Tuesday, November 26, 2019

SWTOR Character Tales: Ragdat's Return to the Republic-Onslaught Interlude-The Wedding

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! It's time for what you've all been waiting for, Ragdat and Kira's wedding!

Eight weeks had passed between Ragdat's official proposal and the wedding, and they needed that time to prepare. The first hurdle was deciding what kind of wedding they'd have. Ragdat balked at having any Rattataki customs since most involved blood and pain to prove to both that they were strong enough to bring about healthy offspring. He said that the rites of blood weren't necessary since they were both hardened Jedi warriors, so they already knew they were already strong, and most importantly, Rattataki and humans were not biologically compatible. They'd never have children, no matter what they tried, so there was no point.

Kira was saddened that her love didn't want to bring in his culture into the wedding but understood why he only wanted human customs involved.  However, what overwhelmed Ragdat was just how many human wedding customs there were. This was the first time that Ragdat had ever thought about how numerous humans were and how many planets they inhabited.

Luckily, Kira helped Ragdat narrow things down to what truly mattered in the wedding; the two of them, a shaman or priest-like figure to oversee the ceremony, a "best man" and a "maid of honor", a ring bearer and a flower girl. Each had a purpose to play in the coming weeks and ceremony.

Choosing those roles was difficult; choosing the best man meant that Ragdat was choosing someone to handle his affairs in this ceremony and stand by Ragdat during the ceremony. Ragdat thought about his friends and decided that Scourge would be the one he wanted to stand by his side. Scourge readily accepted this honor, knowing what it meant for Ragdat.

Kira, however, had a minor problem. She didn't really have any female friends among the Alliance, or really in general. But when Master Vedere agreed to officiate the wedding, Nadia Grell agreed to perform the job. Some of Ragdat's other friends agreed to be her bridesmaids; Amelisan, Lana, Darth Nox, and Allisani. However, all their friends were there, though some with unexpected surprises.

The next problem that came about was clothes; Kira wanted a fancy dress, but Ragdat wasn't much for formal wear. In fact, Ragdat didn't have anything close to formal wear except for simple, brown Jedi robes. He was concerned that he'd offend somebody by his simple garb, but Kira assured Ragdat that he'd be fine. It didn't matter what Ragdat wore, just that he was there. Ragdat expressed confusion about Kira wanting a fancy dress, but Kira just laughed it off; that it was simply part of the fun for a woman to have that fancy dress.

Several more weeks passed as they got the decorations, food, and cake. This need for cake also confused Ragdat, but Kira assured him that it was part of the fun. She explained that they fed each other cake in a playful manner, and Ragdat understood.

The actual day, however, was magical. Everything went off perfectly; the people, the music, the decorations, perfect. And as Gnost-Dural walked Kira down the isle, Ragdat was happy to see how beautiful his soon to be wife was in that dress.

As they stood at the altar, Vedere recited her version of the wedding vows.

"Past the surface, there is the Force. But the life on the surface gives it strength. And it is the life that generates the Force is why we are gathered here today; to join two lives together. Ragdat and Kira have come together to commit their lives together, binding themselves together in love."

Vedere continued to speak about love and commitment and asked for them to tell them their vows. Ragdat vowed to honor and love Kira for the rest of his days, to love and teach her to defend herself the best way possible. Kira vowed to honor and love Ragdat for the rest of her days, and that she wouldn't feel jealous when she was compared to the greatest Jedi warrior in history, something that got a laugh out of all assembled.

When their vows were done, Vedere said that with the power a Grandmaster of the Jedi Order grants her, she pronounced Radgat and Kira husband and wife and that Ragdat could kiss the bride. Ragdat did so, and Ragdat led his wife down the aisle and into the reception, where the party began.

They went to the reception, and one of the unexpected surprises was that Curoda brought two people to the wedding; her husband Corso and her girlfriend Chopsha. This also confused Ragdat when he talked to her during the reception, even after "polyamory" was explained to him.  It seemed like a strange lifestyle choice, but Ragdat realized that it was no more strange than a Rattataki marrying a human, so he did his best to just let it go. But even with that strange occurrence, Ragdat could feel the love all around him; Allisani and Lana, Adaso and Jaesa, Darth Nox and her mate, Amelisan and Jorgan, even people who weren't married contributed to the atmosphere. And it was here that Ragdat learned that passion was not to be feared.  That his passion and love for Kira would only strengthen him. He only needed to remember that even though her flesh may die, she would always be with him, one with the Force forever.



And that's it for the wedding! I hope you enjoyed it, and that you stay beautiful freaks!

Saturday, November 23, 2019

SWTOR Character Tales: Mamine at War-Onslaught Part 1

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! It's time to continue Mamine at War!

Our story begins in a space battle, where Mamine disables an Imperial transport for questioning. He gets a call from General Daeruun to return to Carrick Station. Once there, Mamine is told of the war over Corellia, particularly the Meridian Complex, a state of the art shipyard. If the Imperials are able to destroy the shipyard, Mamine is told, then that would hurt the Republic war effort due to how fast this shipyard can create ships.

And it is here that Gnost-Dural and Daeruun informed Mamine of her mission; the Republic fleets over Onderon will be needed do defend the Meridian Complex, but they'll need refueling before they can head to Corellia. Mamine will need to solve the problem on Onderon before they can leave the planet.

And it was here that Gnost-Dural introduced Mamine to Tau's new Padawan, Arn Peralun. A human male, what marked Arn as unusual was his extensive cybernetics. From Mamine's perspective, only Arn's head remained organic, leaving Mamine to wonder just what happened to this young man. And Arn, without asking, answered; during a battle on Dakot Seven, Arn was badly injured. When Mamine asked why he wasn't healed by kolto or bacta, Arn revealed that the people of Dakot Seven were biologically incompatible with these healing fluids, so they had none on supply to heal this young Jedi. They were forced to do what they did with their own people to Arn; extensive cybernetics. It took many years for Arn to get used to his cybernetics, setting him back on his training.

After a brief conversation about Tau, which caused Mamine to talk about her own Padawan, Mamine, along with Suthazi, took Arn to Onderon to meet Arn's new Master, and Arn revealed a bit about Onderon before getting briefed by Lana on the situation. According to Lana, the king wanted to plunder the planet's resources for credits, but the nobles weren't on board with the idea. This was leading to a civil war, and Tau was here to help shore up the defenses of Iziz.

Mamine took Arn to meet his master Tau, who was as awkward as Mamine expected. As they introduced themselves,Mamine mentioned that things were always awkward when a Master first took on a new Padawan, especially when they a bit older like Suthazi and Arn were. Mamine assured Arn and Tau that they would click in time.

But everyone's thoughts were forced back to the situation at hand by an explosion. Tau immediately sprung into action, returning to the palace while Mamine and Suthazi headed toward the explosion, leading them to a broken set of ground that led into the basement of the palace. Fighting their way through, Mamine and Suthazi were stopped by a set of droids, one of them showing a human face. This human, introducing herself as Darth Savik, claimed to know Mamine, though Mamine didn't recognize her. She had sabotaged the anti-spacecraft cannons, forcing Mamine and Suthazi to defeat her droids and shut them down to protect the Republic fleet. From there, Mamine and Suthazi returned to the throne room, ending the battle.

After some discussion, Arn revealed information about Darth Savik's modus operandi and said they needed to stay and stop her. Mamine agreed, and headed into the jungles with an old ally; Jakarro and C2D4.  Jakarro and D4 knew the planet well and aided Mamine in their attempt to gather information and stop Darth Savik. They eventually made their way the proving grounds, where Darth Savik herself was located. She revealed that it was Corellia when they last faced each other and that Savik hadn't engaged in since, making her droids do the job.

However, Mamine defeated Savik once again, though far quicker than before thanks to having a Padawan in tow, causing Savik to doubt her entire life up to that point, pleading Mamine to tell her why she was so strong. Mamine began quoting Jedi philosophy; that the Force was life, not death, and that one gained true power from defending the lie that generated the Force.

Savik, now exasperated, told Mamine where the Imperial fleet was going next; Mek-Sha, a neutral space station that the Republic fleet was headed next to refuel. Mamine gave Savik to the Republic, disheartening Savik, who still wished to learn from Mamine.

Upon landing on Mek-Sha, Mamine and Suthazi were met by Vice Admiral Narlock, Jott, Mek-Sha's chief engineer, Tau and Arn. Suthazi immediately recognized Jott, who also recognized the young Padawan. When pressed, Suthazi explained that Jott helped out the Padawan's collective for a while before they found Brosra; the Collective worked for Jott in exchange for food and fuel, though they were forced off the station after Huttbreaker found out that these Jedi Padawans were making trouble for the Brothers.

The group gave Mamine her mission; get a majority vote to sell the Republic fuel from the factions that ran Mek-Sha. Once the briefing was done, Mamine was attacked by a familiar presence in the Force, with a style she was very familiar with. What was strange was that the presence, even though it was a dark one, had no killing intent. It was almost as if Scourge was testing her again.

Once this battle was over, Mamine went to the cantina where the factions were meeting. She was met by Hylo and Gault, who told her whom she was dealing with. The first was Huttbreaker herself, a Nikto who made a grand speech about Mek-Sha's growing power. While meeting her, Mamine was met by the Dark Council Member Darth Shaar, who taunted Mamine and her allies in the typical Sith fashion.

From there, Mamine went to meet the other factions; Indigo, the leader of the Dar'Manda, a strangely named gang. Mamine never liked Mandalorians after what they did to Cathar hundreds of years ago, but she knew enough Mando'a to understand that word meant "soulless". In her mind, all Mandalorians were soulless due to their unquenchable lust for battle, though unlike Mamine, they had no desire to better themselves. And Mamine made no effort to illustrate this distaste when she met Indigo.

