I've been playing quite a bit of Deus Ex: Human Revolution after getting it as a birthday present from YF.
Now, I've never really played any of the Deus Ex games. I tried a bit of the original one after hearing how good it was a long time ago but somehow, motion sickness got to me first before the bad guys actually did.
So, how did this one fare?
Actually, I quite like it. It has that "Ghost in the Shell/Blade Runner" vibe going on and I simple adore the music.
Well, that's answers the visual and audio part of it.
The gameplay on other hand is a tricky one to answer. In the first 1/2 hour of the game, I was overwhelmed by a plethora of information about how the game works.
You play as Adam Jensen, Chief of Security for a biotech firm. From the get go, the game is already telling me to get things done immediately. There's always a sense of urgency.
Here I was standing there, looking around Megan's (your girlfriend's) office, nosing around her ebooks, wondering how much her salary is compared to yours or how she manages to find time to water her plants.
She?
Well, she was already waiting at the door, telling me to hurry up my ass, you slow poke. Now, this is the very first time you could actually control your character so I was expecting to be able to explore the environment.
I know, I know. It's my roots in adventure gaming that is taking over here. Since most games that I play these days don't really feature that much of interaction with your environments (eg. picking up items, exploring them, not having to punch someone from the very first screen), I found myself immersed in it. I read somewhere that the locations in the game were nicely done and you could often see how the environments actually looked like they were inhabited by someone.
Unfortunately, Megan wanted to go so I left.
You, Sonny Bonds, you are the reason why I constantly feel like I need to poke every every nook and cranny.
There's no need for rushing. Adventure games of yesteryears were brilliant in that sense. You could practically just go off for lunch while your character sits patiently for you to come back.
Ummmm.....yeah.....no rushing needed.....gosh...was it "cut the blue wire" then "reconnect the red wire" or was it the other way round.....QUICK!!! SAVE!!!
Yes, dear, I admit. I was rambling about the good old games. So, let's talk about you again.
Before you know it, people start dying and I'm left alone. Great. I knew I should have just hung out in her office.
Well, after some tutorial bits on how to fire your gun and stuffs, the game fast forwards to 6 months later. Something has happened and your sick leave has been canceled so that you can take care of the problem. Yeah, I guess losing your arms and legs does kinda qualify as being sick.
But wait! You have now robot ARMS....and ....and LEGS!!!
...and yet, in a strange art imitate life kinda way, no more sick leaves..... rats...
So, again, it's been 6 months and I'm back in the office. I take a moment to look around, you know, talk to people, figure where my office is, turn on my pc, check my mails, ease drop on other people's conversations, and crawling through vents!
6 months is a long time and those vents need crawling.
Then what happens?
Yeah, the boss calls me up again and reminds me to get on with the mission.
Sheesshh, can't a man get to chat with his mates first before getting himself killed again? Again with the urgency.
Well, screw that, I said! I nearly lost my life back then in the intro, maybe you could let me cut loose for a few more minutes here, eh, boss?
Now you have to also understand that this is a new game to me. The game mechanics are different. I would categorized this as action/adventure/rpg, so, of course, there's a learning curve involved here. Think Fallout 3 and you get the picture.
So, I walked around, talked to more people, ride the elevators, had my augments calibrated and so forth. Right, now if I could only find the........
Here we go again.
Boss yells this time.
"Yes, boss, be right there."
Urgency. Bah...
It wasn't until I got to the first mission that I found out that because I was "exploring" my environment, that half of the first mission has failed and hostages were killed.
Tiny Towers is a game I used to play on the Ipad once in a while. It's what you would call a casual game.
The whole goal (if there really was one) is to manage/create more floors/jobs for your fellow residents. Something like Sim Tower.
It's like watching an ant farm....honest.
Unlike Sim Tower, it's suppose to be a casual experience; meaning, you only boot it up once in a while to check on your progress. Well, to me it is. You see, everytime I start up the game, it's basically the same routine.
1. Stock up on the floor's product 2. Make sure the person who is working there is the best candidate for the job 3. Build more floors 4. Move in more people 5. Give them jobs 6. Repeat
Like real life, you are constantly reminded that the other dude has the dream job while you are left swiping your fingers around.
It's all fun and good at first but after a while, I guess the whole thing sort of fell apart. It seems that everytime I boot up the app, it was a chore. A routine of some sorts.
Mundane.
Suddenly the game felt like a job. It wasn't really that fun anymore and creating more and more floors and shops felt like an never-ending task. It didn't feel like an accomplishment of any kind and unlike The Sims, you rarely get any interesting stories to share with your friends about what the people in your tower were doing.
Yesterday, I installed the new IOS5 and because of some buggy installation system, the Ipad was restored to it's factory setting.
That meant every data was wiped clean.
Well, to be honest, this post wasn't really to talk about Tiny Towers. It was actually a post to talk about how sometimes a lost savegame actually makes you feel lost yourself.
Ever played a RPG with about 60 hours in only to find out that your save data is corrupted?
