Aimlessly Going Forwardblog by Tomas Sedovicurn:uuid:da044bd9-db6b-31f7-84f8-56f6cff10be82024-03-15T13:54:24ZTomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/Games Played in 2023https://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2024/01/16/games-played-in-2023/2024-01-16T16:49:59+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>Just like last year, it was really difficult to find solid chunks of time to dedicate to playing games. So, just like last year I’ve focused on smaller games that I could finish quickly or pick up and drop any time.</p>
<p>And just like last year, there was one massive exception albeit an unexpected one this time.</p>
<p>With a couple of exceptions, everything I’ve played was on Steam Deck. That machine is definitely delivering exactly what I was hoping from it.</p>
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<h2 id="neo_cab">Neo Cab</h2>
<a class="image" href="neo-cab.jpg"><img src="neo-cab_thumb.jpg" alt="Woman is sitting at the back seat of a taxi. There are several futuristic screen-like images floating around her head. At the bottom is a thought bubble where the protagonist says: "If she was doing some sort of deep quantum computation, it didn't look like much."" title="Woman is sitting at the back seat of a taxi. There are several futuristic screen-like images floating around her head. At the bottom is a thought bubble where the protagonist says: "If she was doing some sort of deep quantum computation, it didn't look like much.""></img></a>
<p>This is just an excellent Cyberpunk visual novel. Set in a future with actual self-driving cars (that no longer murder people or block emergency services) you move into a new city where you’re one of the last human gig economy taxi drivers.</p>
<p>The friend who invited you to crash on their couch disappeared and so you’re trying to make enough money for your car upkeep and roof over your head competing with machines and the relentless five-stars-or-bust rating system.</p>
<p>So you pick up passengers on the map based on how much fuel you have to get there as well as their star rating. And then try to get through the conversation visual-novel style.</p>
<p>You obviously want to get the five star rating out of each. But does this person even want you to speak? Make small talk or go deep? Will being nice be perceived as just fishing for a good rating?</p>
<p>Or, saying the obviously right things will help the passenger, but net you fewer stars. Or: you’re just fucking livid and will simply <strong>not</strong> be kind no matter what.</p>
<p>I love when games sometimes take choices from you to reflect your character’s situation. I mean, it’s terrible in action games, RPGs etc. where suddenly you’ve lost your abilities. But not being able to say what you want/should because you’re angry or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_Quest">depressed</a> is awesome.</p>
<p>There’s more to the story (whatever happened to your friend?) amid the city-wide backlash against the monopolisation and machines taking over. And despite a lot of it being bleak in the finest cyberpunk fashion, Neo Cab has a lot of genuinely wonderful human moments.</p>
<p>I got put off by the art a bit at first, but it definitely grew on me as I got deeper into the game.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://neocabgame.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="get_in_the_car_loser_the_fate_of_another_world">Get in the Car, Loser! The Fate of Another World</h2>
<a class="image" href="fate-of-another-world.jpg"><img src="fate-of-another-world_thumb.jpg" alt="A desolate road with destroyed buildings alongside. The sky is red with dark clouds and ash in the air. A van is riding through with the words 'Book Mobile' painted on the side." title="A desolate road with destroyed buildings alongside. The sky is red with dark clouds and ash in the air. A van is riding through with the words 'Book Mobile' painted on the side."></img></a>
<p>I have a standing rule that any time Christine Love makes a game, I’ll play it.</p>
<p>The Fate of Another World is a DLC for the <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/938860/Get_In_The_Car_Loser/">Get in the Car, Loser!</a> road trip VN/jRPG.</p>
<p>This DLC sends you into an alternative reality where things that went right in your world’s past…​ didn’t.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed the banter in this one (just like in the original game and the first DLC and…​ every single Christine Love game). It’s got basically the same combat so I wasn’t a fan, but yep, great.</p>
<p>Perfect length (maybe…​ four hours?) and just great fun.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1759520/Get_In_The_Car_Loser__The_Fate_of_Another_World/">Steam page</a>)</p>
<h2 id="vessels">Vessels</h2>
<a class="image" href="vessels.jpg"><img src="vessels_thumb.jpg" alt="A woman in a lab coat called Esme saying: "He's lucid! Should we let him back in--"" title="A woman in a lab coat called Esme saying: "He's lucid! Should we let him back in--""></img></a>
<p>Oooh, this was quite good. I didn’t love the visuals at first, but I got intrigued by what <a href="https://buried-treasure.org/2022/01/vessels/">John Walker wrote about it on Buried Treasure</a>.</p>
<p>Vessels is basically a horror story where you play the alien-infected character. The one they end up chucking out of the airlock.</p>
<p>Except, it’s a time-loop game and when you die, you’re back in that airlock trying to convince your shipmates to let you go. You’ve lost all your memory (cliché alert!), but by talking to them you learn information you can use in your next turn.</p>
<p>The game is unsettling, your objectives not necessarily clear from the get-go (but you get a sense that they’re not super noble either). Plays really well with player agency and expectations. Gives you meaningful choices and lets you put the picture together in a way that feels natural and great.</p>
<p>One thing I had a bit of a problem with was that there’s no manual save and the autosave only happens when an act ends.</p>
<p>That means if you happen to start it up when you have 40 minutes while the baby sleeps and before you need to hit the sack too, and you make a good chunk of progress but do not in fact make it through the first act, you will lose that progress.</p>
<p>And like, it’s not a lot of progress or time, but it’s still frustrating.</p>
<p>It takes 3-4 hours to get through the two endings I’ve discovered which is absolutely to its benefit, though.</p>
<p>Otherwise though, great game.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.vesselsgame.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="citizen_sleeper">Citizen sleeper</h2>
<a class="image" href="citizen-sleeper.jpg"><img src="citizen-sleeper_thumb.jpg" alt="A man called Feng is leaning on a futuristic-looking machines with neon lights and colourful wires coming out of it. A description reads: Feng is coming down the corridor towards you, a wonky grin on his broad face. "Hey. Glad I caught you." You can either reply "Do I know you?" or walk away." title="A man called Feng is leaning on a futuristic-looking machines with neon lights and colourful wires coming out of it. A description reads: Feng is coming down the corridor towards you, a wonky grin on his broad face. "Hey. Glad I caught you." You can either reply "Do I know you?" or walk away."></img></a>
<p>Okay so the reason I wanted to play this game is something that almost never happens: I’ve seen the trailer and was completely floored.</p>
<p>I actually didn’t know much about what the game play is like or whether I’d like it and as the game came out and people started to talk and write about it, that never really got answered to me.</p>
<p>But every time I’ve heard about it, I’ve watched the trailer again no remind myself of why I had been so intrigued and…​ just fell in love with it again.</p>
<p>Some combination of the atmosphere, narrative, music and definitely absolutely the <strong>amazing</strong> voice over just sold it to me every single time:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWALcEDTL8U" class="bare">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWALcEDTL8U</a></p>
<p>It is one of the best game trailers I’ve ever seen in my life.</p>
<p>And it’s a really good game as well, though initially a bit disappointing.</p>
<p>I hadn’t realised that the game itself isn’t voiced and that was the part of the trailer that really got its hooks in me.</p>
<p>But the atmosphere is fantastic.</p>
<p>You’re an android who escaped its masters and somehow made it to a space station and tries survive. Which isn’t easy because your body has a built-in decay mechanism (to prevent exactly what you’ve done) and you’re also being followed by a bounty hunter your owners hired.</p>
<p>So you do small jobs around the place, build up a reputation and try to stay ahead of the the inevitable doom that’s slowly approaching.</p>
<p>Each cycle you roll some dice (the number can vary) and each die lets you do something: a job, investigation, trying to break into something etc.</p>
<p>The activities have different difficulties that can are modified by your own skills. You need to slot in a die and that number will also modify a likelihood of you succeeding at it.</p>
<p>So an easy job that you’re skilled for might only need a low number whereas a difficult one might carry a significant risk even if you’re putting in a die with six on it.</p>
<p>I’ve long been interested in randomness and how it interacts with game systems and I’ve always been on the side of things being more deterministic and predictable.</p>
<p>Citizen Sleeper has a really smart system because there is an inherent randomness (which numbers your dice pool will have each cycle), but then you can use those numbers however you want and that gives you a lot of control.</p>
<p>I’ve heard about this and it sounded great in theory.</p>
<p>And it works <em>amazingly</em> well in practice too. I’m typically not into these sorts of systemic games but I had tremendous fun here. They really strike the perfect balance between maintaining your agency and keeping you on edge.</p>
<p>So that alone would make for a great game, but the characters you meet, their writing and design, the narrative absolutely elevates it. I ended up really invested in everyone’s story and there’s a huge amount you can do.</p>
<p>I’ve heard the narrative design compared to Disco Elysium and while very different, I think that’s a fair comparison.</p>
<p>There’s a sequel in the works and I’m really excited about that.</p>
<p>Still wish it had the voice over though.</p>
<h2 id="eliza">Eliza</h2>
<a class="image" href="eliza.jpg"><img src="eliza_thumb.jpg" alt="Two women are standing next to each other in a reception area and both are looking at the camera. The one on the left is called Rae and she's saying: "I know that not having any choice feels weird, but sometimes life is like that."" title="Two women are standing next to each other in a reception area and both are looking at the camera. The one on the left is called Rae and she's saying: "I know that not having any choice feels weird, but sometimes life is like that.""></img></a>
<p>Eliza was a huge unknown for me. It’s made by the Zachtronics studio, which is much better know for their programming puzzle games (Space Chem, Opus Magnum, etc.).</p>
<p>Whereas Eliza is a visual novel featuring an AI therapist.</p>
<p>Right now, the set-up is extremely simple to describe but when I played it I didn’t have the vocabulary necessary.</p>
<p>Imagine one of the newfangled AI/LLM chatbots instructed to play a therapist, hooked up to a voice recognition software (so it can take input from the patient in real time) and (and this is the really interesting bit) paired with a person who doesn’t have any special training but they’ll be the body, face and voice of the AI to offer a more genuine-seeming human connection.</p>
<p>Your character is one of the original programmers building Eliza (the therapist AI) who, for reasons initially left unsaid, takes one of these stand-in therapist jobs.</p>
<p>And yeah this is all done in a visual novel style with lovely graphics, good writing and extremely well-observed narrative that keeps you on toes.</p>
<p>It regularly did things that I really didn’t expect. It’s hard to give examples without spoiling them, but Eliza definitely has things to say about the modern AI bots (which is amazing given it came out over three years before ChatGPT), reverse centaurs (how automation interacts with human workers), privacy and a lot of other social issues that are relevant today.</p>
<p>It is also really powerful in what it <em>doesn’t</em> show. There are patients you lose to follow-up and you’ve no idea what happened to them.</p>
<p>The visual style threw me off a little. I mean the game looks good, but when there are two characters on the screen, they talk to each other, but look at you rather than one another (i.e. into the "camera").</p>
<p>This just feels unnatural — they should be looking at each other when they talk, not in a direction where there’s nothing there.</p>
<p>I’ve felt the same thing with <a href="/blog/2020/12/26/a-summers-end/">A Summer’s End</a> and I don’t understand how this isn’t something that people notice right away as not working. It’s basically breaking the fourth wall and reminding you these are video game characters looking at the player.</p>
<p>But other than that, Eliza is just a really solid game in pretty much every aspect. If you’ve been put off by visual novels, you may want to give this one a try instead.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/716500/Eliza/">Steam page</a>)</p>
<h2 id="contra">Contra</h2>
<a class="image" href="contra.jpg"><img src="contra_thumb.jpg" alt="A low resolution screenshot of an icy platform with snow-covered trees in the foreground, another icy platform in the background, a muscular man shooting projectiles up at a 45-degree angle and enemies in front and behind him." title="A low resolution screenshot of an icy platform with snow-covered trees in the foreground, another icy platform in the background, a muscular man shooting projectiles up at a 45-degree angle and enemies in front and behind him."></img></a>
<p>I don’t know what prompted this. Contra (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_(video_game)">the original one</a>) was a game I played at my cousins' console like…​ thirty years ago?</p>
<p>And with the Steam Deck (which is a really rad setup for a regular old platformer action) I just felt like giving it a go.</p>
<p>As it happens, there is the <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1018020/Contra_Anniversary_Collection/">Contra Anniversary Collection</a> available on Steam and it has the original Contra too. I’ve played it for maybe two or three weeks.</p>
<p>And yep, it’s pretty much just like I remembered it. I had fun, but just like with a lot of platformers — especially the older ones but even many of the modern ones — the jumping just doesn’t really feel right.</p>
<p>Plus it’s a game I’d have to spend a lot of time mastering and I just didn’t feel like investing the time and effort in.</p>
<p>Had fun with it, sated my weird pang of nostalgia, moved on.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1018020/Contra_Anniversary_Collection/">Steam page</a>)</p>
<h2 id="telling_lies">Telling Lies</h2>
<a class="image" href="telling-lies.jpg"><img src="telling-lies_thumb.jpg" alt="A scantily clad women sitting on a bed looking into the camera. The subtitles at the bottom of the screen read: "No one is listening."" title="A scantily clad women sitting on a bed looking into the camera. The subtitles at the bottom of the screen read: "No one is listening.""></img></a>
<p>Well. Sigh.</p>
<p>I loved <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_Story_(video_game)">Her Story</a> when it came out and I was really looking forward to the follow-up games.</p>
<p>It’s a really similar setup where you have an arcane system and you search for videos by entering a word that someone on the video said.</p>
<p>This time, they’re taken from video conversations that a spy agency recorded without their knowledge or consent. And the cast of characters is much wider. Some activists, a (former?) special agent of some kind and his family. A companion for hire?</p>
<p>I’ve played it for a good part of a day once when I was sick and confined to bed and got really hooked up on it.</p>
<p>And then never booted it up again.</p>
<p>I like the characters, I’m intrigued by the mystery and would very much like to figure it out. The "guess the words, uncover more videos, build an understanding" mechanic works great.</p>
<p>But. The game goes way too far with trying to present a real world interface in a way that’s (a) actually unrealistic and (b) makes the game nigh fucking unplayable.</p>
<p>The first issue is: when the database shows you videos that match your search words, it starts playing from the point when the word was said. That makes sense and is fine.</p>
<p>But if you want to watch the whole recording (which you do!) you can’t click to the beginning or anywhere in the video! You can only rewind it.</p>
<p>It’s almost as if this was playing an actual video tape (but your in-game character does watch this on a computer!).</p>
<p>And the rewind speed is <strong>extremely</strong> slow. Slower than you think. Unbearably slow. You spend an inordinate amount of time just sitting there rewinding videos.</p>
<p>Oh and you’d better explicitly bookmark the start of the vid for later viewing because otherwise, it’s the painstakingly slow rewind time again!</p>
<p>And second: the two sides of the conversation are recorded and stored separately. So every time you find a video, you only see and hear what one side is saying, the rest is dead air (and watching the character on the screen listen to something you can’t hear).</p>
<p>Which, again. This is a <strong>great</strong> idea. You need to pay attention and try to figure out how to get the corresponding part. Try to think of words that the person on the other side might have said.</p>
<p>And it works wonderfully.</p>
<p>Except for this: even when you have both videos, there’s no way to play them side by side. Meaning if you want to hear the full say nine minute conversation, you’ll need to play both 9 minutes one after another and sit through (or fast forward and then slow rewind and ultimately waste more time) and end up listening to nine minutes of broken up conversations and nine minutes of silence.</p>
<p>Which, again. Within the game world, this happens on a computer and even if they hadn’t made a specialised software, you should at the very least be able to just open both videos manually and play them side by side yourself for fuck’s sake.</p>
<p>Absolutely ridiculous.</p>
<p>Rarely have I seen a game so explicitly built around wasting the player’s time.</p>
<p>I’ve simply not had the will/nerve/energy/patience to play it up again despite being really into it.</p>
<p>And I’ve just given up. At some point, I’d like to look up the whole thing on youtube and at least enjoy the story and acting, but the game itself is basically impossible to play.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/762830/Telling_Lies/">Steam page</a>)</p>
<h2 id="thumper">Thumper</h2>
<a class="image" href="thumper.jpg"><img src="thumper_thumb.jpg" alt="A slick-looking metallic beetle set on a winding track with what looks like a barrier on the outer side of the incoming bend in the track and a wave of light emanating from somewhere behind the camera." title="A slick-looking metallic beetle set on a winding track with what looks like a barrier on the outer side of the incoming bend in the track and a wave of light emanating from somewhere behind the camera."></img></a>
<p>I’ve heard so much about this game. Wasn’t sure I was going to ever try it, but then I saw it at a deep discount and figured why not.</p>
<p>It’s a rhythm game from hell. I’ve mainly been familiar with the likes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksmith">Rocksmith</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frets_on_Fire">Frets on Fire</a> — where you play in rhythm to existing classic songs. And I love that genre, but never invested into the peripherals and felt too uncomfortable playing them on the keyboard.</p>
<p>So the idea of a game that’s explicitly designed around a controller (or keyboard) sounded great.</p>
<p>The fact that you’re playing a metallic beetle in a bespoke hellish ambiance a little less so.</p>
<p>But actually playing it, I got hooked instantly.</p>
<p>The game works fantastic on the Steam Deck and looks and feels <strong>amazing</strong> when you actually play it.</p>
<p>It is deeply anxiety inducing though. Your heart will pump and it has a very clangy violent feel to it. It’s also quite challenging (but then my reaction time and sense of rhythm is quite poor) but when you get in the zone and actually hit the mark perfectly for a few seconds, it feels fantastic.</p>
<p>And you have this desire to come back to the previous levels at some point and master them just to get the feeling a perfect playthrough. I haven’t actually done that yet, but it is there and keeps me going through the gaffes.</p>
<p>Haven’t played it much because another game came in that completely took over all my gaming time but I very much want to return to it.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://thumpergame.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="baldurs_gate_iii">Baldur’s Gate III</h2>
<a class="image" href="baldurs-gate-3.jpg"><img src="baldurs-gate-3_thumb.jpg" alt="A scene with three characters in it: a drow (dark elf) woman (my protagonist), a white-haired male wizard and a githianki female fighter. They're being addressed by someone called Volo who's saying: "Do my eyes deceive me? A drow? Here?"" title="A scene with three characters in it: a drow (dark elf) woman (my protagonist), a white-haired male wizard and a githianki female fighter. They're being addressed by someone called Volo who's saying: "Do my eyes deceive me? A drow? Here?""></img></a>
<p>Speak of the devil.</p>
<p>I wasn’t actually paying a lot of attention to BG3. Loved the previous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate_(video_game)">Baldur’s Gates</a> — they were some of the earliest RPGs I’ve played and while they can’t hold the candle to the original <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_(video_game)">Fallouts</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape%3A_Torment">Planescape: Torment</a>, they were both great not to mention cornerstones of the gaming history.</p>
<p>But BG 3 is done by Larian and I…​ really didn’t go on well with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divinity%3A_Original_Sin">Divinity: Original Sin</a>. I’ve sunk a good chunk of time into it and really wanted to like it, but the world design, writing and sense of humour were really off-putting to me for some reason.</p>
<p>So basically, I expected more of the same in a different setting and just expecting to not enjoy it at all.</p>
<p>Now, I don’t know what happened — especially since all of the classic Divinity gameplay elements are there.</p>
<p>But this game looks and feels so absolutely great where Divinity just left me nonplussed.</p>
<p>I’m very much enjoying the writing here, the world feels great to explore, the mysteries you encounter, the characters you meet. It’s all just as good as everyone was raving about.</p>
<p>Even the combat isn’t terrible and that’s something coming from yours truly.</p>
<p>Plus massive props for diving straight into the <em>interesting</em> aspects of the Forgotten Realms' setting. Where the first BG1 does the most clichéd fantasy journey you can imagine, BG3 starts with you escaping a crashed mindflayer ship after just having been infected with a parasite that’s supposed to you into a mini-Cthulhu within a few hours.</p>
<p>And it builds thins up from there! Meeting Githianki? Prologue. A priestes of Shar? Ditto. Tieflings? A whole band of 'em stuck in a druid grove. And the druids themselves are far from benign or boring.</p>
<p>In no time you’re deep within a goblin camp (and <strong>talking to everyone</strong> rather than going on a murdering spree — though you’re very much welcome to do that too — this is an RPG after all), meeting devils and oh yeah exploring the fucking Underdark all in the first act.</p>
<p>What I’m trying to say is: there was a way I expected this to go (the slow somewhat boring classic fantasy RPG quest way) and instead they took all the <em>actually</em> intriguing stuff that the D&D franchise grew over the the decades and just put it all in and <strong>somehow managed for things to work together and stay coherent</strong>. It is very Planescapey in that sense.</p>
<p>So you’re on this wild ride where you’ve no idea what happens next but it feels awesome.</p>
<p>It’s a huge game but unlike Elden Ring, I have a sense of where I am and what I to do next even if I haven’t touched it for six weeks.</p>
<p>Now, at its core it’s still a traditional RPG with crafting, a trillion tonnes of garbage you’ll be dumping into your inventory and all the other nonsense. But it is an extremely well polished version thereof and I’m finding that these things bother me less here than in most other games.</p>
<p>It’s not (so far?) on the level of Planescape Torment or Disco Elysium, but it definitely far exceeds your typical RPGs by a massive margin.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://baldursgate3.game/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="done_with">Done With</h2>
<ul>
<li>Contra</li>
<li>Hades
<ul>
<li>Haven’t played it since last year</li>
<li>But will definitely try <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145350/Hades_II/">Hades 2</a> (quite possibly on Steam Deck)</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Spelunky 1
<ul>
<li>Same, haven’t played either since last year</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Telling Lies</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="next">Next</h2>
<p>Since Baldur’s Gate 3 will likely eat into a lot of my play time this year, I plan — once again — to focus on playing smaller games this year. Preferably ones I can play on the Steam Deck.</p>
<p>I’d love to try Demon’s Souls and Cyberpunk 2077 at some point, but it’s highly unlikely this year. If I go for another big game this year, it would be Mass Effect 5, except that’s looking highly unlikely to come out in 2024.</p>
<h3 id="baldurs_gate_iii_2">Baldur’s gate III</h3>
<p>Obviously. I’m really intrigued by the game and I’ve heard that a basically all the plot lines lead to the city of Baldur’s Gate itself which is in the third act. So there’s lots of narrative pay-offs there.</p>
<p>Yes please.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://baldursgate3.game/">website</a>)</p>
<h3 id="thumper_2">Thumper</h3>
<p>Similarly, I consider this very much a game in progress for now. Want to play more.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://thumpergame.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h3 id="scarlet_hollow_new_episodes">Scarlet Hollow (new episodes)</h3>
<p>There should definitely be at least one more episode coming in 2024 and I’m here for it. Really love the series.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1609230/Scarlet_Hollow/">steam page</a>)</p>
<h3 id="anything_by_christine_love">Anything by Christine Love</h3>
<p>I don’t know whether she’s got plans to release anything new (if she does, it would likely be a new DLC for Get in the Car, Loser! rather than a brand new game) but any new game she makes I want to play.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://news.loveconquersallgames.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h3 id="i_was_a_teenage_excolonist">I was a Teenage Excolonist</h3>
<p>Leftover from the last year. Still sounds intriguing, still want to give it a go.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://exocolonist.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h3 id="slay_the_princess">Slay the Princess</h3>
<p>A "side project" by <a href="https://blacktabbygames.com/">Black Tabby Games</a> — the makers of Scarlet Hollow. The setup sounds fascinating: you get sent down into the cellar to kill a princess that’s imprisoned there before she does something horrible.</p>
<p>And she’s…​ somehow now what she seems?</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.slaytheprincess.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h3 id="stop_burying_me_alive_beautiful">Stop Burying Me Alive, Beautiful</h3>
<p>I’m getting similar vibes as Slay the Princess from this one.</p>
<p>You find yourself being buried alive by your girlfriend. Because she thinks you’re dead so why on earth are you complaining?</p>
<p>I mean, I’ve no idea whether it’s any good, but the setup is quite intriguing.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://zephyo.itch.io/stop-burying-me-alive-beautiful">website</a>)</p>
<h3 id="colony_ship">Colony Ship</h3>
<p>This is the second game by Iron Tower Studio who made <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Decadence">Age of Decadence</a> (<a href="/blog/2019/04/13/age-of-decadence/">my review</a>). I’ve really enjoyed AoD and I knew this game was in development, but I was really surprised to see it’s actually out now.</p>
<p>I’d need to be in the right mood for this (I’m expecting difficult combat and lack of polish but great writing and world building), but I’m still on a lookout for that elusive Fallout 1&2 vibe (that the actual Fallout sequels completely failed at) and this might be reasonably close.</p>
<p>(<a href="http://irontowerstudio.com/colony-ship-news">website</a>)</p>
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisinhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2023/11/23/the-city-we-became-by-n-k-jemisin/2023-11-23T21:37:06+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><strong>5/5 star</strong></p>
<p>The City We Became is a Lovecraftian antiracist (and therefore anti-Lovecraft) urban fantasy about the city of New York becoming alive.</p>
<p>The birthing process is never easy, but in this case it’s particularly fraught. The city’s main avatar is in deep recovery and five people awaken representing each of its boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.</p>
<p>They need to survive, learn what the hell is going on, meet and actually agree on doing what needs to be done. Learn to trust one another, cooperate, help each other.</p>
<p>Facing an onslaught of Lovecraftian horrors, but with a twist. Instead of using black as the colour of the otherworldly evil, it is white and with one exception, all the avatars are people of colour. People of different backgrounds, lives, priorities and sexuality. Far from being their ally, the police is controlled by the enemy and concepts such as gentrification will walk around, sporting tentacles.</p>
<p>The subtext is right there on the surface, but here, in this book, in this time, that feels right.</p>
<p>This is a love song to all the cities, well aware of their issues. And as best as someone who’s only observed its vibe through television and writing can judge, it offers a fantastic personification of the Greatest City In The World and all its contrasts.</p>
<p>The story goes places I didn’t expect, surprising me along the way. And even when I thought I had the final twist figured out — it showed me that I was right but also very (delightfully!!) wrong. The ending brought me tears of joy, shouting "yes yes YES!", pumping fists.</p>
<p>Easily my 2023 favourite.</p>
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3761285270">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
The Skeptics' Guide to the Future by Steven Novellahttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2023/10/01/the-skeptics-duige-to-the-future-by-steven-novella/2023-10-01T13:34:04+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><strong>4/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>This is a book about futurism, a genre that always seems to find me, but I never seek out specifically. I am deeply interested in science and technology, but I don’t tend to find people speculating or trying to seriously predict things that interesting.</p>
<p>It’s so easy to get swept up with your own ideas and biases, miss crucial aspects that will render the prediction irrelevant even if technically accurate or not putting the technology in a societal context.</p>
<p>So what I really liked most about this book is that it addressed this exact thing head-on. They highlighted the common futuristic pitfalls and tried to steer clear of them or being explicit when they were doing far-out speculations versus a sensible interpretation of the current technological progress and pace.</p>
<p>The topics cover space travel, various biology and medical advances, artificial intelligence, robotics, material science, fusion, space elevators and more.</p>
<p>The final section goes over the technologies that form the staple of science fiction — faster-than-light travel, time travel, teleportation, lightsabers etc.</p>
<p>The book is explicitly cautious around commonly-made extrapolations that simply don’t have the evidence to bear out (and provides many examples of this folly from the past) about things that simply won’t ever happen unless we discover new laws of physics or elements and/or combinations thereof. And puts the likelihood of that in the right context.</p>
<p>Whenever they touched upon an area where I had some deeper knowledge, I haven’t found any glaring issues — more simplifications that weren’t technically correct, but were probably right in the context of the book and didn’t change the final outcome anyway. That makes me think that the rest of their research is similarly solid although the authors are not expects in most of the areas they’ve researched.</p>
<p>Overall, it is a great and easy-to-read overview of where we are right now, what’s likely to expect in the relatively near future and what might come in the longer term.</p>
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5706295710">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
What If? 2 by Randall Munroehttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2023/05/18/what-if-2-by-randall-munroe/2023-05-18T17:56:43+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><strong>4/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>Just like in the first book, <em>What If? 2</em> takes funny, clever and sometimes absolutely ridiculous questions and tries to answer them as accurately as possible from a scientific point of view. With humour. And references.</p>
<p>It is a delight to read and while I’m not sure I’ve learned anything <strong>useful</strong>, I’ve definitely learned a lot.</p>
<p>Mainly how much blood one can drink before they inevitably start to vomit.</p>
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5348248860">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorowhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2023/05/17/red-team-blues-by-cory-doctorow/2023-05-17T15:31:27+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>Red Team Blues is a short but fantastic ride from start to finish. Marty Hench, a 67 year old accountant who specialises in uncovering Silicon Valley fraud and financial shenanigans gets one last job before retiring. A job that will let him retire.</p>
<p>It seems easy enough at first: find who stole cryptographic keys that would compromise a massive cryptocurrency network. But then bad stuff happens, more people get involved and in the end it’s about far more that the mere $1bn of value in the network.</p>
<p>The book is pure plot, never a dull moment. It carries a high risk of pulling you in and not letting you stop until you’ve finished.</p>
<p>In a bit of a departure from Cory’s regular work, it’s less focused on the actual tech (though there’s still plenty at the core) and more on the human aspect and the investigation. I found that worked really well here.</p>
<p>I’ve had lots of fun and while there’s nothing earth-shattering in it, the book’s an excellent read and I’m happy there are more books (prequels) planned. And it stayed in my mind for weeks afterwards.</p>
<p>Wil Wheaton reads the audiobook and as always, does an amazing job of it.</p>
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5512150983">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
Games Played in 2022https://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2023/04/13/games-played-in-2022/2023-04-13T19:31:35+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>Playing video games in 2022 has been really erratic. We’ve had an infant and everything became unpredictable. There were times I could play for a few hours at a time. And then no games for a couple of months.</p>
<!-- toc disabled -->
<h2 id="elden_ring">Elden Ring</h2>
<a class="image" href="elden-ring.jpg"><img src="elden-ring_thumb.jpg" alt="Standing on top of a hill in Limgrave -- the starting location in Elden Ring. The view is bright and colourful, giving off an autumn vibe." title="Standing on top of a hill in Limgrave -- the starting location in Elden Ring. The view is bright and colourful, giving off an autumn vibe."></img></a>
<p>I was quite excited about this. I’ve always had a hard time to get into "true" open world games (such as Skyrim, Morrowind, Oblivion). They sounded fascinating, but I’ve never lasted more than a few hours. I couldn’t get on with the systems and combat.</p>
<p>I also always felt a bit lost. Unsure what to do, where to go, worried I’d waste time just randomly wandering around.</p>
<p>Elden Ring seemed perfect. I really get on well with the world-building, aesthetics, equipment and character development of Dark Souls and Bloodborne (plus, they’re some of the very few combat systems in games I genuinely enjoy). But I also couldn’t imagine how it’ll all work.</p>
<p>Both Dark Souls and Bloodborne have a really tightly designed and packed world. All the areas are connected, everything works together. Would it work just as well in a big place where you’re free to wander wherever you’d like?</p>
<p>But Elden Ring is indeed great. The systems work really well and you get the fabled freedom to explore, take on things that strike your fancy and all that.</p>
<p>It definitely all feels less tightly integrated than the other soulsborne games, but it still works. I’ve had loads of fun exploring in the game. Riding around on horseback is <strong>fantastic</strong> and yeah, just really fun.</p>
<p>The ability to go somewhere you’re clearly not ready for yet, evading danger, picking cool stuff on the way and getting some nice money/items/experience boost that way is something I love doing in RPGs and rarely get to.</p>
<p>Elden ring has that in spades.</p>
<p>It is also much more legible and accessible than its predecessors were. It has an actual map and you have a better idea of where to go and what to do (though it still absolutely doesn’t hold your hand). And much less dark (though it’s not all sunshine and roses).</p>
<p>But the game is hugely, impossibly large. After spending over eighty hours in it, I’m seemingly about halfway through. And that’s just too much.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I’d be able to dedicate the time this game needs in the best of times. With a baby and life that generally leaves me quite drained in the evening it’s not going to work.</p>
<p>You need energy to play this game. And also some sort of regularity. I was only able log in every few weeks and even with my copious notes, I spent so much time just catching up on where I was and what I had planned to do.</p>
<p>It does have some flaws too. Some of the dungeons are very similar to one another, bosses are reused with minor modifications. And I feel bad to just rush through the story because:</p>
<ol class="arabic"false>
<li>
I’d be missing so much
</li>
<li>
I doubt I’d ever return to this game for additional hundreds of hours again
</li>
</ol>
<p>So towards the end of the year, I gave myself a permission to just let it go. I might return at some point (every time I played it I genuinely had fun), but I might not (everytime I wanted to play something, I felt I couldn’t play anything else, but also dreading booting Elden Ring up).</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.eldenring.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="life_is_strange_remaster">Life is Strange: Remaster</h2>
<a class="image" href="life-is-strange.jpg"><img src="life-is-strange_thumb.jpg" alt="A young woman with blue hair and a beenie cap faces another women in a dark and rainy setting." title="A young woman with blue hair and a beenie cap faces another women in a dark and rainy setting."></img></a>