Her mext meeting was with the leader of the Brothers, slavers and strong allies of the Empire. The leader of this gang instantly recognized Suthazi, telling her that she would pay for their lost profits, so Mamine knew she'd get nothing from them as well, moving on to Veek the Sneak, a smuggler and leader of a gang of Rodians.

After meeting them all, Mamine knew that Veek was their only option to get what they needed. And all Veek asked for was that Mamine and Suthazi go rescue an ambassador for him. However, this was a trap, as the ambassador from the Hutt Cartel was working with the Exchange to kill Veek. Veek thanked Mamine for saving his life and promised a long working relationship with the Republic.

After finishing with Veek, Mamine got a call from Arn about the Brothers. Apparently, Arn, who had been ordered to watch them, started freaking out about the Brothers about to transport slaves. Mamine immediately called Tau, since Arn was her responsibility, and headed off to assist the young man.

When they got there, though, Mamine and Suthazi saw that Arn had killed the members of the Brothers and was choking out one of them as he arrived. Arn was angry, and not just because they were selling slaves. Arn explained that slavers were the ones responsible for his injuries, so he had a grudge going. Suthazi told Arn that he'd done the right thing, that the Brothers were scum who deserved to be wiped out, but balked at this idea; Arn had acted out of anger, something that they all needed to beware of. Mamine reminded Arn that the Dark Side was as much a part of them as the Light Side was, and that denying it gave it power, but they still needed to control their emotions if they were going to be a good Jedi, a good person. Mamine reminded Arn that he was a person as much as he was a Jedi, and he was going to make mistakes and lose control sometimes, but that losing control didn't have to condemn him as he was thinking it did.

It was that moment that Tau came upon the scene and saw what happened. She looked at Mamine, and Mamine nodded while Arn explained the situation, with Tau returning Mamine's nod. Both Masters knew that Tau had to take responsibility for both Arn's training, as she had been doing, and his actions when left alone, something that Mamine had to explain to Suthazi when the exchange was questioned. And to Tau's credit, she did so when Jott told them about Huttbreaker's outrage.  And after a short exchange that followed the debrief about just that, Mamine prepared for dock defense from the Imperials, capturing a Twi'lek named Major Anri.

With the Republic fleet finally ready for the battle of Corellia, Mamine returned to Carrick station for the briefing, finally meeting the new Supreme Chancellor, Gelena Rans. After distributing their forces, Mamine boarded a shuttle with Lana, Gnost-Dural, Suthazi, Tau and Arn, and during the journey, Mamine witnessed something interesting; a conversation between Lana and Ghost-Dural about Lana's version of Sith philosophy and why she remained loyal to Mamine despite their occasional differing of opinion.

Upon landing, Mamine, Suthazi, Tau and Arn headed out into the city, battling their way through Imperial Forces until finally meeting an old friend of Master Anstrisil, Tharan Cedrax. Tharan was the principal systems engineer of the facility. Once Tharan explained what he had done, Mamine took Suthazi, Tau and Arn up to the next level, where they came face to face with Darth Malgus once again. Malgus recognized Mamine as the savage brute that tore apart his armor, saying that kind of savagery would not avail her this time.

The battle didn't go in Malgus' favor, of course, with all the Jedi fighting calmly, each taking turns facing off this powerful Sith Lord. Malgus wasn't going to allow victory that easily, however, and telekinetically ripped a large object from the ceiling and brought it crashing down upon them. Mamine and Suthazi managed to get off the platform and got to the control station to activate the anti-spacecraft cannons. From there, Mamine and Suthazi took a shuttle back to Carrick station.

Upon the debrief, Mamine was offered a grand reward; bring the Alliance into the Republic and become a member of the rebuilt Jedi Council.  The Alliance would get a seat in the Senate for Odessen, and she'd get access to all Republic resources that she'd need for her operations. Mamine readily accepted, though she was still hesitant about teaching others her lightsaber skills.

After the briefing, Lana wasn't pleased that Mamine brought the Alliance into the Republic, but as always, she trusted his judgment. Tau and Arn walked over to them shortly after, and revealed how they survived; they had help.  When Mamine asked who, Suthazi shouted "KIRA!" and ran over to the human, diving into her arms. Kira, upon locking eyes with Mamine, told Mamine that she and Scourge had helped the Padawan's collective in their early days before having to move on with their own mission.
And speaking of Scourge, he was clad in the same armor as the mysterious assailant, allowing Mamine to finally understanding the purpose of the attack on Mek-Sha; the same as it was when she dueled him years earlier. It was a test to ensure she was strong enough for the events to come.

Mamine returned to Odessen and met with Scourge and Kira, who explained what they'd been up to for all these years. They explained that, while Mamine was working on destroying Vitiate's soul, they were working on destroying his original body. And through some grand plan of the Force, they both managed to strike down both of them concurrently. But while Mamine got back up immediately, Kira and Scourge were knocked into a coma for a year until Master Satele found them. Satele's team, however, was infected with some kind of Dark Side Plague. Kira and Scourge managed to get them onto a ship that they set drifting around uninhabited space. They explained that they could call the ship back so that the three of them, who seemed to be immune to anything Vitiate did, would deal with them in the future.

From there, Mamine met with Scourge and Kira individually. The conversation with Scourge was interesting; Scourge somehow lost his immortality with the destruction of Vitiate's soul, which also restored his emotions. This made Scourge much like Lana was now; passionate about serving Mamine with a desire to protect anything she had built.

The private meeting with Kira, however, was not at all like he expected. After some brief small talk, Kira revealed that, after Mamine went missing, Kira realized that she's kind of, sort of, always been in love with Mamine. Mamine just smiled sadly, and said that, if they'd have found each other 2 years ago, they might have been able to pursue something, mentioning that Mamine was with someone now. Kira smiled sadly, having known that thi was a probability, but still felt better than all the cards were on the table. Mamine promised that she's introduce Kira to Arcann sooner rather than later, and Kira said that she'd be alright, that she just needed time.


And that's it for Mamine at War Onslaught Part 1. As you can see, I had to tackle the missed opportunity romance aspect of the reunion, since I set it up in the beginning of Rise of Mamine. And while I would have loved to have given them what both wanted, Mamine loves Arcann too much to break up with him for Kira.


Look forward to more story when Onslaught continues, but for now, stay beautiful freaks!

Friday, November 22, 2019

SWTOR Character Tales: Ragdat's Return to the Republic-Onslaught Part 1

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! Now that Onslaught's been out for a couple weeks, it's time for Ragdat to reunite with Kira!

Our story begins in a space battle, where Ragdat disables an Imperial transport for questioning. He gets a call from General Daeruun to return to Carrick Station. Once there, Ragdat is told of the war over Corellia, particularly the Meridian Complex, a state of the art shipyard. If the Imperials are able to destroy the shipyard, Ragdat is told, then that would hurt the Republic war effort due to how fast this shipyard can create ships.

And it is here that Gnost-Dural and Daeruun informed Ragdat of his mission; the Republic fleets over Onderon will be needed do defend the Meridian Complex, but they'll need refueling before they can head to Corellia. Ragdat will need to solve the problem on Onderon before they can leave the planet.

And it was here that Gnost-Dural introduced Ragdat to Tau's new Padawan, Arn Peralun. A human male, what marked Arn as unusual was his extensive cybernetics. From Ragdat's perspective, only Arn's head remained organic, leaving Ragdat to wonder just what happened to this young man. And Arn, without asking, answered; during a battle on Dakot Seven, Arn was badly injured. When Ragdat asked why he wasn't healed by kolto or bacta, Arn revealed that the people of Dakot Seven were biologically incompatible with these healing fluids, so they had none on supply to heal this young Jedi. They were forced to do what they did with their own people to Arn; extensive cybernetics. It took many years for Arn to get used to his cybernetics, setting him back on his training.

After a brief conversation about Tau, Ragdat took Arn to Onderon to meet his new Master, and Arn revealed a bit about Onderon before getting briefed by Lana on the situation. According to Lana, the king wanted to plunder the planet's resources for credits, but the nobles weren't on board with the idea. This was leading to a civil war, and Tau was here to help shore up the defenses of Iziz.

Ragdat took Arn to meet his master Tau, who was as awkward as Ragdat expected. As they introduced themselves, Ragdat thought back to the closest thing he ever had to a Padawan, Kira. Like Arn, Kira was almost finished with her training, and all Ragdat did was put on the finishing touches. Of course, thinking of Kira made Ragdat remember how much he missed her, but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind; he had people searching for her. He'd find her sooner or later.

Everyone's thoughts were forced back to the situation at hand by an explosion. Tau immediately sprung into action, returning to the palace while Ragdat headed toward the explosion, leading him to a broken set of ground that led into the basement of the palace. Fighting his way through, Ragdat was stopped by a set of droids, one of them showing a human face. This human, introducing herself as Darth Savik, claimed to know Ragdat, though Ragdat didn't recognize her. She had sabotaged the anti-spacecraft cannons, forcing Ragdat to defeat her droids and shut them down to protect the Republic fleet. From there, Ragdat returned to the throne room, ending the battle.

After some discussion, Arn revealed information about Darth Savik's modus operandi and said they needed to stay and stop her. Ragdat agreed, and headed into the jungles with an old ally; Jakarro and C2D4.  Jakarro and D4 knew the planet well and aided Ragdat in his attempt to gather information and stop Darth Savik. They eventually made their way the proving grounds, where Darth Savik herself was located. She revealed that it was Corellia when they last faced each other and that Savik hadn't engaged in since, making her droids do the job.

