March Mammal Madness

Publishing news will be late (probably Monday) due to a preponderance of things to do. In the meantime, here's something interesting: March Mammal Madness.

If you're like me and pretty meh about sports, but love science, this is a bracket you'll be all for. I'm just sad I only found it after the official tournament ended. And here's hoping I remember it for next year in time to catch it live.

Dragon Hoards

It almost looks like an impressive pile... until you realize
that's the window sill and get a sense of scale.

It probably comes as no surprise, if you've been following my blog for a while, that I enjoy shiny things like gemstones. If I were a dragon, my cave would be filled with jewels, art, tea, and books. Oh, and obviously, friends to help enjoy all of these things.

As it is, my apartment is full of books, tea, art prints, and a couple of handfuls of flawed crystals that glitter in the sun. Hey, citrine, amethyst, and smoky quartz are all both pretty and affordable!

What would be in your hoard, if you were a dragon with a large cave and could hoard anything?

Pi and Pie

How many of you celebrated pi day last week, on March 14? It's the math holiday that's delicious, and if you're like me, you're just waiting for the Supernatural episode where Dean pulls out his geek and demands he and Sam celebrate pi day the traditional way, with as much pie as possible.

Also, whoops, I was perhaps still distracted by thinking about how to up my strawberry-banana crisp recipe to remember Friday's post! Sorry! (I'm thinking I'll do half the filling sugar as brown sugar and add a touch of cornstarch, in case you're wondering.) And take two of the spinach-gruyere quiche turned out just as delicious, even though we forgot shallots and added broccoli, and used frozen spinach instead of fresh (sauted with habanero salt and pepper), and obviously used a store-bought crust (because who's got time for making it yourself?). But yeah, not writing blog posts, that's what I was forgetting. Oops.

Any round dessert will do, really.

What's your favorite pie? (Including "pie" for things that aren't technically pie, but close enough for Pi Day purposes.) Do you celebrate any other math or science holidays, like Mole Day?

And if you missed Pi Day, don't worry. You can always celebrate Pi + 1, on April 14. After all, there's no rule that says you surrender your love of pie just because it's not on a mathematically approved dessert day. Plus there's always Pythagorean Day, coming up in August this year... How about a little triangular cake for that one?

Breath of the Wild, again

Zelda evaluation, after a weekend: Still wow.

Official website here

Once you get out of the starter area, it's really open world. There's a suggested "where to go," but I ran around and completed the quest in another part of the world instead. Since you scrounge for your weapons, you aren't limited by having to get special quest items before taking on each major area. Though the first few battles fought with boko clubs are pretty rough... Well, let's just say goofing off and exploring are good ways to get skilled at dodging and shield using.

Which is indeed the good side of the weapons setup. It has indeed grown on me, because it wouldn't be possible to do this game so very open-world style if you had the traditional "complete quest, gain next item, which is the only way to advance to the next region" weapon-obtainment style. This way you can upgrade your items to suit your area. I mean, sometimes you'll inconveniently run out of weapons, or find yourself facing off with a creature too strong to defeat with your current clubs and swords and axes and bows, but you can always run away from those.

The limited weapons cache is the biggest hurdle to this method of play. Luckily, there is a way to increase it... if you can find him. Look for Hestu, is what I'm saying. And don't bother with increasing shield space. Of all the things I go through, shields last the longest and are easiest to replace. I do pretty well on bows, too; it's not a bad idea to increase that, but my experience says the best choice is melee weapon space.

Also, horses. You can ride horses. Not just an assigned Epona, but any horse you can catch! And tame. That's also important. Yup, I got bucked off a few times. Word of warning, if you leave your horse behind, it does not have super hearing, so if you're too far away when you call for it, it will not come. This means my Link has done quite a bit of running, because I keep flying away... Oops! Save some of those apples, because you can feed them to your ride as an apology for abandoning it to the wolves.

The dungeons and mini-dungeons (shrines) in this game are less combat-focused than other versions of Zelda I've played. They're almost exclusively puzzles, or with a single combat thrown in, and so far even the major dungeon had just the one boss fight. The puzzles are cute, and I'm enjoying them greatly; I think this is my favorite take on dungeons yet.

On the whole, the more I play, the more I love the game. I die a lot (a LOT), but the auto-save is good, so I don't get set back far. This is shaping up to be one of the best of the series. Can't wait to see where it goes next!

First thoughts of Breath of the Wild

If you're a Zelda fan, it's no surprise to you that Breath of the Wild is pretty.

My husband was not willing to forgo this toy. I have
no complaints.

