Life Is Strange Episode 1: Review

UPDATE (21:35 January, 30th)

The devs at DONTNOD Entertainment just pushed a patch out that addresses some of the graphics bugs (and the weird mouse lag issues in the menus). They are also working on some of the other bugs, but props to them for providing a patch so fast after launch. :: Patch update 30th January 2015 by Square_Jason

H1Z1 Air Drops Onto Survival MMO Gamers' Dreams

UPDATE (January 19, 2015)
I would like to apologize. In review of what I have written, this was a hastily put together reaction piece that is lacking in information, both about the H1Z1 air drop situation and my own personal opinions. Before I sat down to write, I had already written three extensive comments on Reddit in response to the situation. A lot of information on my opinion, especially about whether or not the air drops can be considered "pay to win", was contained in those comments. When it was time to write this article, I had already written the heck out of the topic and was exasperated by the negative responses. I feel that resulted in a substandard article lacking in content and context. For a more thorough description of the H1Z1 controversy, I recommend Totalbiscuit's Content Patch #189. If you would like to read my initial comments on the H1Z1 situation, here is my lowest rated Reddit comment ever defending SOE's air drop idea and attempting to establish a difference between it and pay to win, and here is attempt #2, and attempt #3. You may notice a difference in the stance I took on air drops from the article below. There are a couple of ways to view the problem, but my main concern on Reddit was trying to battle the idea that a randomly placed supply crate is pay to win, because allowing that idea to win could set a dangerous precedent for games when it comes to experimenting with their marketplace. It seemed like the majority in vocal opposition to the air drops had this idea that an in game marketplace should only ever sell cosmetic items. Imagine World of Warcraft decided to add a world raid boss or event to the Blizzard store. Pay $40 and a server wide message exclaims "[insertPlayerName] knows not what he has done! An Old God rises from the depths below." The Old God is a challenging fight, on par with the most difficult raids that currently exist, and the end loot is amazing. Does it fit the old model of purchasing items and weaponry? Essentially, it's like the air drop in H1Z1. In H1Z1, a server message is sent out, the drop falls, and then zombies spawn around the drop. The main problem, and difference, is that World of Warcraft is an old, finished, stable(ish) game and H1Z1 is a game in its infancy. The drops don't offer a challenge because they aren't finished testing them. Unfortunately, because they opted for the Early Access program instead of using alpha and beta testers, and they accepted in game purchases, they had this coming. They should have waited a bit before dropping this bombshell on their fans. The original article is below, but, again, I'm sorry that it isn't up to my standards. Please watch the video by Totalbiscuit, linked above, for a better explanation of the H1Z1 events.


As someone who occassionally gets into beta tests and alphas to scout ahead of the pack, I noticed that those opportunities started drying up when people started literally paying to test a game, Early Access. There are a million reasons why that is silly for the consumer to do, but it's also silly for the company to do, and here H1Z1 is a perfect example.

The air drop thing is a big issue to consumers, bigger than it should be. To the developers, this was their alpha testing phase. Things aren't going to work right, fine. The whole purpose is to work out the kinks before release. In most Early Access games where there are kinks (see DayZ for the past, what, 5 years?) people have come to accept it, so why not this time?

Early Access + In Game Marketplace = Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???

There are a lot of people mad about the devs going back on their word about paid for weapon drops and how it ruins the survival part of their survival MMO. This isn't the first time that an Early Access game has had a game breaking bug, and it isn't the first one to employ a marketplace, but it is the first majorly anticipated game to accept $20-$40 USD to purchase an untested feature. A feature that goes against the genre of the game.

Survival MMO's are supposed to create a near impossible scenario for the player to overcome. If there was a zombie apocalypse, how screwed or prepared would you be? The type of people that like to answer that question are the type of people that would like to play a good wholesome survival MMO. And PVPers. Broken mess that DayZ is, it wouldn't have been anything if it wasn't for the hilarious PVP videos made by popular streamers like Destiny of StarCraft II and Planetary Annihilation fame.