<p>I’m not sure the original Life is Strange needed a remaster. The original game came out in 2015 and I don’t think it aged <em>that</em> badly.</p>
<p>But I’ve been meaning to replay it and Before the Storm in the story order (i.e. BtS firs and then LiS proper as opposed to the order they were released in). And this remaster happened as part of Life is Strange: True Colors release so…​ sure…​ let’s play the touched-up version.</p>
<p>I don’t think that much has changed, really. It wasn’t particularly more amazing visually or anything.</p>
<p>But I had fun with it. Max and Chloe is the best time.</p>
<p>It did show its age though. The controls are clumsier here than in the latter games. Some of the writing feels a bit off, the voice over is more miss than hit for a few characters. The dream sequence in the final episode was always just terrible and it still is.</p>
<p>But I got to spend quality time with Max and Chloe and that was still awesome.</p>
<p>More than anything though, it’s really interesting going back to the original game and seeing what evolved out of it. With 3-5 games (depending on what you’re counting), the "Life is Strange" formula is clearer and broader than what this particular game did. But it did set off a trend that’s been used successfully in the years since.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://lifeisstrange.square-enix-games.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="clicker_heroes">Clicker Heroes</h2>
<a class="image" href="clicker-heroes.png"><img src="clicker-heroes_thumb.png" alt="Screenshot of the level 1 283 696 with a finger tapping at a monster and yellow coins flying everywhere." title="Screenshot of the level 1 283 696 with a finger tapping at a monster and yellow coins flying everywhere."></img></a>
<p>This was a really unexpected comeback.</p>
<p>I’d played this game about 12 years ago and stopped when the grind got real.</p>
<p>Recently, I was thinking about picking up a game like Clicker Heroes — that I could leave running in the background on my tablet and click around when I felt like it and had a bit of time. Low effort <em>pick up and drop back again</em>.</p>
<p>Tried a couple idle/clicker games, they didn’t stick and so I’ve tried Clicker Heroes again.</p>
<p>And (for what it is), it’s really fun. Not something you want to dedicate a lot of attention, but just setting things up and having the numbers grow exponentially is great.</p>
<p>What I hadn’t appreciated before is the insight this gives you into the differences between linear and exponential growth. One you rarely see elsewhere.</p>
<p>The whole arc of the game changes significantly as you progress through and there’s always something else you want to see which keeps you playing and forces you to change your play styles over time.</p>
<p>By now, I think I saw almost everything there is to see there though (meaning: I was on my second 1M+ HZE transcension, unlocked three of the five Scout heroes, joined a clan for a while, went through several special events and the only substantial achievement missing was Leeroy Jenkins).</p>
<p>So by March 2023 I’ve had my fill and gave it a rest, but it is genuinely more fun than I expected.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.clickerheroes.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="knights_of_san_francisco">Knights of San Francisco</h2>
<a class="image" href="knights-of-san-francisco.png"><img src="knights-of-san-francisco_thumb.png" alt="A piece of dialogue from the game about the ghost with the name of Lady Hope." title="A piece of dialogue from the game about the ghost with the name of Lady Hope."></img></a>
<p>Wow, this is such a lovely little short thing.</p>
<p>Think of the "gamebook" or "choose your adventure" books. Where you read a section, make a choice and it’ll tell you which page to turn for the next piece of the story.</p>
<p>Knights is the best translation of that idea into a video game that I’ve seen. I’m always surprised these games are relatively few and far between. There’s a few gamebook ports (most famously, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorcery!_(video_game)">Sorcery!</a>) but little else (alternatively: I’ve just never really delved into the Twine games and interactive fiction where almost all of these games exist).</p>
<p>Knights is an original story and game designed specifically for the platform (iOS and Android).</p>
<p>As such, the combat system, map and everything else works perfectly. It looks great too — clear and beautiful while preserving the look-and-feel of the gamebooks.</p>
<p>The story is set in a post-apocalyptic (or possibly just decayed) fantasy San Francisco. And the protagonist is a necromancer. When you kill someone, you can raise them from the dead and have them join your party.</p>
<p>It’s a really cool game, with a simple but good story and a world where your particular magical ability is surprisingly well integrated into the setting. This is something that I see very rarely and value a lot.</p>
<p>I’ve learned about it thanks to <a href="https://buried-treasure.org/2022/05/knights-of-san-francisco/">The Buried Treasure blog</a>.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://egamebook.com/knights/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="butterfly_soup_2">Butterfly Soup 2</h2>
<a class="image" href="butterfly-soup-2.png"><img src="butterfly-soup-2_thumb.png" alt="A young Indian woman called Diya sits in a car contemplating how it's annoying that her mother raised her to be afraid of talking yet expects her to magically turn out like a child who was raised normally." title="A young Indian woman called Diya sits in a car contemplating how it's annoying that her mother raised her to be afraid of talking yet expects her to magically turn out like a child who was raised normally."></img></a>
<p>The <a href="https://brianna-lei.itch.io/butterfly-soup">first Butterfly Soup</a> is one of my favourites. The perfect comfort game. Funny, short, beautiful, <strong>wonderful</strong>.</p>
<p>Just like Butterfly Soup, the sequel is a visual novel that takes roughly four hours to play. It’s about four gay Asian girls playing baseball and going through their lives in California while attending high school.</p>
<p>I loved the original as well as this one so much.</p>
<p>It gets a bit more heavy and serious in places and I feel it’s a little more polished too. Especially Min-seo grew a bit more mature, but also had to confront some of her internalised prejudice. And Noelle’s visit to her family in Taiwan, I mean…​ I <a href="{asian-immigrant}">can only imagine what she was feeling but fuuuuuck</a>.</p>
<p>But it is absolutely still Butterfly Soup.</p>
<p>The game starts right where the first one ended (not the epilogue, just the main story at the high school) and I think the best way to think about it is as a second part to the story introduced in the first game.</p>
<p>It is an absolutely amazing piece and I’ll almost certainly play this (along with the first part) again.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://brianna-lei.itch.io/butterfly-soup-2">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="scarlet_hollow">Scarlet Hollow</h2>
<a class="image" href="scarlet-hollow.jpg"><img src="scarlet-hollow_thumb.jpg" alt="A doctor with a gun in a bunker next to reinforced doors saying: "Someone... approached me with a solution. I took it."" title="A doctor with a gun in a bunker next to reinforced doors saying: "Someone... approached me with a solution. I took it.""></img></a>
<p>Another <a href="https://buried-treasure.org/2021/07/scarlet-hollow/">Buried Treasure</a>.</p>
<p>And goodness what a treasure it is.</p>
<p>Scarlet Hollow is a horror visual novel, but most of the time it’s about feeling a little unsettled by what’s going on rather than full-on terror (though horrible things <strong>can and do</strong> happen in every episode).</p>
<p>You travel to a remote city where your estranged aunt has died. Your cousin invited you to the funeral that’s in seven days. You live in a derelict house and meet the locals in Scarlet Hollow — the nearby town.</p>
<p>It’s a mining city and your cousin Tabitha is the owner of the mines. The city has a storied history and things start to get <em>weird</em> fast.</p>
<p>Scarlet Hollow is a wonderful game, light-hearted and genuine, funny and sweet, but also absolutely dark and heavy. Especially the latest episode that came out (number four out of seven) gets pretty fucking rough though #3 was no slouch either.</p>
<p>It’s quite unlike most visual novels so if you’ve been put off by the genre, do give this one a go nonetheless. It’s brilliantly written, super replayable, with real <strong>huge</strong> consequences to your actions that persist across episodes and completely change the situation.</p>
<p>In many ways, it’s actually pretty close to a bare-bones RPG in a visual-novel format. Not <em>quite</em> there, but yeah just super fascinating.</p>
<p>I’m eagerly awaiting the last three episodes.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1609230/Scarlet_Hollow/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="heaven_will_be_mine">Heaven Will Be Mine</h2>
<a class="image" href="heaven-will-be-mine.png"><img src="heaven-will-be-mine_thumb.png" alt="Pilot selection screen. A smiling woman called Pluto is selected with a brief description of her drive and personality." title="Pilot selection screen. A smiling woman called Pluto is selected with a brief description of her drive and personality."></img></a>
<p>I’ve been reading about Heaven Will Be Mine for a long time, to the point of having it installed on my tablet (and therefore super easy to pick up) and still not touched it for about two years.</p>
<p>Well <strong>not anymore</strong>.</p>
<p>It’s a genuinely strange sci-fi visual novel where you play a pilot of a huge combat ship. The ships are like the extensions of the pilots' bodies — there’s connection that goes beyond a machine and its user.</p>
<p>The Solar System has suffered an existential threat that was never made clear, but it got averted — mainly thanks to these ships and their pilots. Right now, three factions with vastly differing views of where to take humanity and further exploration are at conflict with each other.</p>
<p>Despite being on the opposing sides, the pilots are lonely and isolated and have more in common with themselves than the rest of the humanity. So they fight when ordered, but also talk and visit each other’s ships (and more).</p>
<p>The whole setting is quite text-heavy. There’s a lot of exposition there that’s part sci-fi and part…​ philosophy that has physical effects? For example the gravitational pull is both a function of <em>mass</em> but also of <em>culture</em> and their effects are intertwined.</p>
<p>This mix is kind of hard to read and understand — especially when you’re a sleep-deprived parent dealing with the after effects of an MS attack combined with corticosteroid IV whose ability to focus is tenuous at best (I played it at weird time okay?).</p>
<p>I’ve really enjoyed it, but the descriptions made about as much sense to me as Deepak Chopra. I <strong>think</strong> Heaven Will Be Mine has much more substance though, I just was too tired to appreciate it fully.</p>
<p>I’ve finished one playthrough and really liked it all the way to the end.</p>
<p>Wanted to give it another go with a different character, but I never got around to it.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://pillowfight.io/heaven-will-be-mine/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="done_with">Done With</h2>
<p>Rather than feeling guilty and thinking I’ll get back to them, I’m letting these games go:</p>
<ul>
<li>Elden Ring</li>
<li>Heaven Will Be Mine</li>
<li>Geneforge 1</li>
<li>Clicker Heroes</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="not_quite_done_with_yet">Not Quite Done With Yet</h2>
<h3 id="spelunky">Spelunky</h3>
<p>I’ve got a Steam Deck in December and while setting it up, I’ve played a few Spelunky runs. It’s still a fantastic game that I’m now incredibly rusty with.</p>
<p>Honestly it’s amazing how well together the game is put. Also a little sad that I prefer it to Spelunky 2, but oh well.</p>
<p>I suspect with the super easy way to pick up, I might play more throughout the year.</p>
<p>No recording, no dailies or anything, just 15 minutes of fun.</p>
<h3 id="hades">Hades</h3>
<a class="image" href="hades.jpg"><img src="hades_thumb.jpg" alt="Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt saying: "Something's troubled me a little, about you. You fight so desperately. At first I thought you simply lacked in patience. But now I see it's urgency that drives you. What is it you're after, really...?"" title="Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt saying: "Something's troubled me a little, about you. You fight so desperately. At first I thought you simply lacked in patience. But now I see it's urgency that drives you. What is it you're after, really...?""></img></a>
<p>Haven’t played it for the entire year, thinking I won’t ever get to it and then…​ played a few runs in December. And I think I’ll definitely play a few more when the mood strikes.</p>
<p>I don’t have any big games lined up now (freed from the clutches of Elden Ring and Geneforge 1) and while each run takes quite a lot of time (around 40-60 minutes now that I’m able to get quite far), it’s an awesome experience and a world and characters I want to return to.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/hades/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="next">Next</h2>
<p>There’s a couple of games that I definitely want to get to. And then a bunch that I’ve been thinking about and will probably fire up at some point unless something huge comes out that will take all my remaining gaming time away.</p>
<p>I mean, Mass Effect 5 isn’t going to come out for another couple of years.</p>
<h3 id="scarlet_hollow_new_episodes">Scarlet Hollow (new episodes)</h3>
<p>This game took me completely by surprise and didn’t let me go. With more episodes scheduled in 2023, I’ll definitely come back.</p>
<h3 id="get_in_the_car_loser_the_fate_of_another_world">Get in the Car, Loser! The Fate of Another World</h3>
<p>If Christine Love makes a game, I’ll play it. That’s the rules.</p>
<p>And she has just released a DLC to Get in the Car, Loser! The systems in that game spoke to me a little less than her previous works, but it’s still a wonderful piece of writing, humour and character building.</p>
<p>Of course I’ll play the DLC.</p>
<h3 id="neo_cab">Neo Cab</h3>
<p>Cyberpunk VN? Self-driving cars and you being one of the last human cabbies left? Works on the Steam Deck? <strong>Yes please</strong>!</p>
<h3 id="vessels">Vessels</h3>
<p>Another Buried Treasure thing that really got me interested so I’d love to give it a go.</p>
<p>I <strong>loved</strong> the time loops in Minit and Outer Wilds and have a soft spot for them in books and TV (stargate anyone?).</p>
<p>So yeah, this sounds fascinating and also have a pretty intriguing setup on top of that — you having a total amnesia, possibly being possessed by an alien or something and being thrown out of an airlock at the end of each loop.</p>
<p>Definitely intrigued.</p>
<h3 id="citizen_sleeper">Citizen Sleeper</h3>
<p>I <strong>love</strong> the trailer and the atmosphere of this.</p>
<p>Not sure I’ll love the actual gameplay (heard mixed reactions), but deffo want to experience it for myself.</p>
<h3 id="i_was_a_teenage_excolonist">I Was A Teenage Excolonist</h3>
<p>Cute-looking choice-based VN-like sci-fi RPG. Sign me up!</p>
<h3 id="demons_souls_remake">Demon’s Souls Remake</h3>
<p>I’ve never played the original Demon’s Souls, but it’s the soulslike that kicked of Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring.</p>
<p>I want to give it a go, but I generally need some break between soulslikes. They’re quite intense and demanding. And based on my experience with Elden Ring I’m not going to rush into it.</p>
<p>That said, the main game seems to take around 30 hours which is much more acceptable (though it’ll be like 50 for me, then).</p>
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe by Sean Carrollhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2023/02/02/the-biggest-ideas-in-the-universe-by-sean-carroll/2023-02-02T22:18:26+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5030031562">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>I find cosmology and quantum mechanics absolutely fascinating, but the books on the subject always had this problem: the ones targeted at the general audience always resort to flawed analogies and end up misleading you. And the rest is a scientific literature that requires a degree to be understood.</p>
<p>Nothing in between.</p>
<p>Nothing that is, until The Biggest Ideas came along.</p>
<p>The premise is simple: we’ll show you the equations, we’ll give you enough maths background to understand them and use them to illustrate the real concepts while still targeting a general-level audience.</p>
<p>You’ll need to sit down and think, but there’s no homework, no drudgery, no exams here. Just a desire to show you what’s <strong>really</strong> going on.</p>
<p>This book is the first part of a trilogy, covering the classical (i.e. non-quantum) physics. From Newton to Einstein’s General Relativity and black holes.</p>
<p>It is a dizzying, but glorious ride. It touches not only some of the most fundamental aspects of physics, but it’s peppered with fascinating historical anecdotes and goes into the philosophy of physics as well.</p>
<p>A lot of emphasis is put on the "spherical cow philosophy" — which gets its name from a joke but underlies a real and extremely successful approach to describing systems: start with the bare minimum you need, ignoring everything else (friction, gravity etc.) and come up with the equations.</p>
<p>More often than not, you can add all that stuff later to make it precise, but that initial model will be surprisingly precise, insightful and reliable. You can get a lot done this way.</p>
<p>I love that it dives into the special relativity without any fanfare. And indeed, the explanations put forward are much clearer than any I’ve read in the past. I mean, once you understand the equation for calculating the proper (i.e. measured by the observer) time in Minkowski space, everything else follows. Including that the universe has a speed limit.</p>
<p>I’ve not internalised the lessons fully yet, but I have a much better framework to think in and I can run though the equations again to solidify them better later on.</p>
<p>This is amazing.</p>
<p>The general relativity bits were much trickier. Touching matrices and geometry (my two weakest areas) and having been read in the late evening, exhausted after putting our one-year-old to sleep, I got much less out of them. But the insight of how to determine a curvature without embedding it in higher dimensions and the rough steps getting to the Einstein’s field equations from that — they resonated and stuck around.</p>
<p>And I’m much clearer on the principle of equivalence and why it’s such a huge deal.</p>
<p>Crucially, I now know all the mathematics involved in deriving the equations of general relativity and they’re not <strong>that</strong> much complex than the maths I know or used to know. So with some work, I’m confident I can get there.</p>
<p>So yes, if you’re not a-priori scared of equations and you’ve always wanted to understand what relativity was all about but couldn’t <strong>quite</strong> find the time to get a physics PhD, this is an excellent book.</p>
<p>The very last sentence in The Biggest Ideas reads: "Good times."</p>
<p>And that sums it up perfectly.</p>
It by Stephen Kinghttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2022/10/06/it-by-stephen-king/2022-10-06T08:01:52+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4954998049">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>We have a long history together, It and I. Released only a few months after I was born, It was there in the background for much of my life.</p>
<p>I’ve seen Part 1 of the 1990 movie version when I was around 10 years old and it messed me up for months. Literal, actual months. I was terrified of going out when it rained, gave storm drains wide berths and even the bathroom sink was frightening.</p>
<p>I have in fact, swore off the entire genre of horror completely — and seeing It was a big part of that. But like I said: it was there, always present. A story unfinished. A challenge unmet.</p>
<p>Ten years ago, I saw it in a bookshop, bought it on a whim and then let it lie on my shelf. Waiting, never opened, but never forgotten.</p>
<p>Until now.</p>
<p><em>The town of Derry in Maine, US is being shocked by disappearances and murders of children. Seven kids realise that things are even more sinister than they seem on the surface and come together to stop it against the background of bullying and sheer adult indifference. All they know is that whoever’s behind this is capable of embodying the most terrifying nightmares and has a penchant for the image of a clown holding a bunch of colourful balloons.</em></p>
<p><em>Twenty seven years later, they’re all called back to finish the job once and for all.</em></p>
<p>The book follows both timelines and it’s <strong>really clever</strong> about connecting them, keeping you on edge and always intrigued. The information trickles out as needed for the biggest impact. No long expositions, no monologuing or excessive wrapping-up.</p>
<p>It is absolutely without a question a true, proper horror story. The things that happen there span the "mundane" human evil and the cosmic almost incomprehensible vastness. I’m not an expert of the genre, but It does evoke some Lovecraftian moments and themes. However, they’re not an attempt to imitate or ride the tentacular incomprehensibleness wave like so many Lovecraft-inspired works seem to.</p>
<p>Indeed, the most horrific things that were happening in the book were done by other human beings. A lot of the time, the main antagonist felt more like a force of nature. Something that’s always been there and always will be. It’s hard to truly remain angry at an earthquake.</p>
<p>The people though, are another case entirely.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, I kept getting strong fairy tale vibes as well. One definitely meant for adults, but it had a lot of the same themes, ideas and plot progressions. I’m a sucker for adult fairy tales so this was unexpected but very much welcome.</p>
<p>It is a long book, but it uses the time responsibly to build up the place and characters. You get a wonderful sense of Derry’s atmosphere and the people feel absolutely real. Warped, perhaps, by what’s happening there — but very much alive.</p>
<p>And as I was reading it, I kept being amazed by Stephen King’s craft. The world building, plot, pacing, the use of language. It all felt a level above of what I normally read (and I don’t think all the other authors are poor writers!).</p>
<p>Nothing there is just to serve the plot. The characters don’t momentarily turn stupid just for a cheap blood spurt. Indeed, despite clearly being very much children, they were clever and brave and resourceful.</p>
<p>I was hanging on every word and enjoyed the whole thing all the way through to the end.</p>
<p>But it is horror. Sometimes brutal, sometimes disgusting, sometimes just plain old weird and sometimes…​ well, the list of trigger warnings would be longer than many short stories.</p>
<p>I feel though, that it wields its power responsibly. You know that when something happens, King didn’t do it out of a base desire to evoke a cheap emotion in you. That there’s a purpose there. That it all fits together to build something grand.</p>
<p>Thankfully, while being really powerful, I was not scared. Not once did I go out in the rain and feel a pang of fear passing a storm drain or walking out in the dark. Haven’t had any nightmares.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have been able to get far with it otherwise. To this day I still can’t handle horror films, but for some reason, apparently, I can handle them in a written form. I’ve actually looked up a scene from the 1990 film on youtube today — wondering how they compared (the one where young Bevy goes to the bathroom and hears voices). And I was deeply shaken up. But reading it in the book was okay.</p>
<p>If you’re as squeamish and easily scared as I am, and reading can trigger that too, this is not a book for you. Otherwise, it is a work of beauty well worth your time.</p>
<p>And for me, it opened up a whole new genre.</p>
The Godfather by Mario Puzohttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2022/08/30/the-godfather-by-mario-puzo/2022-08-30T14:23:33+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1701686917">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>4/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>I first read The Godfather when I was sixteen and it made a tremendous impact on me. It was one of my all-time favourites. Twenty years later, I felt it was a time to see how well it held up.</p>
<p>The book follows a powerful Italian mafia family in New York mostly set in around the 1940s and 50s. It features an ensemble of characters from the Don Vito Corleone and his right-hand-man Tom Hagen to his sons, captains of the troops and a score of other people who they come across.</p>
<p>It starts really strong: short vignettes of people in all manners of dire straits they can’t solve themselves. The police or the government won’t help. They’ve all got one thing in common: The Godfather, Don Corleone himself. Who, as is the Sicilian tradition, cannot deny a request at his daughter’s wedding.</p>
<p>At the wedding we meet the family, the full cast of characters and get our first glimpse into Don. Not a cold-hearted murderer, but a kindly man who will always help those in need and all he asks is a promise of a favour at some point in the future.</p>
<p>The story keeps on going and it’s one of those books that is really hard to put down. Things change rapidly and while it jumps from character to character, it keeps a great pace throughout. And the people in it feel very human. Real and believable.</p>
<p>I also love the way it introduces a completely new culture to you. A lot of the main characters are the first or second-generation Italian immigrants, and there is a very strong-knit culture that’s a blend of American exceptionalism and personal freedom blended with the traditional Sicilian values and topped with the mafia’s code of conduct.</p>
<p>But the book is also deeply problematic in many, <em>many</em> aspects.</p>
<p>I know historical revisionism in a work of fiction is a fraught endeavour at best, and the actions and thoughts expressed by characters therein don’t necessarily reflect those of the author.</p>
<p>However, I struggle to excuse the pervasive sexism, racism and xenophobia here as merely belonging to their characters and their time. The line between the author, narrator and a character is often blurred as to be non-existent.</p>
<p>The narration happily jumps from a quite neutral-sounding description to a <em>brazen</em> judgement in the same paragraph. A judgement never aimed at the men of the family.</p>
<p>Don Corleone’s wife’s culture is literally called primitive (but the Don, coming from the same culture is nothing but). There’s a whole subplot involving a woman who’s <em>only</em> defining feature is that she’s got a large vagina. Nothing else is shown — indeed, there is also a man who’s got a large penis, but his character is fully realised.</p>
<p>The book is full of point-of-view scenes of even minor or one-time characters, but these are almost never afforded to women. And when there is the odd woman with a shred of individualism, she always ends up completely submitting herself and being deferential to a man.</p>
<p>But the most pernicious aspect is the brazen apologia permeating the novel.</p>
<p>The individualism and personal freedom trumps absolutely everything there. Whoever stands in your way needs to be removed and a man of ambition of course needs to seek absolute power above anything else. It tries to convince you that a brutal dictatorship is very much the best way to live.</p>
<p>"Like many business men of genius [Don Vito Corleone] learned that free competition was wasteful, monopoly efficient."</p>
<p>This, of course, is not a thing that would easily go down with people so the book tries <em>really hard</em> to make it seem anything other than what it actually is. The Don is shown as a person of infinite patience and passion and care. Rather than the power-hungry psychopathic murderer he is.</p>
<p>As you’d expect in a book about the mafia, people are killed here. And in every one of these cases, it’s because the person was in the way and didn’t clear out when told (or was "politely asked").</p>
<p>The killing was always strictly business. No emotions. Once it became clear the person will not accept the Don’s offer, their personality and reasons and anything else became completely irrelevant. They were an obstacle that needed to be removed. That’s how the Don operates, as has been explicitly shown throughout the entire book.</p>
<p><em>And that would all be fine</em> (in the context of a novel about a crime family)!</p>
<p>But. Every time someone was to be murdered, the book dedicated a page or two to the victim. Not to humanise them. The only purpose for that section was to <em>convince the reader</em> that this had been a terrible person and killing them wasn’t so bad. Maybe they should have been tried and convicted, but really, in the presence of a corrupt and inept government, this was justice.</p>
<p>The victim would turn out to be a child-abusing paedophile, or a power-hungry corrupt policeman brutalising their neighbourhood. To my recollection, the Corleone family hadn’t killed a single innocent person.</p>
<p>And what the book <em>doesn’t show</em> is extremely telling. There’s no visible harm on the society caused by the mafia’s corrupting the politicians, unions, judges. No impact on the victims' families. No small businessman getting caught on the wrong side. No one got caught in the crossfire. No effects of the drug trade they enabled (after all, it was pushed to the poor coloured parts of the city so no <em>real</em> harm was done).</p>
<p>It tries <em>really hard</em> to convince you that despite what they’ve done, these are not terrible people. Not really. They’re good-natured folk who do what must be done in a world that hates everyone. In a world where only the powerful are safe and free, you must gain power.</p>
<p>Of course, even in the fiction the mafia’s actions are no better than that of the government they so fiercely oppose. They’re much worse in fact. But the book clearly has an ideological bent. As if it is seeking approval of the people involved with the mafia above everyone else. As if it’s hoping that the real dons and capo regimes will read it and think "Exactly! This guy gets us!"</p>
<p>And I find this — the overt, <em>desperate</em> attempt to make these crooks and their actions justifiable and justified — and even trying to convince you that this is a better way of living — deeply problematic. And extremely worrying that I hadn’t seen through it previously.</p>
<p>It’s like those disaster novels pushing the narrative that the only way to survive is to eat your neighbour before he eats you.</p>
<p>And yet it is still a fantastic novel to read, one with a tremendous impact on the culture for decades to come.</p>
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendihttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2022/08/05/how-to-be-an-antiracist-by-ibram-x-kendi/2022-08-05T19:01:38+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4829787766">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>How to be an Antiracist is a fantastic, clear, extremely well laid-out book on bigotry and how to fight it.</p>
<p>Each chapter begins with couple of terms it defines (e.g. "racist policy" and "antiracist policy") and then delves into the examples, cases, research, quotes from all sides, historical context and personal anecdotes.</p>
<p>It builds up the picture of what a racist world looks like, how it affects people and then contrasts it with what antiracist behaivour, policies and world would be like.</p>
<p>For example, one of the earlier chapters deals with the racist and antiracist policies. It lays out details and harms of the segregationist policy ("other races are bad and should stay away") followed up with the assimilationist approach ("don’t see colour, don’t say racism") and highlights how <strong>both</strong> are racist.</p>
<p>This was something I was beginning to appreciate lately, but it’s nonobvious for a lot of people. And I definitely have the assimilationist tendencies. By trying to integrate Black (or whoever) people into the white culture and way of living, what these policies do is claim that their existing behaviour, the existing culture, their existing way of living — is bad. Inferior. Something to be driven out — not by driving the people out (by segregating them), but by erasing their culture and have them adopt the mainstream one.</p>
<p>It shifts the narrative from "Black people are bad" to "Black culture is bad".</p>
<p>Plus, erasing the notion of race, removing it and the colour from the language prevents people from speaking up against racism, thus perpetuating it.</p>
<p>The author shows plenty of examples from his own life where he experienced racism himself and how it affected him. But also, more powerfully, where he himself held racist views and behaviours and how he changed his mind.</p>
<p>The majority of the people living in a racist society will end up being racist. Even the people discriminated against. This is something that is clear as soon as you try to think about it clearly and very much visible everywhere. But it is nonetheless an idea that’s not commonly held.</p>
<p>Black people can be and often are racist. Against Black people. Women can be and often are sexist — against women.</p>
<p>The book paints a convincing picture (which is borne out by the evidence) that races as a concept were manufactured in order to gain support for colonialism and slavery — both extremely lucrative endeavours (unless you’re the one being enslaved or colonised of course).</p>
<p>It goes into great detail of how we ascribe the behaviour of individuals to entire groups and how that’s blatantly incorrect as well as damaging.</p>
<p><em>"Behavior is something humans do, not races do"</em>, Ibram says and I concur.</p>
<p>While the first half of the book focuses on the notion of race itself, the second half expands the notion to all bigotry and shows how classism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia are all just different sides of the same power-hungry controlling coin. And how when they combine, their impact multiplies.</p>
<p>In the fight to make the world a better place, they can’t be treated as separate, independent aspects.</p>
<p><em>"To truly be anti-racist is to be a feminist. To truly be a feminist is to be an anti-racist."</em></p>
<p>This is something I’ve started noticing myself, seeing the similarities between the race discussions and scaremongering, having seen the exact same arguments and attitudes when learning about the treatment of women and homosexuals. And seeing the same happening in the recent manufacturing of the transgender panic.</p>
<p>And of course learning how the suffragette movement was powered by Black women who were then left behind by the white ones. How sexism and homophobia is rampant everywhere — including Black people. And how being Black <strong>and</strong> gay or Black <strong>and</strong> a woman puts you at the bottom of the bottom.</p>
<p>It was heartening to see this "unification of bigotry" put forth so clearly. I think it is a thing that’s often overlooked and extremely important to point out. I expected this book would only focus on the matters of race, but it is so much greater for not going beyond.</p>
<p><em>"Black people are apparently responsible for calming the fears of violent cops in the way women are supposedly responsible for calming the sexual desires of male rapists. If we don’t, then WE are blamed for our own assaults. Our own deaths."</em></p>
<p>This book is written by a Black American and a lot of the topics discussed are done so through that lens. However, the lessons reach much farther than that and they’re applicable to every group and every society even if the details are a little different.</p>
<p>If you are interested in the matter of race or any other bigotry, this books is an excellent starting point.</p>
<p>One side note about the audiobook: it is read by the author and while he narrates well, his diction felt a little off to me. Sometimes it sounded like he ended a sentence prematurely or put pauses that were either too long or too short. I found this a little distracting at first, but the content quickly won me over and the audiobook is a great way to experience this work.</p>
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawahttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2022/07/06/the-memory-police-by-yoko-ogawa/2022-07-06T21:02:29+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3918447526">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>4/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>Ooh, what a fascinating book this one. If you read the blurb you might think this is a sci-fi/fantasy mystery novel. It is not and expecting that might disappoint.</p>
<p>It is a slice of life story following one woman (who’s never given a name) living on an island where occasionally, the ruling power declare that something is harmful to the society and will disappear. And for the most part, people stop to notice the object and forget. Those who don’t become the target of the eponymous police.</p>
<p>The book tells a story of the woman, her long-time family friend (referred to as the Old Man) and "R" — her editor. R remembers.</p>
<p>The protagonist is a novelist and we get a glimpse of the story she’s writing. Seemingly completely disconnected from what’s going on at first, but as these things often go, connections will become clearer as time goes on.</p>
<p>I found the focus on memories, what they mean and what happens when they’re lost absolutely fascinating. And this book takes that seriously. There are times when as a reader I forgot (heh!) that an object had disappeared earlier in the story only to be reminded of it by its in-your-face absence later on.</p>
<p>There’s a lot you can read into there: authoritarianism, police state, dismantling of human rights. I don’t know how much of that is intended, but the book (written 28 years ago) is very much open to interpretation.</p>
<p>This is the first book I’ve read from a Japanese writer as well as one set in Japan. I can’t tell how representative it is of the wider Japanese literature, but it feels special and something that would stand out even in that space.</p>
<p>The way it’s written, very little tells you about the place or even time it’s set in. There’s a mention of a "tatami" and when a character learns to type on a typewriter, they start with "a", "i", "u", "e" "o" and "ka", "ki", "ku", "ke", "ko". Those were the only two things that unambiguously placed the story in Japan to me.</p>
<p>None of the characters have a proper name. And while there are no phones or computers, the reader never learns whether that’s because the story is set at a time before them — or whether they’ve been disappeared before the book started.</p>
<p>It is a fascinating story that makes you think for days after it’s finished. It flows really easily and as the it picks up the pace, it’s hard to put down. It’s never truly horrific (though a disappearance of one particular item really shocked me and it was painful to deal with) but there is horror implied and weirdly accentuated by people’s lack of reaction to it as their memories fade away.</p>
<p>I had no idea where it was going, but I’ve very much enjoyed the ride.</p>
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstonehttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2022/05/25/this-is-how-you-lose-the-time-war-by-amal-el-mohtar-and-max-gladstone/2022-05-25T20:14:23+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3282053976">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>This is a book that seemingly everyone in my circle either read and really liked or plans to read.</p>
<p>There are two factions fighting a war across time. Each keeps sending their agents to make changes that tip the scale to their side and undo the work of the enemy agents.</p>
