First Impressions of Star Wars: The Old Republic

First Impressions of Star Wars: The Old Republic — Blue Ink Alchemy

I am a recovering Star Wars fanboy. I grew up on Star Wars. Before Star Trek grew into its Next Generation and into the myriad other permutations, there was A New Hope. From Alan Dean Foster to a variety of hacks, there's been all sort of surrounding works with the series. Video games are no exception. They're not all Dark Forces and TIE Fighter to be sure, but most folks in the know will point to BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic as perhaps the best RPG set in the universe. I'm a fan of the Old Republic in general. I'm of the opinion that ancient fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma is one of the most interesting characters in the whole Star Wars universe, but that's a post for another time. Setting the stage thousands of years before Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to Naboo cleans the slate and allows for expansion on history, culture and adventure within the galaxy Lucas created. It certainly offers more options than a galaxy where there are two, count them, two Jedi to speak of and the Empire's in shambles until Grand Admiral Thrawn shows up. This brings us to Star Wars: The Old Republic, a MMORPG created with LucasArts' universe, BioWare's storytelling chops and EA's marketing monstrosity. I've had the opportunity to test it twice, and while I never got as far as double digits in terms of character levels and thus can't speak to things like class balance or dungeon content, I can talk about the mechanics, the storytelling and the atmosphere of the universe and how well it's captured.
I couldn't find where the game stashed the screenshots I took, so... have some concept art. I will admit that I more than once felt the pull of the old familiar nostalgia trying to pull me in as I played. The music, the set pieces and even sound effects appeal to that eight-year-old that lingers in the back of my brain and tries to convince me that Star Wars never came close to being ruined at all and those other Transformer movies never happened because Optimus Prime is not that much of a callous, bloodthirsty douche. Tempted as I am to give that little jerk a wedgie for being so naive, I will admit that the design team is doing their job in evoking the feel of the Star Wars universe. I got a little bit of a nerdy charge when I recognized names like Naga Sadow, Marka Ragnos and Exar Kun... while my wife had to ask who they were and why it matters. Star Wars fans will be pleased by this, non-fans may feel a bit on the outside looking in. The stories are perhaps the strongest part of The Old Republic, chalked up as mentioned previously to BioWare's experience with such things. Within the household we experienced several and the consensus is that the Imperial Agent has the best story of the bunch. Most MMOs have you chasing down rats or collecting bits of twig for someone nailed to the ground, Old Republic flings you into an espionage yarn worthy of Alpha Protocol. With fully voiced NPCs, cinematic cutaways devoid of overpowered happenings and dialog choices that actually matter (eventually), there are times when the game feels more like a single-player RPG than an MMO. I was never in a group long enough to experience the way the game weighs the attitudes of multiple players against one another in conversation, but the idea does intrigue me from the standpoints of storytelling and mechanics. It's on the mechanical side of things, however, where I found my enthusiasm waning. Each class gets a set of particular skills with cooldown periods and linked mechanics (Sith Warriors with rage, Imperial Agents with cover and so on) that they can purchase new ranks of with each level they gain. Sound familiar? And while there's no auto-attack and you must push a button to initiate an action, there's no denying this is essentially WoW in space. The potential of the game is also undercut by the shortage of character creation options. While male characters can come in sizes from "barely out of their teens" to "hitting the Krispy Kreme once too often", females are limited to four different sets of voluptuous curves with no real appreciable difference in frame, and all in rather tight outfits. It's possible that this is due to beta constraints and higher levels will see these ladies in practical armor, but somehow I doubt it. While I don't think it's necessarily the case that a new MMO has to be radically different to survive, I find myself having difficulty getting excited for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Yes, it brings me back to the sense of adventure and sweeping story that drew me into Star Wars in the first place, and the story beats do crack along rather well from what I've seen. While the gameplay isn't necessarily bad by any definition, it also isn't blowing me out of my seat. What The Old Republic is, in a word, is "safe". It builds mostly off of the success it's main competition and tries to draw in players with story and atmosphere. While those things are good, it will be difficult to sustain a player base on those things alone. When the goal of the game is the delivery of top-level dungeons and PvP matches, both endlessly repeatable, the story eventually has to peter out and the atmosphere becomes mere window-dressing. Players with a hankering for story will turn to one of BioWare's single-player titles or a game like Skyrim while those craving good atmosphere would do well to try out smaller indie titles like Bastion if they're in the mood for atmospheric gameplay with strong story elements, or Amnesia: the Dark Descent if they feel like crapping themselves. Personally, I'm holding out for a Mass Effect MMO. Oh, and Guild Wars 2.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

The Women of Skyrim

The Women of Skyrim — Blue Ink Alchemy

Pop quiz: is that a man, or a woman, slaying that dragon? I've been playing a lot of Skyrim lately, between shifts at the day job and stabs at the rewrite. Even when it's not entirely on my brain, the experience lingers, reminding me of quests to finish and things to craft at my local friendly blacksmith's forge. That may be why, when my brain was otherwise occupied with work-related minutae, I engaged in a brief Twitter debate about Skyrim's women. This may seem a bit like riding on the coattails of yesterday's Jimquisition, but this actually began here. A little entry on an Escapist thread went over well enough that I thought it warranted Tumbling. A concerned young woman, seeing my tweet, responded with a picture of a 'busty wench' from the game. I responded with some pictures of my own, contending that while some of the women in Skyrim do wear bodices, the treatment and portrayal of the 'fairer sex' is a lot better than it has and could have been. You see, the women of Skyrim are varied characters from all walks of life, from warriors to mages, from miners to barmaids. I'm about 30 hours into the game and I have yet to see one being shown in an objectifying or demeaning manner. No dancing girls, no slaves to a male figure, not even a prostitute in sight. And the women who take up arms do so practically. They don't squeak when they get hit and most of them wear armor that actually provides some protection, instead of wearing a couple of iron goblets over their nipples held in place by fine silver chains and magic. There is, to me, a huge difference between characters like these and other 'strong females'. Skyrim is closer to Eternal Darkness or Beyond Good & Evil than it is Heavenly Sword or any fighting game you care to name. Let's face it: a barmaid in a bodice is no Mai Shiranui.
One of these things is not like the other. Now, I understand that barmaids are often dressed or dress themselves in a certain way to attract the male gaze and thus increase their tips for an evening's work. And I know this isn't necessary in a video game but can be exploited for a bit of that "peep show" thing game designers like to pull off. But, in this case, I don't think Skyrim is doing this intentionally. Rather, it is set in a particular place with a particular aesthetic (namely, medieval Europe) and the ladies who made a living waiting tables in taverns had many of the same concerns and ways of addressing same that women working at Hooters do, only I doubt the owners of the Bannered Mare insist on booty shorts and tight, lung-restricting t-shirts. And nobody is expecting a barmaid to get into a one-on-one fight with someone - though if they did, most of them would kick our asses, you have to be tough in that business. Mai, on the other hand, is a competitor in the King of Fighters tournament, and dresses... well, you get the idea. See, the reason I think Skyrim is succeeding where other games fail, at least in terms of aethetics, is that it's only occasionally we see something like the barmaid above. For the most part, the women of Skyrim are dressed for the weather and their work. Furs, practical armor, hell - I met a woman north of Riften who works in a mine, and she's doing it in a very plain shirt & trousers. That doesn't stop me from considering her a potential bride for my hard-working spell-sword Breton Dovahkiin. My point is that these ladies are attractive without having to stop and pose like they know somebody's watching them. And when you create your own female, the options are much more varied than they are in, say, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Which I'll talk about soon. Unfortunately, they aren't delivering so much in the personality department. The voice acting and motion of the characters is much improved over Oblivion, but some of the limited dialogue options and repetition that happens in certain situations - following me, being my housecarl, etc - pierce the illusion that these are more the sort of female characters (or NPCs at least) many in the community are looking for. Still, from where I sit, it's just another thing about Skyrim that marks it as an impressive feat and well worth all its hype. Even if it's just a small move in the right direction, hampered by the lack of personality the way one of us is hampered by our shoelaces getting tied together, a little movement is better than none at all.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

