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self-loving-vampire · 3 years

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Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)

Ultima 7 was pretty much my introduction to RPGs, and I could not have asked for a better pair of games to ignite a lifelong passion into that genre. There is a real reason why this is still considered one of the best RPGs ever made.

While Ultima 7 is often discussed as a singular entity, it is actually two separate full-length games with one expansion each. For this post I will focus on the first one, Ultima VII: The Black Gate, as well as its expansion: Forge of Virtue.

I recommend playing the game using Exult, which adds some quality of life features (such as a feeding hotkey and a “use all keys” hotkey) as well as the option to use higher quality audio packs, implement bug fixes, and change the font into something easier on the eyes.

Summary

The protagonist of the Ultima series is “the Avatar”, a blank slate isekai protagonist from our world who has previously travelled to the world of Britannia several times and saved it from many threats, also becoming the shining paragon of the virtues meant to guide its people.

In this game, you once again cross the portal to Britannia to save it from a new and mysterious extradimensional threat. As soon as you arrive, you immediately discover two things:

1- A violent ritualistic murder has just taken place.

2- There is suspicious new organization called “The Fellowship” gaining adherents throughout the land.

It is up to you to investigate these developments.

Freedom

In terms of freedom, the Black Gate has plenty overall but there are areas where it is not quite there.

Once you can manage to get the password to get out of the locked-down town of Trinsic you are free to go nearly anywhere in the game right away and have multiple means of transportation to accomplish this, such as moongates or ships.

And there are some very real rewards to exploring like this as well, such as various treasure caches and other interesting findings.

The world is actually very small by modern standards, especially when settlements occupy so much of it, but both the towns and the wilderness areas are dense with content.

Notably, the game also allows you to perform various activities. From stealing to making a honest living by baking bread (which is something you can do thanks to how interactive the environment is) or gathering eggs at a farm.

Where it falls short is in terms of having multiple possible solutions for quests. Generally there is only one correct option for how to complete them.

That said, there is a bad ending you might be able to find in addition to the canonical good ending.

Character Creation/Customization

This is one of the big minuses of the game. While you can select your name and gender (and with Exult also have a wider selection of portraits) that is about it for character creation.

All characters will start with the same stats and there are no character classes. You can develop your stats through training and specialize through your choice of equipment, but by the end of the Forge of Virtue expansion you will have maxed stats and the best weapon in the game (a sword) regardless, and you will definitely need to cast a few spells to progress the main quest as well.

This can make every playthrough feel much like the last, as there isn’t that much of a way to vary how your character develops or what abilities they’ll end up having. You will always be a master of absolutely everything in the end unless you go out of your way to avoid doing the Forge of Virtue expansion.

Story/Setting

While the game is a bit too obvious and heavy-handed about its villains, there are still many interesting storylines in the game that deal with mature subjects that remain relevant today, such as cults, drug abuse, workplace exploitation, and xenophobia.

However, the setting as a whole is greater than any individual storyline taking place within. With the exception of most guards and bandits, every single NPC in the game is an individual with a name, schedule, living space, and defined personality. This was not the norm in 1992 and even today there’s not many games that really implement this well. The world is also very detailed in terms of things like the services available to you, the general interactivity of the game world, and the sheer amount of things that populate every corner of it.

The initial murder is not only a strong hook for investigation but also a shocking scene in its own right. The Guardian also proves to have a significant presence as a villain, using a mental link to remotely taunt you based on the context of what is happening. For example, if your companions die he may offer you some exaggerated, mocking pity.

Immersion

There is something very interesting and comfortable about just watching the various inhabitants of a town just go about their daily lives. They work during the day, eat at certain times (either at home or at one of the many taverns in the land), and sleep at night. They don’t just strangely repeat one single action during the day either, they may do things like open windows when the weather is nice or turn candles and streetlamps on at night.

In terms of immersion, Ultima 7 is my primary example of a game that does an excellent job of it even if there’s some weirdness going on with the setting. Even after having played so many more games throughout my life, only a few are on the same level as either part of Ultima 7 when it comes to immersion.

Gameplay

There are three broad aspects to the gameplay here that I want to discuss.

The first is combat. It is actually simple enough that you can call it almost entirely automatic. You simply enable combat mode by pressing C and your party will automatically go and fight nearby hostile enemies based on whatever combat orders you have selected for them (by default, attacking the closest enemy).