Air drops do not fit into this mold. Not as a paid for transaction. As a server event, if the drops happen regularly at specific drop points, like in a real disaster, it would fit the setting better. And if they didn't drop guns and ammunition, that would be great! Seriously, who puts together a care package that includes food, water, and whatever random gun they have lying around? I know it's the zombie apocalypse, but that's exactly why people shouldn't be handed guns. In every zombie apocalypse movie, someone gets a gun that shouldn't have had a gun, and they start murdering people (living people). A big point, and part of the tension in those stories, is managing the weapons and making sure they don't fall into the wrong hands. In response to the outcry, the devs have lowered the spawn rate of guns in the drops and down a few other patches to how they work. To that point, the devs have said that they are going to continue tweaking the current model of air drops with no significant change as to how they function, possibly until they drive away every last consumer and their game forever festers as another example of a failure of the Early Access system

Valve's Big Picture Requirements

Years of rumors about a Valve funded console have finally culminated in the release of Big Picture. Big Picture is a new interface for the Steam service that will allow the user to connect their PC to their TV. It only requires the installation of the normal Steam Client onto a fairly standard spec PC, and a connection to the TV through HDMI.

GRAPHICS CARD & CABLES

The CPU requirements are fairly minimal. Either a 3GHz single core processor, or a 2GHz dual core processor. Most machines newer than 5 years will probably have one of these. The price of cards with HDMI ports and the price of cables have gone down drastically. Pictured below is a $34.99 graphics card from Officemax that meets the recommended requirements for Big Picture. It doesn't say whether it comes with an HDMI cable, or just a DVI with VGA adapter, so there's a second link below that for surprisingly cheap HDMI cables. A two pack of 6ft cables for $14.98 through Sams Club.

EVGA e-GeForce 8400 GS PCI Express 2.0 512MB DDR3 512-P3-1300-LR (Google Affiliate Ad)

6FT Premium High-Speed HDMI Cable 2-Pack - TV Cables & Accessories (Google Affiliate Ad)

CONTROLLERS
Additionally, Big Picture adds increased functionality through a 360 gamepad or Logitech game pad. They've created a method typing with a combination of the analog stick and face buttons called the Daisywheel. It's rather fluid and easy to understand. Keeping that in mind, there's also a web browser included for taking use of the new controller style. The end goal is to allow people who have preference for a controller to not be forced to use a keyboard and vice versa. Everything in Big Picture can be done with a keyboard and mouse, as well.

If you need a controller, for most people I suggest a wireless 360 controller. They're fairly inexpensive, coming in at under $39 from Sams Club. If that's still too much, or you prefer a controller more like a Playstation's, there are a few Logitech pads that are cheaper, including the F310 listed third among the links. However, that pad is not wireless, so keep that in mind.

Microsoft Wireless Controller - Black -Xbox 360 - Xbox 360 Gear & (Google Affiliate Ad)
Microsoft Xbox 360 Special Edition White Wireless Controller - Xbox (Google Affiliate Ad)

If using a wired controller isn't an issue, and you care more about having the coolest controller in the room, but don't want to break the bank, go with the Razer Onza. At about the same price as the above wireless controllers, the Onza has a 15 foot cable, which should be more than long enough to reach your couch, plus extra customizable buttons, an ergonomic design, and it's from a very reliable brand.

Razer Onza Professional Gaming Controller - Xbox 360 - Xbox 360 (Google Affiliate Ad)

That is their lowest end controller that I could find, and they just get better form there.

ADDITIONAL PYLONS SHOPPING REQUIRED
You should be good to go, now. If you need more parts or want to shop around a bit, I'd suggest Newegg. They have pretty much everything, and it's fairly easy to use their search features to narrow down what you're looking for.

Good luck, and let me know how your Big Picture set up turns out.

Technical Support : Maintaining League of Legends

If you have been playing League of Legends for a while, you may have run into a few instances where the game fails to launch or loads slowly. The solutions to most of those problems can be found here, but today we're going to be discussing how to properly maintain your League of Legends installation to prevent these sorts of bugs from happening.