However, Ragdat easily defeated Savik once again, causing Savik to doubt her entire life up to that point, pleading Ragdat to tell her why he was so strong. Ragdat revealed his Jedi mindset; that the Force was life, not death, and that one gained true power from defending the lie that generated the Force.

Savik, now exasperated, told Ragdat where the Imperial fleet was going next; Mek-Sha, a neutral space station that the Republic fleet was headed next to refuel. Ragdat kept Savik within the Alliance, who gladly gave information about the Empire's plans in exchange for training from Ragdat.

Upon landing on Mek-Sha, Ragdat was met by Vice Admiral Narlock, Jott, Mek-Sha's chief engineer, Tau and Arn. They gave Ragdat his mission; get a majority vote to sell the Republic fuel from the factions that ran Mek-Sha. Once the briefing was done, Ragdat as attacked by a familiar presence in the Force, with a style he was very familiar with. What was strange was that the presence, even though it was a dark one, had no killing intent. It was almost as if Scourge was testing him again.

Once this battle was over, Ragdat went to the cantina where the factions were meeting. He was met by Hylo and Gault, who told him whom he was dealing with. The first was Huttbreaker herself, a Nikto who made a grand speech about Mek-Sha's growing power. While meeting her, he was met by the Dark Council Member Darth Shaar, who taunted Ragdat and his allies in the typical Sith fashion.

From there, Ragdat went to meet the other factions; Indigo, the leader of the Dar'Manda, a strangely named gang. Ragdat knew enough Mando'a to understand that word meant "soulless", so he was confused as to why he'd carry that name willingly, a fact that Ragdat approached Indigo about when he met him. Indigo, rightly assuming Radgat was friends of Mandalorians, blew Ragdat off.

He also met with the leader of the Brothers, slavers and strong allies of the Empire. Ragdat knew that he wouldn't get any help from them, so he moved on to the next group leader, Veek the Sneak, a smuggler and leader of a gang of Rodians.

After meeting them all, Ragdat figured that his best options were either to meet with Indigo or Veek. He tried Indigo first, figuring that they'd find something in common as warriors, but Indigo was truely without honor and told Ragdat to kill Veek, which meant that Ragdat would need to work with Veek to get what they needed. Veek was much better, asking Ragdat to go rescue an ambassador for him. However, this was a trap, as the ambassador from the Hutt Cartel was working with the Exchange to kill Veek. Veek thanked Ragdat for saving his life and promised a long working relationship with the Republic.

After finishing with Veek, Ragdat got a call from Arn about the Brotherhood. Apparently, Arn, who had been ordered to watch them, started freaking out about the Brotherhood about to transport slaves. Ragdat immediately called Tau, since Arn was her responsibility, and headed off to assist the young man.

When he got there, though, Ragdat saw that Arn had killed the members of the Brotherhood and was choking out one of them as he arrived. Arn was angry, and not just because they were selling slaves. Arn explained that slavers were the ones responsible for his injuries, so he had a grudge going. Ragdat reminded Arn that the Dark Side was as much a part of them as the Light Side was, and that denying it gave it power. Arn was a person as much as he was a Jedi, and he was going to make mistakes and lose control sometimes. What was important, Ragdat explained, is that he couldn't let his anger control him.

It was that moment that Tau came upon the scene and saw what happened. She looked at Ragdat, and Ragdat nodded, with Tau returning the nod. Both of them knew that Tau had to take responsibility for both Arn's training, as she had been doing, and his actions when left alone, and she did when Jott told them about Huttbreaker's outrage.  And after a short exchange that followed the debrief about just that, Ragdat prepared for dock defense from the Imperials, capturing a Twi'lek named Major Anri.

With the Republic fleet finally ready for the battle of Corellia, Ragdat returned to Carrick station for the briefing, Ragdat finally meeting the new Supreme Chancellor, Gelena Rans. After distributing their forces, Ragdat boarded a shuttle with Lana, Gnost-Dural, Tau and Arn, and during the journey, Ragdat witnessed something interesting; a conversation between Lana and Ghost-Dural about Lana's version of Sith philosophy and why she remained loyal to Ragdat despite their occasional differing of opinion.

Upon landing, Ragdat, Tau and Arn headed out into the city, battling their way through Imperial Forces until finally meeting an old friend of Master Vedere, Tharan Cedrax. Tharan was the principal systems engineer of the facility. After a brief conversation about what Vedere, who was rebuilding the Jedi Order on Tython, was up to, Ragat took Tau and Arn up to the next level, where he finally met Darth Malgus.

The battle didn't go in Malgus' favor, of course, though Ragdat did allow Tau and Arn a chance to train against Malgus before striking him down. Malgus wasn't going to allow victory that easily, however, and telekinetically ripped a large object from the ceiling and brought it crashing down upon them. Ragdat managed to get off the platform and got to the control station to activate the anti-spacecraft cannons. From there, Ragdat took a shuttle back to Carrick station.

Upon the debrief, Ragdat was offered a grand reward; bring the Alliance into the Republic and become a member of the rebuilt Jedi Council.  The Alliance would get a seat in the Senate for Odessen, and he'd get access to all Republic resources that he'd need for his operations. Ragdat readily accepted, promising that, as a Battlemaster, he'd grant lightsaber training to the Order's most promising students once again.

After the briefing, Lana wasn't pleased that Ragdat brought the Alliance into the Republic, but as always, she trusted his judgment. Tau and Arn walked over to them shortly after, and revealed how they survived; they had help.  When Ragdat asked who, the voice of the most important person in the galaxy to him spoke up, saying "Someone who loves you."

At that moment, Ragdat forgot that he was the Alliance Commander, forgot that he was a Jedi Battlemaster, that he was a member of the Jedi Council, forgot that he was even a Jedi. He was simply a man reuniting with the woman he loved after far too many years. They hugged at that moment, just enjoying their company, Ragdat telling Kira how long he'd had people looking for her, and how much he missed her.  She said, "I missed you too, tough guy, but...later, okay?"

He was also met by Scourge, in the same armor as the mysterious assailant, finally understanding the purpose of the attack on Mek-Sha; the same as it was when he dueled him years earlier. It was a test to ensure he was strong enough for the events to come.

Ragdat returned to Odessen and met with Scourge and Kira, who explained what they'd been up to for all these years. They explained that, while Ragdat was working on destroying Vitiate's soul, they were working on destroying his original body. And through some grand plan of the Force, they both managed to strike down both of them concurrently. But while Ragdat got back up immediately, Kira and Scourge were knocked into a coma for a year until Master Satele found them. Satele's team, however, was infected with some kind of Dark Side Plague. Kira and Scourge managed to get them onto a ship that they set drifting around uninhabited space. They explained that they could call the ship back so that the three of them, who seemed to be immune to anything Vitiate did, would deal with them in the future.

From there, Ragat met with Scourge and Kira individually. The conversation with Scourge was interesting; Scourge somehow lost his immortality with the destruction of Vitiate's soul, which also restored his emotions. This made Scourge much like Lana was now; passionate about serving Ragdat with a desire to protect anything he had built.

The private meeting with Kira, however, was not at all like he expected. Kira told Ragdat just how much she had missed him. She told Ragdat that she even stole a ship to come after him until Scourge stopped her. She explained that she went to sleep missing him, and woke up missing him. Ragdat could only sigh, saying he hadn't intended to make her go through that, but Kira assured him that it was fine; that she was explaining how much she loved him, and that it was killing her that she had to remain in control of her emotions. Ragdat smiled, telling Kira that neither of them was the best Jedi at such emotional control and that he had missed her just as much. That from the instant that Lana woke him up, he'd had people searching for her, hoping against hope they'd find her. Every time he saw a happy couple, Ragdat missed Kira. And that he too wanted nothing more to hold her in his arms once again.

At that moment, Kira pulled Ragdat in for a kiss, finally reuniting in full. Kira said that it felt like the future was finally starting, and Ragdat agreed. He then reminded Kira that, after all this Vitiate nonsense was over with, he promised her a wedding. Kira was practically bouncing, asking if he really meant it, and Ragdat assured her that he had. They would have the wedding as soon as possible, and Kira pulled him for a kiss once again, knowing that their future would be bright, as long as they were together.

And that's it for the released Onslaught chapters. I'll do a quick post for the wedding, but for now, the story is once again on hiatus until more content comes out. For now, stay beautiful freaks!

Monday, October 28, 2019

SWTOR Character Tales: Mamine at War-Jedi Under Siege

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! It's time to continue Mamine's tale!

Mamine stood in the training area watching her Padawan and her boyfriend train in lightsaber combat. It turned out that Arcann's Niman was still sloppy and Suthazi still needed further training in both Soresu, her preferred style, and Ataru, the style Mamine was teaching the Padawan so she would have avenues of attack. Training was cut short by a droid informing Mamine of a message in the war room. It turned out to be Krex General Ardinondu Dipolus Daeruun of the Republic army. General Daeruun wanted to talk to Mamine about the Jedi, and how the Republic needed them, and Mamine mentioned that, outside her Alliance, she hadn't seen or heard from any Jedi in a while. Daeruun said she wasn't alone in that fact, and mentioned that there was a colony of Jedi on the former library world of Ossus, and asked Mamine to assist them in their evacuations.

