Into the Underworld

Another week, another game of DnD. A little more action-packed this week. Our barbarian, avenger and swordmage tracked down a cultist leader and killed her without much problem, a tiefling Asmodeus worshipper if you wonder. Our bard played some songs for the people in the poor district and encouraged them to rebuild it more beautiful than ever or something like that. Me and my psionic elven cousin delved into the Vault of the Nine, passing through a maze and standing in front of a door with a magical rune. From the shadows a slippery black gelatin creature, an ooze, began moving toward us. I began firing my arrows... and I didn't roll that well, in fact several once missed and my elven companion only had one useful spell and that was pushing the creature backwards after he spent his daily. So after using up all our special powers it was finally slain. 11 arrows was needed. ELEVEN! Luckily I had 90 of them to begin with so I'm fine for the time being.

After the ferocious fight our attention went to the door. My cousin, Garien Leafsinger, checked it out and then tried to remove the seal that sealed the door. He failed I believe cause it set of a trap and a lightning bolt struck out toward us. He jumped aside and had to use his psionic powers to push me away since my dices really don't like me. After that we entered the door and found us in a room with several statues of the protectors of Neverwinter. We detected that the catacombs stretched far across the land, but since our little encounter with the ooze had trained our better abilities we decided it was best to retreat for the moment and gather the rest of the party if we should have some chance of survival. We closed the doors and it sealed it self. Being a bit worried since it got a new rune we wrote it down and decided to use the remaining hours to prepare with so much knowledge we could gather from the library.

Of course I was hardly of any use since the dice failed me once again and Garien was on his own. He is of course the closest we had to a "true" wizard in the party. So after gathering the information and preparing to open the new seal we returned to the tavern, finding the barbarian and swordmage passed out on the floor after yet another drinking contest. The next morning we once again travelled into the maze and onward toward the sealed door. This time no trap was set upon us and we entered. The next 15 minutes was spent on finding a chest, dragging it out of its alcove and letting our bard and swordmage try to open it. When that failed our barbarian came forth and more or less broke it open (or at least that's what I imagined). Inside we found a cloak, a brooch and gauntlet. I got the cloak, the brooch went to toward our bard while Garien got the gauntlet... that he promptly told everybody was going to be sold at the very first moment due to our limited cash supply.

Anyway, we checked the alcove again and what did we fid? The key of course, so our swordmage decided to lock the chest and then gave the key to Garien for safe-keeping. We push forward to a doorway which flows of magical energy. Drawing our weapons we set up a formation and ventures forth. Everybody rolls a stealth check and everybody succeed except Garien who for some reason starts to hum Beethoven's 9th symphony. Luckily he was at the back, bad news was that I was right behind him and the last in our formation. We passed through the corridor and reached another room. This one on the other hand was inhabited with a couple of ghosts and ghouls. After some talking with them we found out they were the protectors of Neverwinter when they lived and would let us stay here and help us the little they could. Which was perfect time to end the session so we have to continue next week to search through the catacombs.

Who Am I, Where Am I?

So I played my first session of DnD and it went fine. Introduced as a bodyguard to an important wizard traveling to Neverwinter. There I met my elven wizard cousin... or was he an alchemist? Anyway I joined his party since my business with the wizard was done so I was free for other stuff so I hit the tavern to meet the rest of the gang. While there some demon worshipper appeared and our barbarian decided to have a drinking contest with a half-giant. She decked out. So did my cousin and the rabbit sword-mage leaving myself and the assassin. Of course we couldn't end there so I was next up and fell to the ground. I would call foul since shouldn't elves have a racial trait in resisting alcohol? Apparently not in DnD. Anyway, after drinking 4 people under the table our assassin had little trouble with the half-giant. So I slept through the night on the floor together with the barbarian while the others at least could walk away. Funny thing is that my cousin was the only one with a hangover.

Not much else happened. In the morning we were summoned to the lord who asked for or help and before going there we decided to prepare for whatever could happened so me and my cousin visited the church of Corellon to receive a blessing and trying to get some information. The others pretty much did the same, The barbarian, assassin and rabbit went to another church while our bard went to the slum more or less to get some info about the lord himself. And that's pretty much all we did in 4 hours. So now I'm reading up on the world and shall try to craft a decent backstory to my character. At least it gives me a reason to have some cola and snacks without my health obsessed sister finds out. That in itself is a great adventure to be told.

