Fallout 4

I'm almost to the end of Fallout 4.  From the beginning I was afraid of the 'Skyrim Face Pissing' infecting the ending...like I was lying on my back and watching the arc of the stream. 

Preface.  You are part of a happy couple with a newborn baby boy.  A salesman shows up at the door and tells you that your space in the nearby 'Vault' is complimentary due to military service in the household....   The bombs soon fall...you get to the vault...and without a word of explanation, you are cryogenically frozen in a capsule and your partner and baby boy are frozen in the other.  Some time later, both you and your partner are thawed out, some thug takes the baby away from your partner and shoots her/him.  You are frozen again and get thawed out some time later.  Now on a quest to find your baby boy, you kill some bugs, leave the vault and find that it is many years later and the old neighborhood has gone to shit.

You soon rescue this group calling themselves the minutemen...probably because every minute or so they will auto dump a timed quest into your log that you will feel obliged to do if you want to continue feeling like a good person.  Do yourself a favor...when you build a second settlement, move Preston Garvey there...and only go there if you really want to do another inane Minuteman quest otherwise you will find it hard to do anything else.  When you get to a point in a quest where it says "Go See Preston Garvey"  - DON'T.  The timed quests will time out eventually and give you a 'Mission Complete' Result if all you have to do is to turn them in.  It wouldn't be so bad if they actually spread the mission locations around a bit so you could explore new areas and get new stuff... but they tend to lean on the same area.  I've been to the Corvega facility at least 10 times on different missions and I know I haven't even explored 1/10th of what is out there.

You have to think that there is one guy in the game design who absolutely goes the opposite way of what everyone else wants...and they are mostly right:

"So people are upset at having to cart around useless junk from our previous games.  All in favor of eliminating junk from this game?"  Aye Aye Aye go the sycophants.  NAY!  Goes the black sheep.
Actualizing the salvage potential in even the most seemingly useless of items will involve the player in an extravagant crafting system that features weapon mods, armor mods, and structures.

And it works! 

"So, what...we'll stick to the usual format of giving the player the God armor later on in the game?"
 Aye Aye Aye go the sycophants.  NAY!  Goes the black sheep.  Having the Power Armor available early in the game with one proviso:  That it uses power cells that will deplete quickly if under constant use.  The player balances when they need armor to the cost of maintenance.  This will require thinking and strategy - which most gamers enjoy.

And it works! 

"So...yeah...We'll do the Skyrim thing where the quest will wait for the player to do it.  All in favor?"
 Aye Aye Aye go the sycophants.  NAY!  Goes the black sheep.  Having not only timed quests but ones that insert themselves into the player's quest log will give the player a sense of urgency.  They will have to think on their feet and decide which quests to do first.  "Listen...I've been right the last two times haven't I?"

And it doesn't work!  (well I did say 'Mostly')
 
It's a good thing they did this just to the Minuteman quests.  You can't have your Minecraft and your Call of Duty too.  This is what is known as an 'IceCream Pizza'.  Two things that people like that just don't work together.  Sitting there trying to design a colony while a quest sits in your log going 'Tick Tock' at you is not that much fun. 

There is a settlement building element to this game.  You can build generators...crops...buildings... defenses...just tons of stuff.  Why?  To defend your settlers and make them happy.  Uh...why?  Really?  It's just a side game.  The real benefits of having so many colonies is to have artillery close to wherever you will happen to be as well as a place to sleep and stow your stuff if you happen to be in the neighborhood. 

I soon realized that numbers to this mini - game were way off.  People would complain about 'Not having enough beds' and I would find they had more than enough.  The numbers 'On Site' versus the numbers in the Pip-Boy would also not match up.  Sources on the Net say that Diversification of crop will make your people happy...Enough Electricity...radios...lights...pictures... chairs...rugs...defenses.  Nope. Nix. Nada. Nay. Nary.  Would I trust that they would have got those numbers right considering that there are two apparent examples of where the game got the numbers quite wrong?  I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it but Bethesda needs to patch that shit with someone who passed grade 3 math.

You can't rate this game by starting off at 10 and taking a point off every place the game pooches something.  Why?   Because the ambition of the Games' own making raised the bar to 15...but then did a half assed job of it.
 
Bethesda has done this since Daggerfall.  There was a game that, on a full install, would take up 2/3rd of the average hard drive size of the time.  There was a revolutionary map creation system for dungeons...unfortunately, one often found oneself in pointless endless corridors that lead to no where.  There were rumors found in conversations that reflected politics between different groups outside the game - that you didn't know the first thing about.  Now in Fallout 4... Approximately 150k lines of voice acted dialogue.  This is truly unprecedented!  Now, unlike the expansions in 'Fallout New Vegas', The dialogue doesn't bore a hole in your skull like the verbal form of Chinese water torture.  Unfortunately, The dialogue options often do not actually reflect how they are actually going to be used.  English is funny like that.  You get the first few words of a sentence in your choices and may actually be used in the context which you had not intended. 

**Slight Spoiler

The story itself is good versus good.  Not good versus good intentions (with some crazy idea of overt radical thinking to benefit the future of mankind).  Every faction in this is all 'Black and White' in a very grey world.   You never get enough information to actually make a proper decision despite supposedly having proper access to it.  The end battles are grandiose and epic... but all endings lead to killing good people that you may actually be very close to.  I don't know of any thinking, feeling
individual who would enjoy shooting their friends.  No.  You aren't going crazy (like in Spec ops: The Line) and it isn't in self defense (as in Far Cry 2).  What kind of a soulless monster wrote this crap-

 

Oh

 

 

Yes there is the joke about Gingers being soulless but I'm wondering if, in this case, it isn't true.  Ladies and Gentlemen, it's

Emil Pagliarulo.  Remember epic battles in Skyrim that you absolutely never did because

to do them, you had to kill good people?  Emil is master at creating the perfect grey so that

it doesn't matter what side you choose, you are going to feel like an asshole if you have a soul.  I guess he's jealous.  There's the big payoff for hours and hours of building and leveling is to feel like an ass for this guy's supposed 'Writing Cred'.  I'm not sure what he is trying to do but I'm sure eventually he will get it right... or perhaps the producers will decide to go drinking with a writer that actually HAS talent in the story aspect.  Emil has allowed the player to get up close and friendly with those that the player will later have to kill...and possibly twice.  That way the player can appreciate the loss of their friends while having a swashbuckling adventure shooting them!  I've been around a while and have seen plenty of 'Ice Cream Pizza' but this has got to be the most blatantly stupid contradictions of ingredients I've ever seen (and that is saying something!).

