The thing with computer/console-based RPGs - what almost puts me off them entirely - is that success in battles has little to do with the skill of the player, and a lot to do with luck, based on the background number-crunching of the game. Certainly, there comes a time when you've got your character(s) upgraded to a point where they hit more than they miss, and hit powerfully enough to do the job, but there's still something frustrating about choosing your actions and hoping for success, rather than controlling your actions directly, and living or dying based on the accuracy of your control. And that's ignoring the whole 'action button sensitivity' issue.
A prime example is the part I reached in Xenoblade recently. I mentioned in a previous post that I'd read about an alleged 'difficulty spike' around the time the party reaches Level 50 (which is actually more to do with location and the associated enemy types, and whether or not the correct path is followed). At the very end of the first area on Mechonis, there's a battle where, even well above Level 50, I found myself hopelessly outclassed by a group of enemies that, technically, weren't that much more powerful than me.
My usual response to this is to find some Let's Play videos and observe other folks playing - maybe pick up a few tricks. There still aren't that many Let's Plays of Xenoblade, owing to the fact that the English language version hasn't been released in the States yet, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm beginning to find a lot of the American Let's Players kind of irritating in their attempts to be 'humorous' (great if you can do it, but if it doesn't come naturally, then what makes one Let's Player funny isn't necessarily going to work for someone else), and frequently end up screaming at my screen as they somehow miss something as the player that's obvious to me as the viewer. It increases the length of the Let's Play, and gives rise to the question of whether it's better to present an authentic Let's Play with all the mistakes, or whether it's better for everyone to edit out the half hour of backtracking and running around in circles because they didn't notice that a door opened right next to them when they threw that switch.
I think you can guess which I'd vote for.
But I digress. I dug up a Let's Play of Xenoblade that had already covered the part I've reached. Annoyingly, the player was at a lower level than me, and yet seemed to be more successful in his battles despite employing much the same mash tactics as me, except that he virtually never uses the Monado's powers (other than Enchant) or any chain attacks (even going to far as to mention he'd only used a chain attack on one specific enemy).
And, aside from dodging a couple of battles, he actually did better than me - completing the battle that had been giving me trouble on his first attempt.
It would have been nice to have picked up a winning strategy... but there really wasn't one, apart from picking away at one enemy at a time, which is what I'd tried to do anyway.
I'd tried the same team as him - Shulk, Dunban and Riki - and failed miserably. Even my first attempt with the normally-winning team of Shulk, Reyn and Sharla resulted in a wholesale slaughter.
So, I thought, I might as well just keep trying. One important point I did pick up from the video was that the enemies don't respawn if you die, so you only have to pick up the fight with whoever you didn't kill the last time round.
I copped out, and when back to Shulk, Reyn and Sharla...
...and I aced it.
All I can say is that I made sure everyone was focussed on the same enemy- issuing the 'Focus' command every so often - and had actually gone up a level just before the fight after a bit more grinding. I supposed I'd also played about with my selection of special moves and their individual levels... but, by and large, I was playing the same way with the same characters, but it was much easier.
So... Progress. And, after a good few cutscenes, I decided to stop for the day at a suitably dramatic juncture. Looking forward to more, but not sure when it'll happen - probably not before Sunday, since I'm off to my folks tomorrow.
There's further drama with my grandmother - when she was finally seen by a doctor, it became clear that there was something wrong. Her speech is apparently rather off - she knows what she's saying (or trying to say), but what comes out of her mouth ain't makin' sense. She had an appointment for an X-Ray, and I haven't heard any more - I guess I'll get the whole story tomorrow, though my mother warned that she might be back and forth between home and the hospital - but, at my grandmother's age, the problem could be anything from concussion to brain damage from the fall, or it could have been a stroke that caused the fall.
Watch this space...
Friday, 2 March 2012
Attack of the Clones
I guess you could trace it back to all the old Sci-Fi B-Movies of yesteryear, where the military were hopelessly outnumbered or outgunned or all-round-outclassed by invading aliens, but this whole 'invasion' schtick is rapidly becoming quite boring.