Turning Tides?

Maybe time to update what's happening around here. Seems like I'm back in a one per month posting. Well, I can blame it on not much happening. Until now that is. Suddenly everything happens at once. It all started some day in May. I said to myself enough is enough about this unemployment stuff so I joined... a political party, the Liberal People's party to be more precise (I know what a shock). Thought about it a long time, but I finally took the step. Sure enough, everyone welcomed me with open arms. Not strange since I appear to be the youngest in Värmland not counting the Liberal Youth of Sweden (Liberala Ungdomsförbundet in Swedish) and I'm pushing 25 in a couple of months. Take note, that was 4 months ago, I went to some activities and found it stimulating and all and this week I'm contacted by the district president (?) about an opening as a reserve in one of the municipality committee's (nämnd is the swedish word) and asked if I was interested. Sure enough, so now I'm part of the democratic institutions and that took me just 4 months. What happened to the bureaucracy that strangles all the newcomers? I'm quite frankly shocked, I at least expected 1 year quarantine to test me. Do they pick first best from the street? That would of course explain people like the green party member who think the CIA is spewing toxic on Sweden from airplanes.

Anyway, it at least give me something to do with 5 years of university studies in political science and more (plus a huge debt from all that). So I might walk the path I tried to avoid, the one in where you go through a political career and have no touch with "reality" (even if it is relative). At least I get some experience to put in my CV. The other thing that happened is that I was asked to join a group playing D&D and I couldn't say no to that. So tomorrow I'm to put on the persona of Vorsilder, the elven ranger of... The background story isn't that well developed since I know nothing of the world and the other players so we shall see what comes of this. I might even have a new topic to write about. Hopefully I'm not the first to die. At least I know the first rule of D&D:

The Hobbit

So the Hobbit is getting three movies. Like many others I'm a bit skeptical toward it since it's three movies on one book, but on the other hand there is probably enough supplementary material to fill it out and most important flesh out characters and the story. Now, the problem is that they already filmed the first and second part, the first even being prepared for its release in December. So certain things probably aren't gonna be the way I imagine it. You could actually (*this is gonna be spoilers to an almost 80 year old book if you care about that*) put in a flashback in the first movie when they tell about Smaug hunting the dwarves from their home for those who want more action. A lot more character development can go in between characters like Elrond, Galadriel, Gandalf and Saruman how they tried fight of Sauron and the corruption of the white wizard. How Gandalf infiltrated Dol Guldur finding Thorin Oakenshield's father Thráin II tortured and dying. The war between the dwarves and orcs as revenge for killing Thorin's grandfather Thrór establishing the backstory for Dáin II Ironfoot and Thorin himself and why he has the name Oakenshield.

But as I said, they are already finished film one and the second is going up next summer when they are supposed to film the remaining scenes they need for part three. If they succeed good for them, if they don't I will still see all of them since this is probably the most anticipated movies for me since Return of the King, and that was 9 years ago. I didn't care about the Transformers-movies when they came out (and apparently I dodged a bullet there), the Star Wars-movies died pretty much after the first one (can probably say the same about the Harry Potter-movies which got less and less interesting from my side) and both Avatar and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull were spur of the moment movies I went and saw. This time I actually check up the production, which actors are in and so on. It could probably also be due to me having read the books so many times that there is no spoilers to have compared to the others though... or it might also be the reason why I'm so eager to see it.

Duck Tales

Watched a couple of episodes of Duck Tales with the swedish dub. Just beautiful and hilarious as I remembered, or even more so when I now get references like Walter Kronduck and other small references here and there. The swedish dub is just so good, although the original english at least had the scottish accent which made the episode where Fenton Crackshell takes on the role of Scrooge McDuck a bit more realistic, in the dub he just changed tone a bit so I never got that when I was young and that is still hard to correct in localization. Of course it wasn't just nostalgia this time since I actually were able to look at one of the episodes that never aired in Sweden for some reason: Scrooge's Last Adventure. Why I don't know. All I know is that it isn't because the subject it was about.