  

There are many great quests but it doesn't feel quite like you are engaged.   Everything just sort of feels off.  It just doesn't feel like there is enough options and control in dialogue and execution.  The game is quick to remind you if your follower is judging you one way or another...and their AI for combat is freaking awful.  I remember walking into a library with a corridor ahead of me.  To my left was an large open room with robots and turrets pointed my way.  I wasn't going to go that way and while I paused for a few seconds considering my options, Piper (one of the followers you can recruit) openly ran into the room excited for the amount of books she saw while being completely oblivious to the amount of firepower that was there.  She went down in about a second and a half.  Worse was the fact that in chasing after her, half a dozen Super Mutants came running down the corridor that was straight ahead of us.  If we had held position, we would have been fine.  The Super Mutants were after the robots and now we were caught in the middle because an intelligent and perceptive person missed noticing a dozen guns pointing her way.  Piper can't die but the immersion did...again. 

All the guns and armor are extremely customizable...almost too much so.  You remember all that crap you had to sell in previous versions of the game?  Well now damn near everything has a use.  There is definite 'Rhino Hiding' where 9 bullets to the head won't kill something but the 10th will cause their head too look like it was hit by an 88.  A .50 cal. bullet to the head will kill anything IRL.  It can take out most armored vehicles.  If a T-Rex was around, a .50 cal. bullet to the head would make it extinct again.  If a person is hit with a .50 cal. round, the effect on the body is so great that resulting
trauma would - well...lets just say it's pretty grizzly.  So when I play a game where I shoot someone in the head with a 50 Cal. and they barely even notice...and then again with the same effect; well... 'Immersion' looks like it just took the round in its place. 

An enemy in a 'Caution' state will blink in and out of reality causing the location of their body parts to disappear and reappear in different positions.  Contrast that to say Far Cry 3 where body movement is much more fluid.  Also hitting some enemies in the head will not only have no staggering effect but cause them to move instantly up to 6 feet left or right.  It's pretty funny when you manage to kill an enemy in the process of this 'Dodge Dash' because they will launch themselves like 50 feet.

 Grenades and Molotov's are also delivered with the same unrealism.  They just sort of appear in the NPC's hand (with the pin pulled and pre lit respectively) and are tossed like a handful of gravel...like we used to do when we were kids pretending to be soldiers.   The grenades are pre 'cooked' to about 1 second when they land at your feet (on a dime)...which is funny because they must have cooked them in their pockets because they weren't in their hands for that long.  Though I did like the idea that, because the enemy could be deadly...you had to fight smart when not attacking in power armor.  The combat is pretty balanced.  You can't run and gun so well and that is proper...don't expect to always 'Peter Pan Ballet' your way to victory in this.  The enemy is hard to see and can be shooting at you from 6 different places.  Your best bet is to get to cover and pick them off one by one.  The AI, however, is most deadly when it is in the open.  It moves like old Doom PvP with the bullet impact teleportation effect and magic spell molotovs.  It did actually remind me a lot of original Bioshock AI as some of the Feral AI reminded me of the RAGE mutants.  AI in cover would stick its head completely out of cover and remain mostly stationary...Boom.

I enjoyed most of the game, in fact.  As I was approaching the end, I saw dark storm clouds looming overhead...but that wasn't rain coming out of them.

Spoilers:

Spoilers:

Spoilers:


When you find your son he is 60 years old and head of this 'Institute'.  Despite your relationship to him, you can't ask him the real questions about exactly what is going on with the disappearances or the escaped androids. 

Where is the "Come on, Zimmer...what is it you aren't telling me...why would an android want to escape or feel guilt!" moments!?

Why can't you take charge of your fate?  You're force fed one of four flavors of ending and they all taste like shit...and you get to kill your good buddies for some so-called 'Greater Cause' when the cause you are fighting for isn't exactly perfect either.

This is Fallout 4's Stormcloaks Versus Imperials face pissing...but it's mandatory in order to finish the game.  Seriously...I play games to fight the good fight.  To do what I can't do in real life and shoot assholes...of which, I'm sure we can all agree, the world has no shortage of.  I don't fantasize about shooting my friends so I have no desire to play a game that says "In order to finish this game you have to shoot one of your good friends". 

GAMES ARE NOT NOVELS.  I don't want to find myself in a fast paced action shooter only to have it morph into "All Quiet on the Western Front"!!!   It's times like these when I just want to go back and play Doom where there is none of this 'Moral ambiguity'. 

The original Fallout 1 and 2 were clever.  They had a 'Good' versus 'Good' idea but here is the difference: The intended enemy belied a brutal or ruthless nature that disqualified them to be humanity's heirs. 



End of Spoilers


The Verdict?  8.0/15 (Yeah...they raised the bar but did a half assed job in writing, AI and execution)
 

Stephen Harper's farewell speech ... what he doesn't say

 

 

"We believe that hard working Canadians should keep more of their money"
 
...and the more people you have DOING that work for you, the more of THAT money you should keep!

"Because we believe that the government should manage the people's money the way that they would manage their own"

...with reckless spending,  inaccurate records,  frivolous pursuits and forgotten promises

"Because friends, in a dangerous world, Canada must - without apology - advance our values, defend
our interests and stand by our friends"
 
We have to continue bribing the US so that they will like us.  Several more billion dollars should do the trick.

"We have Championed those values all of our public lives" 
 
We use buzz words like 'Championed' because most of our supporters are senile and can't remember
specifically how we fucked over the country.

"In the past 9 years I've had the incredible honor to serve as your Prime Minister"
 
...but not so much honorable as it was hilarious.  Here I stand giving you the full fist with this
bullshit speech that you are all eating up and most of you haven't even paid attention to the news.  The Auto dialers... the Gerrymandering...Mike Duffy...the poison pills...stacking the house and the cabinet...and that's just the tip.

 

"We put everything on the table.  We gave everything we had to give and we don't regret anything"
 We lied.  We cheated.  We Stole.  We Prioritized US corporations over the health of the people and the environment.  It was hard to put what we did on the table but we perched up there and squatted and squeezed as best we could...Now Justin has to clean up that mess.  We're BUSH'D.

"Friends...how could we?  We remain citizens of the best country on earth"
 
Thanks for your support you senile bastards.  We fucked over the country and the democratic process but at least we're not behind bars.

Windows 10 sucks hard - The 'Free Upgrade' is really 'Free Beta Testing' for Microsoft

"Hey!  Get your free upgrade!  Windows 10 is free!  Just click here and reserve your free copy!"
 
There is nothing "Free" about doing beta-testing for a half finished operating system / Surveillance tool for a multibillion dollar corporation like Microsoft.  This is a scam.  I could launch into my usual rant but this time I think I should itemize my issues.

1)  The blue screen of death happens ALL THE FUCKING TIME.  I think I might have had it once or twice on the Windows 7 64 Home Pro mostly due to viruses.  I've owned a PC in one form or another since '92.  Yeah...I know DOS.  I've had Windows 3.1, 95, 98, 98ME, 2000, XP, Vista and Win 7 64 Home Pro.  I have had more 'blue screens of death' on 10 in several months than I have had in 23 YEARS with ALL THOSE OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS COMBINED!!!
 