The Women of Skyrim

The Women of Skyrim — Blue Ink Alchemy

Pop quiz: is that a man, or a woman, slaying that dragon? I've been playing a lot of Skyrim lately, between shifts at the day job and stabs at the rewrite. Even when it's not entirely on my brain, the experience lingers, reminding me of quests to finish and things to craft at my local friendly blacksmith's forge. That may be why, when my brain was otherwise occupied with work-related minutae, I engaged in a brief Twitter debate about Skyrim's women. This may seem a bit like riding on the coattails of yesterday's Jimquisition, but this actuall began here. A little entry on an Escapist thread went over well enough that I thought it warranted Tumbling. A concerned young woman, seeing my tweet, responded with a picture of a 'busty wench' from the game. I responded with some pictures of my own, contending that while some of the women in Skyrim do wear bodices, the treatment and portrayal of the 'fairer sex' is a lot better than it has and could have been. You see, the women of Skyrim are varied characters from all walks of life, from warriors to mages, from miners to barmaids. I'm about 30 hours into the game and I have yet to see one being shown in an objectifying or demeaning manner. No dancing girls, no slaves to a male figure, not even a prostitute in sight. And the women who take up arms do so practically. They don't squeak when they get hit and most of them wear armor that actually provides some protection, instead of wearing a couple of iron goblets over their nipples held in place by fine silver chains and magic. There is, to me, a huge difference between characters like these and other 'strong females'. Skyrim is closer to Eternal Darkness or Beyond Good & Evil than it is Heavenly Sword or any fighting game you care to name. Let's face it: a barmaid in a bodice is no Mai Shiranui.
One of these things is not like the other. Now, I understand that barmaids are often dressed or dress themselves in a certain way to attract the male gaze and thus increase their tips for an evening's work. And I know this isn't necessary in a video game but can be exploited for a bit of that "peep show" thing game designers like to pull off. But, in this case, I don't think Skyrim is doing this intentionally. Rather, it is set in a particular place with a particular aesthetic (namely, medieval Europe) and the ladies who made a living waiting tables in taverns had many of the same concerns and ways of addressing same that women working at Hooters do, only I doubt the owners of the Bannered Mare insist on booty shorts and tight, lung-restricting t-shirts. And nobody is expecting a barmaid to get into a one-on-one fight with someone - though if they did, most of them would kick our asses, you have to be tough in that business. Mai, on the other hand, is a competitor in the King of Fighters tournament, and dresses... well, you get the idea. See, the reason I think Skyrim is succeeding where other games fail, at least in terms of aethetics, is that it's only occasionally we see something like the barmaid above. For the most part, the women of Skyrim are dressed for the weather and their work. Furs, practical armor, hell - I met a woman north of Riften who works in a mine, and she's doing it in a very plain shirt & trousers. That doesn't stop me from considering her a potential bride for my hard-working spell-sword Breton Dovahkiin. My point is that these ladies are attractive without having to stop and pose like they know somebody's watching them. And when you create your own female, the options are much more varied than they are in, say, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Which I'll talk about soon. Unfortunately, they aren't delivering so much in the personality department. The voice acting and motion of the characters is much improved over Oblivion, but some of the limited dialogue options and repetition that happens in certain situations - following me, being my housecarl, etc - pierce the illusion that these are more the sort of female characters (or NPCs at least) many in the community are looking for. Still, from where I sit, it's just another thing about Skyrim that marks it as an impressive feat and well worth all its hype. Even if it's just a small move in the right direction, hampered by the lack of personality the way one of us is hampered by our shoelaces getting tied together, a little movement is better than none at all.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Don't Go Easy

Don't Go Easy — Blue Ink Alchemy

While working on the revision for the fantasy novel, I realized something that'd passed me by on my previous edits. Well, I say 'revision' but mostly what I'm doing is falling under 'rewrite'. I'm taking large chunks of my old draft, keeping what works, and cutting out what doesn't. There's a brand-new opening for our young hero, which gives him a bit more fleshing out and dispenses with some exposition in a manner better than I had written previously, but what I came across yesterday was something else entirely. I realized I was being far too easy on my characters. Conflict is the essence of good storytelling, and it happens all the time, even between people who care deeply about one another. It can be as simple as an ill-timed word or joke or as complex as coming down on opposite sides of a political or religious debate. And that's before we get into anything morally questionable. The more we show our characters not getting along, the more we can relate to them. Because we don't always get along. This isn't to say that you should always be beating up your characters. Give them little victories and moments to breathe where you can. But they'll mean more if you make the characters earn them. Trial by combat may seem to be the easiest way to do that, but the operative word there is "easy". Presenting a monolithic threat by way of a slavering beast, an enemy fleet or a goon squad can give way to action, sure, but there's only so much development that can happen for our characters in the course of that particular kind of conflict. The readers may also have never engaged in ship-to-ship combat in space or magical duels or even gunfights. It's far more likely they've had a shouting match with a family member or had their heart broken by a revelation from a loved one. Such things are much closer to home for most readers. Your story moves along more naturally, your characters grow deeper and more real and the experience you give your audience becomes richer. To me, that's worth putting some fictional people through a bit of hell.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! The Last Samurai

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! The Last Samurai — Blue Ink Alchemy

[No audio this week; RIP old headset. :( ] I had originally planned this for no other reason than the sake of novelty. I am, after all, not the only small-time Internet movie critic consistently cranking out reviews for the benefits of whomever takes the time to read my words. I have a Canadian counterpart (no, not my wife), who goes by the handle 'Marter' and can be found reviewing movies as often as he can at Box Office Boredom. Since we both toil in the somewhat dank Internet basement clubhouse that is the Escapist user forums, I thought it might be keen to collaborate on a review. He agreed, and for our work I selected Edward Zwick's 2003 historical epic The Last Samurai. The year is 1877. While the United States continues to recover from its civil war, the nation of Japan is undergoing sweeping social change. Resisting this change are the samurai, the warrior caste whose ancient traditions are threatened by the onset of a modern age. To assist in bringing these men and women to heel, Japan conscripts Captain Nathan Algren, a so-called expert at dealing with and relating to native cultures. In this case, it meant helping a tribe of Native Americans let their guard down long enough for his superior officer to ride in with their cavalry unit and kill everybody. Bitter, nihilistic and half in a bottle, Algren takes the job just for something to do, and ends up captured and isolated by the rebellion's leader, Katsumoto, a learned man of both word and sword who may well be the last true samurai left in Japan. So much for the synopsis. Our review of this film has been broken into five sections: Plot, Characters, Cinematography/Mise-en-scène, Actors and Fun Factor. Let's get started with Marter's take on...

Plot

The plot of The Last Samurai worked well for me, even if it might have meandered a bit too long watching Tom Cruise sitting there and observing the samurai culture. It also takes a while to get going, with Cruise's character's alcoholism kind of coming and going whenever it was convenient. After the first day in the samurai culture, it disappears after he's denied his saki. That's fine, but after being released, he's offered whiskey from the businessmen. He refuses, presumably because he kicked the habit. He even claimed that he's finally been able to sleep peacefully. But only about 5 or 10 minutes later, he's saying "I need a drink." Why? Oh, and let's not forget the random ninja attack. It was like director Edward Zwick thought "Hey, they might be getting boring. Let's have a random action scene!" Sure, it was explained, but not very well, and then it's never brought up again. I mean, it serves a function and it brings some of the characters together, but making it have some sort of relevance would have been much nicer. The beginning scene also didn't quite work for me. It showed us how far this soldier had fallen, but if he was willing to fall that far, more or less giving up hope in human life, why would he accept a lot of work just for some money. Opening this way shows his character doesn't care too much about his life, or the money he can get, and makes me question why he'd take the $500 a month to teach people how to kill other people. Most of the plot worked well, though. Despite the film lasting over 150 minutes long, I had no problem sitting through it because there was a lot to take in, and there was always something new happening. I wasn't bored, and even if there wasn't a random ninja attack, I don't think I would have had a problem going over an hour without a real action scene. Watching the life of the samurai, like what I assume happened with Cruise's character, was interesting to me. I was fine sitting there and simply observing.

Personally, it struck me a bit as Dances with Wolves in Japan. When I first saw the film it felt like a win/win. Dances with Wolves was a deeply affecting piece and I'm a sucker for the history, culture and fables of a land like Japan. However, in retrospect I can't help but feel there's been a little glossing over and touching up of some things in places when it comes to an actual portrayal of life during the Meiji era. I feel what's missing is the atmosphere of uncertainty. For the most part, Katsumoto (Watanabe) is absolutely sure his rebellion will ultimately serve the Emperor and strengthen his country, while his enemies are absolutely sure their modern way of life will prevail over the 'barbarians' who were once universally revered, respected and feared. In a time when nobody was sure what the future would hold, seeing things painted so starkly in black and white dilutes the emotional impact of the experience. Still, Katsumoto's desire to resist change for the good of his people's heritage rings true and is enough to drive the plot outside of Algren's growth as a human being. The time dilation that occurs can be a bit off-putting, as Marter mentioned, but the scope of the film and the way Zwick shoots it (more on that later) ensures we as the audience are aware of how sweeping the tale is in its scope. It makes a worthy attempt at being an affecting historical tragedy but never reaches the lofty heights of the Greeks or Shakespeare. The lack of moral ambiguity is probably the biggest Achilles heel this movie has plot wise, but it's not enough to cripple it.
Honestly, I think the beard works for Cruise.

Characters

I've sort of touched upon this already, but I felt like Cruise's character was inconsistent, mostly acting however the plot dictated. Is he an alcoholic for the entire time, or does the samurai life clear him of that? Does he hate all humans, or does he just hate himself? Is he suicidal, or is he not? None of these things are made especially clear, regardless of what the storyline tells us. He develops though, mostly just as he switches sides from the government to being a samurai. So at least there's that. Watanabe's character doesn't really develop at all. He's the same at the beginning as he is at the end, with the only difference being that he finished his poem. Wow, that's a lot of character development there. None of the secondary characters got either depth or development, although that didn't bother me too much, as we didn't need to make the film more cumbersome than it already is.

