of those promised upcoming entries, let's start with this.
Not too long ago, I acquired Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2. It was a complete impulse buy; I apparently wanted a new RPG to play and just so happened to notice this on the shelf at Best Buy. Long story short, this is an exceptional game, but it's not for everyone. Here we go with the specifics:
The Dragon Quest series was known in America as the Dragon Warrior series, with four unimaginitively named titles for the original Nintendo, Dragon Warriors one through four. These played as very typical RPG's, using a grid system for movement, both overworld and in towns, and a completely turn-based battle system. Graphics were always average at best, and the games played very slowly, with a lot of fighting enemies for experience and exploration. Installments two and three were so tough in parts that without a guide and maps, I'm not sure anyone could possibly beat them. All were great games, but not very accessible to the average casual gamer.
Dragon Quest 8 is almost identical to the first four. With very, very rare exceptions, the gameplay has not changed a bit from the originals. That might throw a lot of people off, but I found it to be the game's strongest point. Things are simple; it's you versus the enemy. You have six commands with which to save the world (Attack, Spell, Skill, Item, Psyche up, and Defend). Fighting is all turn-based: you enter the command that each character will execute during the upcoming turn, then the game plays out all your characters' actions and the enemies' actions (almost always, one action per turn per character; two for bosses) for this turn. Repeat until one side is annihilated. By defeating enemies, you get experience points to move up in levels, and gold. Very, very simple.
Of course, DQ8 is three console generations away from the originals, so some things have changed. The game is very pretty, for one thing. All of the game areas are gorgeous, bright, and colorful. The character designs are awesome too; everything that used to be a sprite in the original games is now cel-shaded. So you have beautifully cel-shaded characters, townspeople, and enemies in very detailed 3-d surroundings. It's a very cool effect, somewhat similar to Zelda the Wind Waker for Gamecube. Another thing that's changed: the grid system has been done away with. You have complete freedom of movement and will encounter enemies "every so often" as you travel, much like how encounters in Final Fantasies seven through X-2 work. This greatly adds to the exploration element of the game, and makes dungeons very interesting since the designers now have three dimensions to work with. Lastly, most major plot-centric dialogue is spoken now, by talented voice actors. This is also a nice change from simply reading screen after screen of text.
As with all the other Dragon Warriors, there is no way to exploit the game, and no way to rush through it. In most Final Fantasy games, for example, there's a trick you can pull to power-level your characters or make ridiculous amounts of money in almost no time. Here, those tricks don't exist. If you want to level up or buy a new piece of gear, you have to earn it, and it might take you a long time. This is one of the main reasons that I don't think this game is for everyone. It took me about seventy hours to complete, and I haven't done nearly everything that you can do. Steve spent over 150 hours before deciding he'd had enough.
There are a couple unique things about DQ8 that I feel like I need to mention. One thing I immediately noticed is that it doesn't seem like a Japanese game. DQ8 is easily the best-localized game I've ever played. All the names and locations are translated, there's no grammar errors anywhere, and extra time has been taken to give each character a unique personality. Yangus (one of your teammates), for example, talks in a very blue-collar manner, saying things like "cor blimey" or "'e 'ad it comin'" and shortening or mispronouncing words. His speech contains this, but his text does also. Later in the game, there's a certain town where everyone talks like this, and even the cats say "meo'! 'iss!". There are puns and little jokes all over the place also; one enemy is a dog with a chain for a weapon, whose name is Chainine. Little touches like this are everywhere in this game and make it very fun to play through.
There are a couple small things about the controls as well. Most role playing games have one button for "confirm", which also advances conversations - and it's usually the main button on the controller (X on PS2, B on SNES, etc). Same here, but you can also advance or dismiss conversations with the left stick. It sounds like a very minor thing, but it's an extremely nice feature to have, as it lets you read through conversations using only one hand, so you can take a drink or just move your arms while it's going on. Also, the camera is configurable, which is very nice and something that is missing from the vast majority of games. You can invert both the X and Y axis if you'd like; the only thing missing is complete remapping of the controls, which is not possible.
Lastly, DQ8 is the consummate RPG. It's got all the necessities: The evil villain, the world in crisis, the strong and silent hero, the comic sidekick, the hot magician girl, the townspeople with ridiculous accents, intervention by divine creatures, and much more. It's bright and colorful, and even though people actually die in this game, which is pretty rare for console RPGs, the overall tone of the game is very positive and very light. It's easy to tell what's going on, and enough clues are provided that you'll never get stuck without knowing what to do next. In short, if you want a game to plop your kid (or yourself!) down in front of, and know that a good time will be had, this is it. With the caveat that patience is key.