This is certainly better than having an outright bad or annoying combat system as the whole process is simple and painless, but I still wish there was more depth to it. Your stats, and especially your equipment, still play a role but other than things like pausing to use items or cast spells the whole process is very uninvolved.

I kind of wish there was more depth to it, but at least the other two areas of the gameplay are reasonably good.

The next aspect of gameplay is dialogue, which uses dialogue trees for the first time in the series. Previously, it required typing in keywords, which are retained but as dialogue options you can just click on rather than remember and type.

While the keywords are not really written as natural language most of the time (requiring some imagination to determine the specifics of your dialogue), the system is very easy to use regardless. It definitely lacks depth compared to something like Fallout: New Vegas, but so do most games.

The third and most notable thing is the way you interact with the world in general. It is both extremely simple and very immersive at the same time.

Ultima 7 is a game that can be played entirely with the mouse (though keyboard hotkeys make everything much more comfortable). You can right click a space to walk there, you can left click something to identify what it is, and you can use double left click to interact.

For example, double left click over an NPC to talk to them (or attack them, if combat mode is enabled), double left click a door to open it, double left click a loaf of bread to feed it to someone, and so on.

But there is more. By holding your click over an item and dragging it, you can move it. This has various applications beyond just being how you pick things up and add them to your inventory. For example, sometimes objects may be hidden beneath other objects, or objects may need to be placed in a specific location.

There are some downsides to this system. Particularly, the issue that keeping your inventory organized can be time-consuming when it has to be done by manually dragging objects around, and this can also make looting relatively slow.

Despite this, I think this kind of interaction system has a lot of potential. It just has some clunky aspects to be ironed out.

Aesthetics

Ultima 7 was very good-looking for its time, and although modern players will not be very impressed by how it looks or sounds, it still remains easily legible in a way that some other old games are not. That, and the ability to identify anything with just a left click, makes this a very easy game to make out at the very least.

Some of the music of this game is very distinctive too, and will likely stay with you after a full playthrough.

In terms of style, the Black Gate does have a bit of an identity while still having a very familiar medieval fantasy setting with things like trolls, animated skeletons, dragons, and liches. While there are aspects that help the setting distinguish itself a bit, they are relatively subtle.

If I had to describe the feeling of playing this, I’d call it “open and laid back”. While the main quest deals with a looming threat to the entire world, the game does not follow this overly closely at first, letting you deal with it at your own pace and without having your exploration options limited by the story.

In fact, when I was young I often just ignored that and went to live in a creepy ruin in the swamp.

(Don’t expect many pictures in these reviews, but have one of my “childhood home.”)

I’d say that Ultima 7′s second part (Serpent Isle) has a much stronger and also darker and more isolating atmosphere overall and that has a lot of appeal to me in particular, but the Black Gate is definitely more open and less linear, and I also appreciate that.

Accessibility

It pleases me to say that Ultima 7 remains extremely easy to pick up and play. Even setting up Exult is not complicated in the least.

The gameplay is intuitive and simple, the UI is minimal, stats are basic (and not even that important), and the combat is automatic. I expect that this is not only the easiest point of entry into the Ultima series as a whole but also likely even easier to get into than many modern RPGs!

It does have some aspects that may be a bit clunky, like all the inventory-related dragging, but it’s definitely not obscure or complicated even to someone who has not read the manual (though I’d still recommend doing that). I literally played this game as a tiny child who could barely read or understand English and still got really into it.

The one thing I’d like to point out is that the game uses a type of copy protection where at a couple of story points (including an extremely early one to leave the first town) you will be asked some questions that require using the manual and external map to answer. You can just google the answers for these.

Conclusion

As I write more of these reviews there will be many games that are interesting, but deeply flawed. Games that are worth trying out but maybe not finishing, as well as games that had interesting ideas but that I can’t entirely recommend due to serious problems that will easily put people off.

But I do not think the Black Gate is such a game. I can easily recommend it with no qualifiers despite the fact that it is almost 30 years old. This is really a game that all RPG fans should at the very least try for a few hours, and not only for its historical significance. It is genuinely a good game worthy of its praise.

I will review its sequel, Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle, next.

#vampire reviews rpgs #ultima 7 #the black gate

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eclectia · 4 years

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Bosses in Video Games: Spectacular Style!

Bosses in video games are a difficult beast to get right: too easy, and they're boring to play against but too hard and players may give up entirely, or the pacing of the game will be disrupted. If they're a secret boss, do they feel sufficiently “rewarding” for a player who has dedicated time to seeking them out?

