Dirk: Being Inane Since 2000

Mass Effect 3 action figures

2012-05-04T10:48:44Z

I was in Hamburg yesterday and visited Andere Welten among other places. Being a very StarWars-centric shop, I was surprised to find these:

Everyone's favourite Geth, Legion.

Everyone's favourite, uhm, Drell, Thane.

I didn't buy them though ...

Nope ...

Well, I did say "didn't buy them", right? o_O

In other news, I really like this, including the headline:
Everybody Else Can Quit Cosplaying Now, This Guy Won It

Recent Purchases ...

2012-04-25T19:59:17Z

Stuff I've ordered lately and haven't yet received ...

Pre-orders I did some months ago:
Storm Corrosion (Special Edition CD+BluRay)
Yossi Sassi - Melting Clocks

Ordered these past few days:
For all we Know - s/t
Tune - Lucid Moments
Raven Sad - Layers of Stratosphere
Knight Area - Nine Paths
Pendragon - Concerto Maximo (DVD + 2CDs)
Pendragon - Passion (CD + DVD)
Pendragon - Window of Life +1
Arena - The Seventh Degree of Separation (CD + DVD)
Haken - Visions
Crippled Black Phoenix - A Love of Shared Disasters
Oddland - The Treachery of Senses
Soen - Cognitive
Frames - In Via
A Liquid Landscape - Nightingale Express
Sylvan - X-Rayed
Alias Eye - In Focus
Alias Eye - In Between
Alias Eye - A Different Point of You
Sylvan - Artificial Paradise
Anathema - A Natural Disaster
Anathema - A Fine Day to Exit
Anathema - Hindsight
Astra - The Black Chord
DeeExpus - The King of Number 33
Ancestors - In Dreams and Time
Prisma - You Name it

In other news, once I can't afford rent anymore and become homeless I hope to build a shelter out of jewel cases and digibooks.

Rettet den Landtags-Wal

2012-04-10T18:04:37Z

Der Landtags-Wal ist akut vom Aussterben bedroht! In Deutschland leben nur noch etwa 16 Exemplare, und diese werden auch nur alle Jubeljahre gesichtet.

In Schleswig-Holstein findet am Sonntag, den 06.05.2012 eine Aktion zur Sensibilisierung ihrer prekären Lage statt. Um Euch zu beteiligen, geht an diesem Tag einfach in ein Wal-Büro in Eurer Nähe, und macht ein Kreuz auf dem Zettel, den Ihr dort erhaltet! Mehr ist nicht nötig, um Euren Beitrag zum Erhalt der Landtags-Wale zu leisten!

Die Veranstalter schicken in diesen Tagen einen mit "Walbenachrichtigung" betitelten Informations-Flyer in die Haushalte, dort könnt Ihr unter Anderem nachlesen, wo Ihr das nächstgelegene Wal-Büro findet, oder wie Ihr Euch beteiligen könnt, selbst wenn Ihr an dem Tag absolut keine Zeit für die Aktion habt.

Übrigens, die Piraten setzen sich besonders vehement für die Meeresbewohner-"Kollegen" ein, deshalb ist ein Kreuz bei den Piraten besonders gut - Aber die Hauptsache ist, dass Ihr hingeht!

inane @ 2012-04-03T22:28:00

2012-04-03T20:28:03Z

Awesome Artist:

http://patryk-garrett.deviantart.com/gallery/

totally not originally posted on april 1st ...

2012-04-02T17:12:42Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOqHUa2LfNY

moop!

2012-03-25T16:05:16Z

Hmm. Galactic readiness 98%.
That was easy.

Also got a Human Vanguard at level 20. Seems like a waste of XP to continue playing a character once you reach level 20.

Had a Krogan team mate earlier. T'was fun watching him play. Headbutt of Doom!

Hadphone woes

2012-03-25T12:01:07Z

I've got a big list of music I want to listen to, but unfortunately the cable on my headphones is broken, and Fischer Amps have so far failed to deliver the proper replacement.
So now I'm stuck with using the crappy ones that came with the phone, or none at all, when going to work. I'm not quite sure which options is preferable.
Anyway, at first I thought the problem was here:

I used duct tape to stop the plastic from unravelling anymore, but as it turns out, the cable is actually broken here:

And it's also quite obvious why it's broken.
Now let's see if I can't get this fixed in such a way that it lasts for another few days.