My husband and I set up two TVs side by side, so we've been able to compare the Wii U version with the Switch version. There is a noticeable difference. The Switch version is better textured, and the graphics just a bit cleaner and sharper, so if you're looking for pretty, go for that one.

That said, if you have a Wii U and don't feel like going in for a Switch, and your spouse is willing to forgo the pretty, bad-tasting toy, it's the same game, and the controls are similar enough that you won't miss out. So far the graphics are the only difference.

It's pretty open world in the beginning, more so than a lot of the other games in the series. Yes, there's a person pointing which way you should go, and there are defined limits to where you can go, but these limits are much broader than most of the series. And nobody's forcing you to get on with the plot. You want to go run around the forest cooking? Go for it!

That said, if you don't at least start the plot, disembodied voices do try to usher in that direction. Once you've gotten the first plot point down, you're free to explore. Your first four mini-dungeons are basically your freebies to learning the world. (I can't tell you what happens after that, since I've only finished three...)

Also, hunting. You get to hunt down your own pigs and birds and turn them into steaks and drumsticks. And then cook with them. Link's cooking song is adorable. And since you won't find hearts lying around, you really should cook, because that's the only way to heal (so far).

You can also climb, and climb anything, which is honestly a bit freaky when Link starts scaling ice... You don't need vines or anything that looks like a "climb here" format. You're in control of your jumping with a button instead of an auto jump, which is bit different from the other games in the series, because really, no auto jump at all.

Equipping is an interesting affair because you have a lot of options (nothing beats killing an enemy with its own weapon, or better yet, the wriggling arm of a skeleton). But I'm not fond of the weapons breaking, which can be inconvenient in battle. I think I prefer having a little less choice in the weapons department, to be honest, and not having to deal with weapon after weapon flying into shards mid-battle. Still, it is fun and an interesting style of play, so once I'm used to it, I may warm up to it.

On the whole, after 5 hours, it's beautiful, it's fun, and I'm going to go back to playing until I can't keep my eyes open any more.

Which, honestly, won't be much longer... G'night, folks!

Late post

Today's post will be coming later tonight, and will probably be ravings about the new Zelda game. Breath of the Wild, eagerly awaited...

FFXV

I've been behind in posts between busy weekends and, let's be honest, getting distracted by Final Fantasy XV. Nobody saw that coming, right guys? Right?

As is my usual, I'm dashing around doing the side quests, reaching level 40-something by chapter 4 and finally moving on only when all the reasonable, reachable sidequests have been finished. (Do the frog-lady and photographer-guy quests. Best money and XP.)

Picture from FFXV Wiki.

It's a Final Fantasy, so needless to say the graphics are pretty. This one has a real road-trip vibe going on... which, as it basically starts out as a road-trip bachelor party for a prince with his bodyguards, makes sense. You've got a lot of open-world to explore, and if you want to put Ignis to work cooking, you can run around collecting ingredients in a completely extraneous recipe-gathering sidequest that confers stat bonuses when you have him cook.

Also, I've noticed that someone who worked on this project is a huge Star Wars fan. Really. You'll know it when you see it.

The main weakness of the game is travel-time (loading takes a while, and you can't always fast travel where you want to go, so you'll have to drive there... which can take several minutes of low-interaction scenery-passing). It's a bit frustrating. But at least the scenery is pretty and there's lots to explore, so it could be worse. And sometimes there's a character-interaction moment that interrupts the monotony so you can do something. Consider keeping a book or a phone at hand for those long travel sessions, though.

I have noticed that chapters 4-8 go by very quickly. I can't really say how big an issue this is, as I've avoided spoilers and have no idea how long the game goes, but you can spend forever up to chapter five, and then bam, you've advanced the plot quite a bit very fast. It still feels like there's a lot left to the game, though, so I'm not too worried about a few quick chapters.

Being as it's a bachelor party, there is some attempt at romance build up between the hero and his would-be bride, but as of chapter 8 she's not really been an interactive character in the game, so it's pretty cursory. Again, holding judgement until I see how that turns out. Though am I the only one who sees a slight visual similarity to Yuna? She does at least seem interesting.

As far as other women go in the game, don't get me started on Cindy the half-dressed mechanic who wiggles when she talks. And the half-hearted Iris crush is about as road-worthy as a broken-down car in need of a repair kit (stock up on those, btw; you get a nice return on investment when you save a stranded motorist). Basically the only interesting female sidequest character so far is Sania the botanist. There are a few tertiary NPCs who run shops and diners and walk around cities, but they don't really do much. The only female villain so far has the standard female armor problems, which is to say it visually would not function to protect her in battle. So on the whole, I'm... not impressed about that aspect of the game.