Mamine, along with Suthazi, took a shuttle to Ossus and were immediately met by two faces Mamine recognized; Nadia Grell, now full Knight of the Order, and her former lover and friend Doc Kimble.  Doc, so happy to see whom he perceived to be the greatest Jedi warrior ever, told everyone that they should call the evacuation off, but Nadia and Gnost-Dural, former keeper of the Jedi archives, still stressed the need to evacuate. After a brief moment to catch up with Doc, who told Mamine that he didn't know where Kira was, Mamine was met by a familiar looking dark skinned human, though she couldn't place from where. The human was Tau Idair, another powerful Jedi warrior, who unfortunately felt that her prowess in battle made her a less than stellar Jedi.

Gnost-Dural had Mamine and Suthazi take Tau and go out into the mountains and close off some passages to prevent genetically modified geonosians from hampering their escape. And it was during this that Tau revealed why she looked familiar to Mamine; during the previous war, she had served in Mamine's Jedi Army on Corellia. She was likely still a Padawan at the time and her first battle left her mentally traumatized; a Sith jumped aboard her transport and slew her companions in quick succession with his two lightsabers. Tau killed the Sith in brutal fashion, using her bare hands to beat him when he turned on the pilot, then pushing him out of the ship with his grenade in his mouth.

Mamine understood being traumatized by battle. After extensive meditation, Mamine realized that the first time she saw blood that wasn't her own was a group of hunters being slaughtered by kiltiks during a giant horned hopper hunt; Mamine's first hunt. She was the only survivor out of that group, having killed the kiltiks with her claws and fangs, and this left a mark on Mamine. But instead of it haunting her, Mamine became obsessed with bloodshed, likely a quirk of her unique condition, and descended into the Dark Side before her exile by her people.

During the mission to evacuate the Jedi, Mamine and Suthazi discovered how they had managed to create viable farms on a world as toxic as Ossus. Ossus had been devastated by the Cron Supernova a little over 300 years earlier, and that data could help the Republic create more efficient farms on many other member worlds. They, and Tau aided Nadia in protecting a droid trying to download the information, and Nadia returned to the colony to finish the evacuation.


They were also part of a discussion between Gnost-Dural and Tau about Tau taking on a Padawan, where Gnost-Dural talking about how all the things that Tau thought made her a bad Jedi were actually the very experiences that made her wise, a sentiment that Mamine echoed; teaching Suthazi had reinforced lessons that Mamine had thought she had forgotten.

Eventually, they made it to the Library, which was full of Imperials. Fighting their way through them, they found a heavily injured Gnost-Dural and a crazed Sith woman ranting about the mess made of the library. Mamine and Tau engaged the Sith, while Suthazi did what she could to stabilize Gnost-Dural with her medpacks and meager healing talents. After the battle, the Sith, Darth Malora, revealed that Darth Malgus still lived, a fact that Mamine balked at; Malgus was dead. She nearly tore him apart with her claws over the Battle of Ilum. Malora mocked Mamine, saying that the death didn't take, only for the sound of fighters and bombers to scream outside them.  Luckily, Daeruun managed to deploy fighters onto the scene, saving the colony and sending Malgus' shuttle to the ground.

After capturing Malora, Mamine, Suthazi and Tau returned to the colony to find that Doc had treated Gnost-Dural and Daeruun had landed to take control of the situation. The colony would still be evacuated, and a small contingent would be left behind to ensure that the Imperials couldn't get anything from the computers, but that was it.  Tau announced that the Jedi would be rejoining the Republic, and Doc chose to join Mamine's Alliance.

Once on Odessen, Mamine talked to Doc to find out what he'd been up to; he followed Kira and Scourge for a while before they got separated. And that was when he heard about the Ossus colony needed a doctor, and Doc got right into things. And it was that moment that Arcann made his way into the cantina, forcing Mamine to introduce her old lover to her bondmate. It was as awkward as Mamine thought it would be, but eventually, Doc said that if Arcann made Mamine happy, then it made him happy, a marked improvement over his anger years ago. Mamine saw this as a good sign that they were all becoming better people.

And that's it for the Rise of Mamine sequel, Mamine at War. Stay tuned for Onslaught Part 1.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

SWTOR Character Tales: Ragdat's Return to the Republic-Jedi Under Siege

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! It's time to continue the story of Ragdat in the new incarnation, Ragdat's Return to the Republic!

Ragdat had just finished his meditations when he received a call in the war room. It turned out to be Krex General Ardinondu Dipolus Daeruun of the Republic army. General Daeruun wanted to talk to Ragdat about the Jedi, and how the Republic needed them, and Ragdat assured him that the Alliance would always be there for the people.  Daeruun thanked Ragdat, and mentioned that there was a colony of Jedi on the former library world of Ossus, and asked Ragdat to assist them in their evacuations.

Ragdat took a shuttle to Ossus and was immediately met by two faces he recognized; Nadia Grell, now full Knight of the Order, and his old friend Doc Kimble.  Doc, so happy to see whom he perceived to be the greatest Jedi warrior ever, told everyone that they should call the evacuation off, but Nadia and Gnost-Dural, former keeper of the Jedi archives, still stressed the need to evacuate. After a brief moment to catch up with Doc, who told Ragdat that he didn't know where Kira was, Ragdat was met by a familiar looking dark skinned human, though he couldn't place from where. The human was Tau Idair, another powerful Jedi warrior, who unfortunately felt that her prowess in battle made her a less than stellar Jedi.

Gnost-Dural had Ragdat and Tau go out into the mountains and close off some passages to prevent genetically modified geonosians from hampering their escape. And it was during this that Tau revealed why she looked familiar to Ragdat; during the previous war, she had served in Ragdat's Jedi Army on Corellia. She was likely still a Padawan at the time and her first battle left her mentally traumatized; a Sith jumped aboard her transport and slew her companions in quick succession with his two lightsabers. Tau killed the Sith in brutal fashion, using her bare hands to beat him when he turned on the pilot, then pushing him out of the ship with his grenade in his mouth.

Ragdat had never considered how battle could traumatize another person; for him, battle was a natural part of life. All life needed conflict to grow, though not all conflict required pain or even death.  And even then, death was part of the Force, so Ragdat had accepted his life as a necessary one, though not without enjoyment. But the idea of battle being something to be feared, that could scar a person emotionally? It was a strange concept.

During the mission to evacuate the Jedi, Ragdat discovered how they had managed to create viable farms on a world as toxic as Ossus. Ossus had been devastated by the Cron Supernova a little over 300 years earlier, and that data could help the Republic create more efficient farms on many other member worlds. He and Tau aided Nadia in protecting a droid trying to download the information, and Nadia returned to the colony to finish the evacuation.

Eventually, they made it to the Library, which was full of Imperials. Fighting their way through them, they found a heavily injured Gnost-Dural and a crazed Sith woman ranting about the mess made of the library. After the battle, the Sith, Darth Malora, revealed that Darth Malgus still lived, a fact that Ragdat balked at; Malgus was dead. Adaso killed him in the battle of Ilum. Malora mocked Ragdat, saying that the death didn't take, only for the sound of fighters and bombers to scream outside them.  Luckily, Daeruun managed to deploy fighters onto the scene, saving the colony and sending Malgus' shuttle to the ground.

After capturing Malora, Ragdat and Tau returned to the colony to find that Doc had treated Gnost-Dural and Daeruun had landed to take control of the situation. The colony would still be evacuated, and a small contingent would be left behind to ensure that the Imperials couldn't get anything from the computers, but that was it.  Tau announced that the Jedi would be rejoining the Republic, and Doc chose to join Ragdat's Alliance.

Once on Odessen, Ragdat talked to Doc to find out what he'd been up to; he followed Kira and Scourge for a while before they got separated. And that was when he heard about the Ossus colony needed a doctor, and Doc got right into things.

Before parting ways, Doc promised that he'd keep an ear out for Kira, and Ragdat returned to his duties to the Republic and the Alliance.

I know, why stop here when Kira has returned with Onslaught? Simple; I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who has yet to complete it. I'll get to it soon, I promise, but for now, stay beautiful freaks!

Monday, September 23, 2019

What a Harley Quinn game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! Today, I'm posting my formerly 48 hour exclusive to Patreon "How to make a Harley Quinn game good without directly copying the Batman Arkham Games" post.  So if you want to see these first, click on the link and donate at least the 1 dollar tier.

First off, we'd need to base Harley on her New 52/Rebirth incarnation, so this one's got the bleached skin from a similar vat of chemicals that the Joker was exposed to.  But more importantly, this one's not attached to the Joker anymore. No, this Harley Quinn actually despises the Joker for the abuse, but is still slightly in love with him despite that.  She is definitely a battered ex who needs to move on with her life.

And that's when her story comes in; Harley, who lives in New York, gets a letter from the Joker saying he wants to meet her. Knowing full well that she'll never be free so long as he lives, Harley decides its time to end things and finally kill the Joker, beginning her hub world/level progression game where she hunts him down with some help from her friends along the way.

Now, even though we've got a functional system from the Batman Arkham games, I'm not going to use that. Instead, we're going to use a system similar to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines for combat and to show off Harley's insanity. Harley Quinn's arsenal includes guns, knives, a baseball bat, her mallet and a variety of explosives, all of which would work well with Bloodlines' combat system. However, instead of Bloodlines' melee system, we'd give Harley something more dynamic and destructive, since Harley is an antihero in this scenario, and she doesn't care who gets hurt in her quest for vengeance. And that's not even counting her gymnastics training allowing her what she needs to BE more dynamic in melee combat.

As for her her insanity, we could actually do something similar to the Malkavians from Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines; she's hear things that aren't there, see things that aren't there, and get insight into her quest.  Combine that with her genius level intellect and her training in psychiatry, Harley would be able to figure out any clue in her investigation into where the Joker is, as well as any other side quests she's involved herself in.