2)  This is a minor point for some but for me it just pisses me right off.  Windows has had the card game 'Solitaire' forever.  I think it was on 3.1!  Simple coding and mindless entertainment.  I generally load it up when I've set my computer on some large task and I could use some mild / low resource entertainment that won't disturb that task.  Well, Microsoft in their infinite greed has decided to 'Bundle' Solitaire with a group game package that will cost you a certain amount per month.  'pay-to-play' for fucking Solitaire!!!  I won't do it.  $3 something a month.  I don't care if it is a penny a month...I won't pay for a game that could be programmed by one person from scratch in a day on a TS 1000...that they gave away for free in all previous versions of Windows.

3)  NOTHING IS PRIVATE!!!  Check out the privacy settings.  Microsoft has given itself rights to look at everything you own on your computer with Windows 10.  Your picture, your voice, the commands you give...what types of commands you are giving...your personal files, your pictures, data EVERYTHING!  They say it is to perfect the final product...but they don't exactly have my trust after slipping the whole "Beta-Test" Roofy into my OS.  Sure...it's in the fine print...but nobody reads that shit.  This trend toward underhandedness from otherwise reputable corporations is very disturbing.  If you are dead sure you want your "Free" copy of Windows 10, for the love of God do not select "Express Installation".  And I'll give you a "Free" roll of toilet paper if you clean my bathroom daily for a year...because that is exactly how badly they have fucked their own user base.

4) Backward Compatibility for Games - If you shut everything else down, the newest version of DirectX works pretty good for the newest games.  When I first got Windows 10...certain older games worked just fine.  Somehow...through the "Updating Procedures" these old games simply ceased to work.  I didn't actually change anything...they just didn't function.  Not only did they simple not work but the error code was not available ANYWHERE on the PC.

5) The Encroachment of Automation - Remember those days when you had to turn off auto updating because it didn't matter what you happened to be doing at the time...Windows said "Fuck you and all you have been doing...I'm shutting down and updating".  Then you would put off updating and Windows would nag at you in the form of stealing cycles from the CPU.  Well all that
is behind you because Windows 10 said "Fuck you...I will update when I update...I'll try not to shutdown while you are doing something but while I am updating (and I will never actually tell you when I am doing this) you may experience a crash doing 2 things at once and lose all your work anyway.  It seems to me that a friendly way of doing things would be to let the user know what is going on.  Now, with all of our personal information dangling out there in the cyber wind, it's nice to know what the copious amount of programs running in the background on Windows 10 are actually doing.  The robot telling me to "Don't worry your pretty little head about it" isn't comforting.

6) Perhaps the dumbest thing about Windows 10 is that if you have a crash, calling up the Task Manager does not bring it to the front.  You are literally staring at a crashed application while a perfectly functional Task manager sits both on the bar and behind the crashed screen for you NOT to get to.  This is like breaking down under an overpass on a highway and calling a tow truck...and the tow truck pulls over ON the overpass and the driver completely doesn't understand why you aren't there.  So you need to do a full restart like it's a hardware level crash...like we did with DOS.  With such stupid mistakes in programming I really wonder why so many people are hesitant about giving Microsoft all our personal information.  Even the realization of THAT did not occur to these idiots of overconfidence in academia!!!
 
------------------------------------------------

Bill and Ted's Excellent Corporate Windows 10 Strategy :

Satya: "So boys...what is your marketing strategy for Windows 10"

Ted "Well...uh...we give it away for free"

Satya "...uh..."

Bill "I think what Ted is trying to say is that we give the Beta Version away but we won't tell them it's the Beta version...then they'll be like 'DUDE! No WAY!"

Ted "...and we'll be like WAY!"

Bill " ... and then we'll be like 'Not only that but you have been chosen to help us make it' "

Ted "...and they'll say "fuck yeah!  you guys are the BEST!  I mean like I'm designing history"

Bill "...and then we'll tell them about our plans to make them part of the collective consciousness in the sharing of all their files and stuff"

Ted "...and they will be like 'Whoa...I was just thinking of upgrading my OS not establishing a level of spiritual Nirvana...you guys are like Deities or something"

Ted "...Yeah...we even thought of name for the voice activation.  We call it 'Bill's Mom' "

Bill "Not cool, Ted."

Ted "...just kidding...we are calling her 'Cortana' Like the bodacious babe from the Halo series"

Bill "Oh man...I hate to be the one who has to process those voice requests"

Ted "Yeah...we even made Solitaire profitable!"

Satya "Really?  That game could have been written on a computer made up of Christmas lights and wire...how the heck did you boys do that?"

Bill "We bundled it up with a bunch of games no one wants and called it 'Pay to Play'"

Ted "It only costs like 3 something a month which is like (counting on his fingers........Counting ....
Counting....)

Satya "10 cents a day"

Bill "Whoa...Dude! That's why you are in the big chair!"

Ted "But for us...per year that's like (counting on fingers...counting...counting)

Satya "36 dollars a year"

Bill "Oh Man! you are like some mathemagician or something"

Satya "What about the issue of a class action lawsuit?"

Ted "We've thought this through...we put it in the Eula on OCT 18 that by using our product they give up rights to a lawsuit"

Satya "But...that's not ethical"

Bill "(lowered voice) Dude...it's for their own good.  When they calm down they'll see how excellent we are!"

Bill and Ted "EXCELLENT!"  (playing air guitar)

------------------------------------------------

Summary:  Windows 10 is fucking awful.  Satya Narayana Nadella should be bitch slapped for his tactics on this.  Windows needs adequate competition. 

Enlightenment with regard to Racism, Prejudism and plain old ignorance

Racism:  The prejudgement that all of a certain race possess similar characteristics.  The fact is that many people of the same race possess similar characteristics.  The politically correct term for this is: "Cultural Similarities".  The big no-no is that you can't assume that any particular person of that nationality WILL possess those characteristics.

You can't rib on any nationality for cultural similarities except for white Anglo-Saxon types.  Why? 
Because white people must share this common crime perpetrated by the ignorant amongst us.  In the midst of this witch-hunt against racism there is this perfect storm of irony and ignorance.  Why should I be guilty for something someone else did?  Because I'm white?  To decide my guilt based on crimes of members of my race is the worst kind of ignorance.  I mean this is Nazi-to-the-Jewish ignorant.

Regardless:  "people are associating me...without really knowing me...that I'm like that ...and it's wrong"  ...and you're damn right it is wrong.  It is prejudging.  It is ignorant. 

Prejudgement:  There is an anecdote about this.  In the old days, gay people were persecuted for what was considered an abnormal sexual preference.  They were thought to be perverts, deviants and mentally ill.  I don't have issue with gay people.   I've met a lot of gay people and some of them I don't like and some of them I like and respect very much.  But there has been much rallying for support in the communities and there are those who are militantly opposed to the old stereotypes.
That's great and all...but I know two people in this community WHO ARE complete perverts.   Yet if litigation happens there is this mighty force that will defend these perverts saying that they are the victim of "Homophobic Intolerance"...and an ocean of idiot supporters will wash away their crimes with their cries of injustice. 