Proper Maintenance
League of Legends frequently updates, which can cause a lot of fragmentation and a fairly high chance for corrupted files. This is not bad programming or anything like that, it's just basically how Windows works. In fact, LoL uses some pre-existing Windows programs to help it run. The most important of which is Adobe AIR.

AIR is the platform for the LoL Launcher. Think of it as a sort of browser. Keeping it up to date with the latest version can help prevent many launcher related issues. There is a method to determine which version of Adobe AIR that is currently installed in your system ( found here ), but it's just as simple to go to the web site below and install the latest version.

Download Adobe AIR Installer

Other Software
Fragmentation. This has been the bane of Windows for a millennium (or almost 30 years). The way to combat this is through defragmentation utility programs. There is one that ships with Windows, but there are a lot better alternatives. Two of my favorites are:

Advanced System Care, or ASC for short, is made by IOBit, and is a suite of repair and maintenance programs for your entire computer. It can help fix more than just League of Legends, and is extremely easy to use. You can use the free version to scan your system once a week, or buy the pro version to allow it to run in the background and perform automated services for you as well as giving you access to a few more programs in its Toolbox to configure your internet for maximum speed.

Defraggler comes from Piriform, the developers of CCleaner. Defraggler is sleek and a bit faster than ASC. It also allows you to target a single folder for defrag by right clicking the folder and selecting the option in the drop down menu. On top of that, the free version won't hound you to upgrade it like ASC free sometimes will. The pro version comes with a year of tech support and automated updates, but if you're going to go that route, spring for the package deal with CCleaner Professional to get the most out of your purchase.

Game Booster is a subset of ASC. This is deceptively more advanced than the last two programs. It has five main functions:

• Boosting - What the program is most known for. Using this before starting a game can be a huge help to many people. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Everytime you boost, it shuts down background services and defragments your ram. When you end your boost, it restarts the services. This has a tendency to restart programs that you don't want to reopen, like iTunes. Extended use also appears to have a negative impact on the system, so don't use this feature unless you know how to customize your services.
• Defragging - When it first installs, it creates a catalogue of all of the games on your computer. This allows you to boost and launch a program with a click, but also to defrag specific installations, like Defraggler can.
• Tweaking - The functionality of this feature is similar to what the main ASC program offers as part of the scan. It checks system settings to make sure they're optimized, and checks virtual memory settings. Run this once, and again whenever Game Booster updates.
• Checking Drivers - Game Booster can check to make sure that all of your drivers are up to date, which is important, but this is another feature that needs to be handled with care. If you bought your computer from Dell, HP, etc. use their support site to download the latest drivers for your system instead. A lot of the time, those companies use proprietary drivers in their machines which may not be detected properly by Game Booster.
• Diagnose - This is extremely useful if you run into any major errors. This won't fix the problem, but it will create a detailed log of your system that you can copy and paste to tech forums. This will provide almost all of the information that tech support will need, regarding your system configuration. For League of Legends, there are separate log files that will also need to be uploaded when using the forums. Details about where to find those are here.

You can find Game Booster in the Toolbox tab of ASC, or download it separate for free.

Download Advanced System Care

Download Defraggler

Download Game Booster

Optional
At the top of the League of Legends Launcher is a button that looks like two gears. Click that and it should open a tiny window within your window with an option for Repair. Repair checks all of your League of Legend files against the most current files on the server. It will locate corrupt files that can cause a lot of the major issues. It's mainly used for taking care of issues without having to reinstall the entire program, but it doesn't hurt to run this once a month when you're heading to bed or work. Most often, it's not going to find any issues, but even that can help maintain your own piece of mind.

Syndra Preview Analysis

Syndra, the Dark Sovereign, is the next League of Legends champion to be released in the next patch, barring any additional testing that might be required before the due date. From the early build, it looks like Riot has her tech fully implemented, but is busy balancing the numbers to prevent another Zyra incident. For the current numbers (which will probably change by release) check here.

Her abilities are fairly interesting:

Q creates a sphere at a target location. The sphere appears at the location, dealing damage in an AoE, and remains in that position for a few seconds. Currently, it's possible to have 3 spheres out at a time from her Q.