Are they an adequate challenge for this stage of the game? What should the player feel going in and out of this fight? There is a careful balance that must be maintained in order to make a boss fight memorable, more importantly fun, and this gets harder the longer a game goes on, the more bosses a player encounters, the more memorable experiences -not only bosses but characters, cutscenes, levels-, there are to weigh up. Here in this series I'm gonna talk about bosses in games, how they work, how they don't, and why.

Bosses in video games exist for multiple reasons, dependent entirely upon the genre of game in which you are playing, though primarily as minor “tests” of player skill up to that point. One major problem with bosses is that they are only difficult because of their large health pool, or because of gimmicks put in place rather than interesting design. This is especially a problem in AAA games, where the focus is less upon innovation as it is marketability and a “blockbuster” experience that more often than not hands players wins and power-fantasies.

This isn't a problem: sometimes, games just want to be fun, rather than challenging, and sometimes gamers want to relax, not be challenged; not every boss need be an interesting, challenging, or gruelling experience nor do they need to be the focus of every game, and not every game has to offer a tricky boss to encounter. There are, after all, many ways you can achieve this – through characters, levels, narrative, combat or puzzles. But good boss design can stand out. Here I'll be discussing strictly combat-oriented bosses, not ones you can “talk” around, such as those in Deus Ex or New Vegas, which will come later.

Why bother talking about this? Good bosses are memorable and fun to play against, can make or break a game and there are many ways you can go about designing and including them, with varying intents and effectiveness. Action games such as Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Revengence, and Nier: Automata, excel at boss fights for a multitude of reasons, in much the same way as their combat systems are engaging and dynamic: combat and boss fights are key to the overall experience. Such fights are the focus of the game, the set-piece of every level and so their bombastic nature and spectacle are both integral to the experience. Enemies aren't so much mindless, unending mooks in the traditional sense as they are characters who exist for the player to defeat, in order for the player themselves to feel good. Fun, and challenge both are the main foci of these games – the combat is fast, frenetic, kinetic but not chaotic: there are moves to learn, combos to pull off, enemy patterns to distinguish and feelings of power to reinforce.

As bosses with a focus upon action and physicality, the tone of these fights is more often than not focused upon whether or not it feels and looks good for the player. As such all aspects of design lend themselves to this dynamic. The intent is to make the player feel powerful, to put them in the shoes of Bayonetta, Dante, Raiden, et al. Mechanics come into play to encourage feelings of accomplishment and power but also to encourage repeated fights against this boss. These games may be short, but they will have a lot of replayability – often in the form of trophies, collectibles, difficulties, and different movesets.

Your first playthrough of any action game will probably not be perfect and part of the appeal for some players is to have to learn the manoeuvres and tactics in order to excel, to finally achieve that perfect -or stylish, or platinum- run. To this effect, there are multiple angles to the bosses and gameplay which work in synergy with one another, each of which compound upon this feeling as well as letting players tailor the experience to their own desires.

Foremost is the variety in weapon-sets and abilities to learn, a mechanic present in all of these games. You obtain weapons and sometimes abilities as you play, spending currency to get different – but not inherently better- items: and instead of obligatory tutorials or weapons “training” lessons, you spend the following level learning how these weapons or powers work, how to execute their unique combinations, how to fight with them effectively. All of this will be rounded off with a boss fight that tests not only this skill, but all the skills thus far, that you must beat to progress. This teaches mechanics through gameplay without restricting the flow of the game or shoehorning the player – combat is fun, weapons are fun, the player decides how best and which weapons to use according to their own preference.

Of course, some players do wish they had the ability to practice- loading screens in Bayonetta, instead of being “empty” spaces, have tutorial prompts so you can practice moves and use newly acquired weapons before you enter the game. This doesn't disrupt the flow of the game and allows for some experimentation outside of where it could potentially detract from how “cool” a player feels. Executing combos is fine but if its your first time using this weapon and you mess up, you don't feel as heroic; it takes you out of playing that character and therefore out of the action and story.

This flowing approach to combat encourages experimentation, reinforcing within the player that there is no one way to approach the game insomuch as there's whatever feels right to you. A pair of gauntlets may be faster and closer-combat oriented than a sword, but a sword might hit harder and in sweeping arcs. It is up to you. This choice, a decision on the players' part, effects little outside of a preferred play style, – thus, the decision is firmly in the players' hands and this gives a freeform, flowing style to the whole game. You are not told which weapons to use: you are given the ingredients and told to do as you will.