Spoilers here, but anyway. The nephews crash a clock, take it to the "doctor" who calls Scrooge by mistake who got home from a checkup and believes he is doomed since it is impossible to fix. So depressed Scrooge begin thinking of the future and what to do with his money. So he put it in banks (finally) and just by a freak accident all money gets lots to a glitch and Fenton and Scrooge transport themselves into the computers to fight the glitch. So, when I watched it I got the feeling I've watched it before even though I haven't. The answer to this mystery is... Disney had recycled a "a doctor calls telling about a critical condition, but really means  some other thing"-story that aired one month earlier on Tale Spin, Bearly Alive. They even use the same joke about wanting the spare parts. The other part of that story is the inside the computer which happened in the Darkwing Duck episode Whiffle While You Work a year later (a show by the way that they stopped airing on swedish television because it was "too violent and encouraging violence" after some mothers complained).

Other fun facts about Duck Tales in Sweden is that it has two different names in swedish and therefore also two intros, both great actually. First is Ankliv (Duck life more directly but it is a valid direct translation of Duck Tales) with very close direct translation of the lyrics:

The second one being Joakim Von Anka och tre knattar (Scrooge McDuck and three nephews (?), I'm a bit uncertain about my translation there) with lyrics that pretty much has nothing to do with the original. It emphasis more on the characters than Duckburg and the things that happens there and especially mentions the nephews more often than Scrooge, but it is still good. Oh yeah, and the series name here was Knatte, Fnatte och Tjatte på Äventyr (Heuy, Dewey and Louie on adventure or is it Adventures with Heuy, Dewey and Louie?):

This is also the one that got the extended version if someone is interested. Which is my favorite? I don't actually know and I can't even lean toward nostalgia because I can't say which I heard first without looking it up (it's the Ankliv one if you are curious). Still a great show 25 years later. It's almost as old as I am.

Dragon Quest VIII

 

Have been playing Dragon Quest 8 since I finished Tales of the Abyss. At the moment I played around 144 hours and of those 40 hours are a second playthrough. Somehow I find myself enjoying this game more that I can spend over 10 hour playing a damn bingo game with a cheating little slime giving me wrong numbers all the time. Hate that slime. So I have wasted around 2 days straight just playing in the casino to get some special items and extra cash cause you are constantly in need of some extra money, leaving gambling as the only viable option.

But why do I find this game so captivating? Could be to the simplistic story which reminds me of fairy tales, meaning it's pretty cliched. You, the only survivor of a curse that has befallen the Kingdom of Trodain has been tasked by King Trode (who turned into a troll like creature) to find the jester Dhoulmagus who is responsible while protecting the king and his daughter Princess Medea (who was turned into a horse and pull around the wagon). On the road you meet the legendary cockney-speaking bandit Yangus, the femme fatal Jessica Albert and the womanizing, card-cheating templar Angelo, all with personal motives to hunt Dhoulmagus (well, except Yangus who just follows "the guv"). On the quest you encounter dragons (well, it is a Dragon Quest-game), sages, ghosts, bunny girls, slimes, a giant technicolor bird and more when you try to lift the curse and bring the culprit to justice... at first glance. True to Dragon Quest formula the main villain changes half way through and a larger plot of darkness unfolds in front of you.

Really, you can see the plot as early as the first town and this is gonna be spoilers. You are in hot pursuit of the criminal  when you gather information in a town where one person died, Master Rylus, Dhoulmagus teacher and apparently a descendent of a sage according to a priest. And there is 7 of them, who would have thought? Could they possibly sealed some evil away? Haven't I heard that before? Yeah, so the story is cliched, but with good characters it doesn't matter and here the game shines bright. I actually care for them and with the good voice-acting it really feels worth it helping them. The only one I had problems with was Angelo regarding his voice. He's to silent most of the time, but when he shows stronger emotions or just speaks a bit louder it feels perfect. I just have to mention that I love Yangus dialect. This in contrast to, say, Baiten Kaitos where the voice-acting more or less sucked. 

Back to silent, once again you have a silent protagonist and I don't mind that. Also notable how good this game is are the dialog where the character chosen names are mentioned and they just ignore it or use a stand in word like hero, he and so on making the dialogue run smoothly. Compare again to Baiten Kaitos where they just left a pause around your name completely throwing you out of the fantasy. Your character, a palace guard with close bonding to the princess since 10 years back. Sweet romance, but she is promised away to the prince of Argonia, Charmless... I mean Charmles. Yeah, you can see that's not gonna hold, but how could you, a mere guard ever take the hand of the beautiful princess? Well, I would have asked that question if I hadn't found out that the king of Argonia have an older brother who disappeared long ago searching for his true love and the first thing the king does when he sees me is saying he was reminded of someone. Come on, really? You going that way? All right, suits yourself.