The young people are saying all the older generation have been brought up watching racist cartoons.  That's true but the old cartoons made stereotypes and fun of everyone.  Germans, English, French, Cajun, Japanese, Chinese, African, Cowboys, mobsters and when they couldn't find it on Earth...they made fun of Martians.   Everyone was made to look a little more dumb in cartoons.   I remember wanting to be one of the magpies in Dumbo because they seemed to be quick witted and in-the-know.
Now it's "Racism".   

All this screaming about Racism and Stereotypes and I've never met a young person who hasn't played Nintendo.

Hey ya its ah me! And ah Me! Your ah Racist Stereotypes from your youth ah!

I will talk to anyone of any race like they are my brother ... to start.  As one goes through life, there are certain survival techniques that are, in fact, racist.  IE.  If you have been mugged by 5 Andromedans then you will likely not walk down an empty street with an Andromedan on it.  IE. If the Venusian Trader rented you an apartment that had no heat in the winter, cranked up the rent every year to the max despite doing shit around there...then you would likely be wary about renting from a Venusian Trader again. 

This leads me to my larger point: Prejudism - to Pre Judge Someone.

Whenever you go 'I know his kind' with out actually really knowing that person, you are pre-judging.  In the world today, people are afraid.  Despite the war against Racism turning into basically a witch-hunt, no one is really addressing the larger issue.  People are more segregated into their own groups more than ever before willing to judge on very VERY limited information.  People have some of their most intimate conversations from the safety of their computers, tablets and iphones.  We have become socially inept at physical language yet, despite this, twice as likely to buy what we read from others.  A society so antisocial that it becomes replete with the tactics of the insecure.  IE. We end up with 'Minefield' conversations where the petty take issue with what they shouldn't be so quick to judge.   We end up not celebrating unique people but being afraid of them...yet most of the evil people have only the best of sheep's clothing.

Who champions this cause?

We do it individually...and even inside ourselves.  Ignorance is responsible for all of it.  Racism, Gay Bashing, Bullying...and anywhere someone is being an asshole to someone else for no better reason than to make themselves feel better.  Shit heads are everywhere and in all nationalities and races.  So this is more of an individual thing being as there are no "Uniforms" ...but this is really where the strength is needed.

One last thing to consider.

Those who are quick to judge do so because they are afraid.  They might even be willing to fight but that is only because their fear is that deep and their insecurity is that strong.  Knowing this will help you gain perspective.  Those who are quick to judge have this reason to be afraid from whatever filters happen to be in their head.  Maintain a sense of fairness and compassion ... not only to others but to yourself as well.  The truth is your compass. 

The Problem with the BC Provincial Legal System

 

 

Vester Flanagan - Lost in the dark

Virginia; Disgruntled former anchor man; Vester Flanagan gunned down 2 people who worked for the station he was fired from, and left someone else fighting for their life in a local hospital.  Flanagan claimed that racism was the issue for his rampage. 

'Racism'.   Here we go again.  Listen;  Vester Flanagan never represented any group other than the one titled 'Fucking Idiot'.  That group is multicultural.  Fucking Idiots everywhere will pull the 'Racist' card when all they are really saying is: 'I want an extra edge in this conversation / debate'. 

I Remember being in court.  This guy ran a red light trying to turn left (East to North).  The red light was so stale that he was actually cut off from completing his turn by Northbound traffic.  He couldn't make any court dates where the one witness was able to attend...but the one time the witness wasn't able to attend he was able to make that.  This guy said that I had a car full of hooligans and we pushed the car into the position that it was when the cops arrived.  Since all he claimed is that he 'Ran a Yellow' the idiot prosecutor asked me to lie on the stand.  I told the truth.  I said that this guy ran a red light so stale that he was cut off by the traffic heading Northbound.   Since the courts proved that he didn't run a yellow, I, de facto, ran a red.  Yeah...that's the kind of justice we get up here.

I lost the case.. because this guy knew how to play the system and was willing to lie ... and would do it without hesitation...without ethics.  He stood up there and he called me a Racist...and ironically he looked at me with burning hatred in his eyes.  In this guy's home country, corruption is just a way of life.  Is it racist to say that?  I had a good talk with someone who just came from that country and they confirmed it voluntarily (yeah... that race).  So not all people from that country are scumbags, you stand a much higher chance in getting them.  I'm not going to assume that any individual is like this from that country...but I'm not going to be blind to the possibility of it...and not because of racial characteristics but of cultural characteristics.

So someone who hated me for being white or maybe that of all the people in that courtroom, I , alone knew how much of a complete lowlife lying asshole he was...called me a racist.  As a word it's kind of like a shield...and I know darkness likes to hide behind shields. (not in all cases).


Delusional, Vester manufactured a reality around his lies.  He convinced himself that he was actually the victim and that his former fellow employees spent their days mocking him in his absence.  Sinking deep into the rabbit hole, Vester surrounded himself in hate...building himself up into a bomb.  He used the Internet to praise mass murderers except for Dylan Roof.  Him?  He decided that shooting a couple of his former white co-workers was the perfect reply (from one idiot to another). 

In Service to a concept that you think you are fighting but only fighting for;  In ignorance to the irony.
 
It's a waste of a mind and a waste of a life.  Power is a very addictive thing.  Many people don't feel powerful enough.  I remember being with this one woman who claimed that a consensual episode that happened between us had been 'Not so consensual' to friends.  It was years later when I found this out.  I was actually set up to go on a date with her from these friends who claimed that she was Honest, Faithful and Trustworthy.  After I knew her for 7 years, she cheated daily on whoever she was seeing, words were only useful in what they could produce for her (with no regard for the truth).  The 'Episode' happened in the beginning of knowing this person as was what was said to the friend about the fabrication of 'Date Rape'.  It didn't actually affect my relationship with that friend because she KNEW that this person was a bullshit artist.   So why did she say this?  Power.  Saying it made her feel powerful.  It had influence over people.  She could have taken me to court and ruined my life with that...or attempted to  (and God knows...with this justice system)... just to know that she could.  She used it with all future boyfriends that I found myself in social situations with so that she could have an angry dog with my scent on a leash.   I always wondered why none of her BF's were nice to me.  Later I found out.  Power.

So knowing FULL WELL that this person was full of shit ... my "Friend" looked me square in the face and told me that she was HONEST.  I don't see any of them now (for the last eight years). 

The point is there are huge idiots out there.   I haven't been always right in my thinking but if I go off course I always try to correct it.  It all comes down to truth.  If you start to lose your grip on reality...then strange thoughts start to manifest.  The truth is the one thing that keeps our compasses pointing in the right direction.

As long as there is more than one race, there is going to be racism.  Killing people because they happen to belong to a race you hate ... That ... That is a compound lie.  The only entity you serve by killing a member of another race (for that reason alone) is RACISM.

Far Cry 4 - Post Mortem - DOES contain SPOILERS

 
What happens when you get a bunch of millennial writers and directors together and tell them to make a story "LIKE" this other story.  THEY - JUST - DON'T - GET - IT.     