While Katsumoto doesn't really have an arc the way Algren does, that doesn't necessarily mean the character's dull. Is an old tiger dull just because it's old? We see Katsumoto knowing what he does may end his life at any time, and his willingness to face death, at least his own. The deaths of others, however, have more of an effect on him. One of the film's best scenes comes when his carefully-crafted mask of tranquility is shattered by someone getting fatally wounded. I won't say who or when, but trust me that it's an example of a great deal of emotion and depth being conveyed without a single word. The one-dimensionality of the other characters does indeed keep burdens to a minimum as the story progresses and ties in to that lack of moral ambiguity I mentioned. There are no real surprises when it comes to the allegiances or motivations of people, making the overall story feel like a duet between Algren and Katsumoto with everybody else playing instruments in the backing band. But at least those two are decent characters, even if Algren seems a bit inconsistent at times. He also, thank the Maker, never becomes a "magical white person", solving all of the problems of his poor minority friends simply by being there or making a speech. During the final battle he does play a role but never becomes a major factor, and in the aftermath maintains his place as an observer and narrator rather than a firebrand or symbol. He drives home the point of Katsumoto's rebellion, but in the end seems somewhat superfluous to the actual historical events. To be honest, I like that. Better that than him rallying Japan to remember its traditions the way a white person is sometimes shown as making a black person a better football player or being responsible for a civil rights movement.

Cinematography/Mise-en-scène

I felt like I was in Japan in the 1800's. Nothing made it seem more modern, which is always a good thing. If the film felt more modern -- even if it was done in certain times for the government to highlight how they're more technologically advanced -- I think it would have broken the immersion tha the film tries to bring to the table. But there wasn't anything distracting like that, and as a result, I didn't have any problem with the way the film was built on a staging level. The battle scenes, unfortunately, might have been the low points of the film. It's not that they're not well-made, because I think they were, but because they just didn't particularly fit with the rest of the film, which is a slow-paced drama. The first scene, where the military is slaughtered, is not particularly interesting because we've yet to have enough time to care about anyone involved, especially in regards to the enemy. But luckily, it's short and then it takes a while for another battle to be fought.

I must again respectfully disagree, with regards to the first battle. While we really don't care much about anybody outside of Algren, and even so only in passing at that point, the sight of the samurai in full armor riding hard out of the mist gives them an eerieness that works very well, in my opinion. It's obvious to me why the newly-crafted Japanese army breaks at the sight of them. As is explained to Algren, most of those men grew up hearing tales of the samurai and being in awe of their power and honor. And then, like specters of the past, they're coming directly at you, screaming like banshees and carrying deadly weapons. It's a psychological tactic that works beautifully and speaks to Katsumoto's craftiness in battle strategy, not to mention making for a great shot. Going back to a previous point, though, the ninja attack is probably the "low point" of the film for me. With the exception of two moments I can think of, nothing particularly interesting happens either story-wise or in terms of shot composition. As Marter mentioned, it's pretty much just Zwick saying, "Have some ninjas, guys!" Sure, sending assassins after Katsumoto makes sense, but what is this, G.I. Joe?
Pretty much any scene with these two in it is a good one.

Actors

Cruise and Watanabe are the two more prominently featured actors here. I've never actually had a problem with Cruise -- offset problems aside -- and I think he made a convincing war veteran. Watanabe was more the star though, and I would have liked to see more from him. He clearly understood exactly what was needed from his role, and as a result, he seemed to be fully immersed in his character. Supporting and thankless roles go to Tony Goldwyn, Masato Harada, Timothy Spall and Koyuki.

I agree completely. Tom Cruise all but disappears into his role and it makes the rest of the film better. There are a couple moments early on when he might be overdoing it a bit with the way his character is 'tortured', but looking past that we find a performance that conveys Algren's arc in an earnest, very human manner. He truly brought his A game, which is a good thing because Watanabe shows he is fully capable of blowing less talented actors completely out of the water. The aforementioned death of another character is all but perfect in its presentation and Watanabe absolutely nails it. As I said, this really comes down to a duet between these two characters, and the way the actors play it makes their conversations the highlights of the film.

Fun Factor

Did I enjoy The Last Samurai? Even if it didn't always seem like a consistent effort that made complete sense, I did. Like I said when talking about the plot, I was rarely, if ever, bored, and I was captivated for most of the time it was playing. Learning the culture of the samurai, even if not completely accurate, was very involving for me, and when the film concluded, I felt like I had learned something even if I hadn't. It's an immersive experience that definitely held my interest. While I didn't always feel as if the battle scenes fit, on their own, they worked well and were exciting. You might not think that a gun vs. sword battle would be entertaining, but you would be wrong in that assumption. I simply had fun with this film. Enough fun, in fact, to forgive some of the things that I didn't think worked quite right.

In spite of its historical inconsistencies and a few moments that push the melodrama almost to the point of absurdity, The Last Samurai never feels less than sincere in its sentiments and presentation. It may not always work as intended and you may have trouble shaking the feeling that Zwick is trying really hard to remake Glory, but historical war stories are his bailiwick and this one isn't bad at all. Between the lush cinematography, the interesting historical aspects of the story and the powerful performances of the two leads, it's safe to say both Marter and I recommend The Last Samurai. However, when you look up what actually happened in Japan during the Meiji Restoration, from the actual number of samurai to the way the Japanese were using their Western 'experts', you may get a little bit angry at the aforementioned inconsistencies. I don't think this necessarily detracts from the performances or cinematography, but nevertheless, consider yourselves warned. Josh Loomis can't always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it's unclear if this week's film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain... IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks — Blue Ink Alchemy

This is just a quick list of things for which I'm giving thanks this year.

• I'm employed by a good company with great coworkers, decent pay and actual benefits.
• I have a place of my own to live in even if it gets a bit cramped sometimes.
• My wife continues to put up with me, despite my failings, shortcomings, frivolity, selfishness and brain farts.
• I still have the determination to write, even if it's just a blog post like this one, every day, until I get better and/or get published.
• I'm healthy, sane (relatively speaking) and more stable now than any previous time in my adult life.
• I have a ton of kickass games.
• My family continues to show me what it means to love, to support, to encourage and to never, ever give up.
• I've made fantastic friends with lovely, smart and talented people, even if some of them I've never met face to face.
• I still have my faith, hope and love in spite of everything this world has done to try and dissuade me from holding on to them.
• I also still have my looks.

I hope wherever you are and whomever you're with, you enjoy today and remember to give thanks, even for the little things.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

More Commanders Gather

More Commanders Gather — Blue Ink Alchemy

Modification work by hyperespace, original art by aditya777 While I've been interested in Friday Night Magic and standard formats since Innistrad has hit the shelves, Elder Dragon Highlander ("Commander" for you latecomers) remains perhaps my favorite variant of Magic: the Gathering. It favors creative deck construction, the gameplay is best when shared with multiple people and you can bust out big guns with confidence regardless of how old they are. And one of the guns I've loaded up is pretty old indeed.

Sedris And His Puppet Friends

[mtg_card]Sedris, the Traitor King[/mtg_card] is my newest Commander. While he establishes the colors and general theme for the deck, however, he is not the primary inspiration. Oh sure, being able to plunder my graveyard is neat, but it's really just a means to an end. The deck is stocked with discard effects, zombies to soak up damage and removal to pave the way for [mtg_card]Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker[/mtg_card]. While the nature of Bolas as the go-to Big Bad for lazy Magic writers strikes me as somewhat dubious, I do feel he's an interesting character that's gotten new life thanks to the planeswalker mechanic. He even got his own theme deck, opposite [mtg_card]Ajani Vengeant[/mtg_card], which is where this idea really came from. I took elements of that deck, the Commander deck Devour for Power and the Archenemy deck Bring About the Undead Apocalypse , cherry-picking some of the best cards from each and adding a few of my own. [mtg_card]Liliana Vess[/mtg_card] was an obvious choice, and the [mtg_card]Undead Alchemist[/mtg_card] is a great compliment to the many zombies in the deck. After assembly I tried it out at my local store, and it held its own against a nasty mono-green deck and a very clever mono-black deck. I look forward to sharing it with my family.

Ghave Returns

Ah, but what to do with the spoils from Ajani's deck? There were many things of a white & green nature in it, and my thoughts turned to my old friend [mtg_card]Ghave, Guru of Spores[/mtg_card]. He's been on the bench for quite some time and my idea of focusing on elves didn't really pan out. So I took the deck back to its roots of token production and counter manipulation, branching out into a few ways of gaining life and some interesting new creatures. I'm curious to see how it plays.