High note: I think my favorite part of the game thus far has been Prompto. Prompto may be my new mascot, guys. Him and chocobos. Yes, there is a bunch of chocobo riding in this game, and it never gets old to run around on a bird, especially when your bird riding skills level up enough that it occasionally buffs you in battle. Go chocobo! Prompto is silly, sweet, and seems to have some hidden depths to him as a character. He's the comic relief of the group, and if he keeps dying in battle (seriously, stay out of melee range, Prompto! You have a freaking gun!), he's amusing enough that I still like him.

I do really like the warping aspect of battle, which gives some cool visuals and adds an interesting dimension to the combat. Since Prompto catches in-battle photos, this makes for some fun 'pictures' to go through later. It's not a complex fighting system, but the variety of weapons is enjoyable, and making magic is cool and also makes getting mobbed by a lot of Imperial soldiers much less irritating (Blizzara to their faces=quick XP and less time spent in battle). Of course there's a lot of combat, but I think the amount is about normal for a Final Fantasy, and you can avoid it if you really want to in most situations.

On the whole I'm finding it a very cute game and enjoying the side-questing a lot. As far as main plots go, I'm ranking it about par with XII so far. We'll see how that develops over time. In any case, I've been enjoying it, enough to distract me from blogging.

Anyone else playing? What are your thoughts on the game?

End of November

Most caught since above level 20.
The only one over 1000
was hatched. The rest were wild.

So... how's your Pokemon hunting going?  Mine's slowing down as throwing is getting harder with numb fingers, but it's still a way to convince myself to get outside when I'm tempted to be lazy and not get fresh air and exercise.

But for everyone who isn't playing, or who isn't still playing, or who's playing but done talking about it, it's almost the end of November and the cold is settling in. NaNoWriMo-ers keep it up and go write something! You're almost there!

How are you preparing for the end of warm weather? And what kinds of things are you NaNoWriMo writers doing to prepare for the end of your story? Have you already gotten it plotted out, or are you anticipating discovering the story and learning how it really ends?

Goofy Pathfinder

My husband and I discovered HarmonQuest this week.

We're both roleplayers, him with mostly Pathfinder, and me with a wide mix of d20 systems. So we were highly amused at the show, which includes live-action animation of what the players' characters are doing.

Of course, our games usually wind up taking much longer, and we spend much longer in combat--some points of the game seem to have been abbreviated for viewing ease for the show.

A piece of me would love to see an animated version of some of my games in the past. Another piece of me is thinking of the games and the plot devices like they guy who found the cursed intelligent armor that turns into a towel when it's mad, or the baby evil dragon we found and decided to try to raise into being good but then abandoned by virtue of accidental time travel, or the undead puppies, or the escapade in the elven spa, or the... ya know, let's not go there.

All I'm saying is, some things are best left to the imagination, which can be blocked and distracted when need be.

Would you like your quests to be animated? Do they go anything like the show's, or do you somehow manage to keep your adventures serious and non-goofy (you weirdos, you)?

Your first spooky?

Happy Halloween!

The first spooky books I read were R.L. Stein's Goosebumps series. I'm betting this is true for a lot of you! Not really being into horror at a young age, besides the occasional collection of short ghost stories, my only other major spooky reads were the Star Wars expanded universe Galaxy of Horror books.

I did also watch Ghost Writer, the TV show with a haunted typewriter. I think that's the first horror show I really got into.

Until I saw the Sixth Sense, I pretty much stayed away from horror movies. I wasn't (and am still not) a fan of the hack-slash style of movie, which were the only horror movies I'd seen before, and that was my first psychological horror movie.

What were your first spooky favorites?

Coffee, Tea, or Klah

"I am bearable only with tea."--Morning

You've probably guessed I'm a fan of tea by now. Morning has a hard time happening without it.

Lots of people swear by coffee, too (those brave souls). The intent of waking up via caffeine is a cultural icon, and although I know people who drink neither, and some who drink one or both but neither in the morning, what we think of when we hear coffee or tea is "morning palliative."

Of course the tea plant and the coffee bean aren't plausible in every fantasy world. Different fantasy worlds have substitutes, such as the klah in Pern. And tisanes are a staple of many worlds, with hot mint tea or other herbal teas being staples (and also often as medicines). Of course the tea plant seems to be more widely spread across the fantasy universes.