The ending then? How did it go? It is a beautiful ending that would have brought tears in my eyes if it wasn't a small tiny bit that nagged me. The scene goes I'm escorting the princess to her wedding with Charmless who is ever so annoying, her disdain and sadness for this current event shows through and you can't even attend the wedding since you and the others aren't noble enough, forgetting that they consist of one descendent of a sage and a noble already before the game as well as saviors of the world (it doesn't count for anything does it?). So the other pushes you to do the right thing, crash the wedding with the princess happiness in mind. A peer pressure session later it's on. You storm the cathedral and prefer to challenge the templar guarding it when news come that the princess been kidnapped. Charmless accuse you so now it 's on. You escape and tries to reach the princess. Your friends have your back while you run down the stairs finding King Trode fighting of the guards with a twig (he would have been a bit more helpful if he had fought with us thinking about it than complain about it) making sure that Medea doesn't have to suffer. you arrive, she wants you to take her hand and you run of, eloping together. Damn, I'm weak for these love stories. 

And then the credits roll and it is afterwards the small problem arises. Back in Trodain you are finally home and the king apologizes for having forced Medea into this against her will and say he will respect her own choice, but it wouldn't be easy now that she rejected a prince. First thought is, who cares, she wants the handsome steadfast guard who have guarded her for over 10 years, took care of her and... what do you mean "who cares we are finally home. THE END"? WHAT, no statement like "who would want a prince when I have my personal guard, savior of the world, destroyer of Darkness"? What more do you ask for? No, apparently I have to be a prince, what kind of message is that? So now I have to play a second game since I screwed up my skill leveling system to be able to beat the bonus dungeon so I can get the happy ending. Oh well, beside from that little bit, it's a good game.

Tales of the Abyss

 

Finished playing Tales of the Abyss yesterday, the sad ending accompanied by rain falling upon my window while the credits rolled on the 3DS. While I saw it fitting I don't know if the people across the lake appreciated  the rain that much during the camping (sorry about the Swedish, but the music festival is probably to small to garner any English fans). A fun game, a bit short though with just 50 hours, but then I didn't search for every single side quest or that sort. Compared to Tales of Symphonia it's not that good. I quite prefer Symphonia with its very good story and tragic characters that you have to fight. You actually feel for them and their plight and goals, but at the same time you see the evils they commit. In that game the main character is quite one-dimensional, he's the idealistic youth who strive for a better world. Same as the main antagonist, but he's pretty much a communist with all the Homo Sovieticus thinking.

In Abyss on the other hand the main character is deeply flawed. He begins as a spoiled aristocratic brat, but due to a traumatic event that changes his world upside down he starts to reform. You hate him in the beginning, but after playing through those events you begin to feel sorry for him. He feels like a real character and that's pretty much one of the main themes of the game. The main antagonist on the other hand is just set on destroying the world to "free it from itself". In Symphonia that was pretty much the same goal for Mithos Yggdrasill, but the character felt much more alive and logical (in a... twisted kind of way). A great part in that story was also when his ancient friends tried to push him toward a different path instead of that idea he clinging on to in hope to bring a better world as well as revive his sister. In the very end all that you saw was a former hero that regressed to nothing but a lonely scared child with a dream of a better world, who pushed his friends and loved ones away. No wonder you feel sorry for him.

Van Grants then? He's not alone. He has people who believes in him to their very end and dies in order to protect them. He doesn't even seem to care. Yes, he has a tragic back-story as well as he was forced to be a weapon that destroyed his home, but it's not the fall from grace story that Symphonia used. Van's plan felt more like vengeance upon the world for what it did to him while Yggdrasill tried to make it better, but due to insanity would let it burn.

Other things? 3D was kinda useless. Yes, it gave depth, but not in the animated cut-scenes so why do it? Music on the other hand was beautiful and certain themes really puts tears in my eyes (or would if it wasn't so damn hot that they evaporate before they leave the eyes). And why would it not when it was partially composed by Motoi Sakuraba, the composer behind the Golden Sun-games (didn't think I would sneak that in would you)?