The Other Decks

I've actually removed [mtg_card]Venser, the Sojourner[/mtg_card] from my Sharuum deck because I feel he has a better place in the deck I'm constructing with [mtg_card]Numot, the Devastator[/mtg_card] as its Commander. My tentative name for it is "Numot, the Superfluous". I plan on combining the clever tricks of my Chronomancy deck with the control aspects of Political Puppets and a few other nasty surprises. The dragon should only need to unfurl his wings if I really need help with flying threats, or some lands just have to burn. And lingering in the shadows are a seething, ticking mass of seemingly mindless creatures. They have languished in the darkness for quite a while, now. Waiting. Each makes the others stronger, faster, more powerful, harder to kill. Just a few more, and they will be ready to wash over other Commanders in an endless tide of merciless talons and mind-bending alterations. The Slivers are coming.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Breaking Gameplay Down

Breaking Gameplay Down — Blue Ink Alchemy

Dire situations can lead to self-discovery. And sometimes soiled drawers. Very few of us are born experts. The process of going from novice to expert can be long and arduous. At times, it can be difficult to determine where to begin. In video games, once you get past the basic questions of which button does what, the various ways to distance oneself from being a newbie can seem overwhelming. Just as writing sometimes needs to be taken one word at a time, and programming to one line of code after another, so to can gaming be broken down into more manageable aspects. It's a form of what's called 'deliberate practice'. We choose an aspect of our skill set and work it hard until it's forged into something that will contribute to greater success. This is probably most prominent in any RPG you care to mention. If you want to find more loot, you need to practice picking locks. When I was playing World of Warcraft I found myself needing to improve on laying traps for crowd control or cooperating with a group without becoming flustered. You can be I will continue to work on those skills in Guild Wars 2, along with mastering the nuances of the classes one weapon at a time. It's not just limited to role-playing games, though. Even bare-bones shooters like Killing Floor lend themselves to this form of practice. Killing Floor features a set of perks for each player. You can choose which perk you want when joining a server and between waves of specimens ('zeds'). You can grind away at a particular perk until its maxed out, or you can get to a particular level and use that perk to earn some cash before switching to a problem area or something relatively untouched. For example, if you like being up close and personal, you can either get every tier of Berzerker or open up a long game by spending a few waves on that perk, then use the cash you earn to buy weapons for an underdeveloped perk such as Commando or Sharpshooter. The best part about Killing Floor is that some perks can be worked on even if they're not your primary choice - healing teammates contributes to your Medic perk even if you're running around as the Firebug. I didn't realize this particular form of practice had a formal name until I rekindled my interest in StarCraft 2 with the return of Day[9]'s Newbie Tuesday. He'd talked about a mental checklist before, but he also showed how focusing on a particular item on that list not only strengthens that item but also highlights other areas of weakness to be worked upon. I took this advice to heart and started playing again. I actually tried not to win and instead focus on one aspect of my play. I won a few games anyway. It's as true for video games as it is for most of our endeavours: sometimes, in order to build ourselves up, we need to break ourselves down first.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

That Skyrim Bug

That Skyrim Bug — Blue Ink Alchemy

This world is what you make of it. He worked the bellows, breathing more life into the forge's fires. Any moment the flames would be hot enough for him to begin beating the iron into the appropriate shapes. He wondered if any of the early morning passers-by in Whiterun found it odd that their thane was spending his time thusly, and at the smithy run by a woman, no less. It was a passing curiosity. He really didn't care what people thought. He deeply respected Adrianne for building her own future, both with these tools and her shop. Apparently she was married to the oaf behind the counter inside. He shrugged. He wasn't one to pry. He took the length of iron, drew it from the fire and laid it on the anvil. He raised his smithing hammer high. "Hey." He stopped, looking around. Where had the disembodied voice come from? Were the Greybeards summoning him again? "Hey!" I turn and look at my wife. Her eyebrows are raised in that incredulous way. "I thought you were going to bed ten minutes ago." "I was." I feel a bit sheepish, but unashamed. "I got distracted by smithing." "God, it hasn't been this bad since World of Warcraft. Go to bed!"

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What can I say about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that hasn't already been said? Read any review and you'll know what it's like mechanically. Read this blog and you'll get a sense of its wide-reaching adventure. Read forums and tweets and people will tell you about some hilarious bugs. The bug I've found, however, is the one I've caught. I knew Skyrim would be the same sort of open-world RPG as the previous games in this series, as well as Fallout 3. What I didn't know was how quickly and completely it would suck me in. Not long after the first scripted sequence, I was wandering around the world, just exploring points of interest because they were on my compass rather than for any specific objective. I found myself wanting to mine up my own ore to more cheaply raise my smithing skill. I look at my map and find myself prioritizing visits to the college and other holds over main quest objectives. I have also encountered the random things others have mentioned. Adrianne, the aforementioned lady smith, ran up to me and handed me a book as a gift. I thought it might have meant more, but then discovered she's married. I've been jumped by an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood, accosted by a wandering Khajiit soothsayer and gotten my heartstrings tugged by the ghost of a little girl burned to death in a house fire. And all of this was from nothing more than walking around with my eyes open. The main quest is pretty good, too. It really has been a while since a game has drawn me in this completely. It's built in such a way that any means of playing it is rewarding. You can stick with just using the quest objectives as goals, or come up with your own. Fling magic, loose arrows, swing swords or any combination of the above. Deal fairly with folk or break into their houses to nick their stuff. Skyrim isn't just a part of Tamriel created for this game - it's your world, and it becomes what you make of it. I think that's why I've caught the Skyrim bug. "Here's a new part of this world," the game says, "and here are all the tools to build your own story out of the game. We have one to tell, sure, but if you want to tell one too, go right ahead." Don't mind if I do.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Flash Fiction: Number One with a Bullet

Flash Fiction: Number One with a Bullet — Blue Ink Alchemy

For the flash fiction challenge, "Frog Powder Seagull Tower Scissors".

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The soldier emerged from the water, as silently as possible. The fort was made to repel entire armies, not one man. He crept through the corridors, storerooms and shadows. Every step brought him closer to his goal. The general was bent over his map. The one who'd killed the soldier's friends, and then ordered his home put to the torch. The soldier drew his pistol. He moved as slowly and quietly as possible. He took aim, drew back the hammer, pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The general turned and guards rushed in. The soldier regarded his weapon. Wet powder.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! La Femme Nikita

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! La Femme Nikita — Blue Ink Alchemy

[No audio this week; RIP old headset. :( ] In 1990, American film audiences were clearly craving action films like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon over the ultra-macho likes of First Blood, Commando and the works of Charlie Bronson and Chuck Norris. Even in the groundbreaking days that set new standards for such entertainment, women were rarely more than plot devices that motivated our heroes. A little French film called Nikita, released in the U.S. with La Femme attached, would go about as far from the quasi-patriotic antics of the aforementioned muscle-bound men as you could get, and even today, the results are something else. Nikita is a street tough and drug addict, and her fellow gang members break into a drug store to help her get a fix. When the cops show up, a deadly shootout ensues. Nikita basically sits it out, and when a cop approaches her, she shoots him in the head, killing him. Tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison, Nikita is instead given an injection she's told will be lethal. When she wakes up, she's in an austere room and told she has a choice: she can occupy the grave that now is marked with her name, or she can submit to government training to become an assassin. She agrees to the training, and in the course of it emerges from the shell of a street tough into a new form of a beautiful, poised, polite and deadly young woman. Her training is hard, but her most difficult challenge does not emerge until long after it is complete: she meets and falls in love with a grocery store clerk who knows nothing about her past and gives her his heart without question. There are stories that deal with the dehumanizing element of assassination, and how professionals can objectify the subjects of their work and, by extension, everyone and everything around them. La Femme Nikita goes one step further and encourages us to think of what it might take to rehumanize someone. First the grungy, caustic, drug-addled punk is transformed into a lethal killing machine in a cocktail dress and heels, and then again from there into a woman experiencing love, tenderness and trust for the first time. It's a violent and contemporary take on Pygmalion and The Taming of the Shrew, and the roots in these classics are quite evident even as it grows beyond them.
She'll make the bastards pay for the runs in her stockings. Central to its success is the performance of Anne Parillaud as Nikita. The ways in which she changes with the atmosphere and motion of the film are stunning. When we first meet her, she's so driven, withdrawn and violent that it's hard to recognize her as anything but an belligerent urchin. Yet this same person sits in front of a mirror, being gently told what it is to be a woman, and it's like she transforms before our very eyes. She's poised, polite and focused instead of spastic, wild and ungrateful. And then, when she meets Marco, another change happens. She becomes vulnerable, uncertain and even a bit confused by things like earnest sweetness and unconditional love. Parillaud pulls off all of these changes with sublime grace and makes Nikita mesmerizing to watch from start to finish. This film was one of the first by Luc Besson, the man who'd go on to give us The Professional and The Fifth Element. Even in this early work, we see him perform a great balancing act between clean, no-frills action shooting and somewhat crazy subject matter. It's also the second time we see him working with Jean Reno, before the pair would team up for The Professional based on the character Reno plays in Nikita. Despite the occasional explosion, there's no real sense of bombast or unnecessary melodrama here. The performances are nuanced enough to convey emotion and intent without any scenery needing to be chewed.
"I clean." La Femme Nikita was the first real "girl with a gun" action movie to hit the mainstream, paving the way for women to take center stage in films and series where men would usually be in the lead. The film itself spawned an inferior American remake, Point of No Return, and a couple TV series of its own. But the original stands out because of the performance of the leading lady, the aplomb of its director and the truly heartfelt way in which its story comes to be told. And, thankfully, Netflix Instant gives us the original French dialog with subtitles instead of dubbing it. I highly recommend this one. Josh Loomis can't always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it's unclear if this week's film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain... IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