I sat there wondering why I was bored in Far Cry 4.  It seemed to defy my perception.  The game, mechanically, had all the aspects I liked.  

After getting you to do its dishes all game.  Padding that shit out with volumes of monotonous side quests (much like the Assassin's Creed series), Amita and Sabal turn into Kony and Isis Respectively.

Back in Far Cry 3, Dennis talks to you like a human being.   He tells you about Vaas.  He guides you and supports you.  You get a sense of who this person is past what they want from you.  Hell...he even gets drunk and tells you about an injustice he suffered as an American immigrant.  So when he tries to stab you at the end after you refusing to kill your friends...it comes as a surprise with the realization you didn't get the whole picture on him.  In FC4, you really don't know much of anything about Amita and Sabal and any information they give just seems like an awkward attempt to manipulate you.  Despite fighting all their battles for them, you never have enough 'pull' to tell them both to grow the fuck up and stop arguing.  It seems logical that if 'Your father' was leader of 'The Golden Path'...and these guys can't stop fighting...that you should assume leadership with both of them as advisers.  Instead, more often that not, you are relegated to being that stupid sycophant from GTA3 that just does anything anyone tells him to.  INCLUDING assassinating the other leader!!! 
 
After King Min tells you the country that you have been tearing up is yours since he is giving you the entire place - Amita and Sabal are just assholes who use people to get their way - that all the killing you have been doing has been absolutely pointless - any remnant of investment that you may have accrued in this game is completely out the window.  Let's face it;  Investment in what happens in this game is inversely related to how much bullets people seem to have.  A game where if there is a civilian outside, it is being attacked by soldiers, eagles, dogs, bears...usually all of those in a row.  This was funny with faceless scientists in Hazmat suits back in FC3 Blood Dragon... because that was the theme...in this game it's just fucking stupid.  After a while you just become jaded to the screams of Townsfolk. 

You are introduced to people like "Go see Longinus...he is friend to the Golden Path".  He is a brain damaged former warlord who thinks he is a preacher.  Hurk shows up as a soulless joke factory complete with a southern drawl to make him look even more like a cartoon character.  There is Rabi who is a wise cracking DJ...and also a joke factory.  Mr. Schifon a gay clothes designer (good thing they're not using stereotypes) who acts as you would expect.  It's pretty sad when the best interpersonal connection you have in the whole game is with a couple of drugged out nesters squatting in your ancestral home.  They're a couple of joke factories as well but at least they show some vulnerability.   The person who did the voice for Noore was the same person who did the voice for Liza Snow back in FC3.  Mylène Dinh-Robic.   The speed at which her emotions seem to superficially change makes her look like a princess that changes her emotions to suit her needs from another person but the background is one of a long-term victim of emotional extortion.  There needed to be a whole lot more thought put into the realization of this character by the director.  None of these characters really establishes a connection with you and it all looks like it was put together by committee. 

I do not blame the voice actors.  Some of those guys are the best of the best.

  Characterization is fine with Amita (Janina Gavankar) and Sabal (Naveen Andrews).  Yet you don't see much in the way of content from them past "Do it my way" and "You're an idiot for not doing it my way".   My idiot light went off with Amita when she told me to "Destroy the temple and melt down the relics".   This is a great actress using great characterization and saying the dumbest shit written by a hack writer.
 
Pagan (Troy Baker) you might recall from Bioshock: Infinite where he played the protagonist: Booker DeWitt (Yeah...it shocked the shit out of me too!!!).  He owned it.
 
Reggie and Yogie were also fun and not completely cartoon-like.
 
Of note...The guy who played Keith Brody in FC3 is the main protagonist in FC4 (James A. Woods).  So that's a tasty bit of trivia.   
 
Mechanically, this game has all the best toys...but the story, (some) characterization and emotional involvement in this game is so counterproductive to that fun that it is almost like having your grandmother look over your shoulder saying 'Buzzkill' shit like: "You probably killed babies with that attack.  Do you like killing babies?" and "You know that guy you killed has a mother who loved him don't you?".
 
FC3 Had a point where you started to realize that the people you had been working with the whole time may not be who you thought they were.  There was an arc that got steeper toward the end.  FC4 was, to contrast, written and directed by far too many idiot millennials that dug around in the FC3 graveyard finding parts to attach to the soulless Frankenstein entitled 'The Story and Characterization of Far Cry 4'.  All 10 (writers and directors) have enough experience to add up to a single competent professional of either category.  But 10 stooges aren't better than 3...and it shows.
 
There are points when you should be shouting "BOOYAH!" as you right the wrongs and put evil assholes in the ground...just about then, the game's 'Grandma' looks over your shoulder and says "You realize you have just killed half the country by choosing that leader, don't you?"  (and choosing the other leader is no better).
 
Fuck it.  I'm subtracting a point from the game.  In the final analysis...the game is how much fun you actually had.  This game hands you a 'Fun' sandwich with all the trimmings and puts a big fat turd on it.  Don't grandma my BOOYAH! idiot Millennial creative staff.  Digging up FC3 and trying to copy it tells me you ARE NOT QUALIFIED.

 
7/10

Far Cry 4 - Game Review

Let's run it down now...

Far Cry 1 - Hawaiian Shirts and Sneakiness don't mix

Far Cry 2 - You get sick.  Everyone hates you and then you die - How cheery

Far Cry 3 - An epic first person adventure feast with a tasty dessert (Blood Dragon DLC)

Far Cry 4 - Too much (good in some cases bad in others)

Don't you just love it when productions take this direction?  You see them everywhere.  You take a well crafted product (like Far Cry 3)...and figure if you crank it up several notches, it will be all that much better.  It's not:  

"You like Da Vinci's  Mona Lisa?  NOW WE MADE A BETTER ONE!!!  Her lips are redder (and she's licking them)!  Her eyes more alluring! (and she's winking)"

"You like SALT!!???  We've added so much salt that you can't TASTE anything else!!!"

...and this attitude shows up everywhere.   I used to watch Pawn Stars on TV.   NEWS FLASH!  Reality TV show stars make shitty actors...and it shows.   Watching Chumlee look like he's reading lines off of someone's face again just makes me roll my eyes.   Who was the spod monkey employed to say 'Cut! Yeah that's good enough for the idiots who watch this show.'   No sir, it's not...and would you kindly walk out into the desert, get bit by something and die...or at least move from Vegas to Pahrump and get paid for what you do best - SUCKING.  But that's a rant for another time.  Lets get back to the review at hand.  

In keeping with the theme of "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!"  It seems the number of writers and directors to the story weren't safe from that impetus.  For those of you who don't know:  the best stories are the ones where you have one writer and one director.  The reason for this is that the artistic vision gets muddied if you have too many people in the process.  Far Cry 3 had one director and one writer with an assistant writer (makes sense).  Far Cry 4 had - 4 WRITERS AND 6 DIRECTORS!!!  For those of you not so good at math that is 7  "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!".  It seems the Wikipedia page and the IMDB page have differing facts.  IMDB lists 2 Directors (one creative, one 'Realization' - Well that's alright) and 3 writers.