Compounding upon this is that bosses aren't so much a test of whichever weapon or power is strongest as they are a test upon player skill: execution of combos, learning moves and reacting in kind. In these games, mastery of the mechanics, rather than “better” items are what's important. This ensures the very gameplay itself encourages experimentation, as well as reinforcing that weapons, combos and attacking are all the focus of the game. This teaches through gameplay how best to learn the mechanics; in these games, you aren't on the defensive – defensive moves will be used, of course, and their correct execution is integral but only insofar as you are then able to follow up with an especially powerful attack.

Attacking is the focus. Not only that, but looking good whilst attacking – timed button presses, combos, QTEs and cross-cuts to story beats, and so on. But, far be it from the game to just encourage mindless combat, which would get boring very quickly if mashing buttons any which way achieved the same results as a considered attack. Every boss has certain moves, some more difficult than others but all able to be read, learned, and reacted to by the player with enough skill and patience; the ways in which players are given “hints” to learn are in such mechanics as animation wind ups -often known as telegraphing-, audio cues and musical stings.

This both makes learning skills and combos intrinsic to the core game design, every aspect combining into a uniform experience, and gives each boss a unique personality through gameplay as well as cutscenes, that help to both focus upon its threat, and its story. Frequent cross-cut cutscenes where the boss reacts to a certain damage threshold or where the level itself reacts, by splitting apart or spewing lava – lending credence and weight to the consequences of your fighting, personality to the levels, and another level of difficulty to the fight - or to an action on the players part, turn each battle into a story the player must fight through. This is dynamic, cinematic and more importantly reduces the number of expository cutscenes you might need to tell a story. If the level design and combat both contribute to telling a story you can focus as much on these aspects as a cutscene – which in the case of this sort of game, might otherwise take the player out of the action. The ultimate goal of many of these attributes is to make the player feel powerful, heroic, and as though they are the player character.

A secondary achievement for many of these games in the players’ eyes is to get that perfect “platinum” trophy: to prove, if only to yourself, that you can ace those combos, dodge every attack, learn every telegraph a boss gives off. These exist only if you want to pursue them, turning levels into less of a slog of repetition and more a self-imposed challenge the player can undertake if they've beaten the campaign. From the ground up these games are designed to be accessible and fun, with easy modes for those who just want to look cool and play through without the difficulty in order to give players the same cinematic, bad-ass combat feel regardless of whether this is their first time or their hundredth; if it is the latter, however, you are probably playing it with a goal in mind, challenging yourself.

This doesn't mean games are easy; just that you can get to the end of them with basic-level skills or weapons, as long as you “feel” cool. In these games, spectacle is key. Spectacle, and making the player feel powerful and heroic. All aspects of the games design compound upon this as well as making players look, and feel, good. Devil May Cry's “Style” system, wherein you get ranked on how well you defeated a wave of enemies, compounds upon this, as does Bayonetta's trophies at the end of every level: the very way in which you are marked is, in itself, a hint towards stylish gameplay.

In my next post on this topic, we'll be tackling puzzle bosses: those intricately designed behemoths, and scaleable foes which perplex and encourage players to think on their feet, as well as swing their sword.

#bayonetta #devil may cry #game design

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pointycorgiears · 4 years

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Dancing Fountains

A Danny/Terry ficlet.

“Everything was possible to steal. Danny was just one of the very few who had eyes ambitious enough to do it.

And he had done it. He proved the impossible was possible.

There was always a bigger fish though. And the one Danny was considering as he watched the fountains was not made of money.

Well, sort of.”

I don’t see much of this pairing, so I want to experiment with it a little bit. This is the first of several fics about these two.

Symphonic music floated on the evening air. The fountains of the Bellagio twirled and danced, perfectly in sync with the tune. An audience was gathered at the edge of the pool, entranced and mystified by the nimble spouts.

Danny was at the forefront, hunched over the concrete railing, surrounded by strangers. This was the second fountain show he’d seen since arriving to that spot. He hadn’t moved in awhile. He’d spent most of the day stalking the floors over multiple casinos along the Strip. He only landed that morning. He was currently wandering aimlessly across the country, hitting his favorite hot spots, swindling quick cash wherever he could. Tess separated from him again. Rusty was busy with his hotels. Danny was alone.