The Desert Bus Cometh

The Desert Bus Cometh — Blue Ink Alchemy

_{(With apologies to Lewis Carroll)} The time has come, (the Alchemist said) To talk of many things: Of busses -- and cards -- and handmade-crafts Of children and of kings. Once a year they gather there, A fanciful base on the moon - (Granted, we know it's actually Canada, but don't spoil it so soon!) They sit upon their bean-bags and couches, Displayed for all of us, For that great and humble event we love, The one called Desert Bus. From Tuscon to Las Vegas is their digitized route, Displayed on Sega CD. Since Penn & Teller decided (for the lulz) To make a non-violent game, you see: There are no bullets, no cars, no rockets, No prostitutes or pimps. Just drive and drive and drive some more, Until you weep like simps. "What purpose?" you ask? "What's wrong with them? "Why do they do these vids?" The answer's as simple as it is heart-warming: They do it for the kids. As long as donations and auctions abound, The crew will play the game. Could be for days or weeks or more, To them it's all the same. They'll sell hand-stitched crafts of all kinds, Things mythic and beyond, They'll laugh, they'll cry, they'll drink Red Bull, And with us they will bond. Watch and donate, for the children, for the auctions and the fun. Brave as they are, they can't do it alone, That crew from Loading Ready Run. Here it comes now! I hope you're ready! There's room for all of us. Join us, won't you? The time has come to ride the Desert Bus.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

The Desert Bus Cometh

The Desert Bus Cometh — Blue Ink Alchemy

_{(With apologies to Lewis Carroll)} The time has come, (the Alchemist said) To talk of many things: Of busses -- and cards -- and handmade-crafts Of children and of kings. Once a year they gather there, A fanciful base on the moon - (Granted, we know it's actually Canada, but don't spoil it so soon!) They sit upon their bean-bags and couches, Displayed for all of us, For that great and humble event we love, The one called Desert Bus. From Tuscon to Las Vegas is their digitized route, Displayed on Sega CD. Since Penn & Teller decided (for the lulz) To make a non-violent game, you see: There are no bullets, no cars, no rockets, No prostitutes or pimps. Just drive and drive and drive some more, Until you weep like simps. "What purpose?" you ask? "What's wrong with them? "Why do they do these vids?" The answer's as simple as it is heart-warming: They do it for the kids. As long as donations and auctions abound, The crew will play the game. Could be for days or weeks or more, To them it's all the same. They'll sell hand-stitched crafts of all kinds, Items of rarity mythic and beyond, They'll laugh, they'll cry, they'll drink Red Bull, And with us they will bond. Watch and donate, for the children, for the auctions and the fun. Brave as they are, they can't do it alone, That crew from Loading Ready Run. Here it comes now! I hope you're ready! There's room for all of us. Join us, won't you? The time has come to ride the Desert Bus.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

The Dark Depths of Writing

The Dark Depths of Writing — Blue Ink Alchemy

Courtesy Floating Robes You can't say I haven't warned you. Living with writers is a tricky business at times. Look here, here and here for some of the proof. Over and above any cautionary tale you might here from the trenches is a deeper truth that is ever-present but rarely discussed. Writers, especially creators of fiction, for all their imagination and altruism and creativity and willingness to share their inspiration to inform and entertain, share a common bond that has nothing to do with what they drink and everything to do with how they do what they do. I know I may be exaggerating somewhat, but bear with me through the metaphors. Writers, you see, are criminals.

Writers are Thieves

A writer may talk about someone or something that inspires them. What they're really doing is confessing to theft. Now it's rarely wholesale thievery, and you may need to look very carefully to see the seams between ideas stolen from other sources, but trust me, the wholly original idea presented by a writer is exceedingly rare. Many writers have talked about this, at times obliquely, but Joseph Campbell is probably the best-known whistle-blower for this sort of thing. The idea of the hero's journey is nothing new in the slightest, with the task of the writer being to modify that narrative through-line to make it interesting and relevant. Often the words being used have their roots in outside sources. However, the important part is not the words themselves, but rather what they are talking about.

Writers are Voyeurs

When you pick up a work of fiction, be it rattled off by a fan of a particular current narrative or a story spanning multiple volumes and years, you are looking into the lives of other people. You are seeing as much or as little as the author wants you to see. At times, you'll be witnessing moments and aspects the people in question may not wish you to witness. You'll be watching them at their most vulnerable, their most monstrous or their most intimate. What is this if not voyeurism? We often find or are told that the act of watching another person, especially if they are unaware of our presence, is something abhorrent. It's invasive and we should be ashamed of ourselves. Yet we do it all the time. And it is writers, of stage and screen and page, who encourage us to engage in this sort of sordid, vicarious living. It's not all steamy windows and heavy breathing, though. When we see the lives of others unfold, the possibility exists for us, despite only being involved as observers, gaining something from the experience. The exploration of these fictional people can give us insight into our own perspectives and motivation. If we can relate to, understand and care for original characters, there's no reason we can't relate to, understand and care for our fellow man.

Writers are Murderers

George RR Martin, I'm looking at you. What are writers if not gods of their own little worlds? They create the people that populate their stories, give them backgrounds, motivations and personalities, sometimes to the point of being all but living and breathing in the minds of the audience. Then, for the sake of the plot or to drive home a point, the writer kills them. Don't be fooled by something like old age or heart failure or an "accident" - the character is only dead because the writer murdered them. You can smooth over the stealing in a few ways, and the voyeurism is victimless, if a bit creepy. But murder? Man, that's serious business. The writer is destroying something they themselves have created for the sake of telling a story. Or rather, if they're any good, for the sake of telling a good story. The only two true inevitabilities in this life are that you are going to die and you are going to pay taxes. And writing about taxes isn't very sexy or exciting. It goes back to the vicarious nature of experiencing fiction: by seeing how others deal with death, we can gain some measure of peace, understanding and even inspiration to apply to our own lives. The writer's murders take on an edge beyond this due to the finality of death, but it can still be to the ultimate benefit of the audience. There's also the fact that it can be a hallmark of a writer doing their job well. If people are truly outraged by the death of a character, if they cry out in protest or flip tables or what have you, the writer's done something very special. They've made the audience care about an imaginary person. The people experiencing the story feel something on a personal level, have become engaged if not immersed in this tale, which means the writing has done more than convey a story. It's drawn people into it and inspired them to care. You can't make an omelet without making a few eggs, and you can't tell a truly compelling story without characters dying. Writers are dark. They're dastardly. They're absolutely despicable. But do we really want them any other way?

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Return to Friday Night Magic