Lets look at the quality of those writers:  maybe they have some good credits:

C.J. Kershner - He did a shitty game called "Homefront" In 2011

Lucien Soulban - Did some script writing for some shitty game in 2007.  He also, however, did the writing for 'Blood Dragon'...but that game could have been written by a drunken fraternity on '80s night. 

Liz Albl - "Script Intern" for Assassin's Creed IV. 

Li Kuo - Game Reviews for TV back in 2002 to 2006.  He was assistant writer to Jeffrey Yohalem for Far Cry 3. 

So it looks like   "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!" doesn't extend to experience.

Far Cry 4 was written and directed by a committee of 10.   Given what I saw, some were probably fired for their incompetence...with the damage having already been done.  There is at least one person who knew what they were doing in the writing and/or directing because some of the characterization is superb.  The rest of it looks like it was created by Mathew Costello (Stupid overt silliness). 

Far Cry 4 is a soulless clone of Far Cry 3 with regard to its story.  There is no character arc.  You start with options you can spend points on to upgrade your talents and abilities.  There is no back story as to why...you just can!  There is no good reason as to why you are invested in the country apart from your 'Mother's' desire to send you into a war to 'Learn the truth' when she could have  just fucking written it down!!!  GUESS WHAT, WRITERS?  NO MOTHER WANTS TO SEND HER KID INTO A WAR ZONE!!!   The main villain doesn't really make sense.  Vaas was crazy...but he made sense.  "Pagan" looks like someone took several colors of crazy...threw them against a canvas and said "That's our man - because that's all the fuck I'm going to give about it".

For some reason, you know how to fight... and join the resistance for no other good reason than 'Your daddy did'...and 'I got to get north to drop my mother's ashes'.  I can't imagine the frustration of the few good writers and/or directors on this staff having to put up with the rest of these guys being complete boobs.  As you progress through the story elements that seem like oversights and errors are explained (So 'Tell' don't 'Show'!?) and it seems as believable as someone trying to retroactively cover up someone else's shit.

The part that really pisses me off about this:  How many millions of dollars were put toward making this game?  Interfaces...guns...AI...Terrain...EVERYTHING...and a moderately competent writer individually could come up with better characterizations (for the most part), better insight into those characters and a more cohesive story structure.  What really disturbs me is that this may be a trend.  Story is relegated to the 'Good enough' category while I'm getting force-fed multiplayer at every angle.  A game to me is a story that you become part of.  Multiplayer is fun if you are doing it with people that you know (and can smack if they get out of line).  Multiplayer with strangers from the Internet?  I honestly don't see the point of it.

So what does it have?  Well this is where the game gets fun.  You've got Gyrocopters to fly around with.  You can ride an elephant into an enemy base and lay some serious 'Smackdown' on the troops there.  Signature Weapons in Far Cry 3 were too easy to get.  You could have the best stuff really early in the game.  In the second part of that game, you are introduced to a whole new set of firearms that aren't as good as the signature firearms you got in the first part.  In FC4 you don't get some of those Signature Weapons until way late into the game.  The early signature firearms do not even come close to the quality of the ones you get later on.  This makes a decent upgrade arc.  There is also Throwing knives (Great for silent kills) and 'Bait' that you can use to lure local animals into a base with.

There is only one save slot...so that slot you may have used in Far Cry 3 to appease your OCD self
by spacing out the 100% achievement isn't here.  You have one game.

Speaking of animals...Far Cry 4 must have some sort of Zombie animal apocalypse going on!?  Dangerous animals are fucking Everywhere!!! (no...an adjective not a verb... well... probably that too given the spawn rate).  Anytime I see anyone not in a vehicle or at a base....I think "Oh you poor bastard".   Then you have wandering lone salesmen.  These guys must have a death wish.  If I happen to see one on the road...I'd better buy my shit quick because their life expectancy is about 10 seconds.

Events are also very predictable.  You will constantly be running into the exact same events at the exact same places.  Also the same animals spawn in the exact locations as well.  The rate of respawn is quite disquieting.  There is one base where 6 wolves always spawn.  I like to call that place the Gulag...because it's where I don't fucking want to be.  Wait a minute!  You guys didn't get that guy back from FC2 to handle that shit, did you!?

The Genus: Canis (dogs, wolves, hyenas) in this game clearly do not give a shit.  Back in Far Cry 3... they wandered around in groups of 3.  you could kill 2 dogs attacking you and the third would be like "Fuck that! I'm going home".  In FC4 they can come in as many as groups of 6 full size wolves and they have no regard for self preservation.  They will attack you relentlessly 'til the last. 

The Skill set seems to make more sense than in FC3.  You can have some of the really good skills relatively early but they will cost you a ton of points that may be better spent buying more of 'lesser' skills.

There is also a function on your mini map that will show you where 'downed' animals are.  Anyone who has ever played FC3 and shot an animal will know the frustration of playing CSI: Rook Island trying to find where the fucking thing went to based on blood splatter, slopes, the direction it was travelling when it was shot...etc.   The little + signs on your mini map represent a downed animal.  This also may be used to find a predator in the area that freshly killed a non-predator.

The environment of the game seems to have been made with the Attention deficit in mind.  Shit happens ALL over the place.   You get into a Gyrocopter with a clear objective in mind.  Then "Charmic Event:  Supply Truck!"...Okay.  Might as well.  "Oh No!  Enemy Courier"...Better take him out.  On the way out of the truck to get what he is carrying - "Charmic Event: Hostages!!!"  Okay...saved them.  Great!... Turning back toward the truck you hear behind you from the hostages you just saved "EAGLE!!!" about this time I say; 'I don't give a shit anymore'.  Not only do you have the shit packed in to burn you out at the beginning of the game, toward the end of the game, when sometimes you want to give a shit, there really isn't any reason to do so.  Your Karmic levels are maxed and you don't need any more money or experience.  You've got an in-game voice saying "I'm the hero...I've got to save people" while your out-of-game voice is saying "You are literally wasting your time" - Which blows emersion all to hell.
 
UBISOFT must have gotten that guy employment from the Assassin's Creed Series...You know 'That guy!?'  The one that has to put useless 'Collectables' everywhere to waste your time with.  Because you must feel 'Invested'...by wasting your GOOD TIME collecting crap in a game written and paced by Millennial Morons.  Seriously...I don't really want collectables in a MMORPG.  Bragging rights!?  All it really tells people is that you have too much time on your hands.
 
It's not realistic anymore and the more shit they throw my way past the reality barrier, the more I detach from being invested in it.  This may have been okay for "Rex Power-Colt in a Blood Dragon 2 DLC"  where unreality is the norm... but not Far Cry.  Lets face it;  Blood Dragon was what Far Cry couldn't be in the realm of its context.  It was a great way of saying "Lets have a bunch of fun and not give a shit about anything else"....and it worked.  BUT JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE YOUR DESSERT AFTER DINNER DOESN'T MEAN IT IS BETTER TO MIX YOUR DESSERT WITH YOUR FUCKING DINNER!!
 