W is a dual activation ability changing after the first time you press it. It allows Syndra to pick up a sphere or minion. The sphere or minion will be dragged slightly behind Syndra. Upon activating the ability a second time, she can throw the minion or sphere to a target location to deal damage and Slow in an AoE.

E deals damage in a cone and pushes enemies hit away a certain distance based upon how close they are to Syndra. It also launches any spheres, which will deal additional magic damage and stun enemies hit.

R generates three spheres and picks up any additional spheres in the area, then launches them at a target opponent for massive single target damage. Currently, the maximum damage of this ability is at Veigar levels of damage, but it does require a setting up 3 spheres and using R before the spheres disappear.

Her passive increases the power of all her other abilities when they reach their rank 5. Her Q has an increase in damage on champions, her W becomes an AoE Knock Up and Slow, her E conal area increases in size. Her R does not currently benefit from her passive.

Syndra has a play style similar to Orianna. Her ability to zone is her strong point in lane, and the amount of set up for her ultimate ensures that her most effective usage will be in poke comps. Poke comps revolve around laying siege to an opponent and whittling down their HP from out of range of the opponent's ability to retaliate. The amount of range she can achieve with her Q, and her Q and E combination, and the amount of set up required for her R to reach full potential, make her ideal for this strategy.

Check out the Yogscast interview with Paul Bellezza for more information about Syndra, Dominion, and, of course, Poppy.

Sources:
[Gamescom - Riot Games Interview - Syndra Preview]

[Syndra, the Dark Sovereign, Revealed at Gamescom]

Diablo 3 Patch 1.0.4 Notes - Simplified

     Patch 1.0.4 is live on the Americas realm. Below is a simplified look at the notes, boiling them down to buffs and nerfs for classes. The other areas, such as the Auction House and Battle.net have a few major changes and several minor changes. Consider this the highlights of the patch notes. You can read the full patch notes here.

Auction House

     Major Changes -

          The first thing you'll notice upon opening the new Auction House (referred to as the AH), is that the number of searchable item property fields has been doubled. The initial limit on the fields was a design choice towards the end of development to force players to focus on a few stats instead of trying to find items with 6 perfect stats. In practice, it just made it really hard for players to find items with 6 perfect stats. This is probably the biggest change to the AH that most people will find useful.

          The second major change is the ability to cancel auctions if there are no current bids on the item. This is extremely useful for most players that are trying to clear out their inventory quickly, but are having a tough time with the 10 item auction limit. Now, if they have an item that's been up for a day without bids, they can take it down and re-auction it at a better price. This also shouldn't impact bargain bid snipers, who wait till the last minute to get the best deals. Bidding on the item will lock it out from being canceled, so those bid wars will proceed as planned.

     Minor Changes -

           Several item properties that existed on items but were not searchable, such as Attack Speed on Quivers, are now searchable properties. Reduced Level Requirement items will show up properly in item level searches. Before, you would need to search for level 60 items with a minimum Reduced Level Requirement of 10 or what have you. The compare tooltip is working in several more areas, but there's still no stat comparison underneath. Finally, the listing price of unsold items will appear on the completed page, which should help out all those people that don't create Excel spreadsheets to operate the AH.

Battle.net

     Major Changes -

          None.

     Minor Changes -

          Mousing over a Quick Join game will display all the players in the game in a new window, as well as the amount of open slots. Reporting for Spam will now automatically decline the message. Before, you would have to manually decline the spammer after reporting them.

Bosses

     Maghda : A new interaction. Her insect projectiles can be slowed. They're already slow...

     Ghom : Nerfed. Gas cloud spawn time increased. Less damage to minions. Invulnerable bug fix.

     Cydaea : Minor bug fix.

     Azmodan : A new interaction. The slow moving fireball of death can now be affected by slows.

     Izual : Several bug fixes, especially with his charge ability. It was sometimes not damaging players, or damaging them twice.

     Rakanoth : Bug fix. Fully immune to CC during enrage.

     Diablo : Leaves players in the Shadow Realm, even if they defeat Shadow Diablo, because why wouldn't he/she/it? Just kidding. Only minor cosmetic bug fixes, and an exploit nerf on monks using seven sided strike to avoid Shadow Clone creation.