Return to Friday Night Magic — Blue Ink Alchemy

Meet my new best friend. It's been made known that I'm something of a casual gamer. I've stopped playing StarCraft 2 on a regular basis in favor of League of Legends for reasons that include a lower stress level. And for a while I thought I'd be content only playing the Commander/EDH variant of Magic: the Gathering, at least until I started picking up Innistrad. The interest I have in this set plus a desire to support my local gaming store had me picking up an intro pack to form the backbone of a deck, tossing in my solitary [mtg_card]Snapcaster Mage[/mtg_card] and seeing if I could win any games with it. I ended up winning 2 games and losing 2, and had a surprising amount of fun doing it. I picked up another pack, and lo and behold, another Snapcaster was looking back at me. After I got home I looked over some of my cards from both Innistrad and the previous expansion block. The result is a deck that, while similar to the Eldritch Onslaught starter, has a bit more bite to it. [mtg_deck title="Memento Mori"] Creatures 2 Snapcaster Mage 1 Sturmgeist 1 Charmbreaker Devils 1 Scourge of Geier Reach Spells 4 Silent Departure 4 Dream Twist 3 Think Twice 2 Desperate Ravings 2 Burning Vengeance 2 Rolling Temblor 2 Geistflame 2 Grasp of Phantoms 2 Ponder 2 Dissipate 2 Mana Leak 2 Disperse 1 Fireball 1 Runic Repetition Land 2 Sulfur Falls 11 Mountain 11 Island Sideboard 2 Cellar Door 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Ghoulcaller's Bell 2 Into the Maw of Hell 2 Curse of the Bloody Tome 2 Brimstone Volley 1 Isolation Cell 1 Desperate Ravings 1 Delver of Secrets [/mtg_deck] The inclusion of more instants and sorceries means my mages will have more targets when they reach my hand, and I have essentially twice as many options for dealing with threats. The Flash mechanic on the Snapcasters combined with the huge pile of Flashback will mean I'll need to work on my timing. Another idea that occurred to me, perhaps inspired by a recent viewing of the extended edition of Gladiator, was that there are a lot of Human warriors in Innistrad, and the Scars of Mirrodin block was not shy on them either. I'd been toying with the idea of [mtg_card]Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer[/mtg_card] at the head of a Commander deck, but the more rares I see from Innistrad, the more I feel he's got a place for now in the Type 2 gameplay arena. [mtg_deck title="Felix Legion"] Creatures 4 Blade-Tribe Berserkers 2 Memnite 2 Auriok Edgewright 2 Serra Angel 2 Brass Squire 1 Elite Inquisitor 1 Champion of the Parish 1 Goblin Wardriver 1 Angelic Overseer 1 Victory's Herald 1 Jor Kadeen, The Prevailer Spells 4 Galvanic Blast 2 Assault Strobe 2 Bonds of Faith 2 Darksteel Axe 2 Viridian Claw 1 Butcher's Cleaver 1 Silver-Inlaid Dagger 1 Darksteel Plate 1 Mask of Avacyn 1 Bladed Pinions 1 True Conviction Land 12 Mountain 12 Plains Sideboard 3 Avacynian Priest 2 Razor Hippogryph 2 Seize the Initiative 2 Smite the Monstrous 2 Ghostly Possession 2 Sylvok Lifestaff 1 Rebuke 1 Warstorm Surge [/mtg_deck] This deck needs work, in terms of more cleavers, inquisitors and champions. I may pick up the Hold The Line event deck to bolster the ranks. But the berzerkers with metalcraft immediately equipped with a cleaver while Jor's on the field? That's 12 points of lifelinked damage in one shot. Think about it. Any thoughts on these decks? Anything to look out for in the current Type 2 meta?

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Return to Friday Night Magic

Return to Friday Night Magic — Blue Ink Alchemy

Meet my new best friend. It's been made known that I'm something of a casual gamer. I've stopped playing StarCraft 2 on a regular basis in favor of League of Legends for reasons that include a lower stress level. And for a while I thought I'd be content only playing the Commander/EDH variant of Magic: the Gathering, at least until I started picking up Innistrad. The interest I have in this set plus a desire to support my local gaming store had me picking up an intro pack to form the backbone of a deck, tossing in my solitary [mtg_card]Snapcaster Mage[/mtg_card] and seeing if I could win any games with it. I ended up winning 2 games and losing 2, and had a surprising amount of fun doing it. I picked up another pack, and lo and behold, another Snapcaster was looking back at me. After I got home I looked over some of my cards from both Innistrad and the previous expansion block. The result is a deck that, while similar to the Eldritch Onslaught starter, has a bit more bite to it. [mtg_deck title="Memento Mori"] Creatures 2 Snapcaster Mage 1 Sturmgeist 1 Charmbreaker Devils 1 Scourge of Geier Reach Spells 4 Silent Departure 4 Dream Twist 3 Think Twice 2 Desperate Ravings 2 Burning Vengeance 2 Rolling Temblor 2 Geistflame 2 Grasp of Phantoms 2 Ponder 2 Dissipate 2 Mana Leak 2 Disperse 1 Fireball 1 Runic Repetition Land 2 Sulfur Falls 11 Mountain 11 Island Sideboard 2 Cellar Door 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Ghoulcaller's Bell 2 Into the Maw of Hell 2 Curse of the Bloody Tome 2 Brimstone Volley 1 Isolation Cell 1 Desperate Ravings 1 Delver of Secrets [/mtg_deck] The inclusion of more instants and sorceries means my mages will have more targets when they reach my hand, and I have essentially twice as many options for dealing with threats. The Flash mechanic on the Snapcasters combined with the huge pile of Flashback will mean I'll need to work on my timing. Another idea that occurred to me, perhaps inspired by a recent viewing of the extended edition of Gladiator, was that there are a lot of Human warriors in Innistrad, and the Scars of Mirrodin block was not shy on them either. I'd been toying with the idea of [mtg_card]Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer[/mtg_card] at the head of a Commander deck, but the more rares I see from Innistrad, the more I feel he's got a place for now in the Type 2 gameplay arena. [mtg_deck title="Felix Legion"] Creatures 4 Blade-Tribe Berserkers 2 Memnite 2 Auriok Edgewright 2 Serra Angel 2 Brass Squire 1 Elite Inquisitor 1 Champion of the Parish 1 Goblin Wardriver 1 Angelic Overseer 1 Victory's Herald 1 Jor Kadeen, The Prevailer Spells 4 Galvanic Blast 2 Assault Strobe 2 Bonds of Faith 2 Darksteel Axe 2 Viridian Claw 1 Butcher's Cleaver 1 Silver-Inlaid Dagger 1 Darksteel Plate 1 Mask of Avacyn 1 Bladed Pinions 1 True Conviction Land 12 Mountain 12 Plains Sideboard 3 Avacynian Priest 2 Razor Hippogryph 2 Seize the Initiative 2 Smite the Monstrous 2 Ghostly Possession 2 Sylvok Lifestaff 1 Rebuke 1 Warstorm Surge [/mtg_deck] This deck needs work, in terms of more cleavers, inquisitors and champions. I may pick up the Hold The Line event deck to bolster the ranks. But the berzerkers with metalcraft immediately equipped with a cleaver while Jor's on the field? That's 12 points of lifelinked damage in one shot. Think about it. Any thoughts on these decks? Anything to look out for in the current Type 2 meta?

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Blue Ink Alchemy

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Gangster No. 1

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Gangster No. 1 — Blue Ink Alchemy

[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/gangster_no_1.mp3] 'Crime drama' is a pretty broad spectrum for stories. Some are from the perspective of those on the people's side of the law, following detectives and prosecutors in their pursuit of justice. Others give us the point of view of the individual criminal, from the ones trying to rise above a life of crime to those wallowing in it. They range from gritty realism to stylized flights of fancy, but there's something about Gangster No. 1 that refuses to be pinned down to any side of the story save that of our protagonist. Said protagonist remains nameless throughout the story much like his cousin in Matthew Vaughn's seminal and stylish Layer Cake, and is recruited back in 1968 by up-and-coming crime boss Freddie Mays. Our hero looks up to Freddie in a big way, but when it seems Freddie has more affection of a nightclub singer than his new right-hand man, jealousy rears its ugly head. Circumstances fall together for the young gangster to get Freddie out of his way and become the big dog in the London yards, and he rules over a mighty criminal empire until, over 30 years later, Freddie returns from his imprisonment. A reunion is clearly in order. One of the best things Gangster No. 1 has going for it is the clear influence of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. With Malcolm McDowell as the older iteration of the Gangster, and Paul Bettany excellently pulling off the glower from behind lowered eyebrows that Malcolm himself made famous, we're reminded quite clearly of the film that gave us 'a bit of the old ultra-violence'. And this movie certainly doesn't shrink from the heavy stuff. Indeed, one of the best sequences in it involves a particularly brutal and thorough murder from the perspective of the victim, which tells us much more about the Gangster than any words ever could.
"Totally cool with you dating that chick, bro." This is a man driven mad with desires. He came from nowhere and wanted everything he saw. He didn't just look up to Freddie Mays, he wanted to be Freddie Mays. More than once, we get the impression that the Gangster is struggling with feelings of romantic love for Mays, while at the same time he longs to oust Mays and take his place. This is why he seems so tortured when he's taking his time to kill the rival crime lord who set about assassinating Freddie: the rival cause Freddie pain, he beat the Gangster to the punch, and he doesn't dress or live anywhere near as well. The Gangster is out to prove his worth, that he is better than any other lawbreaker running around London, and he'll leave a trail of bloody, broken bodies to do it without a shred of guilt or even a moment's second thought. It must be said that without McDowell's sour, profanity-laced narration and Bettany's silent, edgy intensity, this character study would fall completely flat. But thanks to the efforts of these two actors the movie functions quite well for what it is. The best scene is probably between Bettany and Saffron Burrows, the girl who "stole" Freddie from the Gangster. When she crosses the line and spits in the face of this cold-blooded, half-mad killer, Bettany's face gives us an unflinching look at the anger and insanity writhing around in this character. Yet, he composes himself, without breaking eye contact, manages to smile and conveys wishes that would seem genuine, apologetic and heartfelt if it weren't for the icy rage we'd seen moments ago. It's a fantastic bit of acting that stands out among the rest of the film's scenes.
Why is Professor Lupin being such a complete jerk? The problems with Gangster No. 1 come down to tone and pacing. It never seems to decide for certain if it wants to be a mix of character drama and comedy like a Guy Ritchie film or a pure hard-nosed crime tragedy like Scarface. Elements of both are clearly present along with the aforementioned Clockwork Orange but it feels a bit like director Paul McGuigan went to a buffet where all of these options were available and tried to cram his plate with as much as he could from each one. It never becomes an actual mess, but also never finds its own voice amongst these influences. It also seems to accelerate a bit too much in places, as if once past the major turning points in the Gangster's formative years it just wants to get us to the end. As for the ending, I won't give anything away, but part of me was slightly unsatisfied with its neatness. Call me crazy, but I was expecting things to be a bit messier. The director's later work, Lucky Number Slevin and Push, had a better time with tone and pace, but Gangster No. 1 still gives us clean shots of excellent actors working with good story elements. I do feel there are better movies I've mentioned that can satisfy a craving for gritty criminal comedy or unflinching views into the underworld, and our villain protagonist doesn't quite have the necessary pathos for us to be completely won over by him. He comes close, especially when we see how much unresolved emotion there is inside of him for Freddie, but it feels like too little too late. A little more time, perhaps elements of holding onto that duality of admiration and jealous, would have fleshed it out more and maybe left the ending a bit more satisfying for me. It never quite rises to the point of being more than the sum of its parts, but some of those parts are excellent enough for me to recommend Gangster No. 1 as an addition to any crime, noir or character-driven Netflix queue selection. Especially if you're a fan of British slang, or those mirror dresses club girls wore back in the 60s. Pretty groovy stuff. Josh Loomis can't always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it's unclear if this week's film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain... IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Movie Review: Immortals