<p>Which is all well and good and stalematey until the best agent on one side (codename: Blue) sends a letter to the her counterpart (codename: Red). And a correspondence develops. And with it, a relationship.</p>
<p>The book is quite short with each chapter (also generally quite short) describing one of the agents mission up to the point where it ends and they discover and read the next letter. The next chapter follows the other agent.</p>
<p>It’s an extremely simple concept, but it feels fresh and it works really well. The letters are amazing. As soon as the first one popped up, full of braziness, taunting, snark, I was hooked completely.</p>
<p>The prose between the letters is mainly about mood setting. Don’t expect any deep technology dives. It’s more flowery and a little vague on purpose. You’ll get the feel for the world and the mission.</p>
<p>It reminds me a little of the City novel by Clifford D. Simak. In the prose, the vagueness, the mystery. The contrasts between what’s happening and what’s written. The fact that the book could have been written in any decade/any century.</p>
<p>But it all comes down to the correspondence here. The book is written by two authors (Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone) and each wrote one of the agents. This gives each character their own glorious personality. Blue’s cockyness and teasing. In contrast with Red’s uncertain, clumsy responses.</p>
<p>In the last five years or so, I’ve been sending written letters (as no other form communication is possible) and a lot of Red’s self-consciousness and awkwardness hit’s really close.</p>
<p>The entire book is a delightfully wild ride. Perfectly paced and well-suited to be consumed in one sitting. I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly from the beginning all the way to the end without a single complaint.</p>
<p>I absolutely recommend picking up the audiobook version if you can. The two narrators make the Red and Blue’s personalities come alive.</p>
The Third MS Attackhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2022/05/03/the-third-ms-attack/2022-05-03T20:15:39+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<h2 id="obligatory_disclaimers">Obligatory Disclaimers</h2>
<p>This post discusses medical stuff. I’m not a doctor and I’m not your doctor. Nothing here is meant to be either giving or asking for medical advice.</p>
<p>I find reading about other people’s accounts of their weird medical experiences fascinating. Maybe this will be interesting to you.</p>
<h2 id="multiple_sclerosis_ms_recap">Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Recap</h2>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_sclerosis">Multiple sclerosis</a> is a chronic (i.e. you live with it) disease that causes your immune system to attack your nervous system. This can cause a host of neurological symptoms (vertigo, difficulty walking, tingling, reduced eyesight, mood and speech issues, etc. etc. etc.) and it gets worse over time as the damage to the brain and spine accumulates.</p>
<p><a href="/blog/2018/03/19/multiple-sclerosis/">I have it</a>.</p>
<h2 id="the_third_attack">The Third Attack</h2>
<p>For a lot of people (including yours truly), MS operates in two stages. Most of the time, you’re in your day-to-day baseline that’s stable. Occasionally, it’s interrupted by a significant worsening of symptoms (and/or an appearance of new ones) that lasts several weeks. This is called an attack or relapse.</p>
<p>You can read <a href="/blog/2020/01/02/second-ms-attack/">the account of my last attack here</a>.</p>
<p>In the early April, a new one started and as of right now, it’s still ongoing. It is different enough that for a few days I hadn’t even realised it was an attack.</p>
<p>My left leg started to feel a little weird. It felt numb, with tingling, occasionally pins and needles. And just…​ wrong, somehow. At first, I thought it may have been just cold or the leg went asleep or something, but it persisted no matter what I did (walked around, increased the temperature in the room, took a shower, etc.).</p>
<p>It also seemed like it’s spreading. I don’t know when I’ve noticed it first, but it didn’t affect my lower back, belly and private parts right away. I’ve also realised that the skin was getting quite sensitive.</p>
<p>The weirdest thing though was that the altered sense of temperature. Anything that was cold started to feel warm. I’ve first noticed that on the loo as the toilet seat (which is generally slightly cooler than one’s body unless you’ve got those fancy heated ones) felt warm on the left side while the right side had the normal slightly cool feeling.</p>
<p>So next time in the shower, I aimed a stream of cold on it. It was absolutely bizarre! I cranked it to the coldest temperature (something I can’t stand normally), and all I felt in the leg was this strange, but definitely warm and completely bearable feeling.</p>
<p>I’ve also noted the opposite. When taking a bath (I take mine one notch down from <strong>unbearably hot</strong>) the left leg just felt slightly cold as if it weren’t near the boiling point.</p>
<p>That was the final straw that convinced me this was probably an MS attack and either way I needed to do something about it.</p>
<p>Similar to MS itself, there’s no easy test to determine whether something is or isn’t an attack. You need to exclude any of the other potential explanations (ongoing infection, injury, pinched nerve) and see what remains. The symptoms should also persist (which they absolutely do).</p>
<p>So it was pretty clear-cut in this case. Plus, these particular symptoms are pretty much typical for MS and there’s a been few more things happening at the same time very much in correlation:</p>
<p>The right-hand side of my body (right arm and leg) is weaker now than it should be. Something found in the neurological exam, but also something I definitely feel. It’s harder for me to type and I make more mistakes. Playing the guitar is more difficult too — especially anything that involves more complex movements of the right hand.</p>
<p>And when walking, my right leg feels heavier and I tend to drag it behind when I don’t focus on walking right.</p>
<p>So they gave me the standard three-day IV session of solu-medrol which knocked me out good, but should calm the immune system down. I was extremely fatigued afterwards (sleeping 14+ hours and exhausted the rest of the day) and also noticeably slower in my thinking.</p>
<p>Really bizarre experience when you’re aware you’re making absolutely stupid mistakes and having trouble understanding things that you know you were capable of dealing with before but now you just can’t.</p>
<p>Thankfully, that only lasted a few days during Easter as it was related to the IV medication rather than the attack itself.</p>
<h2 id="current_status">Current Status</h2>
<p>The attack is still ongoing. My right leg and hand are still weaker and clumsier than before. I feel it’s a little better but it’s hard to judge.</p>
<p>The left leg still feels as if it were asleep a lot of the time. And the weird temperature sensations are still there too.</p>
<p>I’m still a little more tired than I would be normally.</p>
<p>But I’m able to function and while none of this feels <em>great</em>, it’ll pass and I’ve mostly returned back to my normal life. For safety reasons, I’m not driving the car or climbing. I’m also avoiding exerting my body too much. I’m doing less strenuous exercises and trying to avoid stress.</p>
<p>Which is really easy to do as we’re not in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic">middle of a pandemic</a> while a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine">nearby country roleplays 1938 Germany</a>.</p>
<p>Anyway, now I just need to wait for it to slowly (over the next few weeks) subside.</p>
<h2 id="what_next">What Next</h2>
<p>In my previous post, I’ve mentioned (hoped, really) that the two attacks established a baseline of around six years. Well, this next one happened a little over two years after so…​ yay.</p>
<p>This, combined with the actual neurological observations suggest that it may be time to switch to a different (stronger) medication.</p>
<p>There’s a tradeoff there, but we’ll see how it all goes.</p>
<p>For now, I’ll have a couple of MRI exams scheduled (one for the brain and another one for the entire spinal cord) and I’ll see my neuro for a follow-up in a couple of weeks.</p>
<h2 id="update_from_10th_october_2022">Update from 10th October, 2022</h2>
<p>It’s been several months and while it’s not wrapped up completely, enough has happened to warrant an update.</p>
<h3 id="still_on">Still On</h3>
<p>Unfortunately, the attack is still seemingly ongoing. I’m still experiencing all the issues with the left-hand side of my body (left leg feeling numb, different temperature perception, touch sensitivity, etc.). The right-hand side seems to do better but not completely back to normal.</p>
<p>Apparently, (and I didn’t know this) the attacks can last anywhere from a few days to several months. This one was categorised as somewhat heavy given the scope of the "damage" and its duration.</p>
<p>So things may get better still (that’s the expected pattern).</p>
<p>But it’s also possible that the attack is in fact over and what I’m experiencing is the result to the spinal chord damage done by the immune system. Really hard to tell now since this is still within the standard range of attack durations.</p>
<p>I can live with it. I can drive, walk, climb, all the things. But it feels really unpleasant. Always there in the background. I’ve been able to tolerate and work around it, but not get used to it or ignore it.</p>
<h3 id="tests">Tests</h3>
<p>I’ve had a second IV of solu-medrol after the first one to see if it improves things, but at that point it was a crapshoot. This therapy works best when applied right away. I had some delay and the second dose was right at the end of the theoretical effectiveness.</p>
<p>The MRI was really cool in that it showed a new lesion in the spine right at the place you’d expect one to explain the symptoms I was experiencing. Upon seeing it, my neurologist apologised because she was happy since this had pretty much confirmed everything. But I felt the same way. Always good to get an objective validation.</p>
<h3 id="more_tests">More Tests</h3>
<p>So all this helped us plot the course. Given the amount of time between these attacks and the severity of this one, it’s time to switch to a different medication.</p>
<p>There were several options — they all do pretty much the same thing but they’re applied differently and the underlying mechanism might be different.</p>
<p>We picked up <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocrelizumab">Ocrelizumab (Ocrevus)</a> as it’s an IV infusion every six months. The other options were either an injection every month or tablet every day. I was ready to try something that’s not a shot and I’d rather get it all done twice a year than pop a pill daily.</p>
<p>The guidelines for getting the treatment required a bunch of medical tests as a prerequisite. So in the span of five weeks in the summer I had:</p>
<ul>
<li>An x-ray of the chest</li>
<li>Full dental examination</li>
<li>Full dermatological examination (looking at all my birth marks etc.)</li>
<li>An ultrasound of my abdomen</li>
<li>EKG</li>
<li>Ear, throat and nose checked up</li>
</ul>
<p>The primary goal was to detect any active infections or possible malignancies (cancer). Since Ocrevus works by suppressing portions of the immune system, anything dormant might pop out and cause real trouble. The all came back clean, but it was a little tiring and nerve-racking.</p>
<h3 id="ocrevus">Ocrevus</h3>
<p>That’s because the way Ocrelizumab (a monoclonal antibody) works is by completely eliminating your B lymphocytes. These are implicated in the immune response that attacks the myelin in the neurons (aka the mechanism in which MS operates) and so by killing them off, there’s basically no one to do the attacking.</p>
<p>As a really interesting side note, Ocrelizumab has been approved in March 2017 and it’s the first FDA-approved drug for the Primary Progressive MS. Which is HUGE. Primary Progressive is basically where you don’t have attacks, instead you just steadily get worse and worse. And none of the standard (or any other, really) treatments were effective. Until now.</p>
<p>Every medication comes with a trade-off. This one is: you slow the progression of your MS (fewer attacks, fewer damage), but it’s an immunosuppressive drug, meaning you become more susceptible to infections and they can be more severe. Oh and vaccines will become less effective (but even more important).</p>
<p>This is not an easy choice to make. When they’re a bit older, our baby will be bringing all the diseases back from the kindergarten and school. Plus we’re well into the third year of this global pandemic which will probably never go away.</p>
<p>But I felt I’ve actually learned a lot of important lessons on protecting myself from infection during said pandemic (masking in enclosed public spaces, carrying a hand sanitiser everywhere, not feeling bad or embarrassed being the only masked up person on the bus etc.) that should serve me well here.</p>
<p>So Sunday 18th September was my last Rebif (interferon beta) injection.</p>
<p>And on Monday 26th September, I had my first half of the first dose. They split the first dose into two infusions separated by 14 days. It’s potent stuff and they want to monitor you throughout the IV as well as see how you react the few days after.</p>
<p>Before the main dish, I got served an appetiser of paracetamol, some anti-histamine (which made me really sleepy) and another smaller dose of solu-medrol for good measure.</p>
<p>Throughout the infusion, they measured my heart rate and blood pressure every 30 minutes or so. Other than the sleepiness, I hadn’t felt anything. However, my heart rate did drop below 50 at some point (my normal resting rate is around 65 bpm). But they just asked me to drink some coke or coffee, that got it up to 55 bpm and everyone was happy.</p>
<p>In the next few days, I felt a little tired but otherwise okay. I was advised to avoid anything that could cause an infection, brush teeth after every meal and don’t do anything that would cause an injury.</p>
<p>So e.g. climbing is out for the next month or so. Oh well.</p>
<h3 id="complications">Complications</h3>
<p>Unfortunately, the whole "I know how to protect myself" idea fell apart in less than a week.</p>
<p>On Thursday my wife felt a bit poorly, got really sick on Friday and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (aka COVID-19) antibodies on Saturday. That same Saturday, our baby got a fever, runny nose and coughs and while I was still testing negative by Sunday, I’ve had an elevated temperature and this pretty unpleasant cough myself.</p>
<p>Monday, I got a positive test, called my MS neurologist, got prescribed antivirals and hopefully that’s it.</p>
<p>I worried Ocrevus will make it much worse, but thankfully that doesn’t seem to be the case with this particular combination and it hasn’t taken the full effect yet. The B cells should be depleted within two weeks after the second infusion.</p>
<p>The progression so far has been relatively mild — it feels like a really unpleasant cold but with manageable temperature (38.4°C has been the max so far — which isn’t great but I’m pretty much used to those temps). Really bad cough and congested nose and throat, but I’m hoping that’s as bad as it’ll get.</p>
<p>We’ll see in the next few days.</p>
<h3 id="next_up">Next Up</h3>
<p>The second half of the Ocrevus infusion is scheduled for Monday 17th October, but given covid this will probably be postponed by a week or so.</p>
<p>Overall, while a little drawn out and off to a rocky start, I’m excited about this. Not having Interferon-induced flu-like symptoms (fever, muscle ache, etc.) three times a week feels kind of both liberating and something I got used to really quickly.</p>
<p>After eight years of shots and their after-effects I was definitely ready for something else. Some of the consolidation is nice: with this I was able to stop taking paracetamol or ibuprofen three times a week too (if I don’t, I wake up with massive chills and fever and my sleep gets severely disrupted) which is something I’m sure my stomach and liver will be thankful for.</p>
<p>And I can stop using an ointment to regenerate the damage the interferon was doing to the injection sites on and below the skin surface.</p>
<p>It’s only been a couple of weeks and I mostly don’t notice but every now and then I realise "holy crap, I’d be feeling absolutely rotten today if I still was on interferons" or "huh, I guess I don’t need to take the syringe out of the fridge and warm it up".</p>
<p>Indeed, our fridge has more space now \o/.</p>
<p>This will also greatly simplify my travelling if that ever resumes (I’m hopeful for 2023). Things I no longer need to carry and explain to the border scan people: injections, a box with a large biohazard sign on it (where the used up needles go — you can’t just throw them in the bin), liquid cooling pads (the medication had to stay at low temperatures). All this in the cabin baggage because the meds are really sensitive to the outside temperature.</p>
<p>So it also saves space and weight.</p>
<p>And I mean, all our vacations in the last 8 years were planned with the understanding that I’ll be out of it half the time. That I won’t be able to hike or drive, or do much at all half the time there.</p>
<p>I’ve switched my exercise schedule to daily instead of Tue,Thu,Sat+Sun like before.</p>
<p>I won’t feel bad or too tired when I do talk to people or have to run errands or whatever on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.</p>
<p>And (and this is a <strong>big if</strong> but a boy can dream), maybe, <em>just maybe</em> my depression was primarily caused by the interferon treatment (it’s a common side effect) so with a little self care and consideration I might be able to do what so many people in my situation can’t: drop the meds and yet feel normal.</p>
<p>But that’s a huge question mark because while depression is a common side effect of Interferon Beta, it is <strong>also</strong> a common side effect of…​ Multiple Sclerosis. And it’s also possible that it’s caused by something completely unrelated — or a combination of all these factors.</p>
<p>Who knows. I might try to lower the dosage in a few months once things settle and see what happens.</p>
From Hell by Alan Moorehttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2022/02/19/from-hell-by-alan-moore/2022-02-19T16:16:53+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1701739810">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>2/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>For some reason, I thought From Hell was something either related to or similar to the Swamp Thing. A big honking monster (possibly from the eponymous hell) doing stuff. I had no idea what I was getting into here other than it being an Alan Moore book and by all accounts a really really good one.</p>
<p>In other words, I had no idea this was a Jack the Ripper story and the title is a reference to one of the famous letters the murderer allegedly sent. The only thing I knew about the story was the name and that some prostitutes were murdered.</p>
<p>The place Whitechapel had no meaning to me, nor its connection to the crimes. The names "Leather Apron", George Lusk, Donald Swanson, Mary Jane Kelly or any of the other people implicated after the fact (William Gull, Walter Sickert) rang no bells either.</p>
<p>Flouting my ignorance further, I know next to nothing about Freemasonry, any of the lore, conspiracies or how it could possibly relate to the above.</p>
<p>So while reading it, I was deeply confused by all the names, places, events and characters from the beginning pretty much to the end.</p>
<p>This book aims to be a comprehensive and consistent (but not true!) telling of the events and a lot of research has gone into making it. Sadly, that made it really complex and I kept forgetting who everyone was and what they did and what happened to them.</p>
<p>It is a story of conspiracies and politics with grim people I struggled to empathise with.</p>
<p>Finishing the book took me a long time (which made all the complexity even more difficult) and it was honestly a bit of a slog. Surprisingly, the ending has intrigued me greatly as has the appendix. It documented Alan Moore’s thinking and view of the whole case and its constant retelling and investigation and went through all the claims made in the book pointing out which are a documented fact, which are plausible connections and which are pure fiction.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of it.</p>
<p>The book reminds me a bit of Mists of Avalon which I loved as a different take on the Arthurian legend. Except there, I knew about the story, was familiar with the broad events and characters and really fell in love with Bradley’s interpretation.</p>
<p>Intellectually, I think From Hell is a fantastic and really well researched book. But it didn’t work for me.</p>
Games Played in 2021https://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2022/01/20/games-played-in-2021/2022-01-20T21:28:20+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>You could call 2021 the Year of Mass Effect, but I ended up playing a good chunk of other games too. This dropped sharply in the fourth quarter due to us having a baby, but I still found the occasional half-hour.</p>
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<h2 id="mass_effect_andromeda">Mass Effect: Andromeda</h2>
<a class="image" href="Mass Effect Andromeda.jpg"><img src="Mass Effect Andromeda_thumb.jpg" alt="The full crew sits on and around a sofa, watching a movie. Liam is saying: ...or we can fast-forward to a ship crashing into an asteroid crashing into a moon." title="The full crew sits on and around a sofa, watching a movie. Liam is saying: ...or we can fast-forward to a ship crashing into an asteroid crashing into a moon."></img></a>
<p>Started in December 2020, I’ve finished the game in early 2021. I’ve really enjoyed it despite some unpleasantness. It is a genuinely good game and I’m quite sad at the negative reception it got.</p>
<p>Having had the ability to compare it to the original trilogy now, it’s absolutely out there with them. Brings in a lot of improvements while retaining a lot of the issues the previous games had.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.ea.com/games/mass-effect/mass-effect-andromeda">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2021/02/01/mass-effect-andromeda/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="mass_effect_1_legendary_edition">Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition</h2>
<a class="image" href="Mass Effect 1.jpg"><img src="Mass Effect 1_thumb.jpg" alt="The female Shepard, Tali and Liara are talking to an incorporeal being called Vigil who says: I do not know what became of them then. It is unlikely they found any food or water on the station. I fear they suffered a slow, grim death." title="The female Shepard, Tali and Liara are talking to an incorporeal being called Vigil who says: I do not know what became of them then. It is unlikely they found any food or water on the station. I fear they suffered a slow, grim death."></img></a>
<p>This remastered version includes all the DLCs which I’ve never played before.</p>
<p>It’s a fantastic game still. The world design, overall plot, characters — that all holds up tremendously.</p>
<p>But the gameplay itself is quite janky, mako is pretty bad and there’s a lot of uninteresting filler with the good bits spread out.</p>
<p>That’s something that’s plagued the series ever since, but it’s most striking when you play the game now. The DLCs helped by adding more meaningful content, but the game could still have been 60% shorter and be much better for it.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.ea.com/games/mass-effect/mass-effect-legendary-edition">website</a>, <a href="http://localhost:8080/blog/2021/06/26/mass-effect-1-remaster/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="mass_effect_2_legendary_edition">Mass Effect 2: Legendary Edition</h2>
<a class="image" href="Mass Effect 2.jpg"><img src="Mass Effect 2_thumb.jpg" alt="Screenshot depicting female Shepard with Jacob Taylor in the background" title="Screenshot depicting female Shepard with Jacob Taylor in the background"></img></a>
<p>The second episode feels like the most disappointing one, but I think it’s only because it follows up Mass Effect 1 which set the bar and expectations so high!</p>
<p>It removes Mako, but puts a ton of other systems in that are, frankly, even more bothersome. Fuel between the star systems, weapons ammo, the mining minigame. And the story is much more incongruent. The whole "working for the Cerberos" thing doesn’t make any sense (which everyone points out to you in that game and the next one) and the final boss is a big robot baby made out of humans for some reason. Oh and UGH that Gavin Archer DLC is disgusting.</p>
<p>It’s a whole lot of nonsense. But: the game’s got a lot of interesting content (the missions, companions, locations).</p>
<p>Still, while I feel the first game was a flawed masterpiece, the second one was a run-of-the-mill 7/10 made to feel worse by how much they messed up the first game’s premise.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.ea.com/games/mass-effect/mass-effect-legendary-edition">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2021/09/18/mass-effect-2-remaster/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="mass_effect_3_legendary_edition">Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition</h2>
<a class="image" href="Mass Effect 3.jpg"><img src="Mass Effect 3_thumb.jpg" alt="Screenshot depicting female Shepard, Liara and Garrus in an alien temple" title="Screenshot depicting female Shepard, Liara and Garrus in an alien temple"></img></a>
<p>This is "just" an evolution of ME2, clearly following in its footsteps rather than trying to go back to ME1 or do something new. It feels like it’s trying to appease the players who felt betrayed by the second game, but it’s not delivering anything actually meaningful on that front.</p>
<p>It’s an incremental improvement over ME2 with it’s own story beat howlers (Kai Leng, the ending) but with great companion action, good side quests and interesting locations. Lot’s of good wrapping up of the themes and stories set up in the previous games. Some pretty excellent DLCs I felt, too.</p>
<p>On the ending: yeah it’s bad in the same way that Battlestar: Galactica’s ending was bad: it basically introduced a brand new party into the conflict, mixed it with some pseudo-religious mumbo jumbo and left it at that.</p>
<p>However, unlike BSG, it didn’t tie the plot into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Along_the_Watchtower">the best song ever made</a> which made the ending strictly worse. But even then, I felt the public outcry and demands that they change it were so over the top. Most games have bad endings — which…​ yes it sucks and devs should do better. But here, it’s not <strong>that</strong> surprising or unexpected given the direction the sequels went long before the ME3 endgame.</p>
<p>And re-playing it now, I mean: it’s not good, but it’s <strong>okay</strong>. I felt satisfied, not angry. I guess partly it’s the lowered expectations and partly the fact that the DLCs helped wrap some of the things up and let you say goodbye to your crew. Apparently, they’ve also added extra cutscenes to it? I can’t tell, but given the low bar videogame endings set, it was actually fine.</p>
<p>And a lot of the other threads (Reaper origin, Geth origin, Genophage) and the character arcs all resolved quite nicely.</p>
<p>I’ve also just re-read my Adromeda post (which was written before I replayed the ME trilogy). And my thoughts and feelings on the trilogy (based on memories of years ago) were quite spot on with how I feel about it now having replayed it.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.ea.com/games/mass-effect/mass-effect-legendary-edition">website</a>)</p>
<h3 id="side_note_my_dream_mass_effect">Side note: My Dream Mass Effect</h3>
<p>This is a bit of a tangent, but here’s what an ideal Mass Effect game would be for me:</p>
<p>World that you can explore. The Mako / Nomad is a great idea with a terrible implementation. The thing that made it suck in ME 1 was the worlds were mostly empty and boring to drive around, there were too many of them and that the vehicle was an absolute nightmare to control.</p>
<p>But the solution is not to scrap that part entirely. It is to improve the physics / controls / feel of the driving and make fewer places that are interesting to explore. And make it clear which hills, inclinations and surfaces the car can go up with and which it won’t at a glance. Both games will happily let you spend 10 minutes slowly inching up the hill only to find out that the latest meter is simply impossible to cross.</p>
<p>Andromeda <em>almost</em> got this right. I think their worlds were too big with too many "chase the icons" nonsense. But they were interesting areas to drive around. Especially with some of the planet-changing actions you could do there.</p>
<p>There is a happy middle ground where the vehicle is fun to control, you never get stuck and there worlds are fun to explore without being overwhelming.</p>
<p>Next, the combat should feel like actual futuristic science fiction. Mass Effect 1 achieved this with its weapons that didn’t have any ammo which was promptly dropped in the future games with a completely nonsensical in-game justification.</p>
<p>You don’t need to bring that back necessarily, but make it more interesting than just another samey third-person cover shooter.</p>
<p>Keep the interesting aliens, focus on character development and kissability. That’s what kept us all playing whether we’re willing to admit it or not.</p>
<p>And related to this, keep the universe and it’s history, politics, societies and structures interesting. In ME 1, I’ve gobbled up every Codex entry. In ME 2, 3 and Andromeda I felt very little interest to read them. The contents and ideas behind them were much less interesting. And the extremely flimsy justifications for things like introducing ammo made me feel like the designers didn’t care so why should I.</p>
<p>I am of course under no illusion that the New Mass Effect will hit any of these, but it would be fantastic if it did.</p>
<p>Or better yet, someone make a brand new game that does this. I’ve enjoyed it but we seem to have too many sequels and remasters these days.</p>
<h2 id="geneforge_1_remaster">Geneforge 1 Remaster</h2>
<a class="image" href="Geneforge 1.jpg"><img src="Geneforge 1_thumb.jpg" alt="Screenshot depicting a dialogue with a Servant Mind" title="Screenshot depicting a dialogue with a Servant Mind"></img></a>
<p>I’ve played it a bunch but didn’t finish. I was waiting for a long time for the Geneforge remaster, because its world and magic is so fascinating to me.</p>
<p>But I rarely finish the Spiderweb games in one session. They are MASSIVE.</p>
<p>The world design — especially its magic — is absolutely fantastic. I’ve been enjoying it a lot. But I’m not a huge fan of the combat and there’s quite a lot of it there.</p>
<p>Still, it’s a great game that I plan to return to and finish at some point.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://spiderwebsoftware.com/geneforge/index.html">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="disco_elysium_directors_cut">Disco Elysium: Director’s Cut</h2>
<a class="image" href="Disco Elysium.jpg"><img src="Disco Elysium_thumb.jpg" alt="Screenshot of the protagonist talking to the mirror" title="Screenshot of the protagonist talking to the mirror"></img></a>
<p>I had been thinking of replaying Disco Elysium — one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played — ever since I’ve played it for the first time. Fantastic writing and world design, absolutely innovative in the ways I care about — no combat and puzzles, very light on the inventory tetris, a really sensible scope and length, a lot of effort put into text-adventure style problem resolution.</p>
<p>The Director’s Cut brings in a full voice over, turning this already excellent game into one that’s pretty much perfect.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://discoelysium.com/">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2019/12/11/disco-elysium/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="bloodborne_ng_with_the_wake_up_ending">Bloodborne NG++ with the Wake Up ending</h2>
<a class="image" href="Bloodborne.jpg"><img src="Bloodborne_thumb.jpg" alt="The protagonist talking to the Doll who promises the dream will end soon" title="The protagonist talking to the Doll who promises the dream will end soon"></img></a>
<p>A.K.A get the final achievement.</p>
<p>I did it! Played just the core game, more or less ran through the whole thing, not stopping for anything or taking a lot of time.</p>
<p>And yep! Bloodborne is the second game I’ve ever got all the achievements for (the first one being Spelunky).</p>
<p>Bloodborne is still an absolutely fantastic game. I had loads of fun playing it.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/bloodborne/">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2019/07/28/bloodborne/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="slay_the_spire">Slay The Spire</h2>
<a class="image" href="Slay the Spire.jpg"><img src="Slay the Spire_thumb.jpg" alt="A warrior facing three blob monsters. A hand of five cards is visible, with the Immolate one being selected." title="A warrior facing three blob monsters. A hand of five cards is visible, with the Immolate one being selected."></img></a>
<p>This was an unexpected one. I didn’t feel like playing a roguelikeish card game at all, but I did want to play something on the tablet and Magic: The Gathering: Arena came out.</p>
<p>Having played a ton of Magic (in its original physical form) ages ago, I still knew the rules and thought this would be a fun thing to do. But the network connectivity and especially the complete lack of meaningful single-player experience killed it for me.</p>
<p>It did prove that card games would be fantastic on the tablet though, and a friend just mentioned Slay The Spire so I gave it a go. And it’s fantastic.</p>
<p>It’s clearly taken an inspiration from Magic, but it’s a single-player deck-building game: you start with the same deck of cards, but the encounters and cards are different every time and you build your deck along the way.</p>
<p>The rules are much simpler and the overall experience is definitely improved by the computer keeping track of everything. And it allows for interesting effects that are hard or tedious to do in a physical world (such as: every time a card gets played, put two copies of it into the graveyard).</p>
<p>And it’s a lot of fun. Each run takes about 25-30 minutes, there’s enough variability and challenge while not being overwhelming. And you get to do crazy shit because things don’t need to be perfectly balanced.</p>
<p>I’ve had a successful run with all three starting characters and then mostly stopped, but I think I’ll still pick it up occasionally.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.megacrit.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="get_in_the_car_loser">Get In The Car, Loser!</h2>
<a class="image" href="Get In The Car Loser.jpg"><img src="Get In The Car Loser_thumb.jpg" alt="Screenhot depicting three protagonists chatting in a car" title="Screenhot depicting three protagonists chatting in a car"></img></a>
<p>All the previous year-end review posts had something along the lines of: "If Christine Love releases a new game, I’ll play <strong>that</strong>".</p>
<p>Well, she did!</p>
<p>Aaaand…​ I mostly loved it!</p>
<p>It’s a cross between a visual novel and JRPG. Which pretty much sums up my feelings about it.</p>
<p>The writing, the world design, music, visuals: they’re all absolutely superb. This is Christine Love doing what I well…​ love her do. It’s funny, clever, charming, rough in places, super dark in other places. Great stuff.</p>
<p>The timer-based JRPG combat though…​ I’m not a huge fan of. But then, I’m not a huge fan of JRPGs and their combat in general. Put in that context, it’s pretty decent actually. But still not my cup of tea.</p>
<p>Plus, the combat kind of interrupts the conversation, <a href="/blog/2020/11/02/arity-video-game/">Arity</a>-style. Or maybe put more charitably, the game is improved by the story bits interrupting the combat.</p>
<p>I was there for the writing though. So every time a combat scene came up, I was like "ugh, let’s get this over with so we can get back to the juicy talk".</p>
<p>(<a href="http://getinthecarloser.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="outer_wilds_echoes_of_the_eye">Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye</h2>
<p>This is a DLC to the <a href="{}">absolutely wonderful Outer Wilds</a>. I was really looking forward to it, but it didn’t sit well with me.</p>
<p>Just like the original Outer Wilds, the game is gorgeous, with beautiful locations, wonderful music and just a fantastic feel.</p>
<p>But, it is way more puzzly — to the point where I’d have to follow a guide all the time. It’s all in a single location with a singular purpose and there’s no translator.</p>
<p>That means you’ve basically got a single thing to do and there’s not a lot of just pure exploration. In the original game, if you got stuck or just wanted to do something else, you’d fly off onto another planet and just have fun! And you’d still make progress by translating a bit of alien text and possibly discovering a clue to something you’ve been racking your brains about.</p>
<p>And yes, it was sometimes puzzly and sometimes hard to control.</p>
<p>But Echoes of the Eye is basically all puzzles with (at least to me) much more difficult flying and manoeuvring challenges. With the second half of the game featuring jump scares, low-visibility and just a lot of things I absolutely don’t like to engage with at the best of times.</p>
<p>Trying to play this while our newborn and their mother were asleep and I needed to unwind a little before heading to bed myself was just not conducive.</p>
<p>I’ve watched someone do a full playthrough and I really like the story. And the way they managed to fit a whole new area into such a tightly-packed universe is amazing.</p>
<p>But this would not be my cup of tea even without a newborn at home.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.mobiusdigitalgames.com/outer-wilds.html">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="baba_is_you">Baba Is You</h2>
<a class="image" href="Baba is You.jpg"><img src="Baba is You_thumb.jpg" alt="Screenshot of an area with a flag enclosed in walls, some flowers and the text: Rose is Red, Violet is Blue, Flag is Win, Baba is You" title="Screenshot of an area with a flag enclosed in walls, some flowers and the text: Rose is Red, Violet is Blue, Flag is Win, Baba is You"></img></a>
<p>This is a straight-up puzzle game — which made me immediately disinclined to try it. But I’ve heard everyone being amazed at how fantastic and clever it is and I’ve been looking for a game that I could play with my spouse.</p>
<p>They’ve never really played games and so they struggle with basic stuff such as mouse look, the controller, WASD etc.</p>
<p>But Baba Is You is visually easy to understand, the controls are pretty much as easy as can be (just the four-directional movement) and since it’s a puzzle we could think about it together, swapping the controller periodically.</p>
<p>And this worked great for a while!</p>
<p>I’m generally not a huge fan of this sort of simple pixelated look, but when we started playing I fell in love with it. The game is gorgeous. And it’s got wonderful music too.</p>
<p>Baba Is You’s got an absolutely wonderful central idea. The puzzles are really fun and you get to run into absolutely amazing situations.</p>
<p>But eventually, we ran into what happens with pretty much every puzzle game: it gets too complex, the solution space too with with too many things to consider and at that point we checked out.</p>
<p>We’ve tried a few other puzzles but we basically hit a wall where we’d either have to look them all up or just spend days racking our brains. Neither of which is fun.</p>
<p>But if you’re into puzzles, Baba Is You is a really unique, clever and wonderful one!</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.hempuli.com/baba/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="minit">Minit</h2>