Classes

     Barbarian -

          Buffs : Damage buffs to

• Bash
• Ancient Spear
• Cleave
• Hammer of the Ancients
• Rend, Seismic Slam
• Weapon Throw
• Whirlwind

Leap can now be used while CC'd, but won't break the CC. For instance you can Leap while Jailed, but you're still Jailed where you land.

          Nerfs : Proc coefficient nerfs to

• Hammer of the Ancients
• Overpower (No longer procs on hit effects)

     Demon Hunter -

          Buffs : Damage buffs to

• Bola Shot
• Chakram
• Cluster Arrow
• Entangling Shot
• Evasive Fire
• Impale
• Rain of Vengeance
• Rapid Fire
• Sentry
• Smoke Screen (Choking Gas Rune)
• Strafe
• Vault (Trail of Cinders Rune)

Cost lowered on Multishot. Brooding healing no longer paused by taking damage.

          Nerfs : Proc coefficient nerfs to

• Caltrops (no longer triggers on hit effects)
• Chakram
• Grenades

     Monk -

          Buffs : Damage buffs to

• Exploding Palm
• Lashing Tail Kick
• Seven-Sided Strike
• Tempest Rush
• Wave of Light

Spirit generation increased on Crippling Wave, Way of the Hundred Fists, The Guardian's Path Two-Handed Weapon specialization and Exalted Soul now generates 1 Spirit per second. Cyclone Strike can now trigger on hit effects. Duration of Sweeping Wind Master of Wind Rune doubled to 20 seconds.

          Nerfs : Fixed the exploding palm exploit that allowed Monks to gain multiple rare drops by exploding all mobs in a Champion or Rare pack simultaneously. Mystic Ally can no longer trigger on hit effects.

     Witch Doctor -

          Buffs : Damage buffs to

• Acid Cloud
• Corpse Spiders (they now benefit from +Critical Damage)
• Firebats
• Firebombs
• Gargantuan
• Grasp of the Dead
• Spirit Barrage
• Spirit Walk (Umbral Shock and Severance Runes)
• Soul Harvest (Vengeful Spirit Rune)
• Wall of Zombies
• Zombie Charger (Leprous Zombie and Wave of Zombies Runes)

Circle of Life spawn chance increased to 30%. Grave Injustice health and mana gain doubled. Base Mana regeneration increased by 225% to 45 (ha, bet you got all excited about that big number). Spellcasting animations have been tightened. Spirit Vessel form can now walk through monsters and the heal has been increased(incoming exploits?) Tribal Rites affects Zombie Dogs, Gargantuan, and Mass Confusion. Pets should now be much more durable.

          Nerfs : Pet coeffecients drastically reduced (Gargantuan can no longer proc effects). Spirit Vessel duration reduced to 2 seconds.

          ??? : Rush of Essence now returns 49 Mana at Level 60, instead of 30% of the Spirit Spell's cost. Vision Quest redesigned to grant 30% Mana regen instead of 300%, but with a much more forgiving cost. I don't have a level 60 witch doctor to try these out on, so if anyone knows the answer to whether that's a buff or nerf, let me know.

     Wizard -

          Buffs : Damage buffs to

• Arcane Torrent
• Archon (Arcane Destruction Rune)
• Diamond Skin (Diamond Shards and Mirror Skin)
• Electrocute, Explosive Blast (Time Bomb Runes)
• Hydra (Arcane, Lightning, Frost, and Mammoth Runes)
• Ice Armor (Jagged Ice Rune), Meteor, Shock Pulse (Fire Bolts)
• Teleport (Calamity Rune)

They finally fixed the tooltip on Cold Blooded (which has always affected all damage, but the tooltip said only Cold damage was increased). Ice Armor has an increased chance to freeze targets.

         Nerfs : Proc Coefficient on Energy Twister cut in half. Melee Wizards take note.

Crafting

     Major Changes -

          You can craft new Legendaries compliant with the 1.04 changes!

     Minor Changes - 

          Blacksmith figured out how to repair items.