Or how about accidentally overriding that precious save file with all of your goodies racked up from multiple playthroughs?
Sometimes, it can be really frustrating to the point that you want to give up. Other times, it makes you want to play that game again.
But in the case of Tiny Towers, I guess it's only right that I say that after 35+ floors, I'm kinda glad it's over.
New piece of art. Unfortunately, don't really have much to say about it this time. It was a rather quick 3 day thingy and I somewhat went back to painting in Photoshop after all this time on Painter.
At the age of 31 years old, I realized that there's so much I need to learn to earn the rights to be alive in this world. There are too many things you take for granted and when put on the hot plate, ask yourself, "could you survive?"
My mom said, "Confidence is nothing without preparation for Knowledge is the key. With knowledge comes confidence."
It's the 1st of August. That could only mean that my 3 months of gym subscription has expired.
Since July, I had been staying back after work for about 3 times a week to exercise. Although I can't really say that I look any different (to V's relief; she was half expecting me to look like Arnold if I signed up for the gym), I do think I'm healthier after these few months. And that's the thing, isn't it? With constant exercising, you don't really feel that bad if you do end up pigging out at a buffet as you'll just tell yourself that all those calories are just going to be burnt by then.
Can't expect to lean on that excuse now though....
Well, anyways, it's only been a few days since I last went to the gym for the last time last Friday and I'm already losing my will to stay late to work out. Seems like my mind is more interested in going home and calling it a day. After 3 months of routine, I would have thought that my body would be used to the idea of staying back to exercise.
Alas, the only thing I can really say is that I feel a bit liberated as well as lost on how to spend tonight's additional time at home.
I'm sure by now you would have heard about how our country have once again plunged itself head-on into the unknown (mainly because the people in charge don't know) by declaring that 10 file sharing services would be blocked in the country.
Yes, sharing illegal movies, music and such is bad. Bad for the industry. Bad for you. Bad for everyone.
Not so bad for the those who don't have internet though since you can always find pirated goods without even trying so hard everywhere. You lucky lot can still enjoy your RM7 purchases of pirated good unaffected by anything internet related. Yippee!
Top ten latest movies?
No problem.
How about adult movies conveniently placed in a small cardboard box away from prying eyes?
Yes, we hear you, brothers.
Faulty can change?
Of course lar, semua boleh.
For the rest of you internet users, don't even think about using some internet bypass thingamajig to access those illegal files. You know who you are.
We know who you are too.
In fact, stop all purchases of computers too as they could be used for illegal purposes! Internet cafes, I got my eye on you. You and those high school kids betting in the smokey room at the back. Facebook my arse. Lies!
Let's not stop here people! Block the sale of food too! I heard bad people eat them so by cutting off food, they will starve and die.
It sad to know
that in recent times, 3 different cases in this country's law proved
that the law, well, sucks.
So what are these 3 cases? Well, here they are in chronological order.
1. Cat Abuser in Serdang
On
March 3rd 2011, Chow Xiao Wei (21 years old) was caught on CCTV
abusing, wait scratch that, killing kittens. The reason how she came to
confess was because people recognized her in facebook and she had no
choice but to surrender herself after receiving death threats.
She appologized for her behaviour and if found guilty (duh...), the punishment would
be a minimum fine of RM200, a six-month jail term or both. So far, I
can't seem to find whether has she been sentenced or not. Guess the
public's thirst for news only last a month.
2. Hit and run and then walk away
On
April 11th 2011, Khoo Kim Chuan (47 years old) ran down one Ong Kim
Koon while the latter was trying to help a Malay couple out from a car
accident. Ong Kim Koon was trying to barge his way out of the traffic
crawl before hitting the victim. The victim was dragged for a distance
before a friend of the victim's managed to alert the driver and then
proceed to pull him out from Khoo Kim Chuan's car. Needlessly to say,
Khoo Kim Chuan then sped off from the scene of the crime before lodging a
police report on the same day.
He
was charged with RM5,500 fine with no jail sentence nor any suspension
of his driver's license. Ong Kim Koon died from the accident while Khoo
Kim Chuan gave no such apology for his actions.
3. School Bullies
On
May 6th 2011, a 13th year old school girl was bullied by her
classmates. They struck out at her and cut her hair. The footage was
recorded via a handphone and then posted out on youtube. After
generating enough hooha, the bullies involved were suspended for 2 weeks
and were later reported as apologizing insincerely (while giggling I
must add) to the victim at her home.
You
can read more about it here including the bullies' identities because
hey, if you are brave enough to do the crime, why stop now?
Summary of these 3 cases are (which strangely involves a cat, an adult and a child);
a. killing cats will just land you with a fine of about RM200. it's cheaper than buying your own cats from a petshop. b.
running down people with your car is okay as long as you make a police
report in the same day. Fine of RM5,500. Heck, anyone you don't like,
you can just run them down and pay the fine. No jail sentence required. c.
bullying in school lands you a 2 weeks holiday and grants you the
official title of 'Yang Paling hebat' upon returning to your classroom.