<a class="image" href="Minit.png"><img src="Minit_thumb.png" alt="Black and white screenshot depicting a river bank, the protagonist with a sword and a mail delivery person." title="Black and white screenshot depicting a river bank, the protagonist with a sword and a mail delivery person."></img></a>
<p>Speaking of simplistic graphics whose screenshots put me off, but grew on me, Minit is wonderful.</p>
<p>It’s a time loop game where you reset after 60 seconds. That seems insane, but it works really well!</p>
<p>Minit is a short game, took me about four hours to finish. It hooked me up instantly. The situation is really well communicated and actually explained within the game. It’s a fantastic world to explore and somehow, amazingly, they’ve managed for the short time limit to not feel stressful or urgent.</p>
<p>There are puzzles there but they’re generally not too complex because guess what: you’ve got less than a minute to solve them.</p>
<p>Fantastic little thing, this. Thoroughly recommended.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://minitgame.com/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="life_is_strange_true_colors_and_the_wavelengths_dlc">Life is Strange: True Colors (and the Wavelengths DLC)</h2>
<a class="image" href="Life is Strange Wavelengths.jpg"><img src="Life is Strange Wavelengths_thumb.jpg" alt="Screenshot depicting Steph in her flanner shirt and beanie standing in front of a microphone inside the radio station where she works." title="Screenshot depicting Steph in her flanner shirt and beanie standing in front of a microphone inside the radio station where she works."></img></a>
<p>I genuinely didn’t know what to expect here and tried to temper my excitement. But it is a <em>Life is Strange</em> game through and through and I’ve had an absolute blast.</p>
<p>Loved the town of Haven Springs, loved the characters, the game mechanics received another bit of polish and game design compared to the previous installments, making it that little extra bit nicer to play.</p>
<p>It’s awesome.</p>
<p>I’ve played the Wavelengths DLC about six weeks later, which is about Steph (the friend of the main protagonist). It’s much shorter and it all happens in the music record store. It is also excellent.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://lifeisstrange.square-enix-games.com/en-us/games/life-is-strange-true-colors/">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2021/09/27/life-is-strange-3-true-colors/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="hades">Hades</h2>
<a class="image" href="Hades.jpg"><img src="Hades_thumb.jpg" alt="Zagreus, the protagonist has just emerged from a pool of blood and says: Damn you, Meg." title="Zagreus, the protagonist has just emerged from a pool of blood and says: Damn you, Meg."></img></a>
<p>I genuinely thought True Colors was going to be my game of the year. But then, in the last week of December, I started playing Hades.</p>
<p>Oh my god I love this game.</p>
<p>It’s by Supergiant whose writing, music, sound design, visuals and voice over coaxed into playing two combat-heavy action RPGs (normally <strong>so</strong> not my style). So I was well primed to give this one a go, but also hesitant.</p>
<p>Both Bastion and Transistor were your regular linear experiences. You knew where you stood with them and roughly how long it would take you to complete them.</p>
<p>But Hades is roguelite, meaning it can potentially take a much longer time and it could get really repetitive with periods of no sense of progres.</p>
<p>Except, this was still made by Supergiant Games. So it’s full of absolutely wonderful writing and the time between runs is always different, with something new to learn, someone new to talk to, something new to do.</p>
<p>And the combat is actually really good (which you won’t hear me say very often).</p>
<p>On top of all that, Hades does this amazing thing that I’ve never seen any other roguelike/roguelite/roguelikelike do before: normally, the power of roguelikes is that when you inevitably lose your run, you’re excited to start another one and keep playing. That losing doesn’t deter you.</p>
<p>But you still don’t want to lose! Here, the section between the runs is also full of great treats (mostly in form of chats with the other inhabitants of Hades’s court) and they’re so well done and varied that I’m looking forward to losing the run so I can go back there. And when that happens, I’m looking forward to getting back into the fray as well.</p>
<p>Especially contrasted with Get in the Car, Loser!, the combat and non-combat sections are wonderfully balanced here and they lift one another up.</p>
<p>Hades is just an absolute gem on every front. So far (just had my first ever victory) I honestly don’t have anything bad to say about it.</p>
<p>Absolute game of the year and I expect having more fun with it in 2022.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/hades/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="done_with">Done With</h2>
<p>Here are some games I wanted to return to but either didn’t or did and realised that I’m actually done with them:</p>
<h3 id="spelunky_2">Spelunky 2</h3>
<p>This was unexpected. I just never felt the urge to go back and play more.</p>
<p>I don’t even know why. I really liked the game, but just never actually felt like playing it.</p>
<h3 id="divinity_original_sin">Divinity: Original Sin</h3>
<p>I’d played a bit of this a few years back, but it didn’t quite sit well with me. Kept hearing how fantastic the game was and how Divinity: Original Sin 2 was even better (and wanted to give <strong>that</strong> a go). And how the studio’s making Baldur’s Gate 3 now.</p>
<p>So I’ve wanted to give it one more good go.</p>
<p>And…​ it’s not <strong>bad</strong>, but it just feels off to me.</p>
<p>Everyone’s raving about the amazing combat system where every effect interacts with every other effect. And yeah, that’s cool I guess, but it didn’t really feel that great to play to me.</p>
<p>And I can’t get past the writing and sense of humour. All the jokes fall flat and this faux half-serious medieval patter just really doesn’t work on me.</p>
<p>So I’ve stopped playing and don’t expect to pick up the sequel either.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that suggests I probably won’t enjoy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur’s_Gate_III">Baldur’s Gate 3</a> from these folks either :-(.</p>
<h3 id="cultist_simulator">Cultist Simulator</h3>
<p>I had a lot of fun that one week in like 2018 when I played a ton of this on a vacation and always wanted to go back.</p>
<p>After having finally done so, I’ve realised I’m done with the game.</p>
<p>Love the atmosphere, the visuals, the weird table-topy look and feel. The writing.</p>
<p>But realising all that needs to happen in order to win at the game, the charmful mundanity of starting an eldritch cult flipped into a busywork that would have to go on for far too long.</p>
<p>Also, for some reason playing the game tanked the performance all the other apps running on my computer — including the text editor with all my notes. And you can’t really play this game without taking notes.</p>
<p>Still, this was a lot of fun while it lasted.</p>
<h3 id="stardew_valley">Stardew Valley</h3>
<p>I’ve spent a lot of wonderful time there and expected to do much more, but I guess similarly to the Cultist Simulator, once I got to the point where I realised what the end-game or at least parts of it I wanted to achieve would be like, I found that I’d had enough.</p>
<p>Both of these might have another life in them on a 12-hour flight (if those ever become a thing again) or when I’m that exact kind of sick where I feel too bad to watch TV or read, not <a href="/blog/2020/01/02/second-ms-attack/#what_it_felt_like">too sick to be unable to look at a screen at all</a> and just need a semi-active but cognitively light distraction.</p>
<p>Slay the Spire will probably join their ranks too.</p>
<h2 id="next">Next</h2>
<p>Judging by the last few months, I suspect the amount of time I’ll be able to play games is going to be really small but hopefully non-zero.</p>
<p>I’d love to play the Life is Strange remaster which is expected to come out in February. I’m still in a place where I feel the need for some familiarity because so much else is weird and dark and uncertain.</p>
<p>Similarly, following my love of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, I want to give Elden Ring a go.</p>
<p>After that, it’s anyone’s guess. I’ll probably prioritise smaller games (just started Heaven Will be Mine in fact), but I’d also like to wrap-up Geneforge if the time and mood is right.</p>
<p>And if Christine Love puts out another DLC for Get in the Car, Loser! I’ll definitely try to squeeze that in too.</p>
Dose Response is coming to Steamhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/11/07/dose-response-coming-to-steam/2021-11-07T20:34:01+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>I’m delighted to announce that <a href="https://tryjumping.com/dose-response-roguelike/">Dose Response</a> is coming to Steam!</p>
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<a class="image" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1750910/Dose_Response/"><img src="02%20high.png" alt="Dose Response screenshot"></a>
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<p>Compared to the currently-available 1.0 version, the new release will feature Actual Graphics™, music & sound effects, improved UI and a full mouse support.</p>
<p>I don’t know when the game will be released. I’d love to do it this year, but between work, personal life and having a one-month-old baby, it is completely up in the air.</p>
<p>The initial release will be on Windows and Linux. I’d love to do a MacOS release as well, but between Apple’s developer license fees and code signing requirements, that’s something I’ll investigate later. The sales of the game will also play a role in the decision.</p>
<p>You can go to the <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1750910/Dose_Response/">Dose Response Steam page</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1750910/Dose_Response/" class="bare">https://store.steampowered.com/app/1750910/Dose_Response/</a></p>
<p>By adding the game to your wishlist, you’ll be notified when it’s out ;-).</p>
Life is Strange 3: True Colorshttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/09/27/life-is-strange-3-true-colors/2021-09-27T21:36:27+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>I was quite curious where the third (<a href="/blog/2020/12/13/tell-me-why/">or fourth</a>) Life is Strange game would go given the differences between the first two games. The first one being a high-school drama where your protagonist has time rewind powers. The second one being a desperate trip across the US where the protagonist’s brother has the power to make a huge mess (via telekinesis and otherwise).</p>
<p>While I have enjoyed the second game in the series, I was delighted to see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange%3A_True_Colors">True Colors</a> return to a fixed location in a small American town where you stay for a while and get to know people.</p>
<a class="image" href="haven.jpg"><img src="haven_thumb.jpg" alt="Alex Chen, the main protagonist overlooking a river running through the town of Haven Springs" title="Alex Chen, the main protagonist overlooking a river running through the town of Haven Springs"></img></a>
<p>The town is called Haven Springs and it is where Alex Chen arrives after having bounced around the foster homes to meet her long-lost brother Gabe and hopefully start a new, <em>normal</em> life.</p>
<p>Alex is introverted, clearly traumatised by her past and slow to trust. But she really wants things to work out. To start over. And things do kick off well. Gabe is awesome, so’s his girlfriend and her son. Everyone seems really nice and welcoming.</p>
<a class="image" href="gabe.jpg"><img src="gabe_thumb.jpg" alt="Photo of Gabe Chen suggestively standing in front of a sign saying: Danger, cougar in the area." title="Photo of Gabe Chen suggestively standing in front of a sign saying: Danger, cougar in the area."></img></a>
<p>The arrival to Haven Springs is wonderfully done. I wasn’t sure how I’ll like Gabe, but the ease with which he managed to both move past and respect Alex’s awkwardness (which I myself felt keenly) was absolutely charming. It was the awkwardness that made me relate to Alex so strongly.</p>
<p>If anything, people there are <em>too</em> friendly, dispersing hugs, handshakes and touches left and right. The controller vibrates when someone touches Alex without her expecting it and that somehow manages to evoke the exact feeling I get when that happens to me.</p>
<p>Apart from the frightening and completely tone-deaf joke by the local (white) police officer (for which he actually apologises — without fully grasping the gravity of the situation though), Alex’s welcome is idyllic and this place looks like it might in fact become her home.</p>
<a class="image" href="pier.jpg"><img src="pier_thumb.jpg" alt="Alex sitting on a pier." title="Alex sitting on a pier."></img></a>
<p>She has got a secret though. Alex can feel other people’s emotions. When someone’s sad, angry or scared, she feels it too. It can overwhelm her and she can lose control of herself and do things she will later regret.</p>
<p>But as you learn to control it, you will recognise the emotions and discover something new about the person. Later on, you’ll be able to literally see the world the way they see it and help them out. Or not.</p>
<p>It’s no <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange_(video_game)">time rewind</a>, but it is way cooler than I expected from the game’s marketing.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, just like every other Life is Strange game, this one has a horrific tragedy at its core as well. As with every Life is Strange game, I think it would be able to stand on its own without it.</p>
<p>But its there and it drives the plot forward.</p>
<p>You get to investigate things with the tag-team composed of Steph Gingrich and Ryan Lucan, both potential love interests and both just delightful people to be around.</p>
<p>I love them both dearly but Steph especially is just absolutely delightful. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her last (in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange%3A_Before_the_Storm">Life is Strange: Before the Storm</a>) and I didn’t know what to expect, but she’s been the highlight of the whole game for me.</p>
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<a class="image" href="danger-zone.jpg"><img src="danger-zone_thumb.jpg" alt="Alex balancing on a tree fallen over a chasm protected only by a harness made out of a rope."></a>
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<div class="title">Figure 1. I’ve never fashioned a harness out of a rope but the shape and knots all actually look like this might be the real deal. Still wouldn’t want to fall tho.</div>
</div>
<p>The main plot gets intertwined with a few events to brighten up the mood and show the city in a different light: the Spring Festival and a subsequent LARP organised by the aforementioned Steph who besides being a DJ and a music nerd is into all things RPG.</p>
<p>Especially the LARP was something I was quite apprehensive about (always suspicious of games within games and all that), but it worked great. Wasn’t too long or too over-the-top and surprisingly, it really fit the mood.</p>
<a class="image" href="festival.jpg"><img src="festival_thumb.jpg" alt="Alex looking at nothing, arms crossed." title="Alex looking at nothing, arms crossed."></img></a>
<p>Things are quite heavily foreshadowed here, but I’ve always missed them and only realised it in the retrospect. Reading other reviews, more observant people found them completely on the nose so who knows! True Colors may go down better better if you don’t notice things.</p>
<p>All my general annoyances with the previous Life is Strange games are basically not here. The UI works really well for the most part, there are no annoying puzzles and very few minigames (one you can skip and another one is the combat part of the LARP and not actually that bad).</p>
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<a class="image" href="skip.jpg"><img src="skip_thumb.jpg" alt="In-game option allowing you to skip a difficult section that requires quick reflexes."></a>
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<div class="title">Figure 2. YES PLEASE. Thank you!</div>
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<p>While the story design and writing overall might not have changed significantly, in terms of the actual experience of playing the game, every new one gets better. There are fewer and fewer frustrations, allowing greater focus on what matters: exploring the area, talking to people and enjoying the story.</p>
<p>I loved spending time in Haven Springs and with everyone who lived there. The game is absolutely beautiful and the town full of character.</p>
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<a class="image" href="record-store.jpg"><img src="record-store_thumb.jpg" alt="Alex sitting in an armchair listening to music in the record store."></a>
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<div class="title">Figure 3. Sitting around is still fun here too.</div>
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<p>I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. More than Life is Strange 2 (though I respect what they tried to do there). True Colors might be on par with Tell Me Why, but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange_(video_game)">Max & Chloe</a> will always have a real soft spot in my heart.</p>
Mass Effect 2: Remasterhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/09/18/mass-effect-2-remaster/2021-09-18T12:54:51+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>Mass Effect 2 is a complicated game. Improved in may ways over the first one, but also made massive steps back where it hurt. Unfortunately, the issues are of the kind the remaster can’t fix.</p>
<p>I’ve had fun and it’s a good game but it’s nowhere near the absolute awe that Mass Effect 1 instilled in me and I’ve felt a lot of frustration and disappointment.</p>
<p>Spoilers ahead.</p>
<h2 id="b_rated_sci_fi">B-rated sci-fi</h2>
<p>The overarching feeling I got from the first Mass Effect was that of a really well-made science fiction. Excellent world building, great writing, awesome mysteries to uncover, fantastic characters. And all that wrapped in a world and UI that <strong>felt like the future</strong>. The game itself was janky, but it transported you into a real place.</p>
<p>Mass Effect 2 abandoned all that for a B-rated movie experience.</p>
<p>It’s coasting on the fantastic set up of the first game, but it’s phoning it in and a lot of the changes they made are absolutely for the worse.</p>
<p>If the first game is comparable to Firefly or the season 1 of Battlestar Galactica, then the sequel is Farscape.</p>
<h3 id="inconsistent_looks">Inconsistent Looks</h3>
<p>Instead of sleek futuristic shapes in shades of blue of almost Matrix-like atmosphere, the game’s colour palette is all over the place. Green and brown and orange are great colours. Just not these particular shades in these particular combinations.</p>
<p>It looks ugly. The menu’s ugly. The loading screens show a CD image that’s actually pixelated. It doesn’t feel like the future at all.</p>
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<a class="image" href="loading.jpg"><img src="loading_thumb.jpg" alt="Screenshot of the game’s loading screen. It’s quite ugly just like the rest of the UI."></a>
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<div class="title">Figure 1. Hey, remember the frogger minigame from the first game?</div>
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<p>Changing the look isn’t a bad move <em>a priori</em>. The game went for a different atmosphere and it makes a perfect sense to reflect that. But that’s not what’s happening here — there’s no consistency, no atmosphere, just <em>"let’s slap something sci-fi looking together"</em>.</p>
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<a class="image" href="main-menu.jpg"><img src="main-menu_thumb.jpg" alt="The main menu screen of the game. Ugly in a different way."></a>
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<div class="title">Figure 2. Nothing says space opera like a washed-out brown smeared all over your screen.</div>
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<p>And speaking of the looks: every time you get an achievement on the PlayStation, the console takes a screenshot. Normally, these screenshots capture the most amazing scenes — you defeating a boss or progressing a story and they’re always a joy to look at.</p>
<p>Here, the achievement is awarded while the game is loading a new scene which means that what is supposed to be a commemorative array of cool shots is just…​ pictures of really ugly loading screens.</p>
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<a class="image" href="achievement.jpg"><img src="achievement_thumb.jpg" alt="Achievement screenshot showing a loading screen."></a>
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<div class="title">Figure 3. Congratulations! Here’s the picture you’ve seen hundreds of times to remember your heroic moment by.</div>
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<h3 id="the_ammo_let_down">The Ammo Let-Down</h3>
<p>This is honestly the most annoying bit about the entire game for me. They made all the weapons more annoying to use.</p>
<p>In the original game, there was no ammo. It’s the future, there’s no need for ammo. Each weapon has got an infinity amount of rounds it can fire. The downside is that the weapons overheat so you can’t fire indefinitely. You need to shoot in bursts and then let it cool down a little.</p>
<p>So it’s a trade-off, maybe one that’s less familiar to the shooter players, but one that (and I keep harping on this) <strong>feels futuristic</strong>. The world evolves. New tech is developed.</p>
<p>Here, all that is undone. There’s of course an in-game explanation, but it still doesn’t make a lick of sense within the world.</p>
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<a class="image" href="ammo-nonsense.jpg"><img src="ammo-nonsense_thumb.jpg" alt="In-game description of why guns do need ammunition now"></a>
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<div class="title">Figure 4. I feel sorry for the writer who had to come up with this nonsense.</div>
</div>
<p>First, there’s not a single weapon of the old design that survived? Within the span of two years every single weapon with infinite ammo got replaced by one that needs ammunition (I mean, "thermal clips" — but they actually call it ammo in the game too).</p>
<p>Across all the planets, systems, races. And it’s not that the <em>"infinite ammo but pretty bad cooldown if you shoot for too long"</em> system is objectively worse. It’s not! Even if it weren’t the perfect usecase for every occasion, surely there are <strong>some</strong> areas where you would absolutely want to keep this.</p>
<p>And, frustratingly: the in-game explanation is actually perfectly compatible with the old system! The way this should have worked is: weapons overheat so we’ve added thermal clips that let you cool them down quickly and keep shooting. In that world, they could keep the old system and then let you "reload" to get back in the fray sooner. Best of both worlds.</p>
<p>But no. Once you run out of "ammo", the weapon will not shoot.</p>
<p>And in terms of the gameplay it just feels worse. While being quite generous with the thermal clips, but there were still many occasions where I just ran out. And that just never feels good.</p>
<p>The worst thing is, I think they did it to either make the game feel more familiar to the mainstream shooter players or to make multiplayer more balanced.</p>
<p>Which is just such a massive middle finger to the people who only care to play this frankly still mediocre cover shooter alone and on their own terms. Mass Effect has and always will be a single-player experience first.</p>
<h2 id="combat_system_improvements">Combat System Improvements</h2>
<p>Other than the ammo issue, the combat system is better. Getting in and out of cover is easier, you can actually vault over stuff and sprinting feels much better.</p>
<p>The areas you fight it are much more diverse — no longer just the same five layouts stamped throughout all the planets.</p>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="new-horizons.jpg"><img src="new-horizons_thumb.jpg" alt="Alien world."></a>
</div>
<div class="title">Figure 5. Welcome to this new world! Full of beauty, life and things to shoot at!</div>
</div>
<p>And you’ve got access to heavy weapons each of which has got its own special effect. Especially the Collector Particle Beam just obliterates minor enemies and is fantastic against bosses.</p>
<p>But despite all that, I’ve enjoyed the combat section even less than in the first game. The introduction of ammo soured it so much.</p>
<h2 id="atmosphere_and_plot">Atmosphere and Plot</h2>
<p>The intro sequence, where Normandy gets attacked and Shepard dies…​ that worked great. I was hooked, I felt the sadness. But it took a dive after that.</p>
<p>It’s immediately clear that they wanted to go for a more rough and gritty feeling. One that’s morally ambiguous, where you need to make tough choices.</p>
<p>Sadly, it fell flat on its arse.</p>
<p>The game’s trying too hard, causing dissonance and incongruity everywhere. There is absolutely no reason for you to work for Cerberus. There’s frankly, no reason for anyone on the ship to work for Cerberus. And yet they all do.</p>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="council-cerberos.jpg"><img src="council-cerberos_thumb.jpg" alt="The council isn’t amused."></a>
</div>
<div class="title">Figure 6. I balk at the death penalty still being a thing, but yep I can see why this could look super bad indeed. Because it is.</div>
</div>
<p>The old friends you meet are all like: <em>"you’re working for Cerberus? What the fuck?"</em> And at best you’re like <em>"I don’t work for them — they work for me and actually they’re not all bad"</em> only to find that you do work for them. And just like in Mass Effect 1 and 3 they’re as bad as you and <strong>everyone else</strong> thought.</p>
<p>I’m playing Mass Effect 3 now and everyone there’s like <em>"what the hell were you thinking working for Cerberus?"</em> and your only response is pretty much just: <em>"yeah.. I know :/"</em>.</p>
<p>Except, it never made any sense to anyone. Not to the players, not to the companions, not to the other characters, frankly: not to Shepard. The only reason we all went along with it is that the game designers forced it on us. There is no satisfactory in-universe justification for any of this. Just someone wanting to be edgy or whatever.</p>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="terrorists.jpg"><img src="terrorists_thumb.jpg" alt="Another reunion soured by you working with literal terrorists."></a>
</div>
<div class="title">Figure 7. I do! I stopped a lot of these acts myself! They’re a totally different shady faceless organisation now!</div>
</div>
<p>The ending is pretty iffy too. Less bad than I remember, but um…​ <em>"The Reapers are abducting people to turn them into a giant human baby that’s also a reaper because they’re cosmically unfathomable machines"</em> just doesn’t work that great as a climax.</p>
<hr>
<p>The first Mass Effect was quite wordy and full of lore, tech descriptions, background on the alien races, their history and what they’re like.</p>
<p>This game has got a lot more words in it. More codex entries, more planet descriptions, more "lore". But I barely read any of it.</p>
<p>The ammo and Cerberus thing showed the creators' hand: they don’t care about making the world make sense or be consistent. So why should I waste my time meeting them half-way?</p>
<h2 id="galaxy_and_space_sections">Galaxy and Space Sections</h2>
<p>You do three things in any Mass Effect game:</p>
<ol class="arabic"false>
<li>
Chat
</li>
<li>
Shoot
</li>
<li>
Explore
</li>
</ol>
<p>The space exploration bit has received a huge overhaul. First, there’s no driving on the planets' surface. The Mako is gone and in its place you scan planets for resources and things of interest.</p>
<p>Now, there’s a tonne of legitimate criticism one can lob at the whole Mako situation. But rather than fixing it, they made things worse. You don’t even land on the planets, you just scan from the orbit using this really tedious process and clunky UI. There’s nothing enjoyable in it.</p>
<p>I quite liked the driving around. Yes, the vehicle physics was quite bad and it got annoying pretty quickly. But you got the sense of each world. It contributed to the feeling of this being a real space you’re exploring.</p>
<p>Clicking on a planet, holding a button to see some lines pop up and firing a probe? No sense of the place at all. No sense of the differences between the worlds. Just a chore to do in order to progress with the game.</p>
<p>And of course, they’ve added two more consumable resources just to make things more frustrating. You’ve got a limited amount of probes so whilst you’re doing this "exploration", you need to get out to buy some more probes.</p>
<p>And travelling between the stellar systems within a single cluster consumes fuel and takes time while again, providing <strong>no value whatsoever</strong>. Just another chore to do. To…​ I don’t know…​ make the game last longer?</p>
<h2 id="the_characters">The Characters</h2>
<p>Ignoring the "why the fuck are you working for Cerberus" thing that everyone <strong>rightfully</strong> brings up, the character writing and moments are awesome.</p>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="calculus.jpg"><img src="calculus_thumb.jpg" alt="Mordin Solus explains his moral stance."></a>
</div>
<div class="title">Figure 8. I.. um…​ okay yeh fair.</div>
</div>
<p>You get a pretty wide roster of companions — much bigger than in the first game. And you get even more with all the DLCs included. And it’s fantastic, for the most part (Jack being the notable <em>WTH is this person doing here</em> exception).</p>
<p>The characters have more to say and making rounds after each mission is a joy. Although, you still don’t get a good indication for when they’re ready to talk to you and the frequent <em>"Can it wait a bit? I’m in the middle of some calibrations."</em> gets tiresome.</p>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="already-jacob.jpg"><img src="already-jacob_thumb.jpg" alt="Jacob is not exactly subtle"></a>
</div>
<div class="title">Figure 9. Got to work on improving your communication skills mate.</div>
</div>
<p>But just like the first game — even better actually — the cinematics of the whole thing are awesome. When you talk to someone, they will play a little animation standing from the chair and facing you. It really adds to the immersion and the film feel.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, a lot of the companions from the first game are missing. Ashley won’t talk to you (because you’re working for Cerberus, duh) and everyone has spread out doing their own thing.</p>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="ashley.jpg"><img src="ashley_thumb.jpg" alt="The reunion didn’t go as planned"></a>
</div>
<div class="title">Figure 10. Ashley saying it like it is for once. Compared to ME 1 where her views are quite aligned with Cerberus, actually.</div>
</div>
<p>You will eventually get some of them back and plus a bunch of new people. But I feel all three games really should have kept Tali, Wrex, Garrus and Liara on board.</p>
<p>At its heart, the entire Mass Effect trilogy hits a lot of the same buttons that the Sci-Fi TV shows do. Your Fireflys, Star Treks and yes, Farscapes. And it is important to keep the main cast. Obviously things change here and there, but you don’t uproot the whole thing season to season.</p>
<h2 id="summary">Summary</h2>
<p>Compared to the flawed but brilliant masterpiece that was the first game, Mass Effect 2 just feels worse. Despite all the gameplay improvements, it left me feeling frustrated for most of the time I’ve played it. One step forward two steps back.</p>
<p>The characters' writing and missions are the high point, the failed attempt at turning it into a proper shooter and the try-hard edginess are the low.</p>
<p>I’ve been ragging on the game for most of this post, because I love the Mass Effect universe and it had a potential to be something great.</p>
<p>But I’ve still had a lot of fun.</p>
<h2 id="p_s">P.S.</h2>
<p>This was the first time I’ve played any of the DLCs and while most of them were excellent, I was absolutely horrified by the Overlord one. This post by M. Wesley Alvey explains why:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7emky/mass-effect-2-overlord-should-have-stayed-in-2010" class="bare">https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7emky/mass-effect-2-overlord-should-have-stayed-in-2010</a></p>
<p>The whole portrayal of autistic people and how the abuser got with basically no consequences (all he lost was his test subject — assuming Shepard showed a modicum of compassion) is absolutely gross even for the wannabe edgy writers.</p>
<p>There’s nothing subtle in it, nothing blown out of proportion. It is just absolutely disgustingly flabbergastingly bad.</p>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="radical-ideas.jpg"><img src="radical-ideas_thumb.jpg" alt="radical ideas thumb"></a>
</div>
<div class="title">Figure 11. It’s not your radical ideas you need to apologise for you fucking torturous criminal (and all this was sanctioned by the reformed head of the not-really-the-bad-guys Cerberus of course).</div>
</div>
<p>Mass Effect, a game that prides on giving you a renegade option to just shoot someone speaks volumes by denying it here. Honestly, shooting Gavin Archer should be the paragon trigger.</p>
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowlinghttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/09/13/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-by-j-k-rowling/2021-09-13T22:20:56+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1701726207">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>Turns out, I’ve never written the review for one of my favourite books of all time. Having just decided to read it in French this time, here’s the long overdue collection of thoughts.</p>
<p>I will discuss the book itself (the first one of the series), the French version and finally, assorted thoughts about the books' wider impacts and Rowling’s later sentiments that sour the whole thing.</p>
<h2 id="the_book">The Book</h2>
<p>Harry Potter is an eleven-year-old orphan living with his aunt, uncle and cousin all of whom neglect and abuse him. When weird things start happening, Harry learns that he is a wizard who was accepted to a magical boarding school. He finds actual friends (and some enemies) there, goes through a school year that’s both magical and mundane and learns what happened to his parents and why everyone in the wizarding world knows his name.</p>
<p>The book is absolutely beautifully put together. On what must have been around a tenth re-read, the beginning feels to drag a bit, but once in Hogwarts, the book was as charming and powerful now in my mid thirties as it was when I was 15 or so.</p>
<p>It paints a world that is colourful and detailed enough to feel believable, full of wonderful characters, great mysteries, solid plot, jokes and a lot of wonderful moments — happy and sad. It’s by no means perfect, but it’s really well put together.</p>
<p>I laughed and I cried despite knowing the whole thing by heart.</p>
<p>In addition to all that, it is just <strong>really</strong> well written. I’ve often read books with amazing ideas whose writing just wasn’t there. They’re still great, but something’s off — either the pacing, odd word choices, plot structure or whatever.</p>
<p>Not here. The prose, dialogues and poetry are all brilliant. It’s just a joy to read. Rowling absolutely has a way with words and as her later books showed, she is a great writer who managed to transcend her "childhood book author" framing.</p>
<p>One of the rare, unexpected delights are all the proper names. Of people, things, places. All the Hogwarts houses, "Hogwarts" itself, the teachers, everything. They’ve got the punch, the shape and feeling. Harry Potter rides the onomatopoeia wave flawlessly.</p>
<p>There are genuine points of criticism one can level at the whole series, but to dismiss the books out of the gate as some critics have done is just completely missing the mark.</p>
<p>The audiobook is narrated by Stephen Fry and made brilliant as a result. It is a joy to listen to his voice and it just elevates the book to another level. If you can, do read the Stephen Fry audiobook.</p>
<h2 id="the_french_version">The French Version</h2>
<p>Speaking of words and audiobooks. The reason for this re-read of 2021 is wanting to see if I can improve my (passive) French a little. After having done four years of French at high school, I’ve always felt I should actually learn the thing.</p>
<p>So I’ve picked up the French audiobook and started reading it. You will be surprised in no way whatsoever that it didn’t <strong>quite</strong> work. I picked up a word here and there, but I was lost more often than I was following.</p>
<p>Switching to reading a chapter in English followed by the same chapter in French was much better though my current French level is clearly not really up for the task yet.</p>
<p>Going back to Rowling’s choice of words and sounds: the localisation was actually quite decent. Slytherin became Serpentard, Hufflepuff is Poufsouffle, etc. which sounds great. Fits the French feeling but still packs the same punch.</p>
<p>But some of the other translations felt a bit weird to me — most noticeably Severus Snape being called Severus Rogue. But nothing really bad that would take me out of it.</p>
<p>The actual experience of reading it in French was…​ a not an immediate win. I need to pay a lot of conscious attention. I think it was useful — I got the language into my ears a little, definitely picked up some new words and phrases, but not as many as I’d hoped. I don’t suddenly understand French, nor am I confident enough to read the next book all alone.</p>
<p>Since I’ve read this as an audiobook, I need to reiterate how stellar Stephen Fry’s reading is. Bernard Giraudeau who did the French narration is not terrible, but Fry’s just on another level.</p>
<p>Some of the voices and sounds the narrator does (e.g. giving Ron a lisp) make the book harder to listen to.</p>
<p>The book’s production makes things even worse. There’s a scene with centaurs about two thirds into the book. And every time a centaur spoke, they first made a horse noise like neighing, snorting etc. Now famously, centaurs have human heads with human speech and wouldn’t generally be expected to make such noises. Nor does the source book give any indication that they do. They are perfectly capable of human speech.</p>
<p>This may sound like a small thing, but I found it incredibly distracting.</p>
<h2 id="the_author">The Author</h2>
<p>Harry Potter will forever have a special place in my heard. In addition to me just loving the story and the characters, it is the first book I’ve read in English. And it transcended my understanding of the language from where I could read individual words but not much else to <strong>actually feeling it</strong>. Knowing phrases and sentence structures. It was the first steps towards it feeling somewhat akin to a native tongue. To me being able to think in English. To using it directly rather than translating things to my native language as an intermediary.</p>
<p>It has also influenced my outlook in life. "It is our choices far more than our abilities that show what we truly are", for example still resonates deeply.</p>
<p>And while again, there are things one can criticise, overall this is a book with a really healthy outlook on life.</p>
<p>So it was deeply, frustratingly, incredibly disappointing that the author’s own choices did not live up to what she set up in the book.</p>
<p>J. K. Rowling’s anti-trans (or more accurately: pro pureblood woman) crusade has been a huge shock to me. One of the final nails in the coffin of what has been a really crummy year.</p>
<p>Misunderstanding or feeling threatened by trans people is a sentiment that a lot of people (men and women) share. But it’s so much more harmful when it’s coming out from someone with such a huge following, influence and money and ready to put it all to use to <em>solve the problem</em>. Someone who literally shaped the minds of millions of children and young adults. Someone who in many other aspects seems to be quite a decent human being despite becoming filthy rich.</p>