What are your favorite fantasy substitutes for tea or coffee? Have you ever tried a recipe meant to replicate the taste?

Consequences in RPGs

Consequences... I remember one game of Dungeons and Dragons where we accidentally nearly destroyed the world, and the only reason we didn't was because the rogue carrying the loot from previous sessions had connected the dots that we were being manipulated by the bad guy, and so abandoned us and ran off to enjoy a nice vacation on the beach instead of joining us for the final boss fight. Meanwhile, we, assuming her super-rogue skills were active and thus that was why we couldn't see her with us, had no idea she wasn't there... Until the boss tried to summon the magic stones to allow him access to the world-destroying magic.

You know, much like how Link brings the Sacred Stones and accidentally allows Ganondorf into the Temple of Time. Except that in this scenario, the rogue looted the party and ran away, and for once it was a good thing, because Ganon didn't get his Triforce.

I'm really enjoying the new King's Quest series because the consequences of the previous chapters are holding up in the current ones. Yes, okay, the wives are basically interchangeable, but there are a few differences between them, and you're reminded in each chapter of some of the choices you made previously. Mr. Fancycakes will never forgive us for leaving him to die, you know.

There are a lot of RPG video games where you're so railroaded that your actions never make a long-term difference. Or the choices are things like "I can't equip this weapon because I never got it." Games where you don't see the effects of the changes you make at all. So it's always a delight to make a lasting change for me. Even if it's a minor one.

To me, the best dungeon masters are the ones who are able to bring in your characters' decisions and make them relevant later in the game. But of course that's tough to do, and easier in a time-consuming self-designed campaign than a pre-designed one.

Have you ever made your characters' decisions matter in a pre-made d20 game? How did you do it, and how did it affect the game?

Exploration

Bays, harbors, the seven seas, the open ocean: waterways connect and yet also separate the world.

I remember playing Cid Meier's Civilization games, many years ago, and having a love-hate relationship with oceans. On one hand, water-touching areas meant ports, which meant better access to exploring the the world. On the other hand, early-game play meant that oceans were barriers, limits.

This was a consistent pattern in games, actually: Final Fantasy VII, before you could cross water, it was a frustrating (if necessary) blockcade that eventually turned into open-world exploration later in the game; Chrono Cross, starting on a large island, with islands all around that you just couldn't explore (yet); even Legend of Zelda, Wind Waker, where the game is all about open-world sea exploration begins with being unable to leave your starter island.

Of course there's a reason for having a starter area. It's where you learn the rules, the functions, the basics. Your starter area teaches you what you need to survive in the greater universe and helps you level up enough that you won't immediately die the second you step out of your home base.

The new face of interstellar travel?

And the next few areas help you level up further, until you finally achieve your go-anywhere pass.

It's not far off from planetary exploration, either. Just substitute water for space and you have Kingdom Hearts. Or... Earth today. Makes you wonder, is humanity closing in on another Age of Exploration?

And if we're leveling up for open-universe exploration, what'll we find next? Guess we have to craft a few cross-universe ships before we can find out. Or whatever we use.

Hey, maybe we'll Stranger Things it instead of space travel, and discover the reason we've spent so long leveling is that there are some, uh, stranger things our descendants are about to encounter in other dimensions.

Formula for Success?

Building off things that already exist, and that people already do or want to do--is that a formula for success?

Jennette's Pier in Nags Head, NC, has 4 Pokestops and
is also a great place to watch the sunset.

Pokemon Go builds off going out and walking around, going to popular places, even going to restaurants and places people like to hang out. All things people do already. Most of the gamers I know, in fact, also enjoy things like hiking and eating good food and hanging out with friends in nice areas.

Some of the largest collections of Pokestops I've seen (admittedly I've only been playing a couple of weeks) have been in places like malls and parks and designated loitering areas. There's even a Yelp feature to find restaurants near Pokestops. So it's no effort at all to play the game, since these are things we're already doing anyway. It just adds an extra motivation to keep going on that last, tired mile. Or something else to talk about as you play boardgames on a warm summer night outside the coffee shop.

It makes me wonder if that's part of what has made the game so successful. It builds off nostalgia, yes, but it also incorporates an excuse to do things people already want to do.

Of course the game wasn't the first one to do that. Ingress was hugely popular for the same reasons, and yet it wasn't anywhere near as well known. So nostalgia and possibly other things, like levels of interactivity and the amount of dedication needed, may play a part of it.

Do you see more phone games following this path? What do you think is the main component of Pokemon Go's success?