Also, list of music I wanna listen to:

Avalanch - Malefic Time Apocalypse
Soen - Cognitive
Alcest - Les Voyages de L'Âme
Lis Er Stille - Nous
Knight Area - Nine Paths
Discipline - To Shatter all Accord
Arena - The Seventh Degree of Seperation
Ambeon - Fate of a Dreamer
Animals as Leaders - Weightless
Agalloch - Whitedivisiongrey

ME3 MP

2012-03-25T00:35:54Z

Turns out Mass Effect 3 multiplayer is actually quite fun. Takes a few games to get used to it, earn some XP, gain a few levels and maybe get a half decent weapon. I definitely don't see myself ever getting to level 333 though, like someone I just played with. But it's fun nonetheless.
Galactic readiness apparently goes up by playing online coop, and it does go back down after a while again. So in order to keep it up you have to keep playing...

Yet another Mass Effect 3 Post

2012-03-22T21:46:31Z

You know, I really wish the series had shown any consistency when it comes to weapons. Like, avoiding all those continuity errors where my character suddenly used an assult rifle in a cutscene, even though he was only equipped with pistol and shotgun.
If they had been consistent, I would gladly point out that Shepard doesn't actually carry a pistol when he meets ghost boy:

You can see it's neither holstered nor in his hand. It suddenly reappears a bit later.
Then again, there have been stronger points towards Indoctrination Theory. After all, during the entire series, they never bothered to explain where your helmet goes when you're not wearing it.

Anyway, the whole issue with the weapon is interesting. It's not the weapon I carried all the time, it seems to have infinite ammo, you can reload however often you like, you can't kill keepers, or Anderson, with it.

Oh btw, the very last dialogue option I get with TIM, both paragon and renegade options are greyed out. Why's that?

And another thing ...

2012-03-22T15:23:04Z

No cut since no spoilers in this, I just wanted to add a note to one of the articles (Why BioWare Shouldn't Change Mass Effect 3's Ending) I mentioned in my previous post:

Re artistic integrity, not changing "art" because people don't like it, etc.
Game developers change their games all the time, be it DLC, patches, updates, bug fixes, etc. I don't see how "fixing" the ending is any different.
Also, it's well known practice in the industry to remove bits of contents and narrative just to make the deadline. How does that work with the argument that games == art?

Dirk's Epic Spoilerific Mass Effect 3 Post

2012-03-22T00:45:16Z

So. Mass Effect 3 then.
I've made a few notes on what I intended to write about, but I'm not entirely sure where to start.

Well then, let's start with something positive. I love the Mass Effect series. The games aren't perfect, but they're pretty damn good. And this is mostly thanks to the writers in my opinion. Graphics are okay, not high end, and they're clearly made to work on PC as well as consoles. Game mechanics in general and combat in particular work pretty well too. No complaints here, but then, those things are basics for a computer game. What sets the Mass Effects apart from most other games is that they dare to tell a real and proper story. How many games do you know that do that? You know, other than your unoriginal "hero saves the world / universe" kinda stuff.

The Dragon Age series has been quite successful (hey look, another BioWare franchise), but then in my mind the Dragon Ages and Mass Effects are basically the same game anyway, just with different settings.
Fallout has tried, but it's been kinda hit and miss with them (hit: Fallout 3, miss: New Vegas).
Only other game I can think of is my all time favourite Planescape: Torment. I had tears in my eyes several times when I played that, and it was basically just text. (Not to dissuade anyone from giving PS:T a try - it's not a plain text game, it's 2D isometric. Just be prepared to read, a lot, when playing)

So when it comes to story, Mass Effect does everything right. It's a little cheesy in places but that's okay. You have characters that interact with each other, they're not shallow, they evolve, they change. You can influence your own character (a lot of which is actually an illusion of course, but it's hidden well enough that you don't notice). Actually the entire story is made that way. It's successful in creating the illusion of choice and freedom, something that most other games fail at (sometimes spectacularly so, aren't I right, Splinter Cell: Conviction?). Having the choices you've made influence later games is brilliance. The result is a well-written narrative that lives up to what you'd expect of a good movie or book, with the added benefit of interaction. Well done, we can only hope for more of such games.