<p>Someone who’s stood up against injustice in her books and in real life.</p>
<p>Someone who’s pretended to be a man to see how the publishing apparatus reacts to men differently than to women. Of course, using a secret pseudonym is absolutely not the same thing as being transgender, but <em>fucking come on</em>!</p>
<p>I can’t claim this has ruined Harry Potter for me. I love those books. Still do so fucking much. But it has ruined JKR for me.</p>
<p>Kill your heroes indeed.</p>
Mass Effect 1: Remasterhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/06/26/mass-effect-1-remaster/2021-06-26T09:06:34+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect_(video_game)">Mass Effect</a> came out some 13 years ago and until now, I’ve only played it once back then. It wasn’t the best game I’ve ever played, but for about the week after I’ve finished it, I felt it was.</p>
<p>I’ve had wonderful memories of the game and I didn’t want to see them tarnished.</p>
<a class="image" href="shepard.jpg"><img src="shepard_thumb.jpg" alt="Shepard, the main protagonist" title="Shepard, the main protagonist"></img></a>
<p>But it was also a game I was frequently comparing others (include the later ones in the series) to. So when the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect_Legendary_Edition">Legendary Edition</a> came out, it was the perfect opportunity to see how that comparison really held up as well as experience the whole trilogy in one go. I’ve also never played any of the DLCs and they’re all included in the Legendary Edition.</p>
<p>This post will veer into the spoiler territory so if haven’t played Mass Effect yet, you can just leave with this:</p>
<p><em>Mass Effect has janky controls and it is dated in many areas (especially around the UI and combat), but it is a</em> <strong>fantastic</strong> <em>space opera in a wonderfully designed world with great characters. If you can handle the looks and gameplay, it’s well worth it.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>First things first, it’s really fun to play it again actually knowing all the mysteries. You can discern some of the Shepard’s visions, know what the Reapers and Protheans and Keepers are all about. The purpose of the Citadel. It’s awesome.</p>
<a class="image" href="citadel.jpg"><img src="citadel_thumb.jpg" alt="Citadel, the galactic hub" title="Citadel, the galactic hub"></img></a>
<p>You can also prioritise your missions properly and get Liara on the team (and therefore have the full squad) as soon as you leave the Citadel.</p>
<p>The freedom to visit significant places and events based on player’s discretion provides a lot of replay value in games. One of the things that made me go back to the original Fallout games or Dark Souls again (even though they are all massive) is the ability to do them in the right order. Where "right" meant important to <em>me</em>: whether it’s a companion I wanted from the get-go, an item, location, event, or anything else.</p>
<p>The game’s atmosphere, characters and the main story design — all of those are fantastic and absolutely hold up. Mass Effect 1 is an amazing sci-fi experience, the world feels real and I loved reading all the codex entries (which wasn’t true for any of the later games).</p>
<p>It felt like a real future. The doors opened automatically, but unlike in the real world, they worked perfectly. Never too slow, never in the way, as if they weren’t even there.</p>
<p>Similarly, the weapons don’t need any ammunition. They shoot energy and they never run out. The downside (a game mechanics conceit) is that they heat up and you need to give the shooting a break to cool down.</p>
<a class="image" href="infinite-ammo.jpg"><img src="infinite-ammo_thumb.jpg" alt="In-game description of why guns don't need ammunition" title="In-game description of why guns don't need ammunition"></img></a>
<p>But it’s still amazing. You don’t need to bother with any ammo loot, you’ll never run out in the middle of combat. Really feels like the future.</p>
<p>Even the UI actually looked really slick and futuristic.</p>
<p>And the music is fantastic.</p>
<hr>
<p>So yes, the things that stayed in my memory — the good things — remained good. As for the rest, well…​</p>
<p>The controls are properly clunky. Everything from the inventory handling to the interactive prompts, switching weapons, the "open-the-lock" puzzles, the combat system — none of that feels particularly great.</p>
<p>Most of the off-world mission areas are built out of the same handful (literally like four or five) templates and they’re just filled with different enemies, furniture or crates.</p>
<p>All of this is annoying. It’s less annoying than if this was a shooter first and a sci-fi RPG second, but still.</p>
<p>And while we’re piling on the criticism: you ride a lot of elevators here and they’re sloooow (even though they were apparently sped-up from the original). The travel map doesn’t show you which sectors or planets you’ve explored already (I had to keep a separate checklist outside of the game). Similarly, you don’t know when your squad mates have new conversation options so a lot of the game is spent running around your ship chatting folks up only to rehash old conversations or have them tell you they’re busy.</p>
<a class="image" href="mako.jpg"><img src="mako_thumb.jpg" alt="Driving around an alien world with Mako" title="Driving around an alien world with Mako"></img></a>
<p>The Mako (the vehicle you use to travel on a planet surface) is of course the stuff of legends and completely absent from the rest of the trilogy.</p>
<p>They’ve apparently made it faster and less bouncy in the remaster, but it still drives quite poorly and you end up with a lot of frustration trying to cross a mountain range to get to the next objective. Still, it’s a shame they scrapped it. Mass Effect: Andromeda fixed a lot of the issues and zipping around the planets is neat if done right.</p>
<p>The male gaze is pretty strong here and the face animations ride the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley">Uncanny Valley</a> hard. Especially Ashley Williams’s eyes are sometimes horrifying.</p>
<a class="image" href="uncanny-valley.jpg"><img src="uncanny-valley_thumb.jpg" alt="" title=""></img></a>
<p>The first time around, I played as the male Sheperd, so I really wanted to play as the female one now. First, because I’ve started to enjoy protagonists and cast who don’t look like me and second, because of all the praise I’ve heard about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Hale">Jennifer Hale’s</a> voice performance.</p>
<p>Due to the confusing UI, I didn’t customise my character at all and ended with the defaults for everything (looks, background, speciality, etc.) and noticed it all too late to go back.</p>
<p>And I don’t like the default female Shepard look that much. I’ve played with the default male one with no issues, but admittedly: that was thirteen years ago and he’s just a Dude Duderston with a buzz cut. Can’t go terribly wrong there.</p>
<p>Still she’s a bad-arse lady who grew on to me and you get a pretty legitimate reason to change her appearance in the second game so I might do that.</p>
<p>The actual voice performance is great, but it’s been so long that I’m unable to make any comparisons to the male one.</p>
<p>And on the writing side of things, I’m not keen with the military outlook that pervades the whole game. I get why it’s there, but it also means that your character will commit between one and two total genocides without blinking an eye.</p>
<p>Some of the writing that wraps up a mission (which generally just appears as a message box with a couple of paragraphs) is a little underwhelming as well — like most of the side missions themselves.</p>
<a class="image" href="end-of-mission.jpg"><img src="end-of-mission_thumb.jpg" alt="Mission conclusion is presented in a text box" title="Mission conclusion is presented in a text box"></img></a>
<p>This is perfectly fine in text-heavy games like the original Fallouts, Planescape: Torment or say Age of Decadence. But given how cinematic Mass Effect is, ending a mission with a text box just feels lazy and out of place.</p>
<hr>
<p>But even with all these issues, Mass Effect is absolutely a game worth playing.</p>
<p>This is a game that is very much about "the friends we made along the way" and all the companions are fantastic. Even Ashley Williams (whom I now saved to change things up) isn’t as bad as I remembered (though definitely not my fav).</p>
<p>But the overall story and the mysteries you encounter are still awesome.</p>
<p>Replaying it, I’ve noticed a few really neat things as well.</p>
<p>One of the first optional quests you get on the Citadel is to scan 20 Keepers. This is awesome because it naturally drives you to explore all the nooks and crannies and make sure you don’t miss any other important stuff.</p>
<p>But it also lets you pay more attention to the creatures and all the mysteries surrounding them. Which then provides for a much better pay off towards the end of the game.</p>
<p>And yet, it’s still a completely optional quest that feels like you’ve stumbled into it by accident, getting you care more than if the game actually made you do it.</p>
<p>I’ve really enjoyed the game’s ending too. So many other games either drag on far too long or just are either poorly written towards the end. Mass Effect’s one is just the right length and it just lands really well.</p>
<p>It is the ending along with a huge helping of the credits music that made me feel like this was the best game I’d ever played after finishing it. It’s not true on reflection, but the feeling persisted for a few days before objectivity set in.</p>
<a class="image" href="pale-blue-dot.jpg"><img src="pale-blue-dot_thumb.jpg" alt="Shepard and her companions looking at the Earth from the surface of the Moon" title="Shepard and her companions looking at the Earth from the surface of the Moon"></img></a>
<p>The music is really good overall and I want to highlight the visual work as well. While even the remaster looks dated, Mass Effect was the first game that felt like a movie.</p>
<p>They literally have a setting called "Movie Grain" (on by default) which is basically a filter that makes the game look grainier, but in a way that looks like film.</p>
<p>It’s really weird — you literally get worse visual quality, but it <strong>feels better</strong>. And they’ve done a lot of good work with the camera. Every time you talk to someone, their actions and the camera makes it all feel like a movie rather than a game.</p>
<p>In a similar vein, when you’re landing on a planet, the camera is very reminiscent of the likes of Firefly and Battlestar Galactica: it looks at the sky, trying to track the ship flying past. Once the ship drops the payload (the Mako vehicle with you inside), the camera focuses on that — but crucially, none of this is a perfect tracking. It’s as if someone literally held the camera and then tried to focus first on the ship and then on the drop. The movement falls behind.</p>
<p>This along with the all the crew conversations within the ship was giving me a really strong Firefly vibe and it still works great.</p>
<hr>
<p>The last thing I wanted to mention is not really to do with the game itself, but rather, my memory of it. I am well aware of how malleable and unreliable human memory is, but experiencing it first-hand is still absolutely bizarre.</p>
<p>I haven’t really made anything up as such, but it turns out all three games got kind of mixed in despite being years apart and having clear thematic differences.</p>
<p>What I thought was the Normandy’s layout is really a mix of all three games.</p>
<p>The commander’s room I so clearly remember is actually closest to the one in Mass Effect 2. So is having EDI and their relationship with Joker as well as the dynamic engineering duo at the lower decks. Oh and dating Tali. I thought all that was in the first game and was really surprised to not see it there.</p>
<p>I was waiting for the reveal that the Citadel’s Keepers are genetically engineered Proteans, but that also didn’t happen. The Proteans were turned into the Collectors in the second game and similarly, Udina’s betrayal only happened in the third.</p>
<p>Memory, amirite?</p>
A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrowhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/06/09/a-song-below-water-by-bethany-c-morrow/2021-06-09T21:09:29+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3657770484">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>Oh my goodness, this was such an awesome surprise. I’ve heard of it on <a href="https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-cory-doctorow-bethany-c-morrow-tochi-onyebuchi">Cory Doctorow’s book tour</a> last year, put it on the list, not knowing what to expect. A year later I finally picked up and couldn’t be happier.</p>
<p>A Song Below Water has two protagonists: sisters Effie and Tavia. Tavia is a siren (the controlling-people-with-voice kind), her family forcing her to hide her identity. Effie is not — she’s lost her parents and was adopted by Tavia’s family.</p>
<p>Set in the modern-day Portland, the world is occupied by sprites, gargoyles, Elocos and yes, sirens: always feared and also always targets of violence that somehow never gets accounted for.</p>
<p>Part high school drama, part mystery and part the horror of being a Black woman in America the book is beautiful, super engaging and making you want to scream. Sometimes with joy, other times…​ not. I was hooked immediately and stayed all the way through to the wonderful ending.</p>
<p>The chapters alternate Tavia and Effie’s points of view showing the care and support they have for each other as well the struggles they’re both going through. They’re both amazing and so human.</p>
<p>I’m going to stop writing because discovering the world and its events is a huge part of this book that I don’t want to just lay bare. If you’re up for a modern, well-plotted and equally well-written fantasy — or just want to change things up and read something with Black protagonists that shows the rest of the world how to leave the Bechdel test in the dust — this is the book to pick up.</p>
How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism by Cory Doctorowhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/05/26/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-by-cory-doctorow/2021-05-26T19:11:09+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3993324762">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>4/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>The title of this book says it all. It is Cory Doctorow’s thesis on what to do about the ever-present surveillance from countries, companies, websites, mobile apps, fridges and everything else that’s connected to the internet.</p>
<p>If you’ve been following Cory’s writing, you won’t find a lot of surprises here.</p>
<p>The main idea behind this book is: surveillance capitalism is the product of monopolies and the power that the current tech giants hold is the result of them being allowed to grow by buying out competitors and dominating the markets through monopoly tactics.</p>
<p>Tactics that used to be illegal, but have become possible through deregulation and defanging of the agencies that were responsible for blocking or unwinding merges.</p>
<p>Doctorow argues that rather than tech being a think unlike anything that ever came before, a more parsimonious explanation exists: monopolies are problematic because they concentrate power. And the monopolies then use this power to grow even more powerful — to the detriment of all of us.</p>
<p>That there isn’t anything particularly new here and that monopolies are just unchecked capitalism in action. Why wouldn’t a company do everything in its power to assert market dominance through any means necessary when the share holders benefit and the breaks are not engaging, this a perfectly natural outcome.</p>
<p>One that has happened throughout history which is why the anti-monopoly regulations were put in in the first place. Not just because monopolies can raise consumer prices.</p>
<p>It is a good book and an argument I am absolutely sympathetic to. There may be more at play here, but the main logic: "when you allow monopolies, you get monopolies who then behave with unchecked power" and that this might be the first thing we should focus on solving; that makes perfect sense to me.</p>
<p>The book is positioned as being against the thesis of Shoshana Zuboff’s 2019 book: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Having not read it, I don’t know whether its ideas are presented and argued against fairly here.</p>
<p>But the anti-monopoly Occam’s razor is strong even if it’s not the whole story. It is well presented and well argued and I’ve enjoyed reading the book.</p>
When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamedhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/04/03/when-stars-are-scattered-by-victoria-jamieson-and-omar-mohamed/2021-04-03T15:30:31+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3686391331">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>“No one chooses to be a refugee, to leave their home, country and family.”</p>
<p>Omar and Hassan are two brothers who had to flee their home, destroyed by an unending civil war and ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya, waiting for their mother to find them. These camps are supposed to be temporary, but they’d arrived 7 years ago.</p>
<p>When Stars Are Scattered is a wonderful story. One of hope and despair, frustrations and joy, conflicting responsibilities and the ever-present waiting for something to change. For their mother to show up. For the war to end. For being selected for relocation. For the next food rations.</p>
<p>This could have been a really grim book (and such stories do indeed need telling), but chose not to be. Instead of a hyper-realistic depiction of all the horrors, it focuses on the human side. The games, the school, the chores and schedule. The neighbours. And that even in such an inhospitable environment, there is time and place for love, care, helping one another, art and everything else human beings do.</p>
<p>But the suffering is always there, implicit in the whole situations as well as explicit within the camps.</p>
<p>The comic book is beautifully drawn — in a simple but wonderful style. Particularly the faces make the characters come alive and make you believe what they’re feeling.</p>
<p>I’ve read it in a single sitting and I was on the verge of tears the whole time reading it. Fell in love with the boys instantly and really cared for all the people there. A lot of the public discourse around refugees and foreigners focuses on the negatives and attempts to dehumanise them — often intentionally. This is a wonderful antidote — a book full of actual people, living their lives and striving for a better tomorrow just like everyone else.</p>
Bleach by Tite Kubohttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/03/21/bleach-by-tite-kubo/2021-03-21T18:25:40+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3725228302">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>4/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>Kurosaki Ichigo is a fifteen-year-old boy who can see ghosts. He meets Kuchiki Rukia, a "Soul Reaper" trying to protect Ichigo’s family against a "Hollow" (an undead monster attacking the living). Things don’t go according to the plan and Rukia ends up having to transfer some of her powers to Ichigo who saves the day and becomes a Soul Reaper himself. Reluctantly, he begins to protect his town while trying to keep up with his education and social life. But the hollows keep coming and the stakes keep getting higher.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_(manga)">Bleach</a> is a fantastic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga">manga</a>. It is also the first (and so far only the one) I’ve ever read, so keep that in mind. It’s got cool samurai-like sword fights, action-packed story that keeps pushing forward, placed in an intriguing world full of history, mystery and awesome characters.</p>
<p>Ichigo is the protagonist, but the Bleach cast is staggering. It is the thing I would normally be completely lost in, but the books do a great job introducing them and their differences so gradually that it never became a problem.</p>
<p>And they’re all great, with their backstories, fighting styles and abilities. I got hooked instantly and stayed hooked throughout its staggering 74 volumes. Tito Kube has managed to build and draw a world that stayed with me and kept me coming back, desperate for more.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Bleach suffers from an affliction common to long-running series: upping up the stakes, inventing more and more grave threats and dealing with them by even more fantastic powers. The heroes fight godlike creatures somewhere around the half of the series and literal gods will have appeared before the whole story ends.</p>
<p>Over time, things become harder to follow and the reader loses a sense of scale. Is this fantastic power going to be enough to withstand that fantastic threat? Who knows!</p>
<p>Tite Kubo has managed to tone things down back to a manageable level in one of the later arcs, but then let everything blow completely out of proportion again at the very last one.</p>
<p>The other thing that bothered me throughout was the rather blatant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glamour_photography">cheesecake</a> aspect. A large proportion of the female protagonists feature humongous breasts and the male gaze is in full force.</p>
<p>I quite enjoy a bit (or indeed a lot) of sexiness, but for the most part, Bleach does it in an over-the-top crass manner. That said, I’ve only now learned that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dnen_manga">target audience for this manga is teenage boys</a>. I don’t think that makes it right, but I get it I guess.</p>
<p>An aside about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_(TV_series)">anime based on Bleach</a>: I have seen it a couple of times prior to reading the manga and it is the most faithful translation of a "book" into a "movie" that I’ve ever seen. The anime follows the plot perfectly, the characters give off the same vibe and the two works really feel like two sides of the same coin.</p>
<p>I have had a blast with Bleach. It has a special place in my heart.</p>
Attack Surface by Cory Doctorowhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/02/23/attack-surface-by-cory-doctorow/2021-02-23T21:04:32+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3786376590">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>Masha is a security contractor who helps to enable mass surveillance and data processing on behalf of authoritarian governments across the world.
To quell her consciousness, she engages in heavy compartmentalisation and secretly helping the protesters to improve their operational security.
Knowing full well this will not make much of a difference, waiting for the inevitable collision of her two lives.</p>
<p>Upon returning home to California, she discovers that the tools she helped develop are being used by the police to target her friends.</p>
<p>I was a bit uneasy about Attack Surface despite having loved everything else Cory Doctorow has written, because Masha was not exactly the good gal in the first two books (Little Brother and Homeland).</p>
<p>But I was hooked from the first paragraph. She doesn’t start to be likeable, but she is a multi-faceted human being with understandable and even relatable motivations.</p>
<p>Even with the technology infodumps Doctorow is famous for, the book is absolutely engaging and it’s got a great character arc (I wasn’t sure which way Masha would end up going until the end). It is funny, serious, deep, dark, political and human.</p>
<p>The human side especially is something I wasn’t expecting, but there are genuine intense tearful moments there.</p>
<p>Amber Benson reads the Audiobook is read by who is just completely amazing. She sells Masha’s cynical voice perfectly and while some of the accents and male voices are less stellar, the book is so much better with her narration.</p>
<p>I found myself taking breaks towards the end not because it lost steam (it didn’t!) but because I didn’t want it to be over.</p>
<p>Attack surface is a third book in the Little Brother series, but it features a different protagonist and while events and previous characters do appear, the protagonist here is different and the story sufficiently standalone that you can jump right into it.</p>
Mass Effect: Andromedahttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/02/01/mass-effect-andromeda/2021-02-01T21:17:16+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>It is impossible for me to write about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect:_Andromeda">Andromeda</a> without expanding on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect">Mass Effect trilogy</a>.
But since this is <em>technically</em> a review for Andromeda, that’s where all the screenshots come from.</p>
<h2 id="mass_effect_trilogy">Mass Effect Trilogy</h2>
<p>2007 was a time I’ve been seriously feeling a drought of good RPGs.
Diablo-likes and Bethesda-likes were not for me (and even if they were, Fallout 3 was not out for another year), neither were jRPGs.</p>
<p>It would be two more years before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Age:_Origins">Dragon Age: Origins</a> would come out and Kickstarter wasn’t even on anyone’s radar then — not for massive, ambitious projects like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasteland_2">Wasteland 2</a>.</p>
<p>I had just finished watching <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)">Firefly</a> for the first time (and been absolutely floored).</p>
<a class="image" href="scourge.jpg"><img src="scourge_thumb.jpg" alt="A ship afflicted by the scourge" title="A ship afflicted by the scourge"></img></a>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect_(video_game)">Mass Effect</a> was not something I was particularly excited about.
A sci-fi RPG? Yes, absolutely.
A shooter-based one? Um…​ no.
But everyone was singing its praises and my goodness were they right.</p>
<p>Though the first mission (kill some robots on Mars) wasn’t exactly amazing, once you’ve reached the Citadel, things really picked up.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect_(video_game)">The first Mass Effect</a> felt like real genuine sci-fi world in ways that few other games did — and that includes the subsequent games in the series.
Intriguing aliens, fascinating technology, mysteries I actually wanted to dive into.
I’ve read the Codex entries religiously (which, again, is quite rare for yours truly and petered out in the subsequent games).</p>
<p>I knew even then that you <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-communication_theorem">can’t use quantum entanglement for FTL communication</a>, and that all the races were weirdly humanoid and being up for some <em>hot steamy fun</em> with a bunch of hairless apes was a <em>tad</em> on the wishful thinking side.
But it combined the best bits of Star Wars and Star Trek in a way that was familiar, coherent and fresh at the same time.
You got a fantastic world to explore, rich <em>fascinating</em> history, mysteries to solve and awesome characters to spend time with.</p>
<a class="image" href="ryder.jpg"><img src="ryder_thumb.jpg" alt="Sam Ryder -- my character" title="Sam Ryder -- my character"></img></a>
<p>Beyond the exploration, side quests, companion missions and everything else that you do in a great RPG, there was a strong coherent plot tying it all together.
A plot with (and I keep harping on this because it’s so rare) an excellent ending.
Amazing setting.
Shit, they even have an explanation for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox">Fermi Paradox</a>.
I loved all the companions.
They were all absolutely fascinating, always a delight to talk to.
And <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tali%27Zorah">Tali</a> is of course <3<3<3.
Mass Effect started strong and got excellent. The boss fight battle was crappy and frustrating, but <strong>everything else</strong> (the Protheans, the Keepers, the Citadel, the Reapers, <em>the endgame fucking music</em>).</p>
<a class="image" href="new-world.jpg"><img src="new-world_thumb.jpg" alt="The first alien world" title="The first alien world"></img></a>
<p>Even besides the world, Mass Effect felt like real sci-fi.
The main menu, the sounds, the whole UI all felt like it really came from the future rather than having been designed as an afterthought.
I was amazed by how much the doors on the Citadel felt like being in the future.
Unlike the automatic doors of our current time, you never had to change your speed (or worse: stop and wave at the sensor), never had to push a button and they only opened when you actually intended to walk through.</p>
<p>Your guns didn’t need ammo — this is the future, you see, and all the weapons are energy-based and so you’re never out of bullets.
You can shoot infinity times, but the weapons heat up so if you fire too fast, it’ll overheat and need to cool for a bit.
Which is annoying, but much less so than having to collect munition and risking running out in the middle of a battle.
Future!</p>
<a class="image" href="havarl.jpg"><img src="havarl_thumb.jpg" alt="Havarl -- a jungle world of the Angara race" title="Havarl -- a jungle world of the Angara race"></img></a>
<p>I do wonder how much are all these things a result of selective memory, but that’s the impression Mass Effect left me with.
The other two games were a disappointment in all these regards.</p>
<p>Now, the first game did have its issues.
All the planet bases looking the same.
Door locks being protected by a circular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogger">frogger-like</a> puzzle (thank goodness door lock minigames are mostly a thing of the past).
Endless, incredibly fiddly driving around in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mako_(Mass_Effect)">Mako</a>.
Don’t get me wrong, that had a lot of potential, but the planets were barren and you’ve spent <em>a lot of the time</em> trying to figure out whether this particular slope was too steep to drive on.
And of course the combat was frustrating and boring, but that’s the case for most games.</p>
<p>But despite those, it left a really lasting (it’s 13 years later and I’m gushing over it still) impression.</p>
<a class="image" href="pulsar.jpg"><img src="pulsar_thumb.jpg" alt="A lava planet orbiting a neutron star" title="A lava planet orbiting a neutron star"></img></a>
<p>Mass Effect 2 & 3? Not so much.</p>
<p>The UI reverted to being an afterthought.
The combat?
They brought back ammo!
The one thing the combat had going for it.
The one thing that elevated your typical assortment of handgun, shotgun, assault rifle and sniper rifle lack of imagination into the realm of the future was scrapped.
Of course, this wasn’t the boring real-world ammo.
This was the Future Ammo a.k.a. “<em>the weapons kept overheating so we’ve introduced batteries that you can swap in and out and keep shooting so long as you’ve got 'em</em>”.</p>
<p>The end result is the same — you’re back to having a limited amount of shots before you need to scamper off and pick some more up.
I suspect this was because they tried to position the games for a competitive multiplayer play.
In the end, it made the already boring and frustrating combat even worse.
But it’s been lauded by the critics as way better than the first game so what do I know.
The codex entries became much less interesting and I found myself leaving them for later and then never reading them at all.</p>
<a class="image" href="contact.jpg"><img src="contact_thumb.jpg" alt="Ryder talking to the crew before making first contact with the Angara" title="Ryder talking to the crew before making first contact with the Angara"></img></a>
<p>Mass Effect 3’s biggest legacy is probably that of its controversial ending and the players' response to it.
I mean a full-on fan outrage, demanding Bioware take it back, pretend it never happened and then release the actual good ending.
Advertising and trade regulators had to look at the endings and rule whether the game’s ad copies were deceitful.
<em>Good fucking grief.</em></p>
<p>The whole thing was absolutely ridiculous and blown out of proportion by people who take games way too seriously.
And I’m saying this as someone who (as evidenced on this blog) takes games, TV shows and books way too seriously.
That said, the ending was absolutely not great.
I’d say about as bad as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series)">Battlestar Galactica’s</a>, except BSG has managed to thread <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Along_the_Watchtower">one of the best songs ever made</a> throughout half of the show, delivering an emotional payout that almost overshadowed the actual nonsense of a plot resolution.
Thinking about the music there, I still get the shivers.
Mass Effect had nothing like that.</p>
<p>But (and this does not get mentioned enough): most game endings are shit.
Yes, this was a conclusion of an epic journey five years in the making and the players deserved better, but still.</p>
<a class="image" href="remnant.jpg"><img src="remnant_thumb.jpg" alt="An alien megastructure deep underground" title="An alien megastructure deep underground"></img></a>
<p>And more importantly, <em>it wasn’t just the ME 3 <strong>ending</strong> that was crap</em>.
The disgruntled people would have you believe that the entire trilogy was absolutely wonderful right until the final fifteen minutes where it all went down the toilet.
That is absolutely not the case.
Mass Effect 2’s plot had you working for a criminal fascist conspiracist because…​ reasons?
With companions that either have no reason to work with you or for the boss.
Facing antagonists that made no sense, with plot-induced breaks from the rules established by the game.</p>
<p>And let’s not forget: it ended with you fighting a giant human baby made of parts of kidnapped humans.
Because I guess the antagonists were kinda dicks?
Oh yeah also: your character was literally resurrected from the dead after which no one got resurrected from the dead ever again.</p>
<p>ME2’s main plot was dummmmmm.</p>
<a class="image" href="sniper-physics.jpg"><img src="sniper-physics_thumb.jpg" alt="A game tip saying that sniper rifles do more damage when looking through the scope" title="A game tip saying that sniper rifles do more damage when looking through the scope"></img></a>
<p>But, the game itself was fun, it coasted on the excellence that the original set up and the things that you’ve spent most of your time doing — companion quests and exploration — were still awesome.
Some of your decisions you made in the first game carried over got a wonderful payout here.</p>
<p>And Mass Effect 3 was pretty much the same deal.
I’ve still really enjoyed both games and was left wanting for more.
But they weren’t the pinnacles of story telling they were drummed up to be in the efforts to get the ending changed.</p>
<h2 id="andromeda">Andromeda</h2>
<p>Which is why I’m really puzzled by the reception that Andromeda got.</p>
<a class="image" href="eos.jpg"><img src="eos_thumb.jpg" alt="A look at the lake on an alien planet" title="A look at the lake on an alien planet"></img></a>
<p>Yes, it sets up a rule for fixing a broken helmet on a planet with an unbreathable atmosphere which it abandons two hours later because the plot demands it.
Yes, the antagonists are initially set up as just plain old boring evils (and when you learn more much later on, they’re still not particularly interesting).
And indeed the UI and the controls are a step down and very much feel like an afterthought.
It looks like one of those poorly made "futuristic" Winamp skins.
The game is glitchy, finicky, the initial writing is all over the place (but it does get better) and the sound direction is a bit of a mess.</p>
<a class="image" href="black-hole.jpg"><img src="black-hole_thumb.jpg" alt="A stellar system neighbouring a black hole" title="A stellar system neighbouring a black hole"></img></a>
<p>So yes you can tell I’m actually setting up a huge "but it’s actually good" argument here.</p>
<p>But while we’re ragging on the game: a lot of the interaction with characters (someone gives you a quest, sends you some info, etc.) happens via email.
Now, the year is 2021 and I can read email anywhere I am because I can access it via a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone">small device I carry in my pocket</a>.
And I’ve got it on a good authority that there are billions of people who can do the same and, crucially, <strong>things were not that different in 2017</strong> when the game came out.
Which is why it’s puzzling that when you land on the central hub of all the new civilisation in Andromeda — a place that hosts the self-aware AI that you’ve got a constant techno-psychic link with — you cannot find an email terminal anywhere.
Not in your pocket, not on the omnitool on your arm, not in the public places, not in your room, not in the server room hosting the aforementioned AI.
You wanna read an email? You’ve got to go back to your ship.
And every time you do that, the game plays an animation where you <strong>leave</strong> the space station and go into space so you can read the email and then play another (unskippable, of course) animation to land back on the hub.
I guess people in the future took disconnecting super seriously, but also really inconsistently.</p>
<p>So yes, on reflection I understand why people bounced off it.
But it was actually pretty good!
Not 10 out of 10 (which if we’re being honest none of the Mass Effect games really deserved), but a really solid 7/10.</p>
<a class="image" href="humans.jpg"><img src="humans_thumb.jpg" alt="A machine explaining that humans overcame their differences and celebrate diversity" title="A machine explaining that humans overcame their differences and celebrate diversity"></img></a>
<p>The companions are fantastic, the places you get to explore are wonderful, even the overarching plot is quite decent, actually.
I’ve definitely enjoyed uncovering the mysteries, solving all the little quests, spending quality time with the crew, and every now and then, even the shooty bits.
Just like its predecessors, the Andromeda is in this weird position of great character interaction and mostly uninteresting combat.
The music (especially the main menu one) is fantastic.
Pretty much all the character skills are combat related so the choice is not between different ways to solve a problem, but between different means of killing the enemies which is emphatically not my thing.
But we got back the driving around the planet and this was much more interesting and much less frustrating than in the first Mass Effect.
Although, it was still rather fiddly and could have used more polish.</p>
<a class="image" href="driving.jpg"><img src="driving_thumb.jpg" alt="Driving around a planet with a dinosaur-like creature in the background" title="Driving around a planet with a dinosaur-like creature in the background"></img></a>
<p>The lack of polish is a strong theme throughout the game’s many systems.
The writing could use a touch-up, the UI is in sore need of one and a lot of the other areas felt like they had the necessities in place but they weren’t quite where they should be.
With maybe a year of focused attention, the game could easily have risen to the heights of the first one and achieve the critical and player acclaim it desired.</p>
<p>But honestly, it felt so great spending time with all the Mass Effect species again.
This game coasts on the Mass Effect universe just like all the other ones do.
But it’s still a really wonderful place they’ve managed to put together and cast it in a bit of a different light here.
Fewer restrictions on AI research, more opportunities for the Krogan to grow, a new friendly but really wary race to get to know.</p>
<a class="image" href="fam.jpg"><img src="fam_thumb.jpg" alt="The ship's crew watching a movie together" title="The ship's crew watching a movie together"></img></a>
<p>There’s a bunch of loose ends that were clearly meant to be explored more in the subsequent games.
We won’t know who the Remnant builders are.
We won’t learn what happened to that machine buried under Voeld.
We won’t understand the Scourge, its causes and any connection to the Remnant or the changes on the golden worlds.
Think of all the unresolved stuff that we’d be left with if Mass Effect 2 & 3 never happened.