Movie Review: Immortals — Blue Ink Alchemy

Every once in a while, I'm made aware of an opportunity that makes me feel like an actual professional critic. Much like Salt, my bros of the taped glasses over at Geekadelphia hooked me up with passes to see Immortals last night before its release to the general public. Considering my tendencies towards breathing new life into old myths, I was excited. While the trailers pretty much sold the film as a re-dressed 300, I was curious to see what director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar did with some of the oldest storytelling material in the world. Our story revolves around Theseus, humble son of a dispossessed woman in a Hellenic village by the sea where he trains as a warrior to protect her. He doesn't have much faith in the gods, even as they look down from Olympus on mankind while under strict laws from Zeus not to directly intervene. Indirect intervention is fine, but doing too much in a godly fashion would threaten to rob humans of their free will. There is only one circumstance in which this law is to be broken: if the Titans, sworn enemies of the Olympian gods imprisoned in Tartarus, are ever released. That is the plan of Hyperion, diabolical king at the head of the vicious Heraklion army, who would see the gods slain and he as the sole ruler of humanity... but not if Theseus has anything to say about it. Tarsem Singh Dhandwar's first film was The Cell, a crime drama from 2000 that is remembered far more for its unique visual style than any of the story or actors involved. Many of his images, while surreal and otherworldly, were shot so cleanly and with such aplomb and definition that they could be framed and considered works of art in and of themselves. So it is with Immortals, only this time around, the works of art are in motion more often than not.
Seriously, if you were going to live forever, wouldn't you want to look this good? It's the decisions the director makes that stand out in the film. For one thing, instead of the usual stable of established, operatic actors, the Olympian gods are played by beautiful young people in peak physical shape, and the gentlemen especially are dressed in minimalist costumes to show this off. This lends itself well to the depictions we see in Greek sculpture and art: bearded as they often are, the Greeks were not shy about their bodies. Nor is Immortals shy when it comes to violence, but again the director sets himself apart. It is only when we see these golden gods in action that the slow motion so familiar to fans of 300 and other movies of its ilk comes into play. Violence at the hands of humans is not dressed up in fancy camera work or tricks of post-production other than ribbons of blood and thrusting spear-points; rather, it's presented with visceral intensity and earnestness that definitely demands attention. As for the story itself, we have something of a mixed bag. Reinterpretations of Greek myth are certainly nothing new, and the writers of Immortals do make a few interesting decisions, such as keeping the war between the Olympian gods and the Titans on a human scale and the things done with Theseus' battle with the "Minotaur." And there was one bit in the plot that I honestly didn't see coming. The script, however, is far more inconsistent than the quality of the visuals. There were a few points in the plot where I had unanswered questions or sensed a bit of a hole, while at others I felt the characters could have used less talking and more showing through action and expression. Hyperion especially stood out to me as something of a problem, despite Oscar-winner Mickey Rourke giving him an imposing physical presence.
It's a dumb pun, but it works: Cavill looked pretty super even if his performance wasn't. This is not to say the acting was terrible; I'd say it was about average for material such as this. I'm not sure why Mickey Rourke spends half his time seeming so bored with the goings-on, but I'm willing to chalk that up to the script having Hyperion all but bellow "I AM A BAD GUY AND I WILL DO BAD GUY STUFF NOW". Henry Cavill as Theseus is perfectly passable and Freida Pinto as the Oracle does all right, but I felt their little romance sub-plot was a little rushed. The Olympians, Luke Evans and Isabela Lucas in particular, brought a measure of humanity to their characters and presented their godliness with sufficient gravitas, so I guess I can't complain too much about this part of the film. They struggle to elevate the mediocre script and never overshadow the visuals with scenery-chewing or laughable execution. While certainly not a perfect movie, Immortals delivers an experience that's enjoyable and engaging without feeling pandering or terribly rushed. The clean, smart direction and bold, lush visuals go a long way to get the audience past any narrative issues that crop up over the course of the film. At no point did I feel confused as to what was going on, as can be the case in some other action flicks, and it never felt like the movie was talking down to me. A little more polish on the script and more solid performances from some of the cast would have made the movie truly fantastic instead of merely impressive. But if the only real complaint I can make about Immortals is "there wasn't enough of it", I guess you can take that as a recommendation. Stuff I Liked: For all the negativity out there regarding 3D, this movie did it just about perfectly. Gods played by young, beautiful people instead of well-established, older actors. No technology that felt overtly anachronistic. Stuff I Didn't Like: A little sloppiness in the plotting and screenwriting. Mickey Rourke looking bored more than anything else. Other actors not quite selling the melodrama. Only faltering attempts at scale in terms of size and distance. The romance sub-plot moves a bit too quickly. Stuff I Loved: The stunning visuals, the very canny use of some of the action tropes that drew in the 300 crowd, extremely well-shot action and a Greek myth that feels as lurid, sensual and bombastic as a Greek myth should. Bottom Line: The very clever and skilled direction of Immortals lifts it just far enough out of mediocrity for me to give it a recommendation. It won't win any prizes or hearts for its script or acting, but its blend of unique original flair and old-school Greek mythology does delight the eyes and get the blood pumping. A solid, above-average period action flick.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

> Discuss Homestuck.

> Discuss Homestuck. — Blue Ink Alchemy

The young man you see before you is one of the main characters in the longest-running comic on the site MS Paint Adventures. I must, however, use the term 'comic' somewhat loosely. While the story unfolds in a visual medium mixed with text, it's driven by an interface reminiscent of old text adventure games, adds elements of music and Flash animation, and quickly evolves beyond somewhat humble beginnings into a story I can only describe properly as 'epic'. I know, 'epic' is a term that gets bandied about quite a bit. Especially among gamers, it's used as loosely as 'awesome'. However, Homestuck is a definite example of a proper use of the word. Our young protagonist is thrust into an adventure that changes absolutely everything. For him, it brings acute focus to his life and that of his friends in the midst of truly harrowing peril. For us, it shows us how the mixed media of the Internet can be used to take storytelling to a new level. The creator of Homestuck, Andrew Hussie, demonstrates both comedic and dramatic timing in his work. Laughs and groans from his humor often come quickly before or after surprise revelations. The universe he creates is steeped in metaphor and meaning, with subtle references woven into his words and images. Some webcomics are content with blatantly up-front humor and lackluster plotting that demonstrates slipshod world-building, but not Homestuck. Okay, Hussie gives us the occasional pie-in-the-face moment, but who doesn't like that now and again? On a few occasions, the story becomes a little self-indulgent. There's author insertion at a point or two but mostly this is for the sake of humor. Homestuck has a lot of backstory, and as the main plot progresses Hussie feels obligated to clue us into the background of certain characters and their origins. While this does add a great deal of depth and meaning to the goings-on, these digressions can be a bit tedious for some. I find such expansion of a world and its characters fascinating, but that's me coming from the perspective of a storyteller. Regardless, this long-running narrative is definitely worth your time, and you should check it out. You won't regret the time you've invested in it, and you may find yourself going back to moments you want to experience again. If that isn't good storytelling, I don't know what is.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Crank File: Cross-Over Comics

Crank File: Cross-Over Comics — Blue Ink Alchemy

Every now and again, life catches me off-guard. It's times like these I need to turn to contributions from you, the audience. If you've ever read the Opinions section of the local newspaper, or the comments of an article on the Huffington Post, you know that sometimes the readers contribute just as much as the established writers. Thus, I present to you the Crank File. Today's Crank File entry comes to us courtesy of Monica A. Flink. Enjoy!