He always ended up in Las Vegas eventually. There were lots of desperate people here. He had done lots of jobs here. It was a sort of comforting location to be in, he supposed. Plus, there was always something to be obtained.

The music slowed and the line of fountains swooped down low in response, before rising back up in a pitch.

He always gravitated to this casino more than any other, and Vegas had no shortage of casinos to scout.

He always looked to the big fish. The unattainable. The most magnificent. The coveted kind of treasure many others in his game would say was impossible to steal.

Everything was possible to steal. Danny was just one of the very few who had eyes ambitious enough to do it.

And he had done it. He proved the impossible was possible.

There was always a bigger fish though. And the one Danny was considering as he watched the fountains was not made of money.

Well, sort of.

It had been in the back of his mind ever since the Bank job. The way Terry Benedict watched him with interest a little too long while visiting his office and discussing plans. Danny tried to cut the thought out right away, told himself to stop, don't entertain such a thing, don't even think about it.

He let the idea linger though, far after the Bank job. It even intensified after Tess left. (Or rather, he left. She still had the house.) He knew himself too well. He could not resist such a challenge. It was just one more thing to steal.

So there he was, staring down the towering form of the Bellagio through the flying mist.

The water exploded from the center ring in one final crescendo and fell graciously back into the pool. The music faded from the loud speakers and the crowd began to disperse after a short applause. The performance was over. Danny was alone again. He stayed by the pond, watching the casino lights dance over the ripples. He had nowhere pressing to go. He could remain there the whole forty five minutes until the next show and no one would pay him any mind.

"Ocean."

Danny froze at the voice. Except for that person.

He whirled around, his thief instincts caught completely off guard as he was lost in his mind watching the water. He tried not to look too oblivious as his eyes narrowed at Terry standing under the shadow of one of the trees that lined the pool edge.

"Benedict," he stated. It was all he could muster out. He awkwardly cleared his throat, summoning his cool bravado back up. He put on a charming smirk. "Come down to mingle with the commonfolk?"

Terry approached him, stepping out into the reflected light from the waves. "I like to personally make sure the fountains are properly synchronized from time to time," he said smoothly.

He looked just as smooth to Danny too. Tanned skin, hair slicked back, shoulders erect. All contained within only the finest black suit jacket known to man. He literally looked like a million dollars. He was worth far beyond even that.

"So you basically come out for fresh air, is what you're saying?" Danny watched him walk up to the edge of the pool. Terry placed his hands on the cool concrete barrier.

"You very well know everything in my casinos is perfect. I hold the outside to the same standard."

Terry's dark eyes scanned across the fountain pool, studying every minute detail. He spoke to Danny without facing him. "Are you pulling a job or something? Where's the other ten? Casing Caesar's?"

"Just me," Danny replied, watching him watch the water. "And I'm not on a job. I'm just in town."

"Already lost everything, have you?" Terry smirked at him. "That's how it goes when all you do is try to take what isn't yours."

"I'm not here to gamble."

"Then why are you here?" Terry asked, looking him dead in the eye. "Why are you standing outside my hotel?"

Danny studied him, assessing the threat level. There wasn't really anything to be wary of, yet. "Just enjoying the sights. I like the fountains."

Danny returned the stare that Terry pelted him with. They both held still, just mere feet from each other, sizing each other up. Danny wasn't going to back down. He was there because something valuable had caught his fancy, and he was going to take it. The opportune moment just needed to present itself.

He wasn't sure if it was the reflection of the water, but there was a subtle glimmer in the casino owner's eyes. It pierced right through Danny and his throat tightened. Terry was a smart man. To underestimate him would be a fatal mistake. He knew why Danny was there.

Danny forced a light panic down at that realization. That left only one option. Play it, take his chances, place his bet. He was good at this game. He knew he was charming and attractive.

"You've been out here a long time now." He just had to get the words right. Let the other fall into his trap so he could move in and take what he wanted.

"It's a slow night. It's off season." Terry was willing to play right into it, seemed. He didn't budge, only looked out over the pool again. "My staff can handle the casino floor without me for awhile."

Danny shuffled closer to him, just enough to make Terry glance from the corner of his eye. The man didn't move though, even if Danny was getting very close to invading his personal space. "Are you satisfied with the fountains?"

Terry smiled, gaze fixed on the water, and Danny noticed it was a genuine smile, full of pride. "Yes. They are just as beautiful as ever."