The school and Education Ministry will be standing on your side because
they don't want to taint the 'good' name of their school or your mental
health when you grow up. Heck, who know if you might end up RM200 poorer
if you should grow up and assault cats because of the 'unjust'
punishments that you might receive should the schools actually dished
out real punishments. Victims on the other hand are to change schools.
Not much need for any counseling for them.
Sucks, doesn't it? Makes you think about why crime rates are so rampant in this country.
But
hey, if you are smart enough, I guess you could drive your car and run
over the school bullies and then blame it on the spirits of those kitten
that died in the hands of the abuser.
Worst comes to worst, it's just gonna be a RM5,500 fine.
There was this fellow trying to sell off a so called brand new but yet second hand copy of Mortal Kombat the other day. Online, that is.
I thought at that time the price was alright so after much encouragement from YF and WH, I put myself on the line and asked if the product in question was still available.The wheels were in motion and everything then was up to the hands of fate to decide.
Or so I thought. A few days go by and the original poster didn't bothered to check his thread. I was kept waiting for an answer which didn't seem like it was going to happen anytime soon.
In my mind, I am reminded of Jack Nicholson from the Pledge. He stands there mumbling to himself. Clearly a broken man. His pledge to capture the killer to the victim's mother clearly brought out the worst in him.
You see, at the very end of the movie, Jack set up an ambush for the killer but the killer didn't show because on the way to there, he had a fatal accident. Because the identity of the killer was never known, poor Jack spent the rest of his life wondering what went wrong.
What's that gotta do with anything you ask? Well, have you ever waited for something to happen only for it not to and you spent the rest of your days wondering whatever happened to the person?
So, rule of the thumb is, if you want to sell something and you want people to contact you, maybe you should be a bit more enthusiasm about it and check your threads.
I still waiting.....well kinda.....sorta.... maybe not....
Here, take this pen and jab it into your brainless head
Hmmm, how does one put this nicely and yet bluntly to the point?
Well, here goes. I hate people who come around asking for answers on the things that do not require much effort on their part. For example?
There was a survey conducted in the office regarding how much time you would spend working (eg, how much you take to find your required task, how much time you actually spend working on it, how much difficultly you might face with it on technical wise, etc etc). Well, everyone's has their own answers because, let's face it, everyone's different. You take different approaches to life and it reflects in your work ethics as well.
So, here comes these certain people. I don't know what you call them; be it lazy or unreliable or whatever googly-moogly shit ass you can think of. They come over, expecting you to give them your answers (to a survey? yeah, defeats the purpose of having one, doesn't it?) because, well, let's see from the conversation below.
Mr Photostat: Hey, have you done the survey yet? Mr 1960s: Hmmm, well, not really (covering up my answers, I was almost done to be honest) Mr Photostat: Faster finish it so that I can copy them. Mr 1960s: What? Just answer them yourself lar. It's not that hard what. Mr Photostat: Donno what it's talking about. I get frustrated when I read the questions. Mr 1960s: Well.... this is what this means and that means that. (I point out to the 3 questions on the extremely short survey. Yeah, I might have miss out telling you people but the survey is only 3 questions short) Mr Photostat: I don't really remember. It's hard. Mr 1960s: It doesn't really matter what your answer is, right? It's just a survey. It's not going to change anything. Mr Photostat: Don't want. I want to see your answers so that my answers wouldn't be drastically so different. You know, so that we are like on the same wave point. Mr 1960s: Come on. Seriously? And what happens when they ask you what your answers mean and why you answered them in such as way? You gonna tell them that you are just following my answers? Mr Photostat: Arrrrgghh, nothing one what. Ahhhh, donno lar.
Yeah, that's about how the conversation went. It's not exactly word for word by I would think the gist of it is there.
To be honest, I was fuming already when he opened up his mouth because I knew he was looking for an easy way out of not doing anything. Throughout the whole conversation, I actually raised my voice from time to time and I think my entire frustration could be captured on my face. I guess that doesn't stop him from bulging at all. Is really copying the way to go? It doesn't even take 3 minutes to finish that survey. And to be honest, I myself wasn't even in the mood to do those questions or even take the survey that seriously on day. Yes, me. And you know why?
Because it's a survey for goodness sake, there are no wrong answers. You answer them to the best that you can.
Besides, people who come to just copy without even trying it out themselves reminds me of those kids from school who borrowed my homework to copy. And that pisses me off.
Maybe less so when I was a kid and I was just trying to make sure that I don't get on anyone's bad side but more so when I'm an adult and this kinda shit still happpens. Well, the only pleasure that I get out of this when I was a kid was that I hope these people flunk their tests but when you are an adult, it just labels you as a grumpy old man who doesn't want to share your answers. I'm pretty sure Mr Photostat has more friends or to be honest, stupid people who just can't wait to help him out than I ever will but that's all right with me.
I always stick to my choices, even if it kills me.
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