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The trend of cross-overs is everywhere. Music is sampled, fantasy finds its way into modern Earth, and American superheroes drift to Japan to be reborn with bigger eyes and longer eyelashes. Unfortunately, of these things, I cannot find the fortitude to actually recommend the idea of Batman visiting Tokyo, or Spawn having a cousin who looks just like him on the outside but on the inside is a confused Japanese boy who wants to protect his sister. American superheroes that are manga-sized for our pleasure is somewhat of an inflammatory topic, with both sides of the wall, "It's crap!" and "It's genius!" respectively, having good points. But does Bruce Wayne in Japan hold the same joy for Batman fans as Bruce Wayne in Gotham? And does anyone give a damn about the person inside the suit if it is not the horribly scarred Al Simmons? There are both sides to every argument to consider before making up your mind. If you enjoy comics, you are going to look at the art as much as you look at the story, and the first bone of contention is certainly the difference in artwork. Gritty smears of ink and bright colors are replaced by slick black and white drawings, changing the air of the comic. Eyes are larger, more cartoony, and while one might think that works for the genre, it can also throw someone right out of the story. My biggest problem with the change in art is that the characters we are familiar with no longer look as they should. I find nothing familiar about the Bruce Wayne depicted in the graphic novels Batman: Child of Dreams or Batman: Death Mask. Part of the love that will drive someone to read a manga version of his or her favorite American comic character is the familiarity. Take that away, and it is like reading something that has just had the Batman name slapped on it, leaving the reader disappointed. Pains may have been taken to match a more well-known art style, but it is still different enough to be noticed.
Where is his face?! That's not a gritty smear of ink, it's a lazy-ass smear of ink. Faces, Japan. Americans have faces." Aside from the art, the story is certainly something to consider as well. Anyone who has read Frank Miller or Kevin Smith's stories can appreciate the dark tone and incorporation of canon-defined characters in new plots that keep readers coming back for more. I have found that the cross-over versions of superhero comics lack this distinctly. It seems that the manga authors wish to write their own stories, and then happen to have Batman or Spawn or Iron Man in them. They brush off the established characters that man fans love and read to see just as much as the main characters, and come off with a story that does not have nearly as much impact because once the story is over, the new characters introduced are left behind or dead, with no emotional attachment required.
"Your lack of Joker makes you unacceptable. Feel free to commit seppuku." Even when the manga translations are adapted by someone famous, such as award-winning mystery writer Max Allan Collins, there is something wrong, something disjointed and disappointing about stories that do not include the characters we love, that support a good story. Perhaps it also can also be attributed to the fact that these manga versions of our beloved heroes are also generally one volume long, leaving precious short time to find something to attach to. It is as if they are afraid to hurt anyone's feelings by making changes to a canon that technically the manga would not belong to, being stand-alone novels. I suspect my largest beef with the idea of cross-over comics is the fact that I have come to expect a certain level of something special from manga. To put a finer point on it, they miss out on a lot of tits and gore that I really have come to expect from the Japanese, and I personally enjoy. I'm not asking for splatterpunk Batman here (though, seriously, how cool would that be?!) or Spawn pulling a mech out of his ass to use to fight Malebolgia, but keeping it so safe and careful is just too bland to pull off the manga style of art and story. In the end, I will still buy more of these graphic novels with the eternal hope that someone will find a delicate balance between breaking new ground and incorporating what is beloved by millions. But if they continue to be as contaminated with insipid story lines and half-assed art proclaimed to be "realistic" because yeah, Batman is so damn realistic, then the American superhero manga cross-over graphic novel will be a fad of the past sooner than we think. And I think every comic lover will be missing out if that happens.

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Got something for the Crank File? Email me here.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

In Defense of Criticism. Again.

In Defense of Criticism. Again. — Blue Ink Alchemy

I've been down this road before. I'm going to take bits from previous posts, paste them here and update my commentary on the points. I'm doing this because, it seems, there are those who do not take criticism well. I'm not talking about the artists behind a particular work, mind you, I'm talking about the population at large that enjoy those works. Before we begin this little exercise, though, here's a caveat that I feel should be kept in mind when you read any criticism of public artistic works, be it my criticism or another's.

You are the sole arbiter of how you spend your time and money in entertainment. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. You, me, everyone. Just because a critic or friend or stranger believes something is a pile of dogshit doesn't necesarily make it so to you. Likewise, said critic or friend or stranger singing the praises of something they believe plated in gold may not make it look that way to you. Enjoy what you enjoy. Tell others about things you enjoy, and tell them about things you dislike, be it a little or a lot. We all learn more the more we share with one another.

Okay? Okay. Here's what I've said before, and how I feel about it now. From Willing To Explain Why You Suck:

In addition to being comprehensive and funny, Chuck often reminds us that his criticism of a given episode, series or movie is just his opinion. He welcomes discussion and even opposition to his ideas. He [...] encourages the audience to think, rather than sit back & switch off higher brain functions in order to take in some shallow, pandering, distracting colors & sounds that call themselves 'entertainment.'

Okay. Let me make this clear. Not everything you want to enjoy as entertainment is necessarily shallow or pandering just because you like switching your brain off for it. And referencing my earlier statement, just because I happen to think that Attack of the Clones was perhaps the weakest Star Wars film made that I've seen doesn't make it so. If you enjoyed it, great. I know people who didn't like Thor or Captain America but I thought they were fine films. Guess what these are? Opinions! Which brings me to Opinion is Not Fact:

Critical analysis and review is everywhere on the Internet. But you will never catch any such entertainer worth their salt telling you point-blank that they are 100% right in their opinion and everybody else is wrong. Go ahead and take a look. Yahtzee, MovieBob, SFDebris, Confused Matthew, Red Letter Media, TotalBiscuit, the Extra Credits crew - none of them end a discussion with "I'm right, you're wrong, your mom agreed with me last night" in any serious discussion. Some of them may play this sort of thing for laughs, but even the most satirical and cynical of these folks are also intelligent enough to know that anything upon which they might pontificate involves the exposition of their own subjective views. Sorry, that was a lot of big words. Put simply: None of these people believes they are a holy authority on anything they talk about. Yes, some of them are professional critics, paid to give their opinion based on the years of experience they have weighing objective and subjective criteria of various media, but each and every one of them are human beings, and human beings are fallible, subjective creatures. Yahtzee and MovieBob might not like shooters, but that doesn't mean shooters are bad. People like those caricatured by MovieBob's Anti-Thinker may consider retro games to be stupid, but them saying it does not make it so. These people I've mentioned know this.

I hope that's pretty clear. I may not have the audience, appeal or even potential of any of the aforementioned critics, but I would like to think that I have this level of self-awareness. When I say something is good or bad, and I either recommend paying for it or giving it a pass, that's my opinion on it. It's not a salient, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt fact. I never mean it to be taken as such. Nor am I so arrogant as to believe that anything I say in the vein of reviewing or critiquing entertainment will or should be taken as gospel. I critique for a very specific reason, one I elaborated upon on the third and final previous post I'm going to mention. Are you ready? I'm ready. From Don't Fear the Critic:

Criticism is a powerful force for good. Nothing ever improves without coming to terms with its flaws. Without critics telling us what's stupid and what isn't, we'd all be wearing boulders for hats and drinking down hot ebola soup for tea. - Zero Punctuation: Overlord 2

I could make all sort of analogies for criticism. There's the bonsai tree example, the fat on a steak visual, the sanding of a bat to remove its splinters for a nice clean hit; I could go on. But suffice it to say that the best criticism is one that sees what a work is going for and points out the flaws so that the crux of the work can be improved while things that don't work can be discarded.

If I say that "there's nothing here" when talking about a story, or that a part of a game let me down, or something frustrated or confused me, it's not me saying the entire work is worthless. More often than not I can get the gist of what the original artist or artists were going for in the work, and if there are obstacles between us and that objective that they either did not completely clear or set up themselves through sloppiness, being rushed or just plain laziness, it bothers me. Why? Because I know there are always obstacles between where the artist begins and where they want to be. I review and criticize other works in order to better understand the creative process from my end. And I'm not going to enjoy everything I choose to review. It is impossible to do that. I want to sample a lot of entertainment to find where I fall in the spectrum and where I can go with my work, and on average some stuff will be good while some will be bad. At least in my opinion. I hope this made sense. I've taken flak for putting opinion out in front of the public. So have the aforementioned critics, as have Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, Charles Baudelaire and the like. I'd like to think that those critics who break into the public domain are doing said public a service, even if it's just in generating debate. In defending a given work, the defender should at some point be able to cite why it's worth defending; by contrast, if the work has flaws, they should be recognizable even if the critic does not believe them to be detrimental. We all want the entertainment we enjoy to improve, and by pointing out how or when it doesn't, we all in effect become critics. And there's nothing wrong with that, as long as we abide by Wheaton's First Law: Don't be a dick.

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Blue Ink Alchemy