Which leads me to an idea about her insanity; we'd have a button that allow her to drop into her insane state at her whim, which she'd call "insight", and that would affect her in combat and in investigations; combat would be flashier and more damaging, and she'd find clues quicker.  But be warned, because "insight" usage would be tracked, and would affect her ending if used too much; would she continue to try to be a better person than the Joker made her, or she give in to her madness and stop fighting what the Joker made her?

As for her quest, it would be open world with a level by level system; you'd start in New York, do a little bit of open world there to advance the story, then head to Gotham, Metropolis and any other place the story takes her, doing the same thing until she catches up with the Joker. This mean that the open world aspects would be smaller in  scale than in Spider-man or Arkham Knight, but that's only because you're not just dealing with a single city.

Harley's got a few dozen friends too. Her long time love Poison Ivy, Catwoman, the Suicide Squad, even the Bat Family could get involved in Harley's story. Pamela, who loves Harley the most, would be like "Look, don't let him get to you. This is your life, not his. But if you have to do this, I'll help you.", while Catwoman and the Bat family would be like "bring him in, but don't kill him; you're better than that," while the Suicide Squad members would be like "Just kill him and be done with it." All would have quests for Harley to perform in their locations, and all would be integrated into the the story line.

And finally, the Joker. This would definitely be a boss fight, both physically and mentally. And how it would end would be determined by a number of factors; would she kill him or let him live? If she let him live, what would she do next? If she killed him, what would she do next? The madness meter would definitely play into this and would determine her ending.

Harley Quinn would definitely need a lot of work to be unique, but as illustrated here, it is totally possible.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Mobile Game Reviews: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Today's game is something that was a guilty pleasure for me; We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs. Developed by SundayToz Inc, this is a match 3 game starring the cast of the Cartoon Network series, We Bare Bears. You play as Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear, as well as their friends, as they clean up and rebuild the areas you see on the show through match 3 puzzles.  Every time you solve a puzzle, you get a star, which you spend on items to clean up the map.

Control: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs is a match three game.  For the puzzle sections, you slide gem, illustrated by vegetables, fruits, pretzels, pizza, tacos and other food items, in order to get match of three more tiles. For the rebuilding sections, the controls are simple tap and go.

Graphical Fidelity: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs looks like the show.  Every single thing in this game looks like it came from the show, so all the characters and locations look like they should look for this series.

Sound: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs has sound clips for vocalization of the characters, sound effects from the show, and distinct music for both maps and the match three sections.  All of it feels like it came from the show.

Ads and in app purchases: There are no ad in We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs, however, there are a LOT of in app purchases. So many that, if you're going to let your kids play this, you should lock down your ability to purchase things on the google play and apple stores, because kids can spend a LOT on things from the shop.

Fun Factor: We Bare Bears Match3 Repair is a very functional Match 3 game, which means it's fun if you enjoy that kind of thing.  Each level is progressively more difficult, and you've got 5 tries to solve a puzzle before you have to either recharge or spend real money on more tries.  What's also fun is seeing how the Bears change the map as you spend the stars you get for completing puzzles.

Final Analysis: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs is a great Match 3 game that's unfortunately held back by the abundance of in app purchases. Your kids will love the game due to it being based on one of their favorite Cartoon Network shows, and since kids have little to no impulse controls, you NEED to keep that app store locked down. Other than that, I enjoyed my time with We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs wholeheartedly.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

What a Shazam game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Today's hero is one who's still relatively in the public eye, Shazam, or the Original Captain Marvel before the New 52 reboot.

Now, unlike most of the heroes I'm covering here, Shazam is actually two distinct people; Billy Batson,  a good hearted child who was frustrated with his life being bounced around in the foster care system, and Shazam, the heroic individual with the Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of Mercury, which in turn grants him certain abilities and resistances/in-vulnerabilities.  For example, as Shazam, Billy knows things he shouldn't know, can fly, has the durability of beings like Superman, spellcasting, and an assortment of other powers available to him.

Now, since Shazam is essentially a magical version of Superman but with a different set of secondary powers, a lot of the same rules apply, but with a twist.  You see, unlike other super hero games, Shazam's civilian form is not an adult; he's a child.  So unlike the adult heroes, who have experience juggling a civilian and superhero lifestyle, Billy Batson does not. Billy still has to deal with everything a child has to; school, curfews, etc.  So that's why a Shazam game will need two distinct gameplay modes; Billy and Shazam. Billy can go anywhere he pleases that's not gated behind some kind of age restriction, and he can talk to people as he pleases, those who ignore him due to him being a child notwithstanding.  And because he's a child, he can get into small places and give him a stealth based gameplay.

Shazam, however, is at full strength all the time. He can fly, he can run almost as fast as the Flash, and can put out all the strength of Superman and take all the punishment Superman can. However, Shazam can't go into any building that's not part of a mission he's undertaking, and he can't blend in with normal people at all.

The important thing, though, is that Billy needs to be as fun as Shazam. So while he's making his way around the city, he could ride bikes, ride a skateboard, run, jump and scrap with other kids if it becomes necessary. He obviously can't fight adults due to a size, speed and strength advantage, but when he shouts the magic word "Shazam!" with heroic intent, needing to combat adults becomes a non-issue. However, he'd still do his best to maintain his secret identity, so he'd look for places to hide before transforming to do so safely.

Now, instead of the city being his life bar, we'd implement a clock mechanism.  You see, Billy Batson, as previously mentioned, is still a child, so he's still beholden to the restrictions of a child; so school, curfews and other appointments that are outside his control.  So not only would Billy need to keep to a schedule as Billy, but any time he's doing his superhero thing as Shazam, he'd need to keep watch on the clock.  So, if Shazam was facing off against one of his enemies, he'd need to finish up in time for bed or other restrictions.  And if he didn't finish up in time? Well, he'd get grounded and not be allowed into the city like he wants to.

Now, unlike the situation with Superman, Billy enjoys being a superhero; Shazam is a child's power fantasy, so there wouldn't be any alignment issues. Billy would do the right thing as Shazam, a child's desire for fun notwithstanding, which would be integrated into gameplay. For example, say Billy and his friends want to go to the baseball stadium after hours and knock a few balls around the park. Billy could fly there as Shazam, and either sneak in or fly in and they'd have fun. But remember, doing something like that is breaking curfew, and that could have consequences on the gameplay.

With all that said, this game would of course be open world, with full subway, bus and taxi routes for Billy and a full cityscape to fly through as Shazam. And as both Billy and Shazam, you could pick up side quests, though ones given to Shazam and ones given to Billy would be very different, though they could easily intersect.

Shazam could be fun if things are treated like a child's super hero fantasy, because that's what the character is. You don't need any moral ambiguity in a game like this either; Billy is a good kid with a good heart, and even though he sometimes struggles, he knows that he's been given a gift to help people. And that is the core of what would make a Shazam game good.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

"How to make a good superhero game": Characters that won't be covered

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Today, I'm going to talk about which characters archetypes I'm not going to cover, and why. The list will be simple, with a short explanation afterward.

Superboy and Supergirl- This one's pretty simple in that I've already covered how to do it in my one on Superman. Just take the same power set and follow the same rules as I set forth for Superman.

Other Lantern Corps- For pretty much the same reason as the Superman one, but with one exception; the Green Lantern one already has the other Corps built into it via the multiplayer.

Member of the Bat family- Batman already has a very good series of through the Arkham series.  Just take what makes those good and apply them to the other members of the Bat family.

Non-powered or low powered martial arts characters- These games could work as "Batman, but without...". So someone like Green Arrow, Hawkeye, Electra, Daredevil, Captain America, Black Panther and Iron Fist, they could all could function on the Batman Arkham in terms of combat and exploration.

Spider-Man- Spider-man has had good games since the Spider-Man 2 based on the Sam Raimi movie, and continues to do so to this day. No need for me to analyze him.

Deadpool- I don't like him, but I hear his game is good anyway, so whatever.

Gadget Heroes- If they're not Batman level in terms of gadgets, they're either one trick ponies or not well known enough for people to care.

Team based heroes- Teams like the Avengers, X-men, Justice League and others are a little outside this focus, since it would require me to analyze multiple characters, instead of just one.

Wolverine and his offspring- James Howlett has a great game from 2009. Copy that combat engine with a new story, and you're gold.

Now, that's not to say that there won't be exceptions; I've got some really good ideas for Harley Quinn and Gwenpool that would be perfect for this kind of analysis paper, and if I or my twitter followers come up with some good ideas for these kind of characters, I'll cover them, but for now, this is a great master list on what I will not be doing.

So until next time, stay beautiful freaks!

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

What a game about the Flash needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Today is one of the harder heroes I've had to do, the Flash. But not for the speed, no.  For the combat. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.

We always start with the powers, and with the Flash, it's simple; speed.  Through the Speed Force, the Flash is capable of near lightspeed running, so he'd be running at a high speed with things like speed lines and warped visuals as he goes. And if you're a gamer, you're thinking of one series to take inspiration from; Sonic the Hedgehog. More importantly, the games where a boost mechanic is available.  What you'd have the Flash do is start running, and gradually reach a speed that feels high to the player, which you use the thumbstick for. You can also boost to high speed right away with a boost button, which would be tied to a trigger, and boost beyond what the player feels is fast once you're at the "top speed."  However, unlike Sonic, the Flash's Speed Force protects the environment from being destroyed like the boost-centric Sonic games do.

