So I think a good way to spend at least part of this holiday weekend is to put down some of the thoughts I’ve had about what could’ve been done with the Star Wars prequels. Utterly pointless, but then again, so are the prequels as they stand now. It goes without saying that I don’t own anything created by Lucas and I’m not looking to profit from any of this, but it is my work and if you want to quote or use part of it, please give me appropriate credit.
I’m running a bit behind today. And not because of the pictured train.
No, in fact, the train might be my salvation in a variety of ways. The commute from Lansdale to Doylestown was no picnic during the lunch hour, and I suspect in morning or evening it wouldn’t be much better. My current commute is rage-inducing enough on some days, I can’t imagine taking a route that’s more circuitous with the same kind of drivers on the road.
So, I think it’s time to invest in a SEPTA pass and hop on the daily train. There are several advantages to this change, which I’ll happily list here.
At $69 per month, the Intermediate Two-Zone Pass (which is all I need since I’m not going into the city at this point) might seem like a large expenditure up front. However, that’s about two full tanks of gas, to say nothing of wear & tear on the engine. Also, while taking the train there’s no temptation to stop at a Dunkin’ Donuts or a Taco Bell or a Bob’s Greasy Unhealthy Meatburger Shack. That means it’s not only less expensive overall, but also healthier, and not just for me…
Along with the usual seething at people acting like jerkasses on the road, especially those in fancy cars that for some reason can only pass on the right (despite it being illegal in PA) and never seem to have working headlights, when you sit at a stop light or in traffic, you’re pumping more waste into the atmosphere. That isn’t the case with a train. It can sit at a station until the cows come home, it’s not emitting anything terribly wasteful. Sure, some bad gasses might be coming from the power plant that provides the locomotive with juice, but if I’m not sitting in traffic, I’m not adding to the problem, now am I?
Ah, the big one. The one I’m really looking forward to. I spend the better part of an hour commuting every day. That length of time was only looking to get longer with the move. However, when taking the train, I’m not responsible for my transportation. The engineer, bless ’em, makes the train move and keeps their eyes on the track. That leaves me free to jot down notes, lay out the course of conversations, and maybe even write entire passages, if I should get my hands on a keyboard for the Palm I unearthed in our cleaning & packing procedure. It’s likely to be a lot less expensive than a new netbook, and much more portable than my current laptop jalopy.
My schedule will be a bit more dictatorial in terms of when I can leave the apartment, how long I can stay on the typical work day, and needing to handle things in the middle of the day, which sometimes might require me to take the car. However, in the long run, it seems to me that the pros of this change of commute far, far outweigh the Khans cons.
I know it’s May 4th, so may the Force fourth be with you. I miss the original Star Wars, with its somewhat whimsical outlook, the simplicity of the special effects and the charm & chemistry of the cast. There was life to it, once. But I won’t bore you with the fanboyish lamentations of my abused childhood. Not when other people are doing it better than I ever could.
Like Mr. Plinkett, for example.
As my darling wife has mentioned (What’s that? You didn’t know she was blogging? Shame on you, go read her awesome posts, I’ll wait), there are several MMOs of various flavors on their way. Following her fine example, since she followed mine in getting a blog started in the first place, I’m going to take some time to talk about why I’m interested in playing some of them, and why some of them don’t interest me at all.
As a former WoW player (my weekly twelve-step meetings are going well, thanks for asking) I do understand the appeal of a new expansion. Some areas of the old world map have fallen quite behind in terms of quest quality, population and overall aesthetic. New dungeons promising better loot is a major draw as well, and tying in old threads from previous games in a way that’s loyal to the typical Blizzard atmosphere of a world going dark (Diablo, for example) isn’t all that bad.
When I wrote this section earlier I was focusing on the few bad experiences I had that turned me off to the repetitive dungeon grinding in MMOs in general and WoW in particular. I however had some good experiences as well, rendering this entire section moot as well as making me out to be a blatant liar. Therefore I have redacted this section and will be spending the rest of the evening in an act of contrition too horrific and stomach-churning to relate here. Suffice it to say it involves jumper cables, running water, a roll of duct table and no less than six very angry ferrets.