Reading now: Lisa Shearin's new book

You might remember that I'm a fan of the Lisa Shearin books. Turns out the most recent Raine Benares book just came out.

At B&N here.

Also, no post today, because someone spent all of yesterday afternoon reading a book.

It was good. I enjoyed it. I really like where the story is going... can't wait to find out what's in store next for the characters. It's setting up for another multi-book story arc, so I'm happy!

Although now I need another book signing to complete my collection.

+

Favorite geek toys?

ThinkGeet, woot.com, thisiswhyimbroke.com, they all have geek toys that every good little geek drools over a bit and then usually wanders away from while protecting her or his wallet... usually...

Extermi-melt!
(ice dalek in cherry juice)

But sometimes you see something you just have to have.

That Death Star tea ball, the d20 earrings, the life-size BB-8 lamp, a fishtank with a TARDIS, a brown coat, a dwarven axe cheese knife: all those lovely little goodies that you just can't help but want, and sometimes wind up buying despite your best reasoning.

What's your favorite geek purchase? And what's your favorite place to buy your geeky goods?

Barbarian tea
(sword tea strainer)

Flea market treasures

I hit the flea market this weekend to pick up some beads at the bead vendor, and came home with nice set of teacups.

When I find some hidden treasure, be it at the flea market or local thrift shop, I can't help but feeling like some archaeologist-action hero, like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft, who just found an amazing treasure. Sure, it's just a set of teacups. And yeah, they're probably worth exactly what I paid for them--they've, uh, been loved to the trim-rubbing-off point. But they're pretty, so I feel happy.

What's the best hidden treasure you've picked up at the flea market or at a thrift store?

Semi-Super-Powers of Fiction

Go away monsters; I'm sleeping.

Has anyone else ever envied how easy it is for characters to get up in the mornings? Whether it's books or movies or TV shows, the main characters always seem able to pull themselves together, ready to leap out of bed to adventure at any second. And let's not talk about video game characters, for whom sleep is required only when HP is low... I'm not sure they even really know what sleep is.

Then again, if a character is shown waking up in fiction, they're probably being woken up in a situation that requires adrenaline. So maybe "hopping to go" isn't such an exaggeration, as they might get eaten if they don't.

Still, characters in fiction seem to have a number of semi-super-powers as a matter of fact. What semi-super-power do you most envy from fiction?

Speculations--Tech in the new year?

Pictured: Once cutting-edge technology.

We live in a world where communication is instant, and everpresent, so much so that when we lose our primary contact with the world, we still have backups in the form of computers, TV, and even friends' and strangers' phones (ever forgot your phone and asked the world at large if anyone could look something up for you? Never been disappointed yet).

So what's next? Here at the beginning of a new year, it's a great time to speculate on what the future will bring. What new technology do you think is just around the corner to make our world even more strange and convenient?

Implants that couldn't be lost seem like an easy next step, but I'm not sure most people will want them. So maybe smart watches will expand to become smart jewelry in general, or shirts will come pre-wired for easier connection. We like screens; I don't see those going away any time soon, so ways to make screens of things that aren't should be pretty close. So how about bringing out flexible phones, or screen extenders?

Google Glasses didn't catch on, perhaps because the world has too few guards against misuse for most people to be comfortable with them yet. But what about ways to integrate your phone into three-dimensional games, turning your Candy Crush fix into a 3D Indiana-Jones adventure? Just attach an Oculus-Rift pair of goggles (steampunk-style, anyone?), the more obvious the better, and start playing.

What do you see right around the corner? And what technology do you thing won't happen as soon as people predict, because we're just not read for it yet?

Communication in fantasy and sci fi

No matter what world you're in, your characters have to communicate. How do they do it?

Games have everything from Star-Trek style communicators to radios to standard cell phones. One of my favorite fantasy series, the Chronicles of Elantra, has magic mirrors--in fact, mirror scrying in different forms is a pretty common fantasy substitute for cell phones, or at least phones. Scrying's pretty common, too. Role playing games live on the principle of never separating the party, but even if you do, there are message spells to communicate back and forth. Or you could always send an owl.

Low-tech worlds, meanwhile, rely on older forms of communication, such as sending runners. That can make an interesting plot point, because the messages don't always get there in time. But instant communication is something many readers in this day and age have come to expect, and it shows in modern stories.

What are your favorite methods of fantasy communication? Of the books you've read that are recently published, are there any that don't have instant communication? And there any fantasy worlds that make especially good use of the lack of communication?

(Hello, it's Monday! Er, wait, what happened to Friday? Oops... Here's some photos for public domain as apology...)