Not too long ago, there was Spielberg's pretty decent adaptation of HG Wells' The War of the Worlds, where gigantic tripod mecha - piloted by three-limbed alien things - cut a swathe across America (oh, and the rest of the world... probably) only to be felled by the common cold. More recently, we had Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles, where basically the same bunch of aliens made two different attempts at conquering our world. One involved turning people into blue-light-zombies, removing their brains and using them to pilot a vast range of seemingly unstoppable, brightly glowing, insectoid biomechanical things, while the other dispensed with all that blue light and just fried anything that moved with superior weaponry. Both had 'motherships' and 'fighter planes' that looked alarmingly similar.
Then, breaking with his own established continuity, Michael Bay decided that the transforming alien robots in Dark of the Moon would, after all, pilot spacecraft and other vehicles... which looked somewhat familiar. Add some blue light and lensflares, and you've got the rejects from Skyline and Battle: LA.
And now the completed first trailer for Avengers Assemble (or is it just called 'Avengers'?) turns up, and Loki appears to be making his bid for world domination on the back of an alien assault force that wouldn't have looked out of place in any of the previously mentioned films. In particular, there's a flying mechanical dragon thing that could easily be related to Shockwave's pet, Driller. Maybe it's the bastard offspring of Driller and Laserbeak. Wow... there's a mental image I can live without.
I guess we've all moved beyond the point where flying saucers made out of foil-covered paper plates are the height of sophistication but, really, why do all these alien assault forces look the same? The CGI designers must surely be paid to be somewhat original? Most of the craft I've seen might as well be forged from a template. Cut and paste a few bumps and panel lines from various sources, change the textures, and sell to the highest bidder.
I had high hopes for a movie that unites some of Marvel's most enduring Superheroes, not least with Joss Whedon at the helm, but 'Massive Alien Invasion' is a cliché that is well and truly played out. I can only hope that the big special effects battle is only a small part of the story, or this will be another disappointing effort from Marvel, that could have been so much better.
Not too long ago, there was Spielberg's pretty decent adaptation of HG Wells' The War of the Worlds, where gigantic tripod mecha - piloted by three-limbed alien things - cut a swathe across America (oh, and the rest of the world... probably) only to be felled by the common cold. More recently, we had Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles, where basically the same bunch of aliens made two different attempts at conquering our world. One involved turning people into blue-light-zombies, removing their brains and using them to pilot a vast range of seemingly unstoppable, brightly glowing, insectoid biomechanical things, while the other dispensed with all that blue light and just fried anything that moved with superior weaponry. Both had 'motherships' and 'fighter planes' that looked alarmingly similar.
Then, breaking with his own established continuity, Michael Bay decided that the transforming alien robots in Dark of the Moon would, after all, pilot spacecraft and other vehicles... which looked somewhat familiar. Add some blue light and lensflares, and you've got the rejects from Skyline and Battle: LA.
And now the completed first trailer for Avengers Assemble (or is it just called 'Avengers'?) turns up, and Loki appears to be making his bid for world domination on the back of an alien assault force that wouldn't have looked out of place in any of the previously mentioned films. In particular, there's a flying mechanical dragon thing that could easily be related to Shockwave's pet, Driller. Maybe it's the bastard offspring of Driller and Laserbeak. Wow... there's a mental image I can live without.
I guess we've all moved beyond the point where flying saucers made out of foil-covered paper plates are the height of sophistication but, really, why do all these alien assault forces look the same? The CGI designers must surely be paid to be somewhat original? Most of the craft I've seen might as well be forged from a template. Cut and paste a few bumps and panel lines from various sources, change the textures, and sell to the highest bidder.
I had high hopes for a movie that unites some of Marvel's most enduring Superheroes, not least with Joss Whedon at the helm, but 'Massive Alien Invasion' is a cliché that is well and truly played out. I can only hope that the big special effects battle is only a small part of the story, or this will be another disappointing effort from Marvel, that could have been so much better.