All that, of course, is true until the ending of Mass Effect 3. It actually took me an hour or two to understand why people were so upset with the ending. I decided to go with one ending, and then later decided to check the other possible endings on Youtube. And even then I didn't quite get what all the fuzz is about, until I read an article that pointed out that they're all the freaking same. That's not entirely true of course, there are subtle variations, but it all feels like they were just finished with one ending and then found out that the title was going to go gold the next day.
I agree with a lot of the criticism I read in the past few hours. Saying the ending leaves a lot of room for interpretation is euphemistic: It doesn't make any sense, it creates plot holes, it breaks the ideas, concepts, and game mechanics that made the series successful.
That's more like it.
Instead of reiterating what others have written, let me instead point you in their words' direction:
Mass Effect 3 Ending-Hatred: 5 Reasons The Fans Are Right - Well written factual article on the issue. Pity they've spread it across 6 pages and their site is slow.
Mass Effect 3 Endings ReceptionKnow Your Meme is a good place to find out what's it all about, and then have a good laugh at how other people deal with it.
Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play - I really really like this idea. As a show of support for a better ending, they're collecting money to Child's Play. Of course Mass Effect and Child's Play are in no way related. By donating money, you just show that you're serious about wanting a decent ending to the series. And the money goes to Child's Play Charity, who collect it to help sick children.

There's another article I would like to comment on, because I strongly disagree - Why BioWare Shouldn't Change Mass Effect 3's Ending:
The author here claims that the game is a piece of art, and you can't expect the creator (i.e. an artist) to change his work just because you don't like it. To quote,

Imagine Monet repainting Water Lilies in black and white because people objected to color. Imagine Salman Rushdie trashing The Satanic Verses because people objected to its implications.

I admit that I'm not familiar with those works mentioned, but I don't think that's relevant. According to the author, Mass Effect 3 is both an "art object and a consumer product". I'm sorry, but this is just not true. Artistic aspects are present (some creative person came up with the story, wrote it, people created objects, characters, locations, etc), but the game is "just" a consumer product. It was created with the sole intention of generating revenue.
I believe the intention behind a creation is very important. In the above example, what were Monet's intentions when he painted Water Lilies? If his primary concern was selling it for a good price, then does it really constitute art? If it was just about generating revenue, would it then not make sense for him to change it in whatever way neccessary to maximise revenue? Now, if he painted Water Lilies just for the sake of it? I'm not an artist myself of course, so I can't really tell what drives an artist to creating art. They might want to express themselves, create something beautiful and lasting, something like that. But once you do it for the money, you're just a product or service provider, and your creation is just a that. A product or service. It's not art. (Later generations might declare your product as art, but that's something else entirely).

With that out of my system, there's another quick points I wanted to say about Mass Effect 3.

When I first read about all those people whining and complaining about the ending, I started expecting the worst, and getting ideas of what "the worst" might actually be. Most horrible endings I could think of can be summarised as:
- It was all just a dream. Preferably dreamed by the little boy.
- OMGWTF Shepard is a reaper?!
Yeah, apparently I'm better at coming up with endings than BioWare. I also fully expected one of my companions to be a Cerberus spy.

There was this discussion recently on whether or not it should be possible to "skip combat" in games (article here: Skipping Combat and Bioware Drama among other places). Now I get how avid players of In the Glorious Company Of Bands Of Heroic Men, Who Are Also Brothers might dislike the concept, but it actually made sense. Me, I played Mass Effect 3 on casual. Why? Because getting defeated during combat quickly frustrates me, and I lose interest in the game if it happens too often. Set to casual, I only died once or twice, later in the game. To me, the combat was mostly a bridge between one piece of story to the next, and a tool to increase tension in the narrative.
And just look at how they did it in Planescape: Torment. As far as I recall, you could not skip, but avoid all but one fights in the entire game. And it was more rewarding too (sure, you can beat the sh*t out of the final boss, but it's a lot more fun to defeat him by convincing him he doesn't exist).
In fact I wish more games were like that.