Thumbs way up.
February 19, 2006 - You're All Wrong, volume one Maybe you've been ignoring international news for several weeks now, or maybe you live under a rock. But if not, you've probably heard about this whole fiasco surrounding the publication of cartoons that depict the Muslim propehet Mohammed. An article on CNN today details more than a dozen new deaths in the riots and protests resulting from this. The Reader's Digest background: some European newspapers published cartoons of Mohammed, including one where he's wearing a bomb for a turban; many or most Muslims see depictions of the prophet as blasphemous; protests and riots have started worldwide. Here's the summary of how I see this: As with many things, no one is right. I claim that You're All Wrong™, and here's why:
Let's start with the newspapers. The one that originally publihed it, or the republishing that's sparked this new wave of protests, it really doesn't matter. The papers say that while the consequences are unfortunate, they're within their rights of freedom of speech and refuse to apologize. Congratulations. I don't read all the articles, and I can think of forty-plus people I've heard of that have died as a direct result of your publication, and you refuse to even apologize? Simply because you can do something does not mean that you should. Freedom of the press has its limits; see libel, slander, and related issues. You're all flirting dangerously with this line, for no reason other than "we can do it". Idiotic. If I have an idea that something will piss off over a billion people, I'm sure as hell not going to do it "because I can". What were you thinking?
Next, the governments. All that the European governments have done is basically say, yeah, we don't want to get involved. Come on, at least issue a statement or something, saying that this is absolutely not representative of our country, that this is the isolated work of a few people, something! Get on TV and say, look, we don't hate you, stop your protests. Anything is better than your nonchalant let-it-all-go attitude, which just gives off the impression that you casually approve of the cartoons, or that they don't offend you enough to mention. Diplomacy is your job; start doing it.
Now the big one: the protesters. Okay, you're pissed, you want to make your voice heard and say that this whole thing really bugs you. Great! Go organize a demonstration, have people bring signs and chant slogans. Great! You can do that, and the media have reported on it. Your message is getting out. Great! Boycott certain products if you like, and encourage others to do so also. Great! And then you go and screw the whole damn thing up by getting violent. Somebody insulted you, so the obvious thing to do is go on a tear through the streets of town, torching buildings, throwing rocks, burning flags in your misguided rage. First of all, so you got made fun of. Obviously, your religion is very important to you, and someone insulted it. You know what? Get over it. If you actually subscribe to the principles of your religion (you know, peace, harmony, acceptance, and all that), you slough it off and go on with your life. If you're secure in your beliefs, why does it matter if someone attacks them? You're acting like a child whose mom just got made fun of. Secondly, what the hell are you thinking by pushing these protests out of control? People have died, gotten arrested, and been injured in these events, for no good reason. Someone insulted us? Hey, let's burn down a KFC, that'll show 'em! Maybe let's attack this Italian consulate; oh wait, Italy isn't involved in this at all, but it's Europe, so it's close enough. Let's put a blanket boycott on all things Danish, even though all of this started because of the actions of probably half a dozen people. News flash: it's not "Western culture versus Islam". Torching a Pizza Hut doesn't help your cause. Go write a letter or something, and stop your senseless crap. Odds are that you and your violent friends are in the minority, and all you're doing is perpetuating the negative stereotypes that already exist, which -- another news flash -- isn't helping your cause either. Just stop.
This is why everyone is wrong. The only people I can tell that are right in the whole situation are buried deep inside the media articles, given maybe a sentence at the most: the moderate Muslim clerics that basically say "this offends us, we don't like it, but all this violence is just ridiculous". Now, odds are that the vast majority of Muslims subscribe to this though process, too. But guess what, we don't hear about them, because riots and protests always upstage moderation in news reports. So to all the Muslims who are offended, but condemn the violence: congratulations, you're the only ones that are right. Now you just need to help me convince everyone else that they're wrong. Good luck.
February 23, 2006 - Some days I wonder how I dress myself For the second time in two months, I left Shadow's crate open when I went to work. I surprise myself occasionally with how big of an idiot I can be. Most people learn from their mistakes; apparently I am not one of them.
Enjoy these:
|