And I’m genuinely saddened by that.</p>
<p>But, the game had a really solid resolution, an ending that didn’t have a huge bang but also (crucially!) didn’t drag on for too long, didn’t have a bad boss fight at the end of it and wrapped the whole thing up quite nicely.</p>
<a class="image" href="epilogue.jpg"><img src="epilogue_thumb.jpg" alt="Ryder looking at the crew ready to go on the next mission" title="Ryder looking at the crew ready to go on the next mission"></img></a>
<p>Mass Effect: Andromeda is definitely a mixed bag, but one that I’ve enjoyed throughout and look back on with fondness.</p>
2021 in RoguelikeDevhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/01/31/2021-in-roguelikedev/2021-01-31T18:55:19+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>The <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikedev/">r/roguelikedev subreddit community</a> hosts a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikedev/comments/ko17gw/2021_in_roguelikedev_a_january_event/">yearly January event</a> where authors talk about the last year in development and look ahead. This is my post (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikedev/comments/l8nap5/2021_in_roguelikedev_dose_response/">originally on Reddit</a>)</em>.</p>
<h2 id="dose_response">Dose Response</h2>
<p>Dose Response is an open world roguelike where you’re an addict. You’re wandering around, desperately looking for the next fix, having to avoid the dangers surrounding you.</p>
<p>It’s an abstract game — no needles or guns, the monsters are concepts rather than orcs or trolls. The focus is more on the loop of compulsion and the alternating of feeling great and the fall that follows.</p>
<p>It is also supposed to be a relatively short and simple game. One where you don’t have a tonne of things to learn. There’s few items, a handful of monsters, no levelling and no spells. Something that a "normal player" would be able to play (and win if they’re careful) while still being challenging and true to the roguelike feel.</p>
<h2 id="2020_retrospective">2020 Retrospective</h2>
<p>I had planned to double down on Dose Response development and release it on Steam. But the last 15 months or so have been incredibly difficult for me. Crises came in different forms, from many angles, one after another. It took a huge amount of effort and energy to remain safe and (mostly) sound.</p>
<p>Things are better now, but I was able to do a small fraction of what I planned.</p>
<p>I’ve wanted to add graphical tiles to the game for a long time, but I really worried about being able to keep the feel of the game, maintain the abstract nature of it.</p>
<p>Then I came across this free <a href="https://v3x3d.itch.io/bountiful-bits">Bountiful Bits tileset by VEXED</a> and I loved it instantly. Put it in the game, loved the look and asked the author if they were willing to create the tiles that were missing (characters, monsters, food, doses).</p>
<p>And we came up with a great agreement. The work was in a range I was happy to pay for something that will unlikely reach any real profit, they’re licensed under CC0 which means I can keep the game fully open source and <a href="https://vexed.zone/tools/">VEXED</a> can have them in their open portfolio.</p>
<p>VEXED has been fantastic to work with — they took on my deeply vague requests and created something with the exact look and feel I wanted.</p>
<h3 id="screenshots">Screenshots</h3>
<p>Companion NPC with tiles:</p>
<a class="image" href="screenshot-2021-01-30-gfx.png"><img src="screenshot-2021-01-30-gfx_thumb.png" alt="Companion NPC screenshot with tiles" title="Companion NPC screenshot with tiles"></img></a>
<p>Same screenshot with ASCII graphics:</p>
<a class="image" href="screenshot-2021-01-30-ascii.png"><img src="screenshot-2021-01-30-ascii_thumb.png" alt="Companion NPC screenshot in ASCII" title="Companion NPC screenshot in ASCII"></img></a>
<p>A fully uncovered game map:</p>
<a class="image" href="screenshot-2021-01-30-full-ascii.png"><img src="screenshot-2021-01-30-full-ascii_thumb.png" alt="Screenshot of the full game map with tiles" title="Screenshot of the full game map with tiles"></img></a>
<p>Same with ASCII graphics:</p>
<a class="image" href="screenshot-2021-01-30-full-gfx.png"><img src="screenshot-2021-01-30-full-gfx_thumb.png" alt="Screenshot of the full game map in ASCII" title="Screenshot of the full game map in ASCII"></img></a>
<p>The only other significant thing I’ve done was replace my ad-hoc text-based UI code with a Rust-native library called <a href="https://github.com/emilk/egui/">egui</a>. It’s a pretty young project, but it’s got actual widgets, can do layouts, is renderer agnostic and therefore let me do a lot of things I’ve been putting off.</p>
<p>Main menu:</p>
<a class="image" href="screenshot-2021-01-30-menu.png"><img src="screenshot-2021-01-30-menu_thumb.png" alt="Main Menu" title="Main Menu"></img></a>
<p>Settings:</p>
<a class="image" href="screenshot-2021-01-30-settings.png"><img src="screenshot-2021-01-30-settings_thumb.png" alt="Settings" title="Settings"></img></a>
<p>Oh, and I finally also got a laptop from Apple a year ago and thus managed to fix issues on that platform. Since then, Apple has switched their lineup to a completely new CPU architecture so who knows if it’ll still work there. I’m not buying a mac every year.</p>
<h2 id="2021_outlook">2021 Outlook</h2>
<p>There’s a handful of things that I’d like to do before I feel I’m satisfied with the game:</p>
<ul>
<li>Finish up the menu and GUI work
<ul>
<li>Add the graphical tiles to the Help pages, inventory, etc.
<ul>
<li>Right now, the GUI only shows the ASCII version of everything</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Implement the Challenge settings to make the game easier/harder to play</li>
<li>Add a colour-blind and/or greyscale mode</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Add (optional) sounds and some ambient music</li>
<li>Improve the world generation
<ul>
<li>I like what the current naïve worldgen produces</li>
<li>But I’d like to make the exploration more varied and interesting</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Better mouse support
<ul>
<li>You can fully control the game with a mouse but it’s awkward</li>
<li>I’d like to make it feel better without compromising on the "roguelikeness"</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Start posting regular gameplay videos and updates</li>
</ul>
<p>None of these are massive, but they’ll take time and energy which is in short supply still.</p>
<p>And the biggie: release on Steam.</p>
<p>Even without updating the gameplay, I want to finish up the graphics, sound & controls work before I’m comfortable putting it on Steam, though.</p>
<h2 id="links">Links</h2>
<p><a href="https://tryjumping.com/dose-response-roguelike/">Website</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjkn7_YyBM8">Trailer</a> | <a href="https://tryjumping.itch.io/dose-response">itch.io</a> | <a href="https://github.com/tryjumping/dose-response">Source</a> | <a href="https://tryjumping.com/dose-response-roguelike/play/">Play Online</a></p>
<p>The version on the website/itch doesn’t have the new changes. I need to read up on Steam’s (and other stores') policies to see how much is allowed on other sites with possibly different payment strategies (Dose Response on Itch is pay what you want). I might end up keeping the ASCII-only version as is and make the new version with graphics etc. have a set price.</p>
How to Argue With a Racist by Adam Rutherfordhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/01/16/how-to-argue-with-a-racist-by-adam-rutherford/2021-01-16T12:36:32+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3503844665">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>How to Argue With a Racist is an excellent book about the history, biology, sociology and genetics of human race. It does not cover the psychology of deeply held ideas or how to change minds, which makes the title a bit of a misnomer.</p>
<p>It will explain where the science stands on a lot of commonly held beliefs and debunk common racist talking points. But as the saying goes, you can’t reason someone out of a position they hadn’t reasoned themselves into.</p>
<p>Despite being (intentionally) quite short, it covers a wide range of topics: from the history of genetics, genealogy and their connection to colonialism and oppression, to the seeming domination of certain races in sports and the underlying biology (and lack thereof).</p>
<p>Rutherford convincingly argues genetics show no clear delineation of the commonly-used human races. For example, the African population that’s conveniently lumped together under the "black" moniker has far greater genetic diversity than all the rest of the world combined. Every trait commonly attributed to a certain group can be found elsewhere and the human populations have mixed much more than people think and that modern racists would have us believe.</p>
<p>But he does argue that race exists. It is, however, a social construct. One that historically arose from conquest and exploitation and it is still used for those purposes today.</p>
<p>He explains the current and likely fundamental limitations of the DNA-based ancestry testing and how they are being used and vastly misinterpreted in white supremacy forums. And how, even when used for less nefarious purposes, they paint a really misleading and incomplete picture.</p>
<p>When getting to sport performance, the book completely demolishes the "Black people are the best sprinters because they had to run in the planes of Africa" or that the African-American success is somehow linked to a selection during slavery.</p>
<p>There are genes associated with physical performance, but their numbers are vast and our understanding of their function is tiny. Even for seemingly clear and simple traits such as the eye colour the genetic story is much more complicated than I thought.</p>
<p>When it comes to things such as height, sport performance or intelligence, we’ve discovered hundreds or thousands of genes that are correlated <strong>somehow</strong>, but their exact contribution and how they interact is unknown.</p>
<p>And even then, while certain innate physical abilities definitely play a role and may be necessary for the absolute peak performance, they’re far from the whole story and they’re spread out through the entire human population.</p>
<p>Access to training facilities, coaches, resources, education, support, role models, culture — all these play a <strong>massive</strong> role in success. When you examine the "sport success depends on race" hypothesis with a just tiny bit of critical thought it crumbles. If people of recent African origin are so inherently physically superior in sprinting or long-distance running, why aren’t they dominating speed skating, sprint cycling and my favourite: climbing. All the "out of Africa" explanations should map equally well to climbing. Or, why aren’t South Americans dominating the Olympic sprinting alongside their North American neighbours? The slavery of Africans was just as vibrant there.</p>
<p>It just doesn’t add up, but this sort of lazy thinking is as common as it is inadequate.</p>
<p>"It seems absurd to say it, but the pivotal element in being able to swim is learning to swim. Rather than contesting some imaginary biological sinking factor."</p>
<p>Adam Rutherford draws into his scientific background in evolutionary genetics and his decades in science communication to put together a fantastic resource on human race. One of the few scientific books I would recommend to absolutely everyone.</p>
Games Played in 2020https://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2021/01/04/games-played-in-2020/2021-01-04T21:24:41+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>I’ve played lots of games in 2020. In part because I couldn’t do a lot other activities such as climbing, seeing people, etc. In part because of the deep desire to return to the familiar while the world was figuratively and literally on fire.</p>
<p>It’s not that I’ve had more time due to the lockdowns or whatnot. If anything, I’ve been working longer and harder this year. But I didn’t have the energy or the mental capability to do much else. And so after work, I just picked up a game instead.</p>
<p>Not necessarily the healthiest option, definitely not the most productive one, but it got me through.</p>
<h2 id="star_wars_jedi_fallen_order">Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order</h2>
<a class="image" href="jedi-fallen-order.jpg"><img src="jedi-fallen-order_thumb.jpg" alt="Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order screenshot" title="Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order screenshot"></img></a>
<p>I was hoping against hope that this would be a great game. I’ve been dreaming about a soulslike game with lightsabers for a long time.</p>
<p>Sadly, the combat was chaotic, the writing and storytelling weak and the main character bland.</p>
<p>It highlighted how fantastic FromSoft are at what they do and that you can’t just drop Souls mechanics into a game and make it magically feel good.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/jedi-fallen-order">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2020/03/01/jedi-fallen-order/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="stardew_valley">Stardew Valley</h2>
<a class="image" href="stardew-valley.png"><img src="stardew-valley_thumb.png" alt="Stardew Valley screenshot" title="Stardew Valley screenshot"></img></a>
<p>I’ve played a little bit of Stardew Valley, but I just don’t feel the urge to play more. I think part of it is that in order to get the characters to like you more you need to keep giving them gifts and figure out what they do and don’t like. And the farming itself seems to be similarly complex.</p>
<p>Which cheapens the wholesomeness somewhat. I don’t want to keep detailed records of who likes what gift or which seeds are the most profitable. Or read a forum and follow a guide that someone optimised to death.</p>
<p>But not interacting with these systems feels like missing out on a tonne of stuff. I’ve attended a couple of festivals in the game and no one wanted to e.g. dance with me. So yea I can shut in and just focus on farming, but that’s not the life I want my character to live.</p>
<p>Still, it’s a beautiful, lovely game and I’d like to return to it.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.stardewvalley.net/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="love_is_strange">Love Is Strange</h2>
<a class="image" href="love-is-strange.png"><img src="love-is-strange_thumb.png" alt="Love Is Strange screenshot" title="Love Is Strange screenshot"></img></a>
<p>This is a visual novel inspired by Life is Strange. You play as Max and your photography class teacher asked all of you to pick a partner and do a project together.</p>
<p>You can choose Chloe, Kate, Rachel or Victoria. There’s no time rewind, no horrific shit, you just spend a week together, getting to know one another better and taking the best picture you can to win the contest.</p>
<p>Each playthrough is maybe about an hour long and I did one with each of the characters. It was delightful and really relaxing that Life is Strange could not be.</p>
<p>Some of the faces looked a bit iffy, but overall the graphics were lovely and I really enjoyed the writing.</p>
<p>Wish Dontnod would make a game that didn’t have a tragedy at its core. I really really do.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://teamrumblebee.itch.io/lisvn">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="doki_doki_literature_club">Doki Doki Literature Club</h2>
<a class="image" href="doki-doki-literature-club.jpg"><img src="doki-doki-literature-club_thumb.jpg" alt="Doki Doki Literature Club screenshot" title="Doki Doki Literature Club screenshot"></img></a>
<p>I kept hearing about this one — how it’s not what it seems and how it’s really good and really smart.</p>
<p>It looks like a super trashy dating sim that I would never have picked up on my own. And indeed the game feels like a massive cliché, but soon something starts to feel off and when it picks up…​ yeah.</p>
<p>Discussing the details is difficult, because it’s all a massive spoiler directory. But you should know that if you’re faint of heart or a person who appreciates content warnings, please do seek them out even though they’ll spoil things.</p>
<p>I loved the game, but a few scenes were really difficult for me to handle. It was absolutely worth it, but yea it’s not a light carefree game.</p>
<p>Definitely really smart. Certain bits give me strong Undertale vibes.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://ddlc.moe/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="bloodborne_ng">Bloodborne NG+</h2>
<a class="image" href="bloodborne.jpg"><img src="bloodborne_thumb.jpg" alt="Bloodborne screenshot" title="Bloodborne screenshot"></img></a>
<p>It’s strange to think of Bloodborne as my comfort game, but it is. Yes, it is tense, unforgiving, with a challenging combat. But once you’ve played it once and know what’s going on, it feels like returning to the place of your childhood.</p>
<p>So yes, when I was at my lowest, I played Bloodborne and it was great.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/bloodborne/">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2019/07/28/bloodborne/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="ladykiller_in_a_bind">Ladykiller In a Bind</h2>
<a class="image" href="ladykiller-in-a-bind.png"><img src="ladykiller-in-a-bind_thumb.png" alt="Ladykiller In a Bind screenshot" title="Ladykiller In a Bind screenshot"></img></a>
<p>My other comfort game is this strange but absolutely hilarious, beautifully drawn and perfectly written crossdressing lesbian cruise misadventure.</p>
<p>I haven’t played it much this year, but when I was feeling a bit sick and tired and sad, I gave it a spin for a few hours and felt much better.</p>
<p>(<a href="http://ladykillerinabind.com/">website (NSFW)</a>)</p>
<h2 id="final_fantasy_vii_remake">Final Fantasy VII Remake</h2>
<a class="image" href="final-fantasy-vii-remake.jpg"><img src="final-fantasy-vii-remake_thumb.jpg" alt="Final Fantasy VII Remake screenshot" title="Final Fantasy VII Remake screenshot"></img></a>
<p>I’ve always wanted to play jRPGs and never got very far with them. I was hoping this remake of FFVII would finally stick and…​ it did!</p>
<p>It was beautiful and weird and overall more frustrating than fun. But: I’ve definitely enjoyed it and I don’t regret playing it at all. I finally get all the Cloud and Tifa and Barret references and fan art.</p>
<p>Wish I knew it didn’t cover the full scope of the original Final Fantasy VII, though.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://ffvii-remake.square-enix-games.com/en-us">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2020/10/13/final-fantasy-vii-remake/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="tell_me_why">Tell Me Why</h2>
<a class="image" href="tell-me-why.jpg"><img src="tell-me-why_thumb.jpg" alt="Tell Me Why Screenshot" title="Tell Me Why Screenshot"></img></a>
<p>This is the third <strong>Life is Strange</strong> game as far as I’m concerned. I’ve had a great time playing it. Loved Aly, Tyler and Michael <em>so much</em>.</p>
<p>Though again, Dontnod how about making a game that doesn’t have a horrific tragedy in it.</p>
<p>Side note: I’ve followed Alyson’s lead and finally got myself a telescope.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.tellmewhygame.com/">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2020/12/13/tell-me-why/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="arity">Arity</h2>
<a class="image" href="arity.png"><img src="arity_thumb.png" alt="Arity screenshot" title="Arity screenshot"></img></a>
<p>Lovely short RPG with great characters and a great endgame (how often does that happen!!).</p>
<p>Took maybe a couple hours to finish, had a simple but intriguing combat I was actually willing to engage with. Cool story, great ending, everything distilled into those couple of hours, no cruft.</p>
<p>I’d love to play more games like that.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://mistodon.itch.io/arity">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2020/11/02/arity-video-game/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="one_night_stand">One Night Stand</h2>
<a class="image" href="one-night-stand.png"><img src="one-night-stand_thumb.png" alt="One Night Stand screenshot" title="One Night Stand screenshot"></img></a>
<p>Excellent music, fantastic graphics, I really enjoyed the writing. Short, wonderful game.</p>
<p>It delves straight into the awkwardness of the situation, the intimacy combined with a lack of closeness and the boundaries one needs to be mindful of.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://kinmoku.itch.io/one-night-stand">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2020/12/24/one-night-stand/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="spelunky_2">Spelunky 2</h2>
<a class="image" href="spelunky-2.jpg"><img src="spelunky-2_thumb.jpg" alt="Spelunky 2 screenshot" title="Spelunky 2 screenshot"></img></a>
<p>I’ve played it a bunch, but not as much as I expected to. It definitely didn’t get me obsessed to the level the first game did. Which isn’t bad, my relationship with Spelunky did skirt the unhealthiness line occasionally.</p>
<p>It’s a great game, I think I’ll definitely play a lot more of it. But it is much more difficult and I’ve got less drive to play it. Also, fuck the moles.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.blitworks.com/spelunky_2/">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="a_summers_end">A Summer’s End</h2>
<a class="image" href="a-summers-end.png"><img src="a-summers-end_thumb.png" alt="A Summer's End screenshot" title="A Summer's End screenshot"></img></a>
<p>A wonderful visual novel with a unique look and great setting that’s undermined by the writing somewhat. Still, I’ve been glad to have played it.</p>
<p>The combination of Western and Asian cultures, the uncertainties about the handover, the difficult relationship with the parents…​ it’s got really powerful themes.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.asummersend.com/">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2020/12/26/a-summers-end/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="paradise_killer">Paradise Killer</h2>
<a class="image" href="paradise-killer.jpg"><img src="paradise-killer_thumb.jpg" alt="Paradise Killer screenshot" title="Paradise Killer screenshot"></img></a>
<p>Absolutely mental game. Great music, great visuals, <strong>bonkers</strong> setting and characters. Really, really special.</p>
<p>You’re an immortal detective called in from her eternal prison to solve a murder most foul. The island is controlled by cultists trying to revive the <em>old gods</em>. But, you’re one of the cultists and just want to resolve the crime so you can all get back to living the life and sacrificing the "citizens" kidnapped to worship the gods.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://fellowtraveller.games/games/paradise-killer/">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2020/12/30/paradise-killer/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="butterfly_soup">Butterfly Soup</h2>
<a class="image" href="butterfly-soup.png"><img src="butterfly-soup_thumb.png" alt="Butterfly Soup screenshot" title="Butterfly Soup screenshot"></img></a>
<p>My favourite game of the year. I love the writing, the humour, the characters.</p>
<p>A visual novel of four wonderfully unique American girls, who share two things: being Asian and gay. It is hilarious, smart, surprising, wonderful.</p>
<p>I expect to be playing this many more times.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://brianna-lei.itch.io/butterfly-soup">website</a>, <a href="/blog/2020/12/27/butterfly-soup/">review</a>)</p>
<h2 id="mass_effect_andromeda">Mass Effect: Andromeda</h2>
<a class="image" href="mass-effect-andromeda.jpg"><img src="mass-effect-andromeda_thumb.jpg" alt="Mass Effect Andromeda screenshot" title="Mass Effect Andromeda screenshot"></img></a>
<p>I hadn’t planned to play it at all based on the game’s negative reception. But lately, I’ve heard a multitude of "Andromeda was quite good, actually" voices and decided to give it a go.</p>
<p>It’s massive, I’ve not finished it yet but I’ve played a lot of it.</p>
<p>And it’s definitely got a lot of bugs, technical issues and writing problems. If I played it when it came out, expecting more of Mass Effect (though that series got steadily worse too), I’d have been bitterly disappointed.</p>
<p>But underneath all the issues and all the jank, there is a really good game there. Characters I like, good mysteries, learning about a new world, the Mass Effect races you know and love.</p>
<p>The perfect 7/10 game I think. With a potential to have been so much more than it actually is.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.ea.com/games/mass-effect/mass-effect-andromeda">website</a>)</p>
<h2 id="in_store_for_2021">In store for 2021</h2>
<ul>
<li>Finish Mass Effect: Andromeda</li>
<li>More Spelunky 2</li>
<li>Vampire The Masquerade 2</li>
<li>Nighthawks</li>
<li>Geneforge 1 Remastered
<ul>
<li>Spiderweb Software make really solid classic RPGs</li>
<li>I was always intrigued by the Geneforge world, but only played the last game in the series</li>
<li>I was waiting for the remaster (supported them on Kickstarter) and it should come out in 2021</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Queen’s Wish
<ul>
<li>The latest Spiderweb Software game</li>
<li>New setting and systems</li>
<li>Tries to streamline the classic RPG formula in interesting ways</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Demon’s Souls Remake on PS5
<ul>
<li>My PS5 will arrive sometime in February and this is the game I’ll probably play first there</li>
<li>Predecessor to Dark Souls</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>Also, almost certainly more visual novels.</p>
<p>If the time & mood is right, I’d like to do a NG++ Bloodborne playthrough to pick up the one remaining achievement (the waking up ending).</p>
<p>Despite last year’s expectations, I will almost certainly not play Cyberpunk 2077 after all. The release has been massively rushed out, it’s apparently super buggy (despite (or because of?) breaking the "no crunch" promise) and they willfully mislead the PS4 and Xbox One players.</p>
<p>I might possibly pick it up a couple years later assuming they’ve fixed it up. Although I’m deeply disappointed with the way CD Project handled the last several months, so I might not out of principle.</p>
<p>Finally, I’d like to give Divinity: Original Sin and Skyrim another chance, but who knows.</p>
Paradise Killerhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/12/30/paradise-killer/2020-12-30T12:10:08+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><a href="http://paradisekiller.com/">Paradise Killer</a> is a gorgeous-looking exploration game set on a mad cultist island. You control <strong>Lady Love Dies</strong>, an investigator tasked with solving the murder of all the island’s council members.</p>
<p>The island is meant to the perfect place for its inhabitants (other than the thousands of people abducted, forced to worship and ultimately sacrificed, <em>of course</em>) to live, pursue their interests and wake up the old gods.</p>
<a class="image" href="temple.jpg"><img src="temple_thumb.jpg" alt="A view of the island" title="A view of the island"></img></a>
<p>Every island so far (including this one) has failed and you’re brought in during the move to the new one, because the council (who dream up the new island and bring it into the existence) were killed.</p>
<p>This is not your typical fantasy setting. It’s not a classical Lovecraftian horror either. You are the ruling class, waking up the gods is the right thing to do and there’s few tentacles around.</p>
<p>The characters include a living red skeleton (<strong>Sam Day Break</strong>), a hot Scottish doctor with prosthetic arms (<strong>Doctor Doom Jazz</strong>, officially the best name ever invented) and last but not least, a beauty idol with a goat head (<strong>Crimson Acid</strong>).</p>
<a class="image" href="aura.jpg"><img src="aura_thumb.jpg" alt="Sam Day Break describing his whisky ingredients" title="Sam Day Break describing his whisky ingredients"></img></a>
<p>I’ve heard Paradise Killer described as a detective game, but that’s not really accurate in my experience. Yes, you are tasked with solving crimes, you interrogate the citisens, question their alibis, look for inconsistencies and gather the evidence. At the end, you participate in a trial to find who’s guilty.</p>
<p>But, what you do <em>in practice</em> is explore every nook an cranny of the island, get into hidden or locked-away locations and make sure you haven’t missed a crucial piece of data somewhere.</p>
<p>And it should be played that way. Approaching it as a detective, one would want prioritise interrogating the crime scene, interviewing all the suspects, pointing out inconsistencies, etc. They’re all located in different places and the fast-travel system is rather costly early in the game, resulting in a frustrating experience.</p>
<p>If instead you decide to walk everywhere (guided by the cases) and prioritise finding clues and information spread all throughout the island and talk to people as you come across them, you will build a much better picture in your head and you will not miss any crucial evidence. By the time you do need to talk back and forth, you’ll have amassed enough of the island’s currency to hop where you need to go.</p>
<a class="image" href="crimson-acid.jpg"><img src="crimson-acid_thumb.jpg" alt="Crimson Acid talks about secrets" title="Crimson Acid talks about secrets"></img></a>
<p><strong>Gameplay tip</strong>: <em>use the foot baths as soon as you can, buy a drink from every vending machine you come across and prioritise getting the Starlink upgrades. These will all be really helpful to you throughout.</em></p>
<p>The game is has got a strong atmosphere. It’s <em>mad</em>, but in a good way. Learning about the rituals, the history, the inhabitants — it showcases the best Cosmic Horror while simultaneously managing to make it feel <strong>mundane</strong>. This isn’t a lone detective trying to uncover a cultist plot. The <em>plot has succeeded</em> centuries ago. The cultists have found a place for them to live, contacted the old gods and built a functioning society. Everyone’s already incredibly powerful and basically immortal. Other than demons possessing the inhabitants and corrupting the island, this <em>is</em> a cultist paradise.</p>
<a class="image" href="sleep-at-night.jpg"><img src="sleep-at-night_thumb.jpg" alt="How do you sleep at night" title="How do you sleep at night"></img></a>
<p>And yet even the immortal godlike beings are prone to conspiracies, hatred, jealousy, rumours, betrayal, ambition and most of all <em>hubris</em>.</p>
<p>Despite being largely static, Paradise Killer manages to build a powerful sense of place. This island exists, people lived and keep living on it. Locations have their distinct feel and purpose, from the high-rise industrial complexes and the small houses of the working class to the lush apartments occupied the members of the Syndicate.</p>
<a class="image" href="silent-goat.jpg"><img src="silent-goat_thumb.jpg" alt="May the Silent Goat walk with you in all of the cosmic heavens" title="May the Silent Goat walk with you in all of the cosmic heavens"></img></a>
<p>This goes all the way into their language and customs. How you say good bye to someone depends on that person’s birth sign. You would part <strong>Grand Marshal Akiko</strong> with “May your night be bright” (she was born under the sign of the <em>New Night</em>). <strong>Lady Love Dies</strong> (born under the sign of <em>Kiss Me To The Moon</em>) is always told “May you reach the Moon”.</p>
<p>Rarely have I experienced a world where everything worked to build a common sense of culture and made it alive.</p>
<hr>
<p>Visually, the game is set in a 3D environment with items and characters being rendered as 2D sprites always facing you — a look I’ve last seen in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Might_and_Magic_VIII:_Day_of_the_Destroyer">Might and Magic VIII</a>. It feels a bit strange, but it works fine.</p>
<a class="image" href="blood-crystal.jpg"><img src="blood-crystal_thumb.jpg" alt="Blood Crystal ready to be picked up" title="Blood Crystal ready to be picked up"></img></a>
<p>I do have a few minor quibbles, though.</p>
<p>The voice acting is superb, but only a limited number of lines is recorded. This is common enough, but it’s made worse here by the fact that what’s voiced is not what a character says, but rather the general idea or feeling of the sentence,</p>
<p>So for example, alongside a dialogue like this:</p>
<p><strong>Love Dies</strong>: “Who do you think killed the council?”<br>
<strong>Akiko</strong>: “The suspect I’ve got imprisoned right here!”<br>
<strong>Love Dies</strong>: “Can you think of anyone who might benefit?”<br>
<strong>Akiko</strong>: “Why? We’ve got the evidence tying Henry to the murders.”</p>
<p>What you’ll actually hear (driven by Love Dies’s investigative attitude and Akiko’s dislike of poking into an open-and-shut case) is:</p>
<p><strong>Love Dies</strong>: “I am the investigator.”<br>
<strong>Akiko</strong>: “I’ll kill you!”<br>
<strong>Love Dies</strong>: “The Investigator is here.”<br>
<strong>Akiko</strong>: “I’ll kill you!”</p>
<p>More often than not, this makes the dialogues feel incongruous despite the consistently excellent writing.</p>
<hr>
<p>Secondly, the items you can pick up in the world (Blood Crystals, mementos, pieces of evidence) have this strange pixelated look to them. I <em>think</em> that’s intentional so they’re easier to see at a glance, but it just feels weird.</p>
<a class="image" href="evidence.jpg"><img src="evidence_thumb.jpg" alt="A piece of evidence under the bed" title="A piece of evidence under the bed"></img></a>
<p>And…​ that’s it! Nothing else to complain about.</p>
<p>Paradise Killer is a fantastic game, with a unique look, intriguing multi-faceted mystery, absolutely brilliant character design and an amazing atmosphere.</p>
<a class="image" href="function-over-form.jpg"><img src="function-over-form_thumb.jpg" alt="Folly to prioritise form over function" title="Folly to prioritise form over function"></img></a>
Butterfly Souphttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/12/27/butterfly-soup/2020-12-27T16:50:16+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><a href="https://brianna-lei.itch.io/butterfly-soup">Butterfly Soup is a visual novel about gay asian girls playing baseball and falling in love</a> by Brianna Lei.</p>
<p>I love this game so much. 2020 was a strong year for playing games, but this is my absolute favourite. Set in a mostly-asian community in Oakland the game follows four friends who attend the same school, go about their day and play baseball.</p>
<a class="image" href="baseball.png"><img src="baseball_thumb.png" alt="Makes no sense" title="Makes no sense"></img></a>
<p>A minute into the game I was roaring with laughter. It is also absolutely endearing, really smart and delightfully human, but I was giggling and laughing out loud throughout. There are very few games that actually made me smile much less laugh with any regularity (<a href="http://ladykillerinabind.com/">Ladykiller in a Bind</a> and <a href="https://undertale.com/">Undertale</a> are the only examples that come to mind).</p>
<p>It is beautifully written.</p>
<p>Despite being lumped into a single "asian" bag by the society, each protagonist speaks a different language (Chinese, Korean and two separate Indian languages) in addition to English and they don’t understand the other ones. This is actually used in the game: when e.g. Min-seo says something in Korean to Diya, the game displays a bunch of Korean characters.</p>
<a class="image" href="asian.png"><img src="asian_thumb.png" alt="White people are rare" title="White people are rare"></img></a>
<p>I really loved how the game explored the different cultures that these girls' families came from. Diversity is a hugely multi-faceted thing and to seriously think that a continent of roughly 4.5 billion people could be generalised into a handful of traits is of course ridiculous.</p>
<p>They’re all really different from each other. Complex, multi-dimensional <em>wonderful</em> individuals. I love them all.</p>
<p>The game is set against the backdrop of the 2008 California state elections during which <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_8">Proposition 8</a> (a nonsensical “well, actually” law, defining marriage as only between a man and a woman) as these girls are trying to figure out and define their own sexuality and how all this seems like a step back.</p>
<a class="image" href="parents.png"><img src="parents_thumb.png" alt="Good people are not always good parents" title="Good people are not always good parents"></img></a>
<p>In a similar vein, they are facing racist remarks despite being told in school that racism in America has ended a long time ago and having to confront the traditional duties expected of their gender as well as the roles their parents expect them to fill.</p>
<p>But mainly, they just chat and spend time together and it’s beautiful.</p>
<p>Throughout the game, you take control over all of them and while I feel closest to Diya, I don’t think the game favours any one of the characters. The frequent switching of points of views is wonderful and not something I’ve experienced much in games. It is put to great effect here — especially when it comes to their family languages.</p>
<a class="image" href="distraction.png"><img src="distraction_thumb.png" alt="Crushing emptiness of life" title="Crushing emptiness of life"></img></a>
<p>Excellent all the way to and including the end, Butterfly Soup — a name which is indeed explained in the game, makes perfect sense and possibly teaches you something about biology (because like I said these are not one-dimensional characters and so they talk about many things) one of the best things that I’ve experienced this year.</p>
<p>It’s relatively short (around four hours) and there’s not a strong drive to replay it (that a lot of other visual novels have). But I’ll probably return to it for the same reason I re-read <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pilgrim">Scott Pilgrim</a> every year or so — I love the characters, the story and everything else in it! In many ways, my feelings about Scott Pilgrim (funny, fast paced, smart, delightful) are the same ones I have towards Butterfly Soup.</p>
<a class="image" href="america.png"><img src="america_thumb.png" alt="Not normal" title="Not normal"></img></a>
A Summer's Endhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/12/26/a-summers-end/2020-12-26T13:36:20+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><a href="https://www.asummersend.com/">A Summer’s End - Hong Kong 1986</a> is a beautiful-looking visual novel set in Hong Kong a decade before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handover_of_Hong_Kong">its handover to China</a>.</p>
<p>You play as Michelle (that’s Cheung Fong Ha’s “English name”), a prim and proper young lady with a good job who lives with her mother. She meets Sam (Wong Ka Yan) who seems to be her polar opposite.</p>
<a class="image" href="accomplished.png"><img src="accomplished_thumb.png" alt="Done for the day" title="Done for the day"></img></a>
<p>It is a beautifully drawn story of friendship and love with fantastic music and that magical 80’s vibe shown through Hong Kong’s lens. It is also a tale of uncertainties — about the future of the protagonist as well as the entire country. With something ending and something else beginning, the atmosphere is absolutely palpable.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the writing (and occasionally the pacing too) doesn’t quite reach the heights set by everything else.</p>
<a class="image" href="bike.png"><img src="bike_thumb.png" alt="Riding the bike" title="Riding the bike"></img></a>
<p>I feel horrible mentioning this (especially as a non-native English speaker), but the word order sometimes feels off, the descriptions are too mechanical and the overall effect is bland — even when there’s something exciting happening. This may be a language barrier or even a completely intentional stylistic choice that I simply did not get.</p>
<p>Either way, combined with the first ten minutes where there’s virtually no dialogue or interactivity of any kind, I was ready to give up.</p>
<p>I’m incredibly glad that I didn’t, though. The pace picks up, the stuffy Michelle is put against the wild Sam and her father (whom I’ve got a massive crush on) and everything gets going. At its heart, A Summer’s End is a romantic movie with familiar twists and contrivances, but it is a wonderful one.</p>
<p>The Hong Kong 80’s setting gives it a fantastic vibe.</p>