I've written a few lines on the topic of games and art above. Now I'm very sure I've also mentioned the "game" The Path in the past. Go get it if you want to play a real art game.
Anyway, parts of Mass Effect 3 have clearly been inspired by The Path. You have these three dream sequences with Shepard running around the woods trying to find the boy. Those levels look just like the forest in The Path. You even get a child dressed in white running around (though in The Path it's a girl wearing a white dress). I still liked those short passages though, especially the red light, combined with this deep throbbing Reaper sound when you got close to the boy sent shivers down my spine.
The last of those sequences had the boy running from armoured-you into the arms of casual-clothes-you, and then both catching on fire. Maybe leaving Earth to gather allies was the better option than to go after the boy to "save" him, eh?
Oh, but that's not the only idea they borrowed from The Path, in my opinion. The entire passage where Shepard was injured and couldn't run anymore and just walked very slowly, thus taking minutes instead of seconds to get anywhere. The exact same thing happens after you encouter the wolf in The Path. In both cases it increases tension of course. Even the posture is quite similar.

On the issue of Origin, I've been wondering about why BiowEAre introduced that for part 3 of the series. A lot of people, me included, had complained about Origin, because of its EULA, and because of its lack of usefulness. Really, what the hell good is it anyway?? I've come to the conclusion that it's actually a really good idea to force it upon games with part 3 of a successful series. If they'd bundled it with a new product or franchise, it probably would've failed, plain and simple. Bundling it with a title certain to be successful, they got a lot of hypocrites, again, me included, to cave in and just live with it. Well done, guys. I still don't see what it's good for though.

So, what exactly is the point with the readiness / playing online thing? Wasn't playing online meant to increase something or other, and result in a potentially better ending? And if so, how come I haven't really seen any other ending than the one I experienced? Anyone care to explain this to me?

I'm not sure, I might be the first, or the last person to notice this ... But did anyone else realise that your squad mates' appearance choice is not merely an aesthetical one? In case you haven't noticed cycle through appearances and after each one hit the info button to read about bonuses.
Oh, and about the squad selection screen: Nice job, BioWare. With the earlier games you could always tell whether or not you'd "collected" all your potential squad mates. Now you can't.

While playing I didn't really notice any bugs or anything, other than the game being unable to import my Shepard's appearance from the ME2 savegame. But reading up on masseffect.wikia.com/ I noticed Thane and Samara being mentioned. Now I'm certain everyone survived my suicide mission in ME2, so how come I never get to meet Thane and Samara? How did that happen?

As to squad mates in general. Tali <3 ! I finally found out what she looks like. I went online and asked the google to show me higher quality pictures of her. I was instantly spoilered of course, and not in a good way either. The first picture I found was labelled "Picture of Tali, after she committed suicide". I was all like omgwtfsadface and stuff. Fortunately I now know that doesn't neccessarily happen, in my playthrough she survives (aww, and she mourns Legion). Also, emergency induction port!! That was one of my favourite funny things in the entire game.
Other notable funny moments?
- Edi joking about possibly forgetting to recycle the oxygen on the Normandy, and my Shepard's face when he heard that.
- "Everyone knows you can't dance"
Legion was probably my favourite PC in ME2, so I was real happy when I found him/it in ME3. Less happy when I realised he wouldn't be a selectable squad mate this time around. And really sad when he died ):

It's interesting to see other people's comments, screen caps, etc. Now that I'm done playing I read through falling_home's entries on ME3 and found screen caps of things that never happened to me. That's interesting, but also makes me feel like I missed something. Of course, with a game like this, it takes a lot of time to experience all of it. Because you have to play through three games, a lot of times.
I'm also surprised to read about certain things I didn't catch. For example, people have written that it's Harbinger shooting at you towards the end of the game. I never realised it was a specific Reaper. I just thought, "Hey, a Reaper". How did people know it was Harbinger?