The wandering portion (Karmic events, Animals) can't play it for too long before it just gets on your fucking nerves.  There is a reason why I get passionate about what I review is that I see the potential.  A lesser game I really wouldn't bother with.  I mean seriously: Elephant assaults and Gyrocopter carpet bombing?  How fun is that!!

**Okay...I've been playing the story missions and the side quests more.  They're actually pretty damn fun.  The pace is heavier earlier than FC3.  You really will be at the edge of your seat.  All this game really needs to do is to have less idiot characters, lay off the Animal apocalypse, a more random event generator, and have a proper  background story with more character development.  You would think that is a lot but given how much this game has going for it...compensates for plenty of shortcomings. 

Given the fun I've been having with the missions...I'm going to crank it up another full point.  -  7./10
 (SEE POST MORTEM FOR REDUCED NUMBER)

Dylann Roof - A Gamer? A Racist? A Loner? A Product of a distorted thought process.

The other night I saw a video of a young man being escorted by police.  He had a meekness to him and a disturbed look on the delicate features of his face.

He killed nine people for the 'Crime' of being Black.  Now there is increased tension between blacks and whites again in the US.  Ironically, the hatred toward each other is the enemy...not the people. 

This seriously bothers me.  This kid is my son's age.  This is what black and white...yet flawed... thinking will do.  Why is garbage thinking festering in the minds of the people? 

Lee Boyd Malvo:  A DC sniper that killed 16 people...for the 'crime' of being White.  Are we seeing a theme here?  Maybe our Blacks aren't all that black and our Whites aren't all that white.

Then I see shit like this: 

Sure...fan the flames some more...like that has done so much good in the past.  Lets have more violence...because that's the way to resolve this.  It's so much fun to hate...lets be a group and hate another group until they cease to hate us back. (idiot)

The point is Racism begats Racism.  Around here we have the 'First Nation' Peoples.  In a nutshell, they were discriminated against...couldn't get a job...had their lands taken...and fell to drink.  It all started with Racism.  Now, because of the long term effects of that, the group, collectively is in a bad position...and people identify "THEM" for what "THEY" are generally known to be like now.  I've known tribes who have it together and they are a pleasure to be around. 

So, getting back to the point, lets call this a crime of ignorance.  All Blacks or all Whites aren't collectively responsible for anything.  Malvo and Roof were on the action end of wrong thinking.  That thinking needs to be brought to the light...where it will vanish.

Spec Ops: The Line (for the PC)

Wow.  When I play a 'Shooter',  I like to think that I'm not shooting real people...or to obscure this in favor of focusing on the adventure.  You have to believe that the enemy is just the enemy and that is all there is to it to really enjoy the experience.  It doesn't relate to anything real.  The concept that there is a group of people that we would collectively like to shoot in real life...but we can't do that, so we do it in a game....is ludicrous.

'Spec Ops: The Line'  is a thought provoking, emotionally charged roller coaster through hell and madness.  It is a 'Shooter' you will want to play just once.  Based on a novel by Joseph Conrad called "The Heart of Darkness".  Other media productions have tried to capture the essence of this novel; "Apocalypse Now", Far Cry 2 ... but this game nails it.  It captures the descent into madness through conflict, horror and fatal choices better than anything I've ever seen.  It is not for the weak of stomach and will bum you the fuck out if you are not completely devoid of empathy.  I enjoyed it like I enjoy great art...it was thought provoking and it made me feel a variety of emotions.  The voice acting is excellent.

Mechanically there are too few buttons to do too many things.  You'll know this when you are attempting to stabilize a sniper rifle from behind cover...it can't be done.  Your 2 pals are tough as hell but often have little situational awareness...which means they are often down in a position that kills you too when you try to rescue them.  You can, however, order one of your team to heal the other member.  Ammo becomes a real issue.  There is almost never enough.  Picking up dropped weapons becomes a priority issue since nothing is more useless in a firefight than a gun without bullets.  You can interact with the environment (by way of shooting it) to help you out.  Glass can be shot out from under someone standing on it.  Explosives can be shot.  Glass with sand above it can be shot to drop the sand on your enemy.  There are a variety of circumstances you can find yourself in...so things don't get too repetitive (Looking at you...Far Cry 2).  

This game is good for what it was - a Story.  There is, however, no replay value and not enough functionality to allow for variation of play.   Too few buttons made some functions unattainable.  Finally it's a linear shooter.  Sorry Yahtzee...but this game isn't more than a 7/10 to me. 

Black Mesa

In 1998, Valve and Gearbox came out with 'Half-Life'.  A FPS with plenty of movement traps.  A massive secret science installation in the New Mexico Desert.  You play as an employee in one of the many labs.  There is an accident in your group which causes a "Resonance cascade" (Basically hostile aliens port into the base all over).  The Army is called in to "Clean up" the situation (which also involves 'silencing' any potential witnesses).   You spend most of the game in the installation trying to make your way to some colleagues who have figured a way of stabilizing the problem. 

Black Mesa is a remake of the original game that takes place around the Black Mesa facility.  It does NOT include Xen (The alien world you get teleported to in order to help stabilize the problem).  It's too bad that I didn't know this when I started playing it.  I was really looking forward to how they recreated THAT place.  I remember going to Xen back when I played the original.  That place -  Completely alien...technologically...physically.  I remember feeling both amazed and disturbed;  It was more than an FPS at that point...it was interactive art...and it made you feel.

Lets face it though; Valve is amazing.   Progression puzzles aren't my thing anymore.  I honestly find them annoying now...especially when the graphics are so good that the 'Interactables'  become hard to spot.  It's like what I have been saying; sometimes better graphics needs accounting for in regards to gameplay.

For me, Half-Life 2 was my favorite game from them.  ID Games were coming out with Doom3 crowding down grey dark interiors facing mostly predictable enemies with a SMG that seems to fire spit balls for all the damage it does.  HL2 had an open world feel with Killer Helicopter chases ... scary head crab zombie towns and epic Super-Sized battles with HUGE alien walkers!!!  It was YEARS ahead of its time and still would be a contender if it was released today...10 YEARS LATER!!! 

HL1 does have a following of devoted fans.  The problem with being a fan is that you tend to be a little biased.  Great for them...but HL1 is just not complete without Xen.  It is like eating a cake before the icing gets put on...or having the icing after you eat the cake.

Wasteland 2 - Where Sadistic GM's go to please their masochistic followers

Back in the day (Late 1990's) Brian Fargo and Jason Anderson were involved with the critically acclaimed Fallout series (Computer RPG) Though I can't seem to find anything about their involvement with this series on either of their IMDB pages.  Anderson was also involved with the amazing "Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines" RPG along with two other heavy hitters from the Fallout Series: Leonard Boyarski and Tim Cain.