<a class="image" href="market.png"><img src="market_thumb.png" alt="Hong Kong market" title="Hong Kong market"></img></a>
<p>I love learning about other cultures and the contrast of the English-speaking world and China is amazing. You get to see the strict upbringing of Michelle’s mother as well as the carefree but sometimes tragically, <em>painfully</em> absent attitude of Sam’s dad and the other men around her. You’ll hear people worrying about the handover and wondering whether to emigrate to the US, move to the mainland or just stay where they are.</p>
<p>The whole "English name" thing was fascinating to learn about. I’ve seen Chinese people use a name like "Joe" for their English-speaking colleagues, but I hadn’t realised it ran more deeply than just an ad-hoc moniker. It is a name you choose for yourself with all that entails.</p>
<p>All this is of course put against the backdrop of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Hong_Kong_protests">Hong Kong protests</a> of the present.</p>
<p>In the end, I’ve really enjoyed the game. The atmosphere is absolutely amazing, it’s got wonderful characters and a great story. Bittersweet, but hopeful.</p>
<a class="image" href="milky-way.png"><img src="milky-way_thumb.png" alt="Sam and Michelle talk about seeing the Milky Way at a beach" title="Sam and Michelle talk about seeing the Milky Way at a beach"></img></a>
<p>The game is definitely worth playing, although I wish the writing had an extra editing pass. But looking at the screenshots a few months later, I feel longing and nostalgia above everything else.</p>
The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Keltonhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/12/25/the-deficit-myth-by-stephanie-kelton/2020-12-25T15:17:11+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3669249350">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>This is a book about a different approach to running the finances of a government via the lens of the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and dispelling some common myths. I’ve heard of MMT, but I know next to nothing about how a government is run or how does money even work, really.</p>
<p>For someone in a similar boat, this is a great book. It walks you through the common (faulty, according to the author) narrative ("the government can only spend money it raises from taxes"), gives a brief history of money and how the barter explanation does not fit in with the historical record and explains what would an MMT-inspired approach look like and how it could be better that the status quo.</p>
<p>The main thesis of the book is that in a government with sovereign control over its currency (i.e. makes its own money which isn’t limited by physical resources such a gold and doesn’t have substantial debts in foreign currencies), a national debt is a huge misnomer and is, in an of itself, not a big deal. Definitely not something that that requires raising taxes, harsh austerity measures or shutting down public-benefit projects.</p>
<p>For these countries (e.g. the US Federal Government, the UK or Japan but not the individual US states or countries that use the Euro) money is never the problem because they can always just make more. And indeed, when it comes to military spending or bailing out the banks, they do just that.</p>
<p>Unlike a household or a company, a government can spend money before it raises it via taxation. This crucial distinction of being ignored by politicians and voters alike.</p>
<p>The MMT emphasises that instead of looking at the deficit as the ultimate limit, countries should pay attention the the real limiting factors — such as land, people, physical resources, etc. And runaway inflation.</p>
<p>It argues that that the current deficit-based thinking does not utilize these actual resources fully and its model for predicting and controlling the inflation leaves a lot of money/resources/people on the table, idling or worse.</p>
<p>The fact that apparently, there’s a certain percentage of unemployment that the US Fed not only tolerates but actually views desirable (to control inflation without good evidence that it works) regardless whether the people can or want to work is utterly inhumane.</p>
<p>In the final part, the book goes into details of what could a universal job guarantee look like (in addition to things like universal health-care that every developed country except for the US has figured out).</p>
<p>The Deficit Myth is absolutely US-centric, mentioning the other countries more as an afterthought. You’ll see the word "federal" a lot. Still, it was an excellent introduction to MMT, perfectly accessible to someone as ignorant as I was is all matters of finance and it gave me a new perspective on the role that money, taxes and labour can have in a society.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know enough to be confident that MMT is a better way to run countries, but it gave me a lot to think about and the current system (as well as the narrative accompanying it) is severly lacking.</p>
One Night Standhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/12/24/one-night-stand/2020-12-24T15:59:41+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><a href="https://kinmoku.itch.io/one-night-stand">One Night Stand by Kinmoku</a> is a short, unique and really lovely visual novel.</p>
<p>You wake up in bed with someone you hooked up with the last night, but all your memories are gone. Thanks, alcohol! Who is this woman? What even is her name? What exactly happened? And what to do now?</p>
<a class="image" href="drinks.png"><img src="drinks_thumb.png" alt="Had quite a few drinks" title="Had quite a few drinks"></img></a>
<p>While a lot of visual novels have the classic manga/anime look, One Night Stand goes for its own unique style enhanced by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping">rotoscope effect</a> (where each frame looks like it was drawn from scratch, resulting in squiggly lines).</p>
<p>It is an absolutely fantastic look for the game.</p>
<p>The game sets a rather speedy pace with each playthrough lasting for about five minutes. When you’re alone in a room, you’ve got a handful of objects you can look at or interact with. When your date returns, you have a bit of an awkward chat before she needs to dash out for a bit.</p>
<a class="image" href="room.png"><img src="room_thumb.png" alt="Disheveled room" title="Disheveled room"></img></a>
<p>The split between the exploration and dialogue is a bit contrived at times, but the whole thing moves along. This sense of urgency (you can’t explore every item and go through every discussion topic) makes the playthrough flow really well. If you screw up, you’re kicked out of the house before you know what happened.</p>
<p>I’ve never been in a situation like this (and likely never will), but it <em>feels real</em> and it feels <em>completely human</em>. One of the things I love the most about visual novels is the ability (and willingness!) to explore topics that most other games or other media don’t touch.</p>
<a class="image" href="think.png"><img src="think_thumb.png" alt="Think of something to talk about" title="Think of something to talk about"></img></a>
<p>One Night Stand will probably last you around an hour or two, which is just perfect. Accompanied by a lovely soundtrack, it was a time really well spent.</p>
<p>And if you bought the <a href="https://itch.io/b/520/bundle-for-racial-justice-and-equality">itch.io’s Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality</a>, you already own it.</p>
Tell Me Whyhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/12/13/tell-me-why/2020-12-13T17:47:01+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><span class="strike-through">Life is Strange 3</span> <a href="https://www.tellmewhygame.com/">Tell Me Why</a> is very much walking in its predecessor’s footsteps: it’s an episodic, supernatural adventure game with young protagonists dealing with harsh circumstances.</p>
<a class="image" href="tyler.jpg"><img src="tyler_thumb.jpg" alt="Tyler" title="Tyler"></img></a>
<p>Tell Me Why came out in three episodes (instead of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange">Life is Strange’s</a> five) that were released a week apart. This matters much less now that they’re all out, but having played them as they were coming out I found the model much better.</p>
<p>There is a value in an episodic storytelling. You can orient the plot around critical moments and let the player digest what happened and speculate about what’s coming next. But the multi-month gaps between the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange_2">Life Is Strange 2</a> episodes definitely felt like too much.</p>
<p>In Tell Me Why, you have two protagonists. Taylor and Alyson are twins, reuniting after a decade of living apart. They meet in Delos Crossing, Alaska to prepare their childhood home for sale and hopefully, rebuild their relationship.</p>
<p>The twins have a special power: they can talk to each other telepathically and they can show their memories to one another as if played out in the real world.</p>
<p>Going through the house and rediscovering the tragic past that led to their separation, they find out that they remember some of the crucial situations differently and set out to find out what really happened.</p>
<p>I really <em>really</em> enjoyed Tell Me Why.</p>
<a class="image" href="twins.jpg"><img src="twins_thumb.jpg" alt="Alyson and Tyler" title="Alyson and Tyler"></img></a>
<p>Much more so than I did Life is Strange 2. Reminiscent of the first game, you spend your time in a single small American town rather than taking a long trek across the country. You get to recognise places, learn about people and see them again throughout the story.</p>
<hr>
<p>Aly and Taylor are both great and funny and interesting and a bit of a mess. I can definitely relate to both of them at least in general if not in the specifics (though Alyson’s love for space is absolutely shared).</p>
<p>Learning about them, exploring their feelings, attitudes, fears, relationships, struggles. That was all absolutely wonderful. And the whole area of Delos Crossing was just so beautiful.</p>
<a class="image" href="alyson.jpg"><img src="alyson_thumb.jpg" alt="Alyson" title="Alyson"></img></a>
<p>There is a mystery to uncover and a dark past to make sense of, naturally. But honestly, having the two siblings going through the house, talking to their neighbors, trying to pull themselves together and move on. That’s the game for me.</p>
<p>Speaking of darkness — absolutely horrific things have happened there, ticking another of the "life is strange" boxes. But it all happened in the past and while uncovering it is quite unsettling, no one will come to any physical harm throughout the game. I liked that much better.</p>
<p>I wish Dontnod would go ahead and make a game where there <em>isn’t</em> a horrific tragedy at the centre of it. They’re clearly able to make everything else absolutely compelling.</p>
<hr>
<p>The game plays pretty much exactly like its predecessors: third-person 3D game, with a bit of a floaty camera and fiddly controls (once I’ve spent two minutes trying to position Tyler to the right spot so the "sit on the chair" prompt appeared).</p>
<a class="image" href="sit.jpg"><img src="sit_thumb.jpg" alt="Sit" title="Sit"></img></a>
<p>You explore the place, try to uncover hints of the past and present, talk to people and solve puzzles.</p>
<p>These are often tied to a book of stories that the twins wrote along with their mum when they were younger. They’re lovely stories, but knowing they’re tied to the puzzles made the whole experience really frustrating.</p>
<p>I would have preferred to just read a couple stories here and there, but pretty much as soon as the first puzzle appeared, I had to read the whole book. Thankfully, there were maybe two puzzles per episode, so it wasn’t <em>that</em> bad.</p>
<p>The voice direction is mostly great, but sometimes creates weird moments. In one instant, Alyson was looking for an item around her house and she saw visions that put her on the verge of a full-on nervous breakdown. But a second later, she looks under the bed and not finding what she was looking for, she says "Not here!" in a super cheery voice. As if none of the visions happened.</p>
<a class="image" href="distraught.jpg"><img src="distraught_thumb.jpg" alt="Alyson being comforted by Michael" title="Alyson being comforted by Michael"></img></a>
<p>This is of course a really tricky thing to do correctly. The developers don’t know what order the players will do things. But it breaks the immersion nonetheless.</p>
<p>The timing of the voices suffers from time to time too. You see a disturbing vision that the characters react to, but the voice reaction is a second too late.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the voice acting itself is absolutely wonderful. As is the music.</p>
<hr>
<p>Tyler is a trans man and most of the people in the town either didn’t know about this at all or only knew him before his transition.</p>
<p>This was apparently made into a big deal by the game’s marketing that I’ve missed entirely.</p>
<p>I’m not a trans person and I cannot judge how fairly or unfairly he was represented. Based on what I’ve read from people who do have that lived experience, the game’s sins are more in hyping it up and how much of the struggles trans people deal with every day the game <strong>didn’t</strong> show.</p>
<p>See e.g. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/reviews/tell-me-why-review-delos-crossing/">this review by Autumn Wright</a> and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3z4vg/tell-me-why-smothers-its-representation-in-bubble-wrap">this one by Dia Lacina</a>:</p>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
<p>It feels desperate for approval, for someone to say "this is how you tell a trans man’s story correctly."</p>
<p>No. This is how you tell a trans man’s story <strong>safely</strong>.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p>And:</p>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
<p>There are no slurs, no pointed "insults," and the game never insinuates Tyler is trans because of trauma (which they insist I tell you about and caution that this is a false narrative about transness). Of course, there are some people who don’t get it, are clumsy with Tyler being trans after having only known "Ollie." All but two are very quick to try and course correct for their gaffs in a believable and even endearing way. The biggest offenders here are simply non-characters and one who despite her beliefs, still doesn’t misgender or deadname Tyler.</p>
<p>Which, if I’m honest, is a little weird.</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="attribution">
— Dia Lacina<br>
<cite>Tell Me Why</cite>
</div>
</div>
<p>This <a href="https://kotaku.com/tell-me-whys-first-episode-is-too-real-1844867529">article by Riley MacLeod</a> is much more enthusiastic, however.</p>
<p>These differing opinions are of course no surprise: <strong>trans people are people</strong>. They have unique experiences, desires, expectations, struggles, thoughts, worries and everything else. And can’t be thought of as a unified group.</p>
<p>Personally, I love seeing characters of different looks and experiences in all media, but particularly in games where you can more easily "embody" them and have at least a semblance of an experience of what other people might be going through.</p>
<a class="image" href="fishing.jpg"><img src="fishing_thumb.jpg" alt="Tyler and Michael fishing" title="Tyler and Michael fishing"></img></a>
<p>I understand the criticisms above, but I really enjoyed the game and what they’ve done with Tyler. I was also playing Tell Me Why when it came out — in the middle of 20-fucking-20, dealing with the deluge of awfulness in the world at large as well as my personal life.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m trying to say is: I’m happy that this game wasn’t actually horrific and didn’t show the worst spectrum of what being trans is like, but that these representations need to exist and be accessible to people.</p>
<p>In other words: <strong>more games with non-tropey trans characters, please</strong>!</p>
<hr>
<p>Tell Me Why is a gorgeous game with wonderful characters (Michael totally stole my heart!), fiddly controls and sometimes frustrating sections. A true Life is Strange game.</p>
<p>Just like with Max & Chloey, I’d definitely love to see more of Aly and Tyler and Michael.</p>
<a class="image" href="trio.jpg"><img src="trio_thumb.jpg" alt="Alyson, Tyler and Michael" title="Alyson, Tyler and Michael"></img></a>
Discworldhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/11/29/discworld/2020-11-29T20:59:33+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>Sometime around 1995, my dad brought a book called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_Fantastic">Light Fantastic</a> home. As he was reading it he was roaring with laughter. My mum picked it up shortly after as did their friends and soon our household was rife with lines quoted from the books.</p>
<p>Discworld has a history to me. It’s a series of books that’s been with me and my family for pretty much as long as I remember. I’d fallen out a few times, but always picked it up. It’s been an important part of my life.</p>
<p>Two years ago (July 2018) I started reading them all in order. I had missed a lot of the more recent books — partly because they were coming out too fast and I was struggling to keep up. So with the passing of Terry Pratchett I thought this would be a good time to do it. Tragic as it was, it did mean I could catch up once and for all.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld">full series</a> (counting the actual novels, not any of the supplementary works) contains 41 books about 20 of which I’d never read before. It spans a little over three decades of Earth time, the first book (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colour_of_Magic">The Colour of Magic</a>) having come out in 1983 and the last one (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shepherd%27s_Crown">The Shepherd’s Crown</a>) in 2015.</p>
<p>It is a daunting affair. Yet, I think it’s worth the investment and I’ll tell you what to do if you (sensibly!) don’t want to commit to the entire series.</p>
<hr>
<a class="image" href="discworld-large.jpg"><img src="discworld-large_thumb.jpg" alt="Discworld by Vladimír Elexa" title="Discworld by Vladimír Elexa"></img></a>
<p>(source: <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/graphic-zemeplocha-fantasy-2420746/">Vladimír Elexa aka moscito1 at pixabay</a>)</p>
<p>The eponymous Discworld is a flat "planet" — a world with oceans overflowing at the edge. It sits on the backs of four huge elephants who stand on top of the shell of a giant turtle, slowly moving through space.</p>
<p>There is a tall mountain in the middle where the gods live and play dice with the fates of people. Humans, dwarfs, trolls, goblins, vampires, werewolves. Witches, Wizards and Politicians. It is a world full of magic.</p>
<p>The stories often take on the basic structure of your traditional heroes' journeys and tropes. The dwarfs are small and have beards, love gold and quaffing beer. The trolls are huge, lumbering, stupid and eat people.</p>
<p>But this is not your standard low-effort fantasy even though the book covers and blurbs would absolutely give you that impression. I don’t know how much it’s been an explicit goal, but subversion is the name of the game here.</p>
<p>Rincewind, the main hero of the first two books is not a hero — in fact he’s the biggest coward there is. He’s a wizard who’s not able to cast a single spell. Or rather, the one spell he is able to cast he dares not. The witches indeed tend to be old and scheming, but they care for their people. They serve their communities. And even the book’s greatest tyrant is a much more interesting and humane character than his title would suggest.</p>
<p>One of the most interesting characters in the entire series, in fact.</p>
<hr>
<p>The books are absolutely packed with footnotes, references to the real world, throwbacks and so much stuff that honestly, the only person to fully appreciate it all is Terry Pratchett.</p>
<p>But it’s not pretentious about it. If you’re looking for a nice pulp ride, Discworld has you covered. It’s not snooty.</p>
<p>However, if you <em>are</em> versed in history, politics, philosophy, physics, computer science, Conan The Barbarian or any of the million other things it references and you <strong>do</strong> notice them…​ Well, you’re in for a treat!</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics">Quantum Mechanics</a> (my favourite subject) is referenced on many occasions. And the mentions span the whole gambit: from the apparent difference between the small and the big, to the apparent collapse of the wavefunction and the importance of looking at something, to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation">parallel worlds</a> all the way through to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra">quacks explaining whatever nonsense they want to peddle as being true "because of quantum"</a>.</p>
<p>And it can all be absolutely, incredibly funny. Roaring with laughter funny. That for me was the initial draw. My teenage years were filled with mum and dad and all their friends quoting the jokes to one another.</p>
<p>Here similarly to the way it treats its references and plot, the books don’t discriminate. You’ll get your puns, the lowest-brow crass jokes as well as the highest-brow sophisticated humour and everything in-between. I keep being fascinated by how deep and wide Pratchett’s treatments go.</p>
<p>Especially as I’m growing older, the messages of emancipation, anti-discrimination, solidarity, caring for one another and doing the right thing, are landing much, <em>much more</em> than the jokes. None of this is forced, but it works so well.</p>
<p>Where it delved into philosophy, it got me really thinking as well.</p>
<hr>
<p>There are few books that I could point to and genuinely say they changed the way I think and behave, but Discworld is absolutely up there.</p>
<p><em>"You do the job that’s in front of you."</em></p>
<p>This is a thing that two of my favourite characters say throughout the novels and it’s something that’s absolutely made an impact.</p>
<p>If what you want to achieve is too daunting, or too far out of reach, you do the thing you can do now and take a small step forward. And then you do the next thing. And the next one. And the next.</p>
<p>Words literally to live by.</p>
<p>I adore the world Pratchett has built here. It is fantastical, dark and bright, horrible and beautiful and mainly — full of hope.</p>
<p>It’s also a world that keeps changing and evolving. The Diskworld of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colour_of_Magic">The Colour of Magic</a> is <em>very</em> different from the one in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shepherd%27s_Crown">The Shepherd’s Crown</a>. Changes big and small happen and have lasting effect. In contrast to our world, mostly for the better.</p>
<p>The books give me hope and show a way forward.</p>
<hr>
<p>Before embarking on this journey, I worried that the series would fizzle out. That it would become worse over time. Surely you can’t keep it going strong for so long.</p>
<p>The opposite happened. When I read the first few books again, they felt much less gripping, less intriguing. They’re still excellent, but the later books are just so much better! And many of the last books are among my absolute favourites.</p>
<p>The series itself changed. While it never dropped humour entirely, there are fewer laugh-out-loud instances later on. But the other factors: characters, stories, worlds, situations, dialog all absolutely outweigh it.</p>
<p>And I was still laughing with every book in the series up to and including the last one.</p>
<hr>
<p>The audiobooks — narrated by Nigel Planer, Celia Imrie and Stephen Briggs are also wonderful. That’s how I’ve consumed the whole series in this most recent re-read and they’re delightful.</p>
<p>Nigel Planer read roughly the first half and Stephen Briggs did the rest. The shift was painful, but they’re both excellent narrators and while it meant some of my favourite character’s voices and accents changed midway through they’re both excellent.</p>
<hr>
<p>If you decide to pick Discworld up, note that reading it start to finish is not the best way to experience the books.</p>
<p>Instead, there are subseries (the City Watch, the Witches, Rincewind, the Wizards, Tiffany Aching, the Industrial Revolution, Moist von Lipwig, etc.). Select one of those and read that.</p>
<p>This <a href="http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/">Discworld Reading Order Guide</a> (and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/discworldreadingorderguide/">v3</a>) by Krzysztof Kietzman <em>et al.</em> can give you a good overview:</p>
<a class="image" href="discworld-reading-guide-3.0-973px.jpg"><img src="discworld-reading-guide-3.0-973px_thumb.jpg" alt="Discworld Reading Guide" title="Discworld Reading Guide"></img></a>
<p><em>(credits inside the image)</em></p>
<p>Personally, the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/106221-discworld---ankh-morpork-city-watch">City Watch books</a> (starting with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guards!_Guards!">Guards! Guards!</a>) are the absolute highlight for me. I don’t think I’ll ever go and re-read the entire Discworld series again, but I know I’ll be returning to City Watch. Indeed, when I did this last read and got to the end of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guards!_Guards!">Guards! Guards!</a>, I went ahead and just read all the other Watch books before continuing with the rest.</p>
<p>The character of Samuel Vimes speaks to me at a deep level and all the other characters there are wonderful as well. And I’m an absolute sucker for urban environments.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/159506-discworld---industrial-revolution">Industrial Revolution</a> (especially once Moist Von Lipwig starts appearing) and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/96852-discworld---tiffany-aching">Tiffany Aching</a> books were among my favourites too.</p>
<p>If you want a more traditional fantasy "hero’s journey" kind of thing, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/109518-discworld---rincewind-series">Rincewind</a> is a great place to start.</p>
<p>My mum absolutely loves the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/109517-discworld---witches-series">Witches</a>. It’s quite different from what you might expect of witches — they’re being the people holding their communities together — helping people out, healing, cleaning and mostly doing anything they can to avoid using magic (but they are powerful beings in their own right).</p>
<p>I like them a little less, but Granny Weatherwax (one of the main witches in the series) is also one of my absolute favourites in all of Discworld.</p>
<p>And if a prospect of 5-7 books in a series feels like too much, a lot of the books are either not part of any series at all or they’re so loosely connected that you can just read them as standalone!</p>
<ul>
<li>Amazing Maurice (<a href="/blog/2020/07/23/making-money-by-terry-pratchett/">my review</a>)</li>
<li>Moving Pictures (<a href="/blog/2019/06/06/moving-pictures-by-terry-pratchett/">my review</a>)</li>
<li>Thief of Time (<a href="/blog/2020/03/10/thief-of-time-by-terry-pratchett/">my review</a>)</li>
<li>Monstrous Regiment (<a href="/blog/2020/04/14/monstrous-regiment-by-terry-pratchett/">my review</a>)</li>
</ul>
<p>If you try a book and don’t engage with it, don’t write the whole Discworld off. Try going with something else first! Their character tends to differ a lot.</p>
<hr>
<p>I’ve been writing down thoughts on each book as I’ve been reading them. They’re often put together hastily with little editing, but might prove useful.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="/blog/2018/12/18/sourcery-by-terry-pratchett/">Sourcery</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2018/12/19/wyrd-sisters-by-terry-pratchett/">Wyrd Sisters</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/01/16/pyramids-by-terry-pratchett/">Pyramids</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/01/21/guards-guards-by-terry-pratchett/">Guards! Guards!</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/01/28/men-at-arms-by-terry-pratchett/">Men at Arms</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/02/05/feet-of-clay-by-terry-pratchett/">Feet of Clay</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/03/09/jingo-by-terry-pratchett/">Jingo</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/03/25/the-fifth-elephant-by-terry-pratchett/">The Fifth Elephant</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/04/04/night-watch-by-terry-pratchett/">Night Watch</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/04/11/thud-by-terry-pratchett/">Thud!</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/04/17/snuff-by-terry-pratchett/">Snuff</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/05/13/eric-by-terry-pratchett/">Eric</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/06/06/moving-pictures-by-terry-pratchett/">Moving Pictures</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/06/12/witches-abroad-by-terry-pratchett/">Witches Abroad</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/06/13/reaper-man-by-terry-pratchett/">Reaper Man</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/09/11/soul-music-by-terry-pratchett/">Soul Music</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/10/03/interesting-times-by-terry-pratchett/">Interesting Times</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/10/16/maskerade-by-terry-pratchett/">Maskerade</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/11/13/hogfather-by-terry-pratchett/">Hogfather</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/11/15/the-last-continent-by-terry-pratchett/">The Last Continent</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/12/24/carpe-jugulum-by-terry-pratchett/">Carpe Jugulum</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2019/12/24/the-truth-by-terry-pratchett/">The Truth</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/03/10/thief-of-time-by-terry-pratchett/">Thief of Time</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/03/10/the-last-hero-by-terry-pratchett/">The Last Hero</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/03/11/the-amazing-maurice-and-his-educated-rodents-by-terry-pratchett/">The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/03/13/the-wee-free-men-by-terry-pratchett/">The Wee Free Men</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/04/14/monstrous-regiment-by-terry-pratchett/">Monstrous Regiment</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/06/16/a-hat-full-of-sky-by-terry-pratchett/">A Hat Full of Sky</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/07/06/going-postal-by-terry-pratchett/">Going Postal</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/07/11/wintersmith-by-terry-pratchett/">Wintersmith</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/07/23/making-money-by-terry-pratchett/">Making Money</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/09/04/unseen-academicals-by-terry-pratchett/">Unseen Academicals</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/09/30/i-shall-wear-midnight-by-terry-pratchett/">I Shall Wear Midnight</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/10/07/raising-steam-by-terry-pratchett/">Raising Steam</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2020/11/13/the-shepherds-crown-by-terry-pratchett/">The Shepherd's Crown</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>I’ve read a good portion of the books during the one of the darkest periods of my life and they can provide a great escapism if that’s something you could use.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Terry-Pratchett#/media/1/1854183/196664"><span class="image"><img src="Terry-Pratchett-2011.jpg" alt="Terry Pratchett photo"></span></a></p>
<p>Terry Pratchett has given us a huge, wonderful gift. I am so grateful these books exist and that I got to read them.</p>
Goodreads Importhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/11/21/goodreads-import/2020-11-21T18:16:56+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>Heads-up: I’ve imported all the reviews I’ve written on Goodreads to this site. There’s been a fair number of them so if they broke your RSS feed, I apologise.</p>
<p>I’ve tried to do it in a way where that doesn’t happen, but it’s still a bit of a mystery to me and I suspect that different clients and providers behave differently. Most importantly, I couldn’t figure out a good way of knowing ahead of time.</p>
<p>Turns out Goodreads managed to collect a fair bit of my writing over the years. And since websites come and go — or worse lock out the user-generated content that made them possible  — I’d like to have all my writing in one place that I control.</p>
<p>These new posts are dated with the time I wrote them. I’ve also added categories to this site so you can see on the post as well as the index whether it’s a book review, import from goodreads, programming-related etc.</p>
<p>Overall, the writing is a bit rough. The reviews I put on Goodreads were only lightly checked for typos and glaring errors.</p>
<p>Going forward, any review I publish on Goodreads will appear here as well.</p>
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchetthttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/11/13/the-shepherds-crown-by-terry-pratchett/2020-11-13T17:43:31+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3434194481">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>4/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>"Being a witch is a man’s job. That’s why it needs women to do it."</p>
<p>This is the very last Discworld book. I came to it with a lot of apprehension, after hearing that it was not really finished. The plot is all there, but apparently it’s less polished and fleshed out. To me it felt like a full-fledged proper Discworld novel, but some people feel strongly otherwise.</p>
<p>Without spoiling anything, the novel starts with a really sad event. Not tragic or horrific, but a sad one indeed. I’ve spent a good portion of the beginning in tears. This may be a hindsight bias but I can’t imagine Pratchett not thinking about this being the last book he would write.</p>
<p>But then the story kicks in and it’s a great Tiffany Aching adventure. The barrier between the Fairy world is weak again, and Tiffany is coping with being extremely overwhelmed. As the Elves are gearing towards a new invasion, the witches must all come together and handle this once and for all.</p>
<p>I love the arc Tiffany has gone through in her books. Here, she is still very young, but able to hold the candle to even the most senior witches. It again highlights the much more people-centered approach to witches than most other works of fantasy do. They are community workers first, powerful magic-wielding beings a very distant second.</p>
<p>A lot of characters from the previous books make an appearance and you do get a satisfying final showdown. The ending, as ever is absolutely delightful, wrapping up many of the loose ends and just leaving the reader satisfied.</p>
<p>I’m happy that Terry Pratchett managed to give us one last book before passing on. I’m sad that it’s over forever, but also grateful and content.</p>
<p>28th April 1948 - 12th March 2015
May you rest in peace.</p>
Grip: The Strange World of Men by Gilbert Hernándezhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/11/04/grip-the-strange-world-of-men-by-gilbert-hernndez/2020-11-04T17:31:15+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3531970975">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>1/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>I got this book randomly on a complete whim. Never heard of the author or any of their books. I was looking for a comic that was not a part of any series and that wasn’t about superheroes. As such, I had basically zero expectations.</p>
<p>Which means I’m not disappointed, just really, really puzzled.</p>
<p>The blurb at the back of the book mentions search for the protagonist’s true identity, criminal gangs, crime fighters, swapping skins and bizarre powers.</p>
<p>And yeah, the book has all that. This could have been something dark and weird and gritty and sexy like Frank Miller’s Sin City, and I <strong>think</strong> that’s what it’s going for. But it falls way too short in every aspect. All the ingredients are there, but they’re not really combined in a way that makes any sense.</p>
<p>Apologies for the pun, but the book completely failed to grip me. It starts with an amnesiac so you know things are going to be confusing, but the first quarter dialed that up to eleven without introducing anything that would actually pique an interest.</p>
<p>I mean, other than the weak "surely, this all must be going somewhere?" which did keep me going however weakly. Characters are introduced, mysteries occur, weird stuff happens, but none of it really seems to bring anything to the fore.</p>
<p>Add a pretty weak dialogue, diverse characters that somehow amazingly fail to evoke any intrigue and an extremely heavy-handed exposition (when it finally comes) and you’re left with something that’s just completely bland. The book is quite short — if it were much longer than this, I would have just dropped it.</p>
<p>But since I didn’t, I can say that the eventual revelations, the inevitable circling back and the overall resolution left me absolutely lukewarm. Not angry, sad or really feeling anything at all.</p>
<p>In this one instance, I think you can judge the book by its cover (and title).</p>
Arityhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/11/02/arity-video-game/2020-11-02T20:43:29+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><a href="https://mistodon.itch.io/arity" class="bare">https://mistodon.itch.io/arity</a></p>
<p>I love RPGs, but I also don’t have <em>Infinity Free Time</em> anymore. So when I saw <a href="https://mistodon.itch.io/">Mist</a> released an <a href="https://mistodon.itch.io/arity">RPG that takes, like, 2 hours to finish</a> I was sold. And got out of it way more than I was expecting.</p>
<p>A wife of one of the three protagonists is kidnapped and the trio has a mysterious curse put on them. Despite appearances, it is not your typical kidnapping trope, though. There’s confusion, intrigue, genuine friendship and ultimately, understanding.</p>
<a class="image" href="combat.png"><img src="combat_thumb.png" alt="Combat encounter" title="Combat encounter"></img></a>
<p>As you play, the game alternates between combat and dialogue scenes. In combat, each protagonist chooses from three unique actions they could take — one belonging to each of Attack/Defense/Magic. Every turn, every character has to choose one and they all need to pick a different kind. So you can’t e.g. have two attacks and one defense (and zero magic).</p>
<p>It’s a really simple system to understand that provides a lot of intriguing tactical options without being overwhelming at the same time. You’ve seen me harp on pretty much all combat in all games on this blog. Well, I like this one!</p>
<p>Not sure it would sustain a 40 hour marathon, but for a 2-hour sprint it worked great!</p>
<p>Between the combat encounters, Robin, Fionn and Dylan talk to one another. You learn about their relationships, Marcie the antagonist, Dylan’s wife Lottie as well as what’s actually going on. And they feel like real friends chatting. There’s ribbing and exasperation, but also concern and support.</p>
<a class="image" href="lost-it.png"><img src="lost-it_thumb.png" alt="Robin saying: I.. lost it" title="Robin saying: I.. lost it"></img></a>
<p>And the ending. <em>Oh my goodness</em>, the ending. The final showdown is absolutely not what I would have expected but also something that makes <strong>so much more sense</strong>. And the aftermath is just wholesome, hopeful and genuinely lovely.</p>
<p>I tend to complain about the engdame sections and endings quite often too and this one just…​ took me by surprise and filled with joy.</p>
<p>Despite being an RPG, the story and progression is completely linear here. You’ve only got one place to go to at any time. You don’t choose the what your characters say. The only thing you’ve got any control over is the combat.</p>
<p>This has been a huge weakness in <a href="/blog/2020/10/13/final-fantasy-vii-remake/">Final Fantasy VII Remake</a>, but Arity handles it great. You know where you’re going, how far along you are and what to expect. You’re not suddenly derailed for narrative reasons a metre before your goal. The questions are answered at a steady pace. And you’re also not strung along for <em>fourty fucking hours</em>. If you’re fine with the core gameplay, Arity doesn’t give you time to grow bored.</p>