The Flash can also do a couple things that Sonic can't; running up buildings and vibrate through objects.  And also, using his cosmic treadmill, he can move forward and backward through time safely, though he can still do so without it.  So, all of these things would be integrated into the gameplay.

Which leads me into something that had me scratching my head for the longest time; combat. The Flash isn't like Batman or Wonder Woman or Superman; he's not a trained fighter or a power house, but Barry Allen, the Flash you'd be playing as, does have some nominal combat training due to his time at the Central City Police Academy.  So, Barry would have some basic punches and kicks and a grab ability.  So, while running around, Barry could punch opponents while moving at high speeds, kick them, or grapple them to the ground.

However, it's when we bring his ability to vibrate into things is when Barry becomes a powerhouse. You see, Barry's ability to vibrate allows him to create his Infinite Mass Punch, which basically gives him power akin to Superman in terms of damage potential. This is why we'd put the vibrate button on the controller and allow that to accent the punches, kicks and grabs.

And it's when we implement the Flash's rogues gallery that things get fun; all of them have something that either get around or outright neutralize his speed, or has speed akin to his own.  The Rogues, for example, are a team of thieves who use their powers and arms to neutralize the Flash's speed, while people like Reverse Flash can match him in terms of speed. So any boss fight with the Flash's rogues gallery would either be a puzzle to be solved like the Rogues or a combat race like with another speedster.

And speaking of puzzles, since Barry Allen is a police officer and forensic scientist, he's be very good at casing crime scenes, so you could implement something akin to Batman's detective vision from the Arkham series.

Which brings me to the story. First off, it would need to based on the comics, not the tv series. Comics Flash is an easy going, funny hero, where as tv Flash is much more serious.  You'd get a lot of comic relief and wisecracks that you'd see out of someone like Spider-man, making it a fun game.

And lastly, the type of game that would benefit the Flash; Open World.  Running around Central City would make you feel like the Flash the entire time, and would give you opportunities to perform side quests for the Flash family.

How about DLC? Well, I can think of two really easy packs; Wally West and Wallace West.  Wally West, the red haired Flash from DC Rebirth, would follow the current storyline of him being let out of prison after the events of Heroes in Crisis, and he'd be working to rebuild his name. As for Wallace, or Kid Flash, he'd be working with the Teen Titans where they are based instead of Central City.

The Flash would be a fun character to play if he's done right, and to be done right, you need both a good speed and running engines.  Let's hope whoever actually makes a the Flash game does it right.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Mobile Game Reviews: Dragon Lapis

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Before I start, let me let the cat out of the bag; yes, I changed the URL and the name of this blog.  I'm finally moving away from that Rurouni Kenshin inspired name I carried for WAY too long.

With that out of the way, today's game is a full port of a 3DS game, Dragon Lapis. This game is a full JRPG by Kemco, and it was the first game that showed me that mobile device games could be more than just puzzles and endless runners.

Control: Sadly, we must start with worst part of the game, control. The tapping of menus is fine, but trying to move around the overworld is hardly accurate, no matter which control scheme you use. More than once, I've tapped in one place and it thought I tapped in another to move.  But thankfully, a JRPG doesn't need extremely accurate movement controls, so I'll give this game a pass on that.

Graphical Fidelity: Dragon Lapis is a game that would have looked at home right on the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis.  It's a retro inspired game that captures the aesthetic perfectly.

Sound: Dragon Lapis sounds like it would have been at home on the Super Nintendo with the chip tune inspired music and sound design. Nothing sounds out of place.

Story: Dragon Lapis is a JRPG where you take control of Lucas and his party of adventurers as they go through the lands and try to gather the Dragon Lapicis to awaken the power in Lucas' blood and stop the evil Silver Dragon with the aid of Iria, the Gold Dragon in human form, Melvin the Rogue and Elodie the mage.  And even after you complete that story, there's an...expansion I guess, that you start up immediately after to stop a demon from taking over the world.  There's a lot going on in Dragon Lapis, and you'd better be ready for it.

Ads: The ad policy in Dragon Lapis is really bad. When you start the game the first time, you don't really see that many ads, but once you get to a certain point after you recruit all four party members, you get a cutscene where they tell you that "the information deity wants to inform you of products and services you might like", which is an in universe explanation of not only more frequent post battle video ads, but also banner ads at the top and bottom of your screen. You can buy an "upgrade" to opt out of this, but I still think this is an extremely greedy way to get money.

Fun factor: Dragon Lapis is a full fledged JRPG, which means it has all the tropes; random battles, upgrading weapons, leveling up your character from said random battles.  But this game has a different ways to handle leveling up. You see, it utilizes job classes, so you can play any job with any character, and when you do so, you get specific weapon and armor proficiency. However, to level these jobs up, you use growth plates to upgrade your abilities and gain new ones. It is definitely a unique way to handle advancement.

Final analysis. Dragon Lapis is a game with a lot of problems, but there's a lot of good there too. But despite all the problems I saw, I had fun with this game from beginning to end.  If you're a fan of retro JRPGs, you don't want to miss out on Dragon Lapis.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

What a Ghost Rider game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

To continue my "how to make a good super hero game" series, I'm going to talk about Ghost Rider.  Now, as of now, there has only been one Ghost Rider solo game on the PS2/PSP/GBA, and all had pretty bad reviews back in 2007 when they were released. 

Now, Ghost Rider's not the most popular character; Johnny Blaze, the most well known, was created in the 67, and only had 7 issues, then 84 between 73 and 83, and then didn't have a solo series again until 2001, which was a mini series, and then again having a full series from 2006 to 2009 with 34 issues, and then another 9 between 2011 to 2012. Danny Ketch, the next best known Ghost Rider, had the most consistently long running series with 93 issues from 1990 to 1998, with issue 94 coming out in 2007.  However, comics fans have seen him making a LOT of cameo appearances in other books, like Wolverine's solo series, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and plenty of other places, as well as a TON of team based video games.

But how do you make a good Ghost Rider solo game? Well, I've got a few games to reference, one for a big to do, and one for a big what not to do.

First off, the to do; Devil May Cry.  Ghost Rider's powers and abilities could benefit greatly with a combat system similar to the Devil May Cry series.  First off, when in his Ghost Rider form, he's functionally immortal, just like Dante.  And like Dante, he has multiple combat styles; hand to hand, the chains, and, depending on the character, a shotgun that can shoot hellfire. Hand to hand would be the fastest style, and would allow the Ghost Rider to manipulate hellfire at will. The chance would give him medium range, but would be slightly slower. They would limit the ability to use hellfire, but since the chains are fueled by hellfire, that's not a problem. And the shotgun would grant range and massive damage, but would slower than all the other styles.

Now, if the Ghost Rider can get a grab on an opponent, he can use his Penance Stare, an ability to force an enemy to relive tall the pain they've ever caused anyone. This ability would kill an enemy outright, and would be a great way to regain health.

Now, you can't be the Ghost Rider without the motorcycle, and this is where Ride to Hell Retribution for what NOT to do in motorcycle combat.  In Ride to Hell, you become glued to your opponent while you fight them in deliberate padding levels. For Ghost Rider, you'd want something similar to the Road Rash series, so the motorcycle combat needs to be as dynamic as Devil May Cry's combat system, as fast as possible with the ability to use all of Ghost Rider's powers in combat. For example, say you're speeding down a highway chasing down a boss fight and you see mobs all around you. You can use your hellfire shotgun on them to blow them out of your path, your chains to rip people out of vehicles or pull them toward you, or you can melee people with your hellfire fists. You could also use hellfire to boost ahead, jump without ramps, and do all kinds of crazy stuff like stick to walls and ram through buildings and vehicles alike.

And the best part is that you can summon the motorcycle at any time for use in general combat.

Now, if this makes you feel that I advocate an open world, I don't.  The best way to feel like Ghost Rider would be a linear level game. You see, Ghost Rider's not about saving people; he's about punishing the guilty.  If the Ghost Rider's involved in something, chances are he's after the worst of the worst in the Marvel Universe; demons, devil worshipers and other magical threats.  If the Ghost Rider's after you, chances are you are not worth saving. 

Which is why Ghost Rider's rogues gallery is pretty much demons from hell, with the occasional wizard thrown in for good measure.  So someone like Centurious the souless, Blackheart or Zadkiel would be perfect foes for the Ghost Rider.

Now, this game would also be perfect for something prevalent in the modern gaming industry; DLC. You see, the main game would be about Johnny Blaze, the most well known Ghost Rider, but DLC packs would give you a campaign for Danny Ketch and another one for Robbie Reyes.  Now, Danny's campaign would be easy to implement, since both he and Johnny are bikers with the exact same moveset. Just modify Danny's animations a little and you'd be fine.  But Robbie? Not only does he drive a car instead of a motorcycle, but he also doesn't use a shotgun, and based on the pictures I've see, he'd use tire irons, hammers and other stuff used in car repair in melee range.  And like the bikers, he can summon the car to use in general combat too.

Ghost Rider can be awesome. He looks awesome, his concept is awesome, so he should play awesome too.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

What a Wonder Woman game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

After doing both a "How to make a Good Superman Game" and a "How to make a Good Green Lantern Game", I decided to tackle the final part of the DC Comics trinity, Wonder Woman.  (I won't be doing a Batman version, because there are already good Batman games out there). And when I did my research, I found something horrifying; Wonder Woman does not have a stand alone game.  She's part of Justice League games or games where the League is involved in, the Lego series and Injustice. Not a single solo title out there, even after her popular movie came out.  This needs to be fixed pronto, and I can give several ideas on how.