Thursday, 1 March 2012
It Never Rains, But It Pours
Of course, I'm being almost ironic here, because the weather's fine... Lovely, in fact. I have windows open all over the flat and, while the sky is a little hazy in places, it's shaping up to be a bright, sunny day.
The problems are everywhere else.
When I went to bed last night, my front teeth were feeling a bit odd. Well, I say 'my front teeth', but I mean the gums they're set into. Slightly achy, but not terrible. That is, until about 5-5.30 this morning, when the pain woke me up, and was severe enough to warrant a dose of ibuprofen. At that point, I'd probably only been asleep for two hours at most, because I had another of my bordering-on-insomniac nights.
Cut to about 10.30, when I'm woken up by my phone. Nothing new there - it's normally a recorded message about Payment Protection Insurance. Not this time, though.
My grandmother has had a fall - sometime on Tuesday, it later transpired - and has been in hospital. She still hadn't been seen by a doctor when my mother phoned, but wasn't keen on staying in hospital and, it seems, had to be sedated last night because she had been found stalking the wards, trying to find her way out. After a rather longer conversation with my mother a short while ago, I have learned that my grandmother is in a far worse condition than my mother generally lets on - she can't hand-write, can't dress herself, and keeps putting things - clothes and groceries - in the wrong places. She probably should have been put into a nursing home years ago - my mother says - but was always very vocal in her desire to stay in her flat. Being in her own home made her happy... and you can't argue with that.
After the first chat with my mother, I got myself up, showered and dressed (she apologised for calling so early but, let's face it, 10.30 is pretty late to be waking up, so I should have apologised for being so lazy!) and phoned my dentist to arrange an appointment. "Can it wait till Monday?" I was asked. Since the pain has faded (not gone... I now feel that hollowness/absence of pain that says 'the problem is still there, but the pain killer is working') I agreed to that appointment... I hope I won't regret it. I do worry about my teeth - possibly more than I should, based on my dentist's assessments of their state of health, but I kind of prefer to stay paranoid.
The next order of business was taking meter readings for gas and electricity and, based on the results, phoning my utilities provider to discuss (a) altering my gas to quarterly billing, to match electricity and (b) reducing my monthly payments because - sweet Jesus - I'm over £200 in credit on my gas at the moment.
The operative I spoke to did some quick calculations and determined that I'm neither a heavy user of gas nor of electricity. Thankfully, though, I've not been heavily overcharged on both. For electricity, I'm paying less than £30 per month, and my average usage over the last year (while I've been unemployed, and on the computer almost all day, almost every day!) suggested that my payment could be taken below £25 per month.
Gas was a different story, however.
My payments were increased twice last year, effectively doubling my 'contribution' (as I've probably mentioned elsewhere). I'm currently paying over £60 a month for my gas. Now, based solely on the fact that gas prices are coming down next month, my own - admittedly shakey - mathematics told me I could afford to reduce my monthly payments by about £9. The operative's more detailed computations went a little further.
And by 'a little', I mean it turned out I'm paying about £30 too much.
Per month.
That'd be more than £300 over the course of a year.
Rather sensibly, though - considering the vagaries of British weather, and my instruction to switch to quarterly billing for gas - it was recommended that I wait till my next bill comes through to change my payment. I'd almost certainly get a refund - as I did on my last electricity bill - and that, coupled with the price reduction, would put me in a better position to make the call and them in a better position to advise me on how much of a cut to make to my monthly payments... But I'm guessing I can take about £30 off.
While I was on the phone, I was offered the opportunity of a free assessment for (and, potentially, free installation of) cavity wall insulation. I took up the offer, but have subsequently realised it might be more than a little pointless as my flat was built before cavity walls became the norm. Can't hurt to have someone out, though, and they may be able to advise me on alternatives which could help cut my bills further.
To finish on a further positive note, my niece was discharged and taken home earlier in the week, but will be returning to London tomorrow, in theory, to get her stitches removed. Of course, it wasn't all plain sailing - her father got sick at home while she was down here, so my sister decided to wait an extra day before heading back home from our parents' house. There had also been mention of an extra 24 hours in the hospital prior to discharge due to a possible irregularity in her heartbeat... but it sounds as though that was given the all-clear.