I’ve said on several occasions that I used to love Star Wars, but George Lucas slowly and surely strangled all joy out of the original films and my childhood memories of them. The closest I’ve come to the pure enjoyment I once got out of Star Wars was playing Knights of the Old Republic. Both of those games had a heavy emphasis on story, being rooted in BioWare’s development mentality, and those stories were, unlike those in the prequels, very well told. The Old Republic setting, from the original graphic novels to those two games, painted a much deeper and more vibrant picture of both the Star Wars universe in general and the Jedi in particular.
When it was first announced that the Old Republic would be the setting for a new Star Wars MMO, I was excited. Despite some major problems, Star Wars Galaxies still had something to offer in terms of both gameplay and nostalgia. However, it’s diffcult to balance the classes when you’re pitting normal beings with high technology against space samurai with psychoflexus powers that can toss heavy objects and people alike around a room with almost casual ease. There’s also the fact that, as rich as the setting might be and no matter how much text BioWare will be dumping on the players, all of it is eventually lurching towards the time in the future when all of the Jedi will get murdered at the hands of a super-powered politician with a partially melted face and an asthmatic boy-man who spends most of his formative years stomping his feet and bitching people out over the unfairness of his life.
I feel like I want to vomit already.
Star Trek, on the other hand, has had ups and downs in all sorts of flavors and colors, and I still think there’s lots to like about it. The MMO is set in the ‘prime’ reality, rather than the ‘alternate’ one created by Abrams. You know, the one people say craps all over Roddenberry’s dream of the future, which would be biting comments if they hadn’t been said about episode of Deep Space 9 or Voyager or Enterprise or some of the later films? Anyway, my feelings on that subject are well-documented and I’d rather talk about the game.
I’m working on a ‘first impressions’ that encapsulates my experiences in the open beta of Star Trek Online, but suffice it to say I’m liking what I’ve experienced so far. Fleet actions that work a bit like WAR’s Public Quests, skill trees that take the place of arbitrary levels, an Away Team system that ensures you have help when beaming into hostile areas and the ability to customize just about any visual aspect of both your character and your Bridge Officers are a few of the highlights of the game’s current build. I’m still toying with the Away Team AI, looking forward to more missions that don’t involve the usual straightforward “go to location X to kill Y hostile craft/creatures belonging to Z”, and curious about this Replicator system that allows me to sell random drops without having to visit a vendor. More to come on this, but up until now my experience has been positive.
I love the world of 40k. There’s a lot going on, plenty of diverse and dangerous cultures and situations and the overall grimdarkness of the atmosphere puts it far and away from the worlds of either Star Trek or Star Wars. Characters in crapsack worlds tend to be more interesting, which is why encountering people in Fallout 3 is a treat more often than not. However, I think a lot of people are going to look towards this game and try to find out if they can be a super-powered Space Marine.
Screw that, I say. Being overpowered and motivated by faith and loyalty alone gets really dull after a while. Ask most Jedi, if they’re not just interested in waving their dicks lightsabers around. I’ll take Ibram Gaunt over any Space Marine any day of the week. A former Guardsman pressed into service as a mercenary to try and make a living, the assassin masquerading as a nobleman to get closer to his targets, a Dark Eldar privateer looking for his next big score… you could probably come up with many more character ideas and possibly port them into the other sci-fi MMOs, but 40k’s world is so grim and so dark that it’s probably the best and most interesting sandbox in which they can play.
A few of the Final Fantasy games turned out pretty well. I particularly like games in the series that incorporate the Job system. Apparently, in this upcoming MMO, the system will be returning in a way that sounds intriguing. From what I understand changing your equipment is what changes your job. My wife covers the game a bit more in-depth and I’ve already stolen both the concept for this post and a couple images from her, so I’ll let her take it from here.
It seems like just about anything can be made into an MMO. My interest stays mostly within speculative fiction, however, so I’ll be keeping an eye on the aforementioned IPs. Hopefully the soulless corporate money-makers won’t try to make absolutely anything into an MMO. At least, I hope not. It’s not like there’s a Twilight MMO in the works.
…What? There is?
…
NO. NO. NO NO NO JESUS O’ BASTARD WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE THERE WILL BE STABBINGS THESE PEOPLE ARE JUST BEGGING TO BE STABBED NO NO NO CHRIST NO.
I really, really need to see Daybreakers. I need to restore my faith in the fact that people out there know how to portray vampires that act like fucking vampires. For your own safety and the safety of others, await my review of this film. Help support me seeing it, and avert the oncoming torrent of hate-filled stabbity death.
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