First off, we need to talk about her powers.  There's a reason it's been argued that Wonder Woman could beat Superman in combat, and for good reason.  She's as fast and strong as any Kryptonian under a yellow sun, and she's nearly as durable.  She's survived bludgeoning force from the likes of Superman, Doomsday, Shazam and Darkseid, and while edged weapons and bullets harm her, they are not fatal. Combine that with an accelerated healing factor, her ability to fly and her status as a demigod granting her biological immortality, Wonder Woman is a powerhouse, pure and simple.  Combine that with the Bracelets of Submission, made of nearly indestructible 8th metal, which can survive Darkseid's Omega Beams, and her Lasso of Truth, which is an unbreakable rope from the Greek Pantheon, which allows her to force anyone bound in it to tell the truth under any circumstances, even if the subject is under mind control, along with her magical sword and shield, also made of 8th metal, its no wonder she's able to take on some of the most powerful beings in the DC landscape and won almost every time.

Now, unlike Superman and Green Lantern, Wonder Woman's game can function perfectly well as a level based game, though a functional hub world would be beneficial.  She could have a base with her friends Eta Candy, Steve Trevor, one with the Justice League and one where she deals with the Olympians, since she is technically among their numbers. From there, she's sent on missions to perform in distinct levels, with boss fights happening every few stages.

The boss fights present a problem, because as Diana said herself, the reason she doesn't have a large rogue's gallery is because when she deals with them, she deals with them, making her one of few heroes who has no problem with killing.  Which is why I advocate two things; 1, give her an M-rated game and have the combat system be similar to the one presented in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and 2, make her boss fights be functionally immortal.  So, you'd want people like Ares, Circe, Medusa, First Born, Giganta and Cheetah.  All but Giganta are immortals, and there have been multiple Cheetahs.

Now, for the tutorial, you start out on Themyscira and teach her the basics of the combat engine, as well as covering how she gained her powers in Wonder Woman Rebirth, which shows her current version of her origin story, then do a timeskip to the current storyline, and move forward her game from there.

Now, do I think you'd want cameos from the Justice League in the game? No.  If the League facilities are used as a hub world, she can talk to them, but her game needs to be her own, since she's never really had one before now.  Besides, she's on par with Superman in terms of capability, so she doesn't NEED the help of the League for anything outside information or the odd mission.

And before I conclude this, there are two people you want to voice Wonder Woman in this game; Gal Gadot or Susan Eisenburg.  Both of these women have done iconic performances for Diana of Themyscira, and both would be perfect for the role. That said, Susan Eisenburg would be easier to get, since she's an established voice actor, while Gal Gadot is more focused on her movie career.

A Wonder Woman game could be awesome if done right, and compared to some other heroes, she's not that hard to do right.  Just give her the respect she deserves, make her the warrior she was trained to be while still maintaining what makes her a good person, and you'll get a great game out of it.

Friday, August 16, 2019

What a Superman game needs to be good

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

So, after rereading my blog post about how to make a Green Lantern game good, I thought about how to make a Superman game good.  And hoo boy, do we have plenty of examples of how to do it wrong.  Between Superman 64, Man of Steal and Superman for the NES, there's a lot of "what not to do" stuff.

The problem with making a Superman game is that you have to both feel like Superman while still having some real stakes.  So the best thing you can do is take what Superman Returns tried to do and make Superman physically invulnerable while making the city of Metropolis, as well as others that pop up in the story for certain missions, the health bar.  Doing this right will make you act like Superman, and not a generic action hero; do you break off from a battle with Darkseid or Doomsday to save civilians, or continue the fight and try to limit future damage to your city? How do you protect the people of the Earth?

Now, the major downfall of the way Superman Returns was how they handled how Superman reacted to civilians and the city.  And in this current landscape, with the DC movies and the Injustice series, Warner Bros is more open to a darker Superman. So they must introduce an alignment system; if you let too many civilians die, cause too much destruction or allow the villain cause too much destruction, you take an alignment hit. This still allows you to have access to all the power of Superman, but it allows you to have two different ending; a Classic Superman ending, or a Utilitarian Superman ending. 

Now, villains. Unfortunately, Superman's rogues gallery isn't as well known as some other DC rogues gallery; outside Bizarro, Lobo, Cyborg Superman, Brainiac, General Zod, Lex Luthor, Doomsday and the forces of Apokolips, most aren't known to the general public.  Heck, I'm looking at his Rogues Gallery, and I don't recognize half of them, and I'm a fan!  So, you take those well known guys and make them boss battles, and instead make most of the game's open world missions doing other things that only Superman can do; saving people in fantastic ways.  For example, say there's a burning apartment building and there are people still trapped inside. Superman would have to go inside the building, unharmed the entire time due to his own invulnerability, and he'd seek out people in danger. And, as I stated, the people's lives are his health bar; he's got to use his assortment of powers to seek out the people trapped and get them to safety.  If he lets too many die, he gets an alignment hit, and is pushed ever closer to the bad ending. From there, Superman can use his powers to put out the fire once people are safe.

You can even have Superman fight other disasters, like dam breakages, tornados, hurricanes (yes, he does have the power to fight natural disasters), and do all sorts of things that protect the people of Earth. And yes, I mean the people of Earth; he may make his home in Metropolis, but his duties are to the entire planet.

In fact, since Superman protect the entire world, you can have cameos from the Justice League to ask for help.  You can have Superman go to places like Gotham, Central City, Coast City, etc, and have him aid the resident heroes there in missions they can't handle on their own.  And this again brings in the alignment system; do you help, or do you leave them to handle things on their own? And if you do help, how do you help?

And this gives me an easy segue to the alignment system.  Basically, you start out with Superman's classic moral code; soft touch with humans, don't kill people, protect innocent civilians while trying to appeal to the better nature of those around him.  However, you can lose alignment points if you cause too much destruction, through action or inaction. And if you lose too many alignment points, Superman's outlook starts to darken; a sort of "what are the lives of a few million civilians to the fate of billions?" sort of thing.  And depending on how far down you go, you may lock yourself in to the bad ending. 

Now, certain missions would give an alignment boost; that fire scenario I mentioned earlier, for example, or things like saving a falling construction worker, repairing a dam or stopping natural disasters.  Your ending would be entirely determined by what you do in the game.

And finally, his powers. In order for Superman to feel like Superman, he needs to have access to his full array of powers from the start, and there's and there's an easy way to integrate a tutorial in a natural way; Jonathan Kent. Jonathan Kent is Superman's son with Lois Lane, and he's got access to all of Clark's powers.  The tutorial mission would take place on the Kent farm in Hamilton County and would be Clark teaching Jonathan how to use the powers they share. This would be a great way to demonstrate the powers and the alignment system; Clark would teach Jonathan of his classic values, and Jonathan would ask if they took a more utilitarian mindset regarding protecting the Earth, since Jonathan's still a child, but Clark said that they could, but remind his son that they have a responsibility to the people of Earth, reminding him that people can do amazing things without having access to their powers if given a chance. 

Superman is the toughest superhero to make a good game for, and for good reason.  But if a developer takes my advice, and put the love and care required to make Superman who he is, I'm certain a fantastic game can be made.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

Mobile Game Reviews: Vampire's Fall:Origins

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Today's game is something I found via an ad; Vampire's Fall:Origins. Published by Early Morning Studio, Vampire's Fall: Origins is a sequel to their previous game, Vampire's Fall. It's a full fledged turn based RPG with a full compliment of weapons, armors and abilities, as well as a full dark fantasy story.

Control: Vampire's Fall: Origins is pretty basic in its control needs; you tap the menus, tap the dialogue windows, and you use a virtual control stick to move around the map. For the most part, the tap  focused aspects of the game work properly, big thumbs/fingers issues not withstanding, but it's the virtual control stick that requires a little bit to getting used to. At first, I wasn't sure what I was doing, since it doesn't stay in one spot if you're not careful, but once I was used to the idea of pressing and holding in a direction, it became second nature. And honestly, it's this game that makes me think that virtual d-pads can be a good, accurate control method.

Graphical Fidelity: Vampire's Fall: Origins looks great. All the sprites are modern, all the actions are fluid, all the combat is graceful looking, and the overworld and all the things in it look like what they're supposed to. And since they're different, all the combat sprites look great too. All the weapons and armor make your character look different while wearing, something not illustrated by the overworld sprites. 

Sound:Vampire's Fall: Origins takes full advantage of what a mobile device is capable of. The music is a epic as it can be for such a small speaker, enemies and your player character all have cries of pain when they're damaged, and they're all distinct for the type of character that's getting hit; a distinct male grunt, a distinct female grunt, distinct sounds from spirits, wolves, boars, and all the other types of enemies are all distinct and memorable.

Story: Since Vampire's Fall: Origins is an RPG, I'd not be doing my duty if I didn't mention the story. Without spoiling the story, you start out as a human defending a town, learning the ropes of combat and interacting with NPCs and doing quests, only for the big bad of the story to defeat you and curse you to be a vampire. From there, your quest is to track him down across the world in your quest to destroy him. Once you find him, you have access to two possible endings, and from there, a full expansion full of quests with map as large as the main game. There is a lot going on here, and lot of twists and turns to get through.

Ads: Vampire's Fall: Origins is very good about its ad policy.  Not a single mandatory ad in sight. You can get bonuses at the end of some battles for xp gain, gold or on rare occasions, loot boxes of gear, and like the better free mobile games, you can buy an upgrade that lets you get rid of ads, and also grants permanent upgrades to your account, including a special badge in the game's chat and a vampire's lair which grants extra storage slots.  You can also buy shards for cosmetic upgrades, helmets that ad to your stats and wings that add special abilities. All of these purchases are optional and none of those items are required to beat the game.