The problems are everywhere else.
When I went to bed last night, my front teeth were feeling a bit odd. Well, I say 'my front teeth', but I mean the gums they're set into. Slightly achy, but not terrible. That is, until about 5-5.30 this morning, when the pain woke me up, and was severe enough to warrant a dose of ibuprofen. At that point, I'd probably only been asleep for two hours at most, because I had another of my bordering-on-insomniac nights.
Cut to about 10.30, when I'm woken up by my phone. Nothing new there - it's normally a recorded message about Payment Protection Insurance. Not this time, though.
My grandmother has had a fall - sometime on Tuesday, it later transpired - and has been in hospital. She still hadn't been seen by a doctor when my mother phoned, but wasn't keen on staying in hospital and, it seems, had to be sedated last night because she had been found stalking the wards, trying to find her way out. After a rather longer conversation with my mother a short while ago, I have learned that my grandmother is in a far worse condition than my mother generally lets on - she can't hand-write, can't dress herself, and keeps putting things - clothes and groceries - in the wrong places. She probably should have been put into a nursing home years ago - my mother says - but was always very vocal in her desire to stay in her flat. Being in her own home made her happy... and you can't argue with that.
After the first chat with my mother, I got myself up, showered and dressed (she apologised for calling so early but, let's face it, 10.30 is pretty late to be waking up, so I should have apologised for being so lazy!) and phoned my dentist to arrange an appointment. "Can it wait till Monday?" I was asked. Since the pain has faded (not gone... I now feel that hollowness/absence of pain that says 'the problem is still there, but the pain killer is working') I agreed to that appointment... I hope I won't regret it. I do worry about my teeth - possibly more than I should, based on my dentist's assessments of their state of health, but I kind of prefer to stay paranoid.
The next order of business was taking meter readings for gas and electricity and, based on the results, phoning my utilities provider to discuss (a) altering my gas to quarterly billing, to match electricity and (b) reducing my monthly payments because - sweet Jesus - I'm over £200 in credit on my gas at the moment.
The operative I spoke to did some quick calculations and determined that I'm neither a heavy user of gas nor of electricity. Thankfully, though, I've not been heavily overcharged on both. For electricity, I'm paying less than £30 per month, and my average usage over the last year (while I've been unemployed, and on the computer almost all day, almost every day!) suggested that my payment could be taken below £25 per month.
Gas was a different story, however.
My payments were increased twice last year, effectively doubling my 'contribution' (as I've probably mentioned elsewhere). I'm currently paying over £60 a month for my gas. Now, based solely on the fact that gas prices are coming down next month, my own - admittedly shakey - mathematics told me I could afford to reduce my monthly payments by about £9. The operative's more detailed computations went a little further.
And by 'a little', I mean it turned out I'm paying about £30 too much.
Per month.
That'd be more than £300 over the course of a year.
Rather sensibly, though - considering the vagaries of British weather, and my instruction to switch to quarterly billing for gas - it was recommended that I wait till my next bill comes through to change my payment. I'd almost certainly get a refund - as I did on my last electricity bill - and that, coupled with the price reduction, would put me in a better position to make the call and them in a better position to advise me on how much of a cut to make to my monthly payments... But I'm guessing I can take about £30 off.
While I was on the phone, I was offered the opportunity of a free assessment for (and, potentially, free installation of) cavity wall insulation. I took up the offer, but have subsequently realised it might be more than a little pointless as my flat was built before cavity walls became the norm. Can't hurt to have someone out, though, and they may be able to advise me on alternatives which could help cut my bills further.
To finish on a further positive note, my niece was discharged and taken home earlier in the week, but will be returning to London tomorrow, in theory, to get her stitches removed. Of course, it wasn't all plain sailing - her father got sick at home while she was down here, so my sister decided to wait an extra day before heading back home from our parents' house. There had also been mention of an extra 24 hours in the hospital prior to discharge due to a possible irregularity in her heartbeat... but it sounds as though that was given the all-clear.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)