It is unfortunate then that this game is one of the causalities of technology.  Sometimes a game just needs simplicity.  The effort to create a better game by using a 3d rotating map with well rendered graphics and large levels doesn't actually make a better game. 

Respectively:

1) Using a 3D map that constantly changes perspective keeps the player having to orient himself every time.  Taking advantage of the ability to rotate the map and to incorporate that into the game itself by the placement of supplies means the play spends more time rotating the map and searching than actually playing the game.  Though one might say "This IS part of the game".  I never found trying to find anything in Real Life all that much fun...why would I find it fun in a game? 
 
2) Back in the Fallout 1 and 2 days... it was easy to find lockers.  They were in the right amount and not often included garbage.  The act of unlocking something meant there was something worthy of being locked up.  Now in large levels with details and shadows...lock boxes are everywhere.  Often what is inside a trapped lockbox isn't even worth the trap to put on it.  The advanced textures and detail hides boxes and details in these enormous maps. 

3) Just because you can make enormous maps doesn't mean you should ignore the travel times to get around on them.  In most other games, you open up the world map and you can go straight into travel mode.  Back in the day of Fallout...you could cross an entire zone in like 15 seconds to get to the world travel zone. 

You might state; and rightfully so, this game makes you earn everything.  You almost always seem to have enough...but you have to work for it and search for those boxes of loot and caches.  This is absolutely right.  I wouldn't object but the game takes away from you the one thing that matters in a RPG:

Choice. 

If you didn't cross your fingers around 3:00 pm before Bob fell into the lake and after Alice picked her nose then you have no choice but to slaughter a group of innocent people.  Right in the beginning there is a choice to be had to save one of two settlements.  Save the agricultural center and suffer the constant abuse from the administrator there (who calls you idiots, assholes, jerkwads, cowboys) ... this is the place to get 'Rose' who is a great benefit to a team without a proper academic support person.  Despite any amount of the three kinds of speech talent, you can't ask the administrator to "Rephrase her statement...because there are people dying elsewhere who might be more polite about us saving them instead".  The writer continues to beat the player often.  You might be able to win a few debates but more often at a time when it matters...all 3 Speech talents will get tongue tied and innocent people will have to die.  A good computer RPG will attempt to circumvent the pitfalls of  limited choice systems.  This RPG takes a perverse pleasure in watching you help an old lady across the street so that it can hit you with a car.  Don't expect that your first group will be your full play through.  Despite having 4 characters, there are a TON of skills and you can't cover everything (Though breaking down a fence is a skill but throwing a grenade or dynamite isn't!!!???).  More often than not, you are going to get to a certain point in the game and find that you did not meet the minimum requirements for a certain skill and you get to watch the computer kill baby puppies to abuse you with.  It's not as though you lacked the intuition to make a choice on which skills to upgrade and which to leave for later...you just didn't read the GM's mind.  It's like trying to pick a number from 1 to 10...guessing wrong and getting paddled for it.  A good RPG will give you some estimation...it will help you train your instincts based on subtle clues.  Here's your first big clue: Do a walkthrough! 

The best RPGs are like stories.  This story is like one told by a father to his children at bedtime.  And as they all start to fall asleep in their jammies thinking that all is right with their world, the father gently closes the book and hits them with it.

Seriously...did Jason Anderson spend the last 10 years in his basement with his whips and chains because the only thing he seems to have gotten better at is being a sadistic writer.  A proper RPG you can go through on intuition.  You never need a walkthrough to keep yourself from getting painted into a corner. 

Despite the limitation of the story, the programming really has everything covered.  There was one scene in the rail nomads camp where, upon not seeing me and having a challenge area to not being seen, Kebbaka announces that I made off with the Golden Spike and that I'm to be shot on sight.  I ran down to the Atchesson camp where I presented the leader there with the Golden Spike... he said "He will now sit down and negotiate for peace".  Coming back, the other side decides I'm to be shot and engages me in combat...but we physically cannot attack each other...and the combat can't end...nice.

Negotiating peace ...as I'm starting to walk out of the Red Scorpion camp, I realize I had been duped.  I turn around and slaughter them all.  Coming back...I was intending to tell the farmer that the Red Scorpions had been destroyed and that he can have his farm back.  The dialogue option wasn't present and I only told him that I sold him and his entire town up the river for a negotiated peace...at this point the man tells me I was a coward...runs up to the Red Scorpion camp and gets shot by no one (since everyone is already dead) and immediately dies.  Nice.

Asshole storytelling and shitty programming.  This game HAS IT ALL!!!

Another thing...save the good versus good shit for the novels.  Reading such things is an examination of the human condition.  When I am shooting someone...I want to believe they deserved it...not that I'm a puppet of circumstance.  That isn't to say you can't make the enemy believable.

Unlike in a lot of other games, money here matters...a lot.  You just never seem to have enough of the right stuff so searching every grubby trunk and safe you can get your hands on is essential.  That ratty pair of jeans might be enough to buy a bullet that would save your life.  Random encounters will level you but they will also cost bullets and medpacks...and usually don't give enough to compensate for the loss.  This is absolutely right.  I remember turning up my nose at junk in Fallout New Vegas ... thinking that, despite being a dystopian future, you have plenty of affordable supplies to attain.  Imagine playing that same game where every bit of junk could get you acquire matters...it would be a hell of a lot better.

I don't hate this game.  I am passionate about what I hate in the game because I see the potential.  I actually really enjoyed myself right up to the point where I got to a "Well...lets see these puppies getting tortured together because you have no choice in the matter" segment and started again.  But that's cool...I can try new combinations and whatnot. 

For this reason, this game doesn't get a review...it gets 3.  If you look online, you will find the reviews for this game are either very high or very low.  For making the player his "bitch", Jason Anderson gets a the "John Romero" award 1/10.  Programming and Testing was deplorable.  A few "nested if" statements could have easily fixed a lot of this shit... nothing for six months.  Seriously?  You guys have talent but you are as lazy as fuck!  1/10!!!  Despite the slow travel times and the over rendering of the graphics for what properly have been made with a 1997 game engine, the imaginative quotient of this game, combat system, and the balance...plus the fact that I'm a masochist and am playing it ALOT I give it a 8/10.  But what is the real score!?

Summary?  These guys could have done a whole lot better.  They have the talent...they have potential.  Maybe "Kickstarter" wasn't the right company to be endorsing their endeavor...perhaps "KickintheassStarter" next time!!!  This is a 4/10 game for all except the RPG enthusiasts and the masochists.  10 years in the making!?  is that 1 hour a day with 50 minutes of that in review!?  I'm not saying they shouldn't do another one.  Renoire may have thrown some paint over his shoulder at some canvas from the comfort of his arm chair...it doesn't mean he didn't get off his ass and paint. 
To all you critics out there: stop with the damn accolades.  We all want them to not get discouraged and to make another one...but we all know this wasn't even close to a proper effort so stop embarrassing yourselves.   Do you really want them to phone it in worse than they did this time!!!???