Also, once again I failed to collect all the ships for my quarters. Maybe I can still do that, since the game let me continue after defeating the Reapers?
Also also, I want a Reaper model. Normandy SR2 too please. Or plushies.

This is what PA has to say on the topic of Mass Effect 3:
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/03/12
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/03/16 Let's see how much you'll have to pay extra to get your happy ending.

Latest VG Cats is also pretty funny:
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=312

I think that's it for now.

service announcement

2012-03-21T19:01:14Z

I just finished Mass Effect 3 - so there might be a post about it coming up here soon'ish ...

Well that didn't take long ...

2012-03-06T21:26:12Z

Mass Effect 3 was officially released today (by RELOADED ...)

It sure didn't take long for me to cave in and abandon my Origin boycott. I still seriously dislike having to sign up to that "service", but I just can't not play Mass Effect 3, it's way too good (I'm assuming of course, but the first two titles were made of awesome for the most part, so ...)
So I just ordered the australian Collector's Edition from okaysoft.de. I'm not entirely sure why I decided on this particular edition. I guess it's probably because it's the most expensive one ...

So. Jagged Alliance Online Beta, eh?

2012-02-26T11:21:41Z

I signed up for the Jagged Alliance Online (JAO) Beta a few days ago, and played a few missions. It's one of them browser-based freemium games (as it turns out "freemium" is not a word I made up while half asleep last night - it's a real thing.)
Quite naturally you start comparing it to both the just released Jagged Alliance - Back in Action (JABIA) and the classic fan-favourite Jagged Alliance 2 (JA2), released in 1999.
JABIA, in short, would've been considered a decent game if it hadn't been advertised as a modern remake of JA2. As it is, too much from the original is missing, resulting in only average reviews.
Now, JAO actually does a few things right that JABIA did wrong: Most notably, you have your own merc, though the creation process is a lot less funny than it was in JA2. They've also kept a lot of the speech for the other mercs, so you actually recognise them.
Other than that though, JAO is very limiting in what you can do. Maps are small, not a lot of tactical options. It's permanently turn-based which I guess the creators deemed neccessary for multiplayer, but in single player it's annoying. Interaction between mercs isn't possible it seems, interaction with the environment is limited to shooting barrels to make them explode. And the designers are pretty blunt about their use.
Of course, the worst thing about JAO is that it keeps trying to get you to spend real money on in-game currency.

Wanna do something cool? Sure no prob. Enter your credit card details here please ...

So, which one am I going to play? I recommend going here and installing that over the original JA2 which still is by far the best of the three options, even after 13 years.

So, Livejournal, eh?

2012-02-26T09:58:58Z

Uploading pictures does not available
Your current account status does not allow you to upload pictures.
Upgrade your account

Not entirely sure what Livejournal means by that.
The third line urls to http://www.livejournal.com/manage/account/ but having a permanent account there's nothing to upgrade to.

also, this:

2012-02-08T19:13:59Z

inane @ 2012-02-08T20:08:00

2012-02-08T19:10:54Z

-_-

2012-01-22T20:21:24Z

avast! AntiVirus

2012-01-18T20:34:21Z

I've been using Avast! AntiVirus for several years now, and I've also installed it on my parents' computer. I like it because it's free, and all it asks in return is that you register with your e-Mail adress about once a year.

It displays a green pop up on the bottom right corner of the screen every now and then to let you know it's updated its database. It displays a red pop up when something was blocked and occasionally recommends running shady programs in a sandbox.

Once every few months (if even that often) it displays advertising in a green pop up, usually recommending the non-free version which has a few extra features.
I'd just like to say that this is perfectly acceptable to me.

Today, it recommended the free android anti virus solution, so I gave it a try. And it appears to be quite nice. Scans your apps and SD card on demand and / or scheduled. Comes with a firewall and a tool that warns from malicious websites while browsing.
More importantly though, it comes with (free!) anti theft protection. Once set up on a rooted phone it becomes completely invisible and lets you remote control and wipe your phone in case it's lost or stolen. Of course I have yet to try it, but it looks solid.