Danny crept closer, his own eyes bright and gleaming. He dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Yeah, beautiful."

Terry turned to him, suddenly realizing just how close the thief was. He kept in place though. Danny knew the man was too proud to flinch. He would not back away so easily.

Terry stared at him, hard and calculating. Danny could almost see the wheels turning in his head, almost unsure of what his next move should be. He was nearly right where Danny wanted him to be. He needed to be pushed just a little further.

Danny completely closed the gap between them, his arm brushing against the other's. He held Terry's gaze.

Terry was unblinking. "You stole from me."

"I gave it back," Danny smiled. He leaned in, hovering just close enough to Terry to feel his breath. He paused, waiting for the other to respond.

Terry remained rigid like a statue. His focus was fixed on Danny, but Danny could not read him. Even with the thief so close, his face was stoic, emotionless.

A quiver of anxiety ran up Danny's spine, the same one he sometimes felt when a miscalculation occurred on a job. A flicker of doubt flashed across his face. His eyes lost just a fraction of their shine. Terry continued to stare at him, indifferent.

Nothing.

His bet was losing. Danny shifted his eyes away, lowering his head. He internally cussed out his own ego. He was mistaken. He went too far. Once again, he found himself too eager to take what was clearly not his. He should have planned better, he should have waited a little longer.

An apology started bubbling up in his throat for overstepping his bounds. He mumbled his way through it. "Hey, I-I'm sorry..." He glanced up at Terry, who looked unconvinced. Danny shook his head, preparing to step back. "I got a little too carried away. I-"

He was cut off when Terry's mouth suddenly nipped at the corner of his. Not a kiss, more like a soft bite. It was so quick, he didn't have time to blink.

Danny stared at him. Terry's hard gaze remained unchanged and the man made no other move to give Danny anymore hints.

Danny's mind seemed to completely grind to a halt. He looked at Terry, and he knew he appeared confused and didn’t know how to hide it.

Terry finally let a smirk fall across his face. "So, you are capable of apologizing."

Danny could not make any words form. Terry's dark eyes flashed at him, much like a predator's would at its prey.

"You will never steal from me again," he said coolly. "From now on, you will only receive what I choose to give you."

Terry suddenly turned from him, walking away, heading for the path that would lead him to the entrance of his hotel. "I will know if you dare to set foot inside."

Danny wasn't sure if it was a warning or an invitation. He had a sudden urge to find out.

He watched Terry make his way up the path in the dark. He ignored the tiny voice in the back of his head that said this was a bad idea. It was too risky. This was not a job he should take by himself. However, he was alone, which meant no one was there to stop him or try to reason with him.

He knew himself all too well, and he had nowhere important to go, anyway.

End.

#danny ocean #terry benedict #ocean's 11 #ocean's eleven #ocean's 13 #fanfiction #myart

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josephlrushing · 4 years

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The Outer Worlds for Nintendo Switch Makes a Hot Mess of a Great Game

The Outer Worlds from Obsidian Entertainment was my favorite game of 2019, and I already replayed it on PC in early 2020. It was an excellent role-playing game with tons of great shooter and melee combat, fantastic writing and characters, and storytelling. It has now arrived on the Nintendo Switch as an absolute hot mess of a full-priced port.

I recommend you avoid it until significant patching and price drops occur — unless you only have the Switch as a gaming option, in which case you might still love it as much as I did despite the warts.

Here are the basics about The Outer Worlds:

The Outer Worlds is a new single-player sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. Lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy, you awake decades later than you expected only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony.

As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter a host of factions all vying for power, who you decide to become will determine the fate of everyone in Halcyon.

In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable.

Story: Obsidian Entertainment is known for producing the best and most interesting stories in the role-playing world. They were formed by people with resumes, including the legendary Baldur’s Gate and Fallout games of the 90s, and have themselves created most of the best-written role-playing games of the past 15 years. These include Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2, Fallout New Vegas, Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2, and more.

The Outer World jumps right in with a compelling premise and a wild set of characters. You will never be bored from a lack of exciting quests and interactions. As always, with Obsidian, your choices have consequences, and you can align yourself in a variety of ways to get to several possible outcomes and endings.

To me, the story was what kept me engaged and coming back for more. Obsidian delivered more of their incredible characters and companions, each of whom has their own backstory and motivations and will try to either influence you or seek your approval for their own desires. Fortunately, the game we got on the Switch is complete and has all of the characters, quests, and story intact.