Items

     Major Changes -

          Pretty much every item you find from here on out is going to be much better than what you would have found in previous patches. Legendary weapons and armor now have unique properties, and can roll for much higher stats than before. Remember that all of these changes are not retro active. Items from pre-1.04 are referred to as "Legacy" on the AH. Make sure you aren't scammed while buying.

     Minor Changes -

          Stack size of Gems is now 100 instead of 30. Repair costs reduced by 25%. Two-Hander stats received a massive buff. Quiver drop rate finally reduced! The hex code trick to let players identify the stats of of an item before identifying the item has been fixed. There's a market for unidentified items that was recently threatened by the mass discovery of this exploit.

Monsters

     Major Changes -

          Drop rate from normal monsters increased by 400% of the previous value. Less bonus bonus health when players co-op. Inferno monster damage and health nerfed across the board. No more enrage timer. No more Invulnerable Minions. Shielding Monsters nerfed. Fire Chains nerfed. Arcane Enchanted nerfed. Nightmarish Monsters can no longer chain fear players. Mortar should no longer land in the dead zone. Oppressor charge will no longer deal damage to players twice (bug).

     Minor Changes –

          Quite a lot of monsters were bugged. Their bug list is extensive. Some monsters were dealing double damage (like the Oppressor charge), while some monsters were spawning in weird areas or without loot.

Katawa Shoujo Will Change You

Have you ever had a great idea and wished there was someone you could share it with? Apparently, the history of Katawa Shoujo can be traced back to a discussion on 4chan some odd years ago. I don't personally know the full story, but it was a single community effort between anonymous individuals over the internet, collaborating to create pieces of art, fiction, and technology. Their independent efforts, unfettered by the usual corporate bureaucracy involved in video game development, have yielded one of the most immersive and complex stories ever created.

Without ruining too much of the plot, shortly after the story begins, your character is forced to attend a new school for the disabled by certain life events. Part of the storyline involves your own character dealing with what it means to be disabled, and what normal actually is. Linked into this are the various students you're introduced to. On your first few days, you're given the opportunity to identify with each character and choose whose storyline you would like to follow. There are multiple endings to the story dependent on the choices that you make throughout.  I suggest that every time an option arises, you stop and think about it from the perspective of the main character, and all those affected. By the ending of Act 1, you will have narrowed down the branching paths to a few focused around a character (or two).

:: SPOILERS AHEAD ::
To be fairly honest, I began this game like I usually would with any other bishojo graphic novel, through a shallow metric based on the characters' looks. Most bishojo that I have come across, tend to stick to a few cliche female personalities that are about as interesting as sopping wet cardboard. After reaching the end of Act 1 however, I detected that there was something more to Katawa Shoujo. There was a feeling of deja vu, or more accurately when you recognize someone at a glimpse, but have to double take to scrutinize them more closely. I started over with a new purpose. I searched for the personalities of the characters on a quest to uncover this strange aura around the writing.


My Notes on the Characters:

• Shizune is the deaf and mute class representative of 3-4. Possessed of a strong personality, she believes in aggression and domination, and takes much pride in these aspects. I rate her as most likely to become an evil dictator. I certainly consider her storyline, but since she is introduced first, I wait to examine the others.
• Misha is the translator for Shizune. She has a problem keeping the volume of her voice below a shout, which is complimented by her extreme friendless and naivety. I'm not really sure what to make of her off the bat, since she's attached to Shizune, who tends to take control of the conversations. I note that she may have hidden potential, but put her in the back of the list.
• Hanako was caught in a fire and burned much of her body. My first thoughts when I saw her was that she may be the girl from the opening scene who felt misplaced guilt over Hisao's hospitalization and burned herself in order to attend the same school as him. Her timid personality and phobia of people lends a little bit to this theory, but Lilly mentioned that Hanako's injuries occurred at a younger age. Still, I feel like there's more to her story than just post traumatic stress disorder.
• Lilly is the blind representative of 3-2, a class for blind or mostly blind students, and mortal enemy of Shizune. They don't fully explain this enmity in Act 1, so it definitely piques my interest. She's the tallest person in the game that isn't a teacher and apparently raised as a proper British lady. She's also one of the few people Hanako trusts, which would mean that there's a great potential for her story to reveal parts of Shizune's and Hanako's respective pasts. There seems to be a lot of potential here.
• Emi is a track and field runner, sans legs, with an exuberant and childish personality similar to Misha's, but more exaggerated. Despite her disability, she loves to run everywhere, on the track in the morning, rain or shine, and through the halls during the day, much to the ire of taskmaster Shizune. She worries the most about Hisao's health, and encourages him to join her for practice in the mornings. Her dialogue and emotes are the most light hearted of any character in the game. Definitely a storyline that can cheer someone up and very worth considering.
• I was immediately repulsed by Rin. It wasn't because she didn't have arms, it's because I'm not a feet person. Again with the shallowness, I know, but feet seriously creep me out for whatever reason. Since she was introduced eating lunch with a fork between her toes, you might not think that she'd be the story I'd be interested in, which is what I felt on my first innocent play through Act 1. However, the second time...