[edit] It also survives a factory reset and can't be uninstalled / disabled through USB-connection and debugging.

And last time I checked, Kaspersky asked for about 40€ for this kind of functionality.

inane @ 2012-01-16T22:09:00

2012-01-16T21:10:30Z

omg Sherlock!!1

inane @ 2011-12-01T03:17:00

2011-12-01T02:21:51Z

Also, it's quite clear I'm not posting much anymore on here. I guess that's because the random thoughts now end up on the facebook. And there's just not much going on these days that would merit an entry.

Anyway, I do still read my friends page every day.

Time for a list

2011-12-01T02:17:14Z

I'm in the middle of a week of vacation. Here's a list of things I've done so far:

Played Skyrim

I'll keep the list up to date for the rest of the week.
But seriously, I don't think it's neccessary for you to check back later o_o

Nostalgia²?

2011-10-14T20:16:53Z

Machinae Supremacy have released a video of their recent live show today (in case you're wondering: yes, they're releasing through TPB. I'm surprised their label allowed it.).

When I first started listening to them in ... 2004 I think it was (last.fm's timeline tool doesn't go that far back) I enjoyed their music a lot. It was a fun mix of happy metal and nostalgia inducing SID sounds that reminded me of all my favourite computer games I played as a kid (Gianna Sisters, Bubble Bobble etc).
Since then they've released several albums, evolving their music more and more away from those SID sounds, and more towards main stream metal.
And now I'm watching that show of theirs from earlier this year, and nostalgia strikes me again. This time the music doesn't remind me of those games I played as a child, but of the joy I felt when I used to listen to it several years ago.
What makes me a little sad is that they don't have a keyboarder on stage. It's two guitars, bass, and drums. Those nostalgia sounds, in those cases that they play these older songs at all, come from a tape. They're playback. Which to me suggests that "pure metal" is the direction they've decided to take, and to stick with.

Oh well. On a positive note, they're doing several of my all time favourites on that show: Gianna Sisters, Player One, Attack Music, Winterstorm. And though the SID stuff is coming from tape, at least you can hear it loud and clear. The mixing is just right.

[edit] Oh right, not a single JNG song, wtf?!

Fahren ... something ...

2011-09-26T22:56:32Z

I don't think I've ever spent this much time trying, unsuccessfully, to get a game to run. (The game being Fahrenheit, aka Indigo Prophecy). Someone once said it's a good game.

It took quite a while to even get it to install under Windows 7, and it seems people have had the same problem under Vista too. After I've found a fix for that, it did install, but didn't run. Patching didn't help.

So I grabbed a copy of XP and installed it in a VirtualBox machine. Turns out the game requires 3D hardware acceleration and VirtualBox' implementation of that is rudimentary at best.

I set up a machine in VMware Player instead, which seems to try to outsource its 3D capabilities to the host machine. It works slightly better than with VirtualBox. But a 3D hardware acceleration test in dxdiag doesn't work properly either. So I've got it to install, and run, but the display is broken enough to not be playable.

I don't think there's anything else I can do.

Some more Deus Ex'ness

2011-09-10T21:04:09Z

After several attempts and re-setting the difficulty to easy I finally managed to defeat the first boss in Deus Ex.

And that's the first serious flaw (IMO) I found in the game: Even though the game let's you sneak around, hack terminals and turrets, and bluff your way past opponents, every now and then you're locked in a small room with an enemy and just have to shoot him lots. And according to several message boards that doesn't change for the other bosses either, so no matter how sneaky you want to be, you better carry a big gun and plenty of ammo at all times.

The developers have actually commented on this criticism and pointed out that when trying to tell a compelling story you just can't avoid certain plot items. You have to fight that big guy, you have to win, you have to kill him. Otherwise the story breaks.

All true I'm sure, but! Does anyone remember that one boss fight in the first Deus Ex? The one where, instead of shooting the bad guy, you could discuss the existence of kill switches and point out to him that you'd found his? You could then have him blow up by muttering two words.
I didn't expect the exact same thing here, but they should've included some sort of concession for the sneaky/talky/hacky player.