Graphics: How do I say this politely? The graphics on the Switch port are a mess. I am not a huge critic of graphics in portable versions of games – I will be very forgiving to get a game ‘on the go.’ Plenty of Switch ports of PC games such as Doom (2016), Wolfenstein II: New Colossus, Diablo III, Civilization VI, and of course, the recent The Witcher 3 all look great while each had to make small compromises.

For The Outer Worlds, the compromises were VERY significant, particularly when playing in handheld mode. When playing, docked things are significantly better, but still a significant step-down from playing on PC or consoles. In handheld mode (my preference), textures are mushy, details are washed out, the color palette is squashed, and the open areas suffer from significant pop-in of not just details but enemies and other characters.

As a result, it is possible to run down the road that looks empty and suddenly find yourself in the midst of a battle with enemies who popped in out of nowhere. This also happens to buildings and signs – you will just see blurry blobs until you are right on top of things. As I said, it is better in docked mode – but still not great because of performance.

What bothered me even more was that the graphic quality and performance was inconsistent throughout the game. You get used to the game looking like it was a decade old or more, then suddenly you see a few gorgeous areas with butter-smooth performance, which just makes it more jarring when you come upon a sign that you can’t read until it is right in front of you.

Performance: Porting house Private Division said they were targeting 1080p docked and 720p in handheld mode with 30 frames per second locked. It turns out that it was more like ‘wishful thinking.’ I have already discussed the mediocre graphics, but the bigger problem was all of the frame rate dips as I wandered the world. Not only could enemies pop in, but as the game lagged trying to catch up with frames, you could take loads of damage waiting for the sluggish controls and also waste loads of precious ammo.

The game doesn’t feel like it was polished enough to release. There was a ‘day one patch’ that helped things compared to previews I have seen/read, but it feels like a long way to go to have a satisfying game. While playing the game, there was another patch bringing the game to 1.01, which also helped a bit. But unfortunately, the game remains ‘fully up to date’ at the 1.01 patch. In comparison, my PC version has already had the 1.04 patch for a while. To make matters worse, Obsidian & Private Division even said, “Patch 1.4 has been released to all employees” when announcing it on Twitter – and has not made any comments on the Switch patch or responded to questions. The last communication was in late June, saying ‘working on it.’

Based on this, I would say that we need to assume that the 1.01 version is ‘end state’ for the Switch. And that is sad because while the game was one of my favorites — not just for 2019 but in general for recent years — but on the Switch, it is pretty tough to recommend due to performance and graphics.

Gameplay: The Outer Worlds is a combination FPS-RPG (first-person shooter and role-playing game), and in the manner typical for the genre, when you enter combat, your success is based on your personal ability to aim and time strikes and blocks, and also modifiers based on your characters skills and attributes. So you could play the game with a melee-focused brute and find your pistol much less useful than if you were a smaller, more dextrous character with skills focused on aim and concentration.

Aside from the performance issues, this style of game adapts pretty well on the Switch – and along with the story is the reason I played it to completion in handheld mode! Once I worked out a system to deal with enemies appearing spontaneously, it became fun to try out a variety of weapons and techniques – and since each enemy has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, it is critical that you develop an understanding of how to address those before you end up dead.

Because of the complex three-tier attribute/skill/perk system that all interact and influence everything you do, there is a need to focus on a couple of combat and non-combat areas to ensure success in all but the easiest play mode. For example, in my main playthrough, I was a science-focused melee combat character with high levels of diplomacy. That allowed me to maximize a cool science-based melee weapon (and getting that was a quest item itself!) but meant I wasn’t very skilled at opening locks or hacking computers. My gun skills were also very weak, but fortunately, you can bring along up to two companions on missions, which allows you to have a ranged sniper and hacker with you to complement your skills.

Controls: The Outer Worlds plays like a fairly standard first-person action-RPG. Using FPS-style console controls, most gamers will recognize augmented by the Switch’s gyroscope controls, which themselves can be tweaked to your liking. I will always prefer the keyboard & mouse control system, but whereas earlier handheld systems had inferior controls, I never felt like the controls in The Outer World held me back.

Conclusions: I wrestled with whether to title this review ‘even inconsistent graphics and erratic performance couldn’t kill my love for this game.’ But what I realized was that if I didn’t ALREADY love this game —and know it was worth working through the issues — I would likely have quit after a few hours and lamented the money lost in the purchase.