<a class="image" href="no-worries.png"><img src="no-worries_thumb.png" alt="Dylan saying: Don't worry about it!" title="Dylan saying: Don't worry about it!"></img></a>
<p>The game also give you an option to increase each character’s health by 5 points and even to never lose a game. Having seen first and second hand how seemingly innocuous design decisions can form (needless) impenetrable blocks, I applaud this effort! I didn’t need to use them, but I was glad to know they existed.</p>
<p>There’s a huge untapped potential for RPGs in the "under twenty hours" range and Arity is a great example of what the shorter end of the spectrum might look like.</p>
Final Fantasy VII Remakehttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/10/13/final-fantasy-vii-remake/2020-10-13T06:10:53+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>I’ve always wanted to play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jRPG">Japanese RPGs</a> (that is, games of the jRPG genre, not necessarily RPGs that just happen to have been developed or set in Japan). They seemed to be full of wondrous worlds, characters and stories.</p>
<a class="image" href="bright-pillar.jpg"><img src="bright-pillar_thumb.jpg" alt="A plate resting on an industrial pillar bathing in the light." title="A plate resting on an industrial pillar bathing in the light."></img></a>
<p>But I never got very far with any of them.</p>
<p>The characters and the world showed a lot of potential and I wanted to interact with it. But the way you were actually expected to play the games felt alienating.</p>
<p>These games tend to have a lot of combat that I don’t find particularly engaging, but that’s true of the vast majority of combat everywhere. The main roadblock was always the unending random encounters combined with the in-built expectation of grinding.</p>
<p>There is no way to "clear" an area while exploring. Combat encounters trigger randomly and often enough to never really feel like you’re exploring a space. What’s worse, these encounters are in no way signposted. You keep walking back-and-forth down a completely empty corridor and you will be attacked indefinitely.</p>
<p>Low on health or items? Tough, you can’t go back safely. Went down one long branch of a dungeon and wanted to check the other one? Sucks to be you.</p>
<p>All this would still be somewhat bearable if there weren’t times where to progress you really had to go and spend a couple hours just running around "empty" areas to level up your characters.</p>
<p>It seemed that the natural progression always involved hitting a difficulty wall that one needed to grind through.</p>
<a class="image" href="monsters.jpg"><img src="monsters_thumb.jpg" alt="A corridor with some monsters" title="A corridor with some monsters"></img></a>
<p>But <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII">Final Fantasy VII</a> in particular is something I’ve always wanted to experience.</p>
<p>When the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII_Remake">Remake</a> was announced, I’ve researched the gameplay and it seemed like this time it might actually work. You can set the difficulty (so I could play on Easy and hopefully have to do less grinding) and the encounters aren’t as random. You always see the enemies ahead of you and you can at least brace yourself for the encounter.</p>
<p>You still can’t clear an area (when you backtrack, the enemies respawn) but you also get an option to just teleport out once you’ve achieved your main objective there.</p>
<p>So yeah, I went for it.</p>
<a class="image" href="waterfall.jpg"><img src="waterfall_thumb.jpg" alt="Aerith's house and the nearby waterfall" title="Aerith's house and the nearby waterfall"></img></a>
<p>I fell in love with the characters immediately. They’ve got good banter going on, and they all have their own unique feel.</p>
<p>The music and visuals are absolutely wonderful too. I loved how distinct the areas you get to explore are and I would have loved to spend a lot of time in the world. Just exploring areas, talking to people, being part of the world.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the game gives you very few opportunities to do that.</p>
<p>Most of the time, you’re on a railroad from combat to combat or puzzle to puzzle. Pretty much all the areas are completely linear with the occasional route off the side to pick up an item and immediately go back.</p>
<p>Now, "linear" doesn’t automatically mean "bad". But in this case, the game dangles this beautiful tapestry of places and then funnels you down a (sometimes literal, other times figurative) corridor.</p>
<p>What’s worse, it’s a linear gameplay pretending to be this complex narrative of twists and turns. There’s always exactly one thing you can do. Exactly one place you can go to. But you can’t gauge how far into your objective you are because the game keeps throwing Deus Ex Machinas at you left and right.</p>
<a class="image" href="surprise.jpg"><img src="surprise_thumb.jpg" alt="A huge monster surprises our plucky heroes" title="A huge monster surprises our plucky heroes"></img></a>
<p>With a book, you know whether you’re about halfway through the chapter or whether you’re getting towards the end. Here, you’re literally a couple meters from your objective only to witness a huge twist, slapping another four hours onto it.</p>
<p>There <em>are</em> areas where you are left to your own devices, welcome to explore and hop around, talk to people, do some questing and character development if you’re so inclined and just soak up the atmosphere.</p>
<p>These were the highlight of the game.</p>
<p>You had actual freedom there, actual agency.</p>
<a class="image" href="respite.jpg"><img src="respite_thumb.jpg" alt="Entrance to an urban area called the Wall Market." title="Entrance to an urban area called the Wall Market."></img></a>
<p>But they were few and far between. I wish more of the game was centered around these populated areas and less of it in the combat-filled corridors.</p>
<hr>
<p>Playing on the Easy difficulty, I didn’t have trouble with any of the combat. But even then, it all felt really drawn out. The regular combat encounters were okay, but the boss battles took a really long time.</p>
<p>Even with learning about the vulnerabilities and understanding what to focus on, the fights inevitably felt like whittling down a huge health bar (or three). I shudder at the thought of losing 10 minutes in and having to go through the grueling experience again.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm5_vCOY880">Now, I’m no stranger to beating my head against a wall again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and 75 more times</a>.</p>
<p>But in Bloodborne, each failed encounter took a few seconds to a minute. Losing tends to happen quickly and suddenly, none of this drawn-out suffering.</p>
<p>Even on Easy though, the game changes rules sometimes, taking an even more frustrating turn. One of the last boss fights took place on a highway, you on your motorcycle trying to catch up with the enemy. The driving controls are extremely fiddly and controlling the distance (a crucial element in this fight) felt more like a matter of luck rather than anything you did with the controls.</p>
<p>And despite having stocked up on all the usual healing/boosting items, this time there was no way of using them. So I failed this stupid fight four times despite blasting through every other thing in the game.</p>
<hr>
<p>The whole game took me some 40 hours to finish and I had fun for maybe 10 of those.</p>
<p>In the end, this is a beautiful game with fun characters being seriously dragged down by the flimsy controls, pacing, unclear signaling and most of the gameplay itself.</p>
<a class="image" href="the-end.jpg"><img src="the-end_thumb.jpg" alt="Beautiful green land from the times long past" title="Beautiful green land from the times long past"></img></a>
<p><strong>PS</strong>: I didn’t know this when I bought it, but the game does not cover the full scope of the original Final Fantasy VII. I don’t know how much of the original story is not covered, but at least according to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII#Plot">plot summary on Wikipedia</a>, it’s at least another game’s worth. A Part Two is apparently in development and I’m not even sure that’s the last one. I’ll pass.</p>
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchetthttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/10/07/raising-steam-by-terry-pratchett/2020-10-07T17:50:53+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3434194392">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>“The trouble with madness was that the mad didn’t know they were mad.”</p>
<p>This is the final book in the Industrial Revolution / Moist von Lipwig and also the last Discworld book that Terry Pratchett finished completely.</p>
<p>An engineer by the name of Dick Simnel, conquers the power of steam and builds a locomotive. He goes to Ankh-Morpork to seek funding and the support needed to revolutionise the transportation system. Moist von Lipwig is of course at the scene, making sure the city’s needs are represented and that the project moves forward.</p>
<p>The first half of the book focuses on the building of the railway system, describing the change from the rides around the compound that delight children and adults alike to building the railway network through uncharted territories.</p>
<p>In the meantime, trouble is stirring in the Dwarf kingdom as the fundamental traditionalists enact sabotages, terrorist acts and plan a coup while the king of the Dwarfs is far away.</p>
<p>So the second half describes a long and eventful train ride back, bringing the king to deal with the trouble home.</p>
<p>And it is all just so wonderful. Things keep developing, there’s not a single boring moment in the book as it follows the finest traditions of journey storytelling. The stakes are high, the surprises are numerous and everything keeps chugging along at speed, if you pardon the pun.</p>
<p>In addition to the fantastic characters, the less-frequent but great jokes and the Arcanum-like "magic meets technology" atmosphere this book is incredibly well-paced and has an excellent ending.</p>
<p>I was delighted throughout, in tears towards the end and completely satisfied. Pratchett knows how to end a story.</p>
<p>One last thing to point out, since I’ve read this in Autumn 2020 when everything seems to be on fire figuratively and literally. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book to escape reality rather than just enjoy a story, setting and characters. This one managed to transport me to another world in ways I hadn’t realised I needed, but was incredibly grateful for.</p>
Batman Noir: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Millerhttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/10/04/batman-noir-the-dark-knight-strikes-again-by-frank-miller/2020-10-04T18:23:46+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3534724459">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>2/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>I was quite excited to read this. I’ve never really read any of the "classic" comics, but Batman + Frank Miller sounds perfect. Plus, I’d read Batman: Year One (also by Miller) and it was great.</p>
<p>This one though…​ was quite head-scratchy. It’s set in a distant future. All the superheroes seem to be are out of commission one way or the other, some of the classic characters are not around, Superman has grown old and lethargic and basically, the bad guys (whoever they are) control the world?</p>
<p>It sounds like a great Watchmen-like setup Frank Miller style, but it never really reaches it. I can’t escape the Sin City comparison here. It’s got the same familiar art style, but where Sin City is crisp and rough and so damn atmospheric, this is busy, confusing and mushy.</p>
<p>The actual story didn’t catch me that much either. There’s little actual Batman in it. Instead, it’s got the full ensemble of the DC characters: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Atom, Green Arrow and probably others I’m forgetting.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong! It’s not bad! But I don’t know, it just never transitions to being properly good either. There are excellent moments in there, but there’s also a ton of confusing ones and the whole thing suggests way more potential than it actually delivers.</p>
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchetthttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/09/30/i-shall-wear-midnight-by-terry-pratchett/2020-09-30T18:03:49+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3434194263">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>“Only time and tears take away grief; that is what they are for.”</p>
<p>This is the one-before-last Tiffany Aching novel. Tiffany, now around 16 years old is the witch of The Chalk. Her home country. It’s not a glamorous job, but someone’s got to do it and Tiffany’s great at it. But things start to go terribly wrong.</p>
<p>And I mean terribly. The beginning is super dark and for a while, things just get worse and worse. We see the rise of anti-witch sentiments and actions worthy of our own horrific history (and present in some places).</p>
<p>But, mercifully (for a sensitive reader in late 2020 who’s just about holding it together), things get better. I think as with every other Tiffany Aching book, at the end of the day, this is a fairy tale. Without the edges sanded off, but still.</p>
<p>And so the story moves along, mysteries get resolved and the whole thing finishes with an absolutely wonderful ending that brought me to tears. The good kind.</p>
<p>But throughout the book, with the hindsight, one can’t help but feel that the author thought this may be the last book he would write. Old characters appear, long-forgotten treads get wrapped up. Which is really lovely, but also quite sad.</p>
<p>Still, overall this is a wonderful book — the best one of the Tiffany Aching bunch yet and one of the top ones in the whole Discworld series.</p>
The Biggest Ideas In The Universe!https://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/09/29/the-biggest-ideas-in-the-universe/2020-09-29T19:53:23+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>This was one of the best birthday presents ever. On 24th of March, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_M._Carroll">Sean M. Carroll</a> released the first episode of a series called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxZJcWcrxH3jyjUUrJlnoyzX">The Biggest Ideas In The Universe</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxZJcWcrxH3jyjUUrJlnoyzX"><span class="image"><img src="biggest-ideas-logo.jpg" alt="The Biggest Ideas In The Universe YouTube playlist"></span></a></p>
<p>It’s a series of videos (and follow-up Q&As) going over some of the most important ideas in modern physics. Each video is dedicated to a topic (such as Conservation, Entanglement, Gravity or Fields) and it’s a deep-dive lasting anywhere from one to two hours.</p>
<p>These videos are aimed at a lay, but interested and dedicated public. They occupy the <strong>vast chasm</strong> between the popular-level explanations with their misleading rubber-sheet analogies and "no maths allowed" attitude and the impenetrable world of notation, proofs, papers and homework assignments that is the academia.</p>
<p>I’ve long felt there is a niche in diving deep into a topic — even dropping into the math where necessary to illustrate something — without going all the way into the university-level "spend four years solving problems" endeavour.</p>
<p>Carroll comes in and does just that.</p>
<p>Where analogies suffice, he uses analogies. Where they don’t he’ll drop down to the maths. Simplifying it, sure, not bothering with details, but showing enough to at least build a better intuition.</p>
<p>This is in no way a replacement for an uni degree, but if the popular science leaves you wanting, it’s the perfect next step.</p>
<p>It also provides a really rare insight into what Physics at the academic level actually is.</p>
<p>What are genuine problems and open questions (as opposed to what the public is told are the problems & questions), what are people working in, what thought processes do they follow.</p>
<hr>
<p>I feel I have a much better understanding of quantum mechanics and the special & general relativity. That much was expected — it was obvious Carroll was going to talk about those.</p>
<p>But here are the things I understand much more now that I did not expect:</p>
<ul>
<li>(spontaneous) symmetry breaking</li>
<li>forget yer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_Cluster">Bullet Clusters</a> and rotating galaxies, the best evidence for Dark Matter are the perturbations in the cosmic microwave background</li>
<li>what’s really behind the Many-Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
<ul>
<li>I knew the basics here, but not a lot of the project of mapping it onto the real world</li>
</ul></li>
<li>formulations of the famous theories
<ul>
<li>e.g. what does the GR equation look like and what do the terms stand for</li>
<li>same for QM</li>
</ul></li>
<li>A lot of the time, cosmologists operate within so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_units">natural units</a> where you set the common physical constants equal to <strong>1</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<p>In other words: <code>c = ℏ = k = 1</code>.</p>
<p>Where:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>c</code> is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light">speed of light in the vacuum</a></li>
<li><code>ℏ</code> is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_constant">Reduced Planck constant</a></li>
<li><code>k</code> is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_constant">Boltzmann constant</a> and</li>
</ul>
<p>I had no idea you could do that! It’s kind of obvious now — you can just choose your units. For example, why would you insist on the speed of light in vacuum being <em>~300 000 kilometers per second</em> when you can just set it to <strong>1 light second per second</strong>. And so on.</p>
<p>I mean mind fucking blown, seriously.</p>
<hr>
<p>I was also amazed by how much of this is high-school math! The vast majority of the time, you’ll be using functions, derivatives, complex numbers, matrices and integrals.</p>
<p>Even quantum mechanics is just vectors, complex numbers and functions.</p>
<p>Of course the math gets really complex, but still.</p>
<p>General Relativity is something else, though. There you’ve need pretty complex notions of curved-space geometry (which bent my mind as much as it did the space), topology and symmetries. All that was new to me and I still don’t feel I’ve got anything resembling a firm grasp.</p>
<p>Add matrices-within-matrices to the mix and yea GR is a pretty wild ride.</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s not a relaxing journey. You need to pay attention not mindlessly checking the phone. But yeah, I feel a connection to the universe that I did not have before.</p>
<p>It is (to date) also one of the best things to come out of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic">this pandemic</a>.</p>
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchetthttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/09/04/unseen-academicals-by-terry-pratchett/2020-09-04T16:28:33+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3434194199">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>3/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>I wasn’t expecting much from this one. It’s branded as a Wizards subseries and I honestly didn’t feel like reading another one of those. Turns out, the main characters are all brand new and much more interesting.</p>
<p>The book revolves about a game of football that the people play in the streets. A chaotic and violent affair unfit for the practitioners of the finest magic and residents of the most prestigious of universities. And yet, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork demands that they devise a more civilised set of rules and play the game.</p>
<p>The actual protagonists are all members of the University’s staff — two cooks and two candle dribblers. There’s mystery, personal identity, love, fashion and old promises that need to be kept.</p>
<p>I really liked the characters and the individual scenes and ideas, but it doesn’t hold together to form a strong whole. It’s less of a plot and more events that happen to occur around the same time and place.</p>
<p>As an example, there’s a really deep mystery there - a character discovering they’re not human, but a different ancient mysterious race. The wizards know this, so does the Patrician and the character’s past ward. Everyone’s observing this person keenly to see if their "true nature" shows up and causes all kinds of trouble. But when the revelation comes, I was left scratching my head. I thought: well is it a werewolf? Vampire? A really powerful mage? But no, those books have all been written already. Instead, it’s a race not mentioned in the series before and one that did not sound particularly frightening.</p>
<p>So then the book had to spend a lot of effort to explain that no, this really is bad news, but it just never felt that way to me as a reader. It just didn’t flow.</p>
<p>And that’s a real shame. Discworld often is a mishmash of characters and events, they generally form a strong plot to which the looser elements connect, building a world that feels like it really could exist. Not here.</p>
<p>Still, the characters are great, the jokes were lovely and I’ve had fun reading it.</p>
Making Money by Terry Pratchetthttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/07/23/making-money-by-terry-pratchett/2020-07-23T18:34:25+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3434194142">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>The title of this book is an obvious, but still wonderful pun.</p>
<p>Moist Von Lipwig, the Postmaster General who managed to bring the Ankh-Morpork post back from the ruin, has been tasked with a new job. He is to head the Royal Bank as well as the Royal Mint, tasked literally with creating money.</p>
<p>The book starts rather slow, the topic of banking being less enticing than that of the post office (which is strange — I wouldn’t have considered post offices particularly fascinating), but it quickly picks up the pace. There’s mystery, intrigue, lawyers, hidden identities and taking a complete piss out of the entire banking industry.</p>
<p>In addition to being a fantasy novel, it gets pretty deep into the philosophy of money, worth of gold, currency backing, tradition, bank runs and a shared trust in what are literally just fancy pieces of paper the society has decided have value.</p>
<p>The book has also had me roaring with laughter — a thing less common and important in the later Discworlds but still always welcome.</p>
Wintersmith by Terry Pratchetthttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/07/11/wintersmith-by-terry-pratchett/2020-07-11T18:59:48+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3434193919">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>“It will be our fault if we see something wrong and don’t do anything about it.”</p>
<p>It seemed I got through this book quite quickly so I had a look at when I started reading it: two days ago! It’s been a while since I got hooked this much.</p>
<p>Tiffany Aching, now almost thirteen, is a witch in training. Almost completely by accident, she attracts the attention of the Wintersmith — a winter elemental who starts courting Tiffany, rather than his summer counterpart.</p>
<p>The plot starts strong and moves quickly. We get another wonderful look into what it actually means to be a witch in Discworld, how young witches that were training alongside Tiffany in the previous book all fare, as well as the real reasons behind the Morris dance.</p>
<p>Like the other more recent Discworld books, it is not as funny as the earlier ones, but it is a delight to read and sometimes it still does bring you to laughter. Tiffany’s reading of a romance novel and being puzzled by how impractical everyone was being in it was an utter delight.</p>
<p>Wintersmith has a distinct marking of a fairy tale. I mean, it does contain literal fairies (although of the blue-skinned red-beard kilt-wearing Scottish-sounding variety), but also: it’s just a lovely story of gods and people and hearts and bravery and snow. Lots and lots of snow.</p>
<p>It’s the third book in the Tiffany Aching series and while you could probably read it standalone, it’s better to read the previous two. It brings the people and events together.</p>
Going Postal by Terry Pratchetthttps://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/07/06/going-postal-by-terry-pratchett/2020-07-06T18:32:13+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p><em>This review was <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3394642081">originally posted at Goodreads</a> and imported here later with next to no spell/grammar checking.</em></p>
<p><strong>5/5 stars</strong></p>
<p>“When banks fail, it is seldom bankers who starve.”</p>
<p>Based solely on the blurb, I was not excited about this book. A protagonist called Moist von Lipwig? A con artist? Thanks, but no thanks. And it starts with his execution, which even in a book, even when you know it won’t actually follow through, is a deeply disturbing thing to me.</p>
<p>But what follows is a redemption story, and a really good one at that!</p>
<p>Mr. Lipwig is to take over the derelict abandoned post office in the era where the telegraph has basically taken over the world. Why send a letter over a horse-drawn carriage and wait days for delivery when the message can arrive in a few minutes or hours via the Clack.</p>
<p>But the telegraph company — lovingly designed and built by engineers — has been taken over by the business people who were milking it relentlessly, neglecting repair and safety procedures.</p>
<p>The story story is an urban one and I just respond much better to those. Plus there’s great characters, intrigue, conspiracy, mysteries, cunning, betrayal and a cat that needs saving.</p>
<p>In addition, Pratchett deftly addresses topics such as "natural medicine", engineering vs. business approaches to running a company and then does one of my favourite things in a book: building and describing a culture. The post people as well as the telegraph operators have their own morals, behaviours, approaches and myths. And that is just always so delightful to see.</p>
<p>It’s not just a story, but an insight into a world full of genuine people.</p>
<p>And as ever, there’s a lot of philosophy to be found for anyone who’s looking.</p>
<p>Going Postal is technically a part of the Industrial Revolution subseries, but it can absolutely be read in isolation. It is also apparently the first of the new Moist von Lipwig subseries and I am definitely looking forward to the next ones.</p>
This. Cannot. Continue.https://aimlesslygoingforward.com/blog/2020/07/05/this-cannot-continue/2020-07-05T14:52:27+00:00Tomas Sedovictomas@sedovic.czhttps://tomas.sedovic.cz/
<p>I’d like to interrupt the regular chat about games, TV, science & the occasional MS-related TMI to say something that’s been on my mind for a while, but it’s now at the point where I cannot stay silent any longer.</p>
<p>To wit: <strong>Black. Lives. Fucking. Matter!</strong></p>
<p>And: <strong>Trans. Lives. Fucking. Matter!</strong></p>
<p>Dear marginalised folks everywhere, I am so sorry. Sorry for the hardships you needlessly and nonsensically suffer: from the horrifically big to the small but ever-present. And I’m sorry for letting my own privilege and laziness and anxiety prevent me from speaking up.</p>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
<p>Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p>I stand behind this completely, as well as the rest of the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">UN Declaration of Human Rights</a>. A document published in 1948 (<em>Nineteen. Fucking. Forty-Eight!</em> <strong>Seventy years ago!</strong>), declaring the absolute minimum for a safe and dignified life that is still being contradicted every day. Everywhere.</p>
<p>I did not speak against sexism, racism, xenophobia or homophobia except in the few situations where I felt safe and comfortable to do so. There’s no excuse.</p>
<p>I don’t know how to best help, but I will learn. I will go out of my comfort zone.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I’ve set up a monthly donation of $35 to <a href="https://colorofchange.org/">Color Of Change</a> (which <a href="https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hat-stands-solidarity">my employer</a> will match) to try and help the struggling folks in the USA.</p>
<p>And $26 each to <a href="http://www.cicpraha.org/">Centrum pro integraci cizinců</a> (also matched by Red Hat) and <a href="http://www.iqrs.cz/">IQ Roma Servis</a>. Two charities in my country that work against xenophobia and racism we’ve got going on here.</p>
<p>The Czech situation is different from the USA — there’s much less shooting for one. But despite what some people might proclaim, we do have problems with racism and xenophobia. Deeply worrying levels of nationalism are on the rise here like in so many other places. The fear of people who look different or do not conform to a flawed, tortured, idealised version of a Czech citisen is palpable.</p>
<p>I think we as a nation have done a lot of things broadly right. But there are things we’re doing terribly wrong. If I ever leave my country, it will almost certainly be for the hostility towards other cultures and the rise of fascism.</p>
<p>So anyway, the donations are the easy part. It is a small amount, but I’m not in a position to give out more. Not right now. But: it’s all been set up as an automatic regular payment and I don’t plan on cancelling it. "Fire and forget".</p>
<hr>
<p>The hard part will be speaking up. I do struggle with mental issues and a part of my staying silent was as a self-protection. I have a strong tendency (bordering on pathology) to avoid conflicts. There are reasons for this, but I need to deal with it to be a useful ally.</p>
<p>I will call out and come against any racist, sexist and other bigoted speech and behaviour that I encounter. This will be hard and I will mess it up. But I understand now that silence is giving voice to the other side. To the racists, the fascists, the anti-humanists.</p>
<p>I will spend more time and effort seeking out marginalised voices. I will read more black authors, follow more people who don’t look like me on social media and podcasts. And rather than making sweeping egotistical declarations like this one, I will amplify <strong>their</strong> voices.</p>
<p>I’ve learned enough about the white saviour complex and how easily a marginalised person confiding in a privileged person can get hurt. I don’t expect an attaboy or being comforted by the fact that this has been really difficult on me mentally too.</p>
<p>In fact, the fair response would be "what took you so fucking long?" followed by "how long before you slide back to your comfortable little life and forget about the people who are hurting every day?".</p>
<hr>
<p>All I can say is I’m so very sorry. And that I’ll do better. If nothing else, the monthly donations will keep going. And I’ll try to be an ally in other ways too, expecting nothing in return. <em>Deserving nothing in return.</em></p>
<p>I will listen and educate myself. I will seek out voices different from ones that sound like me.</p>
<p>The <strong>Blacks United in Leadership and Diversity</strong> (B.U.I.L.D.) community at Red Hat has provided wonderful eye-opening discussions. They’ve included a list of resources that can serve as a starting point:</p>
<div class="dlist">
<dl>
<dt class="hdlist1">Reading</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Fragility">White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Be_an_Antiracist">How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Jim_Crow">The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1054429.Divided_Sisters">Divided Sisters by Midge Willson and Kathy Russell</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bluest_Eye">The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God">Their Eyes Wer Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_Why_the_Caged_Bird_Sings">I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Roberts#Fatal_Invention">Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34846249-locking-up-our-own">Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17631.The_Miner_s_Canary">The Miner’s Canary by Lani Guiner and Gerald Torres</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wretched_of_the_Earth">The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon</a></li>
</ul>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<div class="dlist">
<dl>
<dt class="hdlist1">Watching</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_(film)">13th (2016)</a> (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8">available for free on YouTube</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Son_(2019_film)">American Son (2019)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_White_People_(TV_series)">Dear White People (2017 TV show)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Beale_Street_Could_Talk_(film)">If Beale St Could Talk (2018)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_in_the_Wilderness">King in the Wilderness (2018)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_You_Yesterday">See You Yesterday (2019)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hate_U_Give_(film)">The Hate U Give (2018)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_They_See_Us">When They See Us (2019 TV show)</a></li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">Listening</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/podcasts/1619-podcast.html">1619 (New York Times)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.aboutracepodcast.com/">About Race</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch">Code Switch (NPR)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://aapf.org/podcast">Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.raceforward.org/media/podcast/momentum-race-forward-podcast">Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast</a></li>
<li><a href="https://civilrights.org/podforthecause/">Pod For The Cause</a></li>
<li><a href="https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-people/">Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/">Seeing White</a></li>
<li><a href="https://cindywangbrandt.com/podcast/episode-75-five-pandemic-parenting-lessons-with-cindy-wang-brandt/">Parenting Forward podcast episode 75: Five Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt</a></li>
<li><a href="https://soundcloud.com/radicalselfie">Fare of the Free Child podcast</a></li>
</ul>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<p>An easy trap to fall into is finding a single person and treat them as a representative for everyone (i.e. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokenism">tokenism</a>). In fact, everyone’s experience is different (e.g. dark or light skin, man or woman, cis or trans or nonbinary, education background, surrounding community). I will seek out distinct and diverse voices. Artists, politicians, activists, engineers, friends, colleagues.</p>
<p>I have seen <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_(film)">13th</a> and over time, I will go through the lists above, adding more to them as I discover them. The first four episodes of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXAptcMQLoM6jeadgiA4YZZbgW4BDovTB">Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man</a> have been enlightening, for example.</p>
<p>This will take time and effort and discomfort. Racism is not something that can be overcome in a couple of days after which we can all pat ourselves on the back. And it’s not something we can forget when the news cycle moves on.</p>
<p>I will also educate about the situation in my own country. We have fewer instances of violence, but racist remarks and behaviour are a daily occurrence and it has to stop. I will probably be able to effect more meaningful change help.</p>
<hr>
<p>I have not been paying a lot of attention to racism, but I have spent some time learning about the issues women face in tech and elsewhere.</p>
<p>In a not-at-all-surprising turn of events, a lot of the advice has been the same: listen, empathise, understand, speak up and don’t expect the marginalised people to do do all the hard work and tell you what to do so you can lazily consume it from the comfort of your privilege.</p>
<p>If I do something I shouldn’t, or vice versa, feel free to call me out. If you want to confide in me, ask for help or just rant, I will gladly listen. But I don’t ask you to do my part for me.</p>
<p>I also understand how marginalised people do not feel comfortable speaking about these issues to people with privilege. A lot them have either heard or had a direct experience with truly opening to someone, only to having to comfort them or even worse, getting hurt over it.</p>
<p>I promise I will not let it backfire on you. But it is your choice, I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.</p>
<p>All I want is to be in a world that everyone can find worth living in.</p>
<h2 id="addendum_this_cannot_continue">Addendum: This Cannot Continue</h2>
<p>The title of this post is a reference to a song from the most memorable boss fight in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nier:_Automata">Nier: Automata</a> game:</p>
<div class="videoblock">
<div class="content">
<iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ux9c-Yjsl4k?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>
</div>
<p>In it, the protagonists (humanoid sentient robots) find a different "breed" of robots. They decide these not real living thinking beings, just a bunch of defective junk imitating life. And then proceed to slaughter them all:</p>
<div class="videoblock">
<div class="content">
<iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gb5_2Pif7FI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>
</div>
<p><em>(NSFW: naked male butt and sexless crotch)</em></p>
<p>It hits home much more now than when I played it a few years ago.</p>
<h2 id="addendum_all_lives_matter">Addendum: All Lives Matter</h2>
<p>It is infuriating that people keep shouting the above as if anyone in the BLM movement wanted to conduct a planet-wide genocide of anyone who’s not Black.</p>
<p>Yes, all lives matter. But even now, in the USA, empirically, the police, the judicial system, the employers and people behave as if some lives mattered much less.</p>
<p>If a house is on fire, you pour water on that house, not shout "all houses matter".</p>
<p>This reminds me of the the <code>#NotAllMen</code> voices of the <code>#MeToo</code> movement. It is nothing less than a "well, actually" used to distract from the core message. Intentionally or unintentionally, that’s what it’s doing.</p>
<p><strong>I do not condone prejudice, racism, xenophobia, fascism and sexism in <em>any shape or form</em></strong>.</p>
<p>And until they’ve been completely eradicated, we need to call it out.</p>
<h2 id="addendum_mental_health">Addendum: Mental Health</h2>
<p>Being an effective help means speaking out, making one’s views public and engaging in dialogue. I am currently not able to do this well.</p>
<p>On top of the <a href="/blog/2018/03/19/multiple-sclerosis/#the_deep_end">mild (but still very real) depression</a> that I’ve mostly managed to keep in check, there is another pernicious aspect of my mind.</p>
<p>I cannot deal with direct opposing views to my deeply held beliefs. They turn my mind into a turmoil of fury, sadness and frustration that affects my thinking and behaviour <em>for weeks</em>. A single off-hand remark not even aimed at me will do that.</p>
<p>I don’t do well in conflict. I don’t handle violence well, either.</p>
<p>I become emotional, start spouting angry platitudes, lash out and start hurting people rather than engage in a dialogue, share perspectives, point out flaws in arguments and hopefully, change minds.</p>
<p>I have mostly "dealt" with this by avoiding the things that hurt me. Avoiding the topics, muting people on my social media, etc. This is not great in general. It’s not a fool-proof system (things that fuck me up for weeks still sneak through) and it goes against my desire to engage in open, honest and productive dialogue.</p>
<p>But it is completely deleterious for my desire to fight injustice. I can’t be an effective ally if I’m unable to function properly. The need to protect myself has stopped me time and time again from speaking out. It, just like the injustices themselves, cannot continue.</p>
<p>I am not entirely sure how to address this effectively, but I’ve got a few ideas and I’ll see how they work out. I will seek out professional help if they don’t.</p>