I couldn't place it at first. Rin is an artist that paints with her feet. She's always looking around, looking for things that no one can see, or looking through people at what she imagines of them. I thought she reminded me of an old high school crush I had that was never truly resolved in my life, and that's why I originally chose her path. Perhaps her story would present another way of looking at my own past and understanding it.

Her story revolves around the concepts of self and identity. Her abstract style of art reflects a tragic search for who she really is, and a conservatory effort to preserve the past selves that she can hardly remember. Consider every scene with her for a long period and you'll discover multiple layers that build up to the fourth wall. Questions bleed over from the game into real life. Are thoughts like clouds, ephemeral and high above the world? What is art? What does it mean to change oneself? Does the previous self have to be destroyed to affect change? What is important in life?

A strange thing occurred. The main character and I drifted apart in understanding. He became frustrated with her aloof nature, while I began to examine it more closely and came to a truer understanding of why I chose this path. When he began scolding her for the choices he had encouraged her to make, I wanted to defend her against him. Still within the mindset of thinking of her as the analogue of a high school crush, it took me the majority of the game to realize why I wanted to defend her. The way Rin acts, and thinks...

She's like me.

I know it seems from this long expository that I might be the talkative type, but, in person, my conversations come in torrents or one liners. My thoughts are constantly in flux, often separate from the real world. The subjects of what it means to change and to have an identity are things that I have been wrestling with for years. When I pour myself into a work, it's like a dam is opened and I can finally be me, so long as I continue to draw or write. My memory is like a foggy ocean, full of ghost ships and distracting light houses. Rin is the only character I've known that has come so close to describing who I am.

More than anything, I wanted her life to work out, and so I took every choice as if they were the most life threatening events in the universe, paused in front of me while I decided on my actions. At that point, I was no longer deciding for Hisao, or for Rin, but instead for myself. The choices were about the themes and the concepts brought up by the narrative and filtered through these characters. Carried by the author's words, I began an introspective journey that deepened as I continued through the game. When I arrived at Rin's good ending in my first try, it was like I had found the path to my own good ending. Now, I just have to figure out what that means.

Rin may not be the character you choose. Every person is mostly different, after all.

If you haven't played Katawa Shoujo, you can grab a free copy from their website. Keep in mind that it is aimed at adults, but you can turn off adult scenes in the options menu.

New Video and Feedback Requested

I'm writing a longer form, more serious first impressions of the Firefall Beta, but that won't be out until tomorrow. Tonight, we stream! Okay, maybe you aren't, but I'm going to be on Twitch.tv streaming Tribes Ascend for the Double XP Weekend event. Add SaikoGekido in game, or watch it live.

There will be a vlog post later tonight about this topic, but I'm curious what the community thinks about my channel. There are a couple of videos up on the chopping block, which I'll reveal in the vlog. Suffice it to say, some of my older content doesn't really look "professional". Especially the COD style League of Legends (LOL) videos.

I'll update this post with the vlog below when it's finished, or it will come up in your feed if you're subscribed to the channel.

Cya
~ SaikoGekido