Fun Factor: I've enjoyed every minute of Vampire's Fall: Origins, even the mandatory grinding.  Battles are fun, the story is serious when it has to be and silly when it can be, and the opportunity to pit your character against other players is not to be missed out on.

Final Analysis: Vampire's Fall: Origins is a fun ride if you're into RPGs. The grinding can get annoying, but not insurmountable. It's a wonderful experience from character creation to the final boss of the expansion. If you're an RPG fan who likes dark fantasy, you don't want to miss out on Vampire's Fall: Origins.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Mobile Game Reviews: Super Spider Hero City Adventure

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Today's game is something I found via an ad; Super Spider Hero City Adventure. Published by Onesoft Global PTE, Super Spider Hero had you play as Not-Spider-Man as you use a web to swing across Not-New York, dodging light posts and robots as you try to stop Not-Mysterio.  And I say things the way I did because, even though the assets fall under Fair Use, the names of the characters do not.

Control: Super Spider Hero's controls are simple and tight. You tap to leap off the starting stage, hold to shoot and swing on the web, and let go to release the web.  And the controls are so tight that you can actually build some pretty good momentum in your swings; any mistake is your fault.

Graphical Fidelity: Super Spider Hero is a modern game with chibi, or character's who are small bodied but with big heads, design.  Everything is crisp and clear, and all the text is large and easy to read.  All the colors are bright, but not so much to hurt the eyes.  And as you go on, you can unlock different skins, including Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen/Ghost Spider, as she's called now. I'm trying my best to get the Ghost Spider skin, but I've got a long way to go.

Sound:Super Spider Hero is simple in terms of sound design.  A sound for the web shot, a sound for impacts, a small explosion sound if you're hit by an exploding enemy, and a little jingle at the end when you win.

Ads: As Bricks Breaker Quest, ads are unavoidable, and are of the "pop ad" type after a few failures. However, I noticed something new recently; if you fail pretty close to the end, you're given ten seconds to tap for a viewable ad to continue on your mission.

Fun Factor: Super Spider Hero is an easy to play, difficult to master game.  The web swinging has significant momentum, and you can actually skip some of the dots you can shoot your web at if you're going fast and high enough.  The only frustrating thing is that enemy placement is random; they're always in the same place horizontally on the map, but sometimes, they can be placed in unfair places vertically, making dodging them difficult. However, it's random every time, so it's not that frustrating.

Final Analysis: Super Spider Hero City Adventure is a great game to play when you've got a few minutes to kill. Stages are quick, respawns are quicker, and the only thing that slows down the action are semi-frequent ads. Download it and you won't regret it.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Mobile Game Reviews: Bricks Breaker Quest

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Today's game is something I actively looked for, Bricks Breaker Quest. Bricks Breaker Quest is one of many Brick Breaker games on the Google Play and iphone app stores, and its premise is simple; maneuver a ball from the bottom of the screen and use it to break the bricks above it. It requires a minimum knowledge of angles in order to get the highest possible scores, and if you manage to reach the thresh hold, you get the coveted three stars at the end of the game.

Control: Bricks Breaker Quest thrives on a mobile device; the angles are both strict and generous, creating a challenging, yet very playable, experience.  All you need to to is move you thumb around the screen, watching the white line that determines where your ball will go, and hope it does what you want it. And when it doesn't, it's no one's fault but your own.

Graphical Fidelity: Bricks Breaker Quest is a very simplistic game.  While modern looking, the graphics are simple, and that's exactly what's needed for this type of game.  All you have is a ball, a line to determine the angle you're going to send your ball, and all the bricks to break.

Sound: Like the graphics, Bricks Breaker Quest is simple in its sound design.  You hear an audible pop when the bricks break, and audible tone when you win or lose. There's no music, but it doesn't need it.

Ads: Ads are unavoidable, but unlike a lot of mobile games, Bricks Breaker Quest only displays them at the top and bottom of the screen; in my experience, there are NO pop up video ads. You CAN buy different shapes of balls to play with, but since you earn diamonds by winning, it's not necessary.

Fun Factor: Bricks Breaker Quest is a game that's fun if you're willing to put in the work for it.  Seeing that perfect combo getting you to a three star victory, or getting the highest possible score in the 100 ball and classic mode is so satisfying, and defeat in the regular mode is as devastating as it needs to be.

Final Analysis:  Bricks Breaker Quest by Mobirix is a modern take on a classic Blackberry app, and I love it.  There are hundreds of puzzles to go through, and all are appropriately challenging. Definitely a must play.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Star Wars the Old Republic: Gaming on the low end

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

So I've been thinking about some of the technical problems I have with Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I've come to the conclusion that almost all caused by the age of my computer, a few bugs in the game notwithstanding.  This computer that I'm typing this article out on was bought in 2007, and it's still really good at everything but SWTOR and a few other games made after 2015, and I thought it's time to talk about some of the issues I have, and some workarounds.

1. Performance- If I try to run this game on any real graphical settings, the game chugs. Pop in, being frozen in place, frame drops, all that. And that's why I'm forced to play on the lowest settings, in windowed mode.  At least, that's what Customer Support has told me.  And for the most part, playing on lowest functions properly, but I still get the frame drops, pop in and being frozen in place sometimes.

2. Audio Glitches- During cutscenes with explosions, the voice and music slow down and distort. This is most glaring during KOTFE Chapter 16, when Senya goes to save Arcann and talks to Vaylin from across the room. This happens no matter what device I've got it coming from, so I think it's a conflict between the game and my aging sound card.

3. Issues with cutscenes- This game is cutscene heavy, and under certain circumstances, they seize up entirely.  Some of them get pushed along if you wait; the portion where Valkorian knocks you down the stairs during his final set of cutscenes does push forward if you wait. But there are quite a few cutscenes that refuse to do so.  The most glaring are as follows;
  • Shara Jen. Just her. All of the cutscenes that happen when she call the Agent ship freeze up entirely for me, and refuse to advance. 
  • Warrior opening of Chapter 3 of their class story.  The first time the Emperor's Hand calls the ship, the cutscene freezes and refuses to advance.
  • If Koth is dead in KOTET Chapter 4. The scene where you're supposed to talk to Vette to advance the story after a large battle with Iokath droids siezes up and refuses to advance.
  • Theron Shan Romance while siding with the Empire on Iokath.  The scene where Jace Malcom dies and Theron cradles his father siezes up and refuses to advance.
It's for these reasons why I advice the next entry in this article.

4. Get used to how to do tickets- The only way to get past those frozen cutscenes is to contact CS. And here are all the mandatory stuff you need to tell CS before you can actually tell them your problem.
  • Your current server
  • Your current character
  • The location it's happening
  • The player affected (you in this case)
 From here, you need to tell them, in great detail, what happened and what trouble shooting methods you performed in order to fix the problem, which, depending on whom is answering you, may get ignored entirely. The trouble shooting methods are as follows;
  1. Make sure you don't have any crew skill missions going on at that moment, since some CS reps will refuse to accept them on your behalf.
  2. Ensure you are playing on lowest settings and in windowed mode
  3. Reset the mission
  4. Relog into the character
  5. Relog into your account
  6. Ensure your video card is up to date (this is where the conflict lies, and if your machine is as old as mine, your most recent update is 4 years old)
  7. Flush your game's cache (you can find guides online for that)
  8.  Completely reinstall the game(Or just say you did, since that's supposed to remove any previous conflicts)
And I must stress, MAKE SURE YOU WROTE DOWN ALL OF WHAT I JUST SAID IN THE TICKET. You don't want to miss anything in the event that you get a good CS rep the first time.

At this point, you stress you don't care about what storyline bits you miss by them pushing the cutscene forward, more than once at this point, and then tell them what's happening.  And then, you hope that you get someone useful who actually does as you ask, and doesn't close the ticket unresolved.

And I want to take a moment to rant here about that; closing tickets unresolved.  You see, when I worked CS while on Active Duty, I was told you NEVER close the tickets until the customer is satisfied with the solution.  But apparently, SWTOR tickets are set so CS HAS to close tickets in order to talk to you in said ticket, resolved or not. And I'd say 70% of the time, CS Reps will just tell you to do what you already listed that you've done and do nothing to solve the problem.  You have to open a second ticket, referencing the first one, to get them to resolve the cutscene issue.  I once had to open 3 tickets on the same issue before that CS rep FINALLY did as I asked and pushed that forward. I complained on twitter about that, and it took EA saying "Yeah, this is unacceptable" before anything got resolved.  EA. One of the worst companies to work for was the one who agreed that SWTOR CS wasn't doing their job. Think about that for a moment.

Now, do I believe SWTOR is not worth playing with all these things I've just said? Absolutely not. I'm still a subscriber, and I still love the stories.  But if you don't have the money for a more up to date machine, you're going to be dealing with a lot of the same issues.  And there are some easy workarounds; Don't Kill Koth (though you can still go Dark Side in KOTFE Chapter 10), don't romance Theron if you intend to side with the Empire on Iokath.  But sad to say, the Agent story is unplayable for me, since Shara Jen calls the ship after every mission for most of the game.  I'm honestly willing to fight through the Warrior one, though, since I actually like the Warrior story too much to not do, but the Agent, which has been getting on my nerves ever since I started experiencing symptoms of my now diagnosed, and treated, mental illness, I can't even force my way through it anymore thanks to these issues.

In short, these are the important things to know if you're playing with a computer as old as mine. Be prepared for them, know the workarounds, and stay beatiful freaks!