And that is how I end up calling this a ‘hot mess of a great game’ – yes, The Outer Worlds IS a great game, even on the Switch. There are so many classic gaming moments to explore – pretty much everything with Pavarti is a gem – and the breadth and variety of things to do, explore and destroy just make it a blast. BUT … you DO need to get past the graphics and performance – and that means fundamentally changing how you play the game compared to other systems. And – that is something it is hard for me to recommend.

Source: Personal Purchase

Price: $19.99 for The Outer Worlds from the Nintendo eShop.

What I Like: Excellent story; Intuitive control scheme; Tons of quests; Many hidden items/unlockables; Great skill trees; A variety of play styles and difficulty levels increases replay value to high level

What Needs Improvement: Inconsistent graphical quality and performance; Overall performance leads to difficult fights and adaptive strategies; Patches lag way behind PC and consoles

The post The Outer Worlds for Nintendo Switch Makes a Hot Mess of a Great Game first appeared on GearDiary.

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/09/28/the-outer-worlds-for-nintendo-switch-makes-a-hot-mess-of-a-great-game/

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iamcinema · 4 years

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IAC Reviews #015: R.S.V.P (2002)

Well, I suppose it’s safe to say that leaving the city isn’t going to do us much good with avoiding trouble. I guess if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em I suppose. I heard there’s a crazy party going on and we’re invited to join in on the fun. Let’s see what they’re up to and if it’s worth it. Just be sure to practice your social distancing and keep your masks on, and I’m sure we’ll be just fine.

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For this, we’re going to go back a-ways to the mid 2000s when FearNet was still around and if you were like me, you’d find yourself turning to it for a quick fix of the flavor of the week - which was typically lesser known or underrated slasher films or B to Z-grade horror films; like that from Troma. It was around here that I’d soak up what I could on long, boring summer nights and I was usually in for something halfway decent if I not only never heard of it before, but it appeared that a lot of people on IMDb didn’t either judging from the sparse reviews and next to no posts on the message boards. Along with today’s feature, this would include others like The Curve (1998), Cherry Falls (2000), My Little Eye (2002), Taboo (2002), Zombie Nation (2004), and S&Man (2006).

R.S.V.P is a 2002 dark comedy / suspense film, depending on who you ask, written and directed by Mark Anthony Galluzzo, who didn’t go on to do a whole lot in his career. Our story centers on a psychology student, Nick, with a obsession with true crime who invites his old friends and professor over for a fun night at his apartment where the only party game they’ll be playing is murder. It stars some familiar faces, like that of Jason Mewes, Reno Wilson, Rick Otto, Jonathan Banks, and the late Glenn Quinn. If you have a weakness for slasher oriented films from 90s to the early 2000s, then you might already be on board from the trailer alone; both with it’s general concept and how, even in 2002, the 90s are still carrying on in spirit. It’s almost nostalgic in a way, conjuring up memories at the movie theater with the black light carpeting, the smell of overpriced buttered popcorn, and the deafening THX logo opener. But, the question now is if that sweet nostalgia comes with a bitter aftertaste that’s hard to swallow.

R.S.V.P In One Gif:

Okay, so maybe this is going to be a bit harsh given what I have to say next. But, bear with me for a moment.

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Watching RSVP is a lot like sinking in lava. You think you’d abruptly catch on fire, but instead you sink slowly as you burn up due to the density of it. After all, we’re talking about molten rock here. This is the definition of a slow burner film if I’ve ever seen one and I know for some, that’s a hard pitch to sell because it can feel like scenes drag on and on for too long. I’ve griped about this in the past with films like Las Vegas Bloodbath (1989) with all the filler content and how the third act is like pulling teeth to blow through because it feels like nothing is happening. Well, in this case nothing of importance is happening.

So, what’s the deal with this then? The bulk of the film surrounds our protagonist, well antihero is probably a better title for him, Nick and his obsession with serial killers as a psychology student and how one would orchestrate the perfect crime. This discussion and obsession comes to ahead with two others early on; his professor Hal Evans and friend Jimmy, alongside a reoccurring theme of referencing and discussing true crime - with the 1924 Leopold and Loeb case being a subject of interest for Nick specifically due to the nature and legacy of the murder. Oh, and holy hell does this movie show how much it aged since the film was likely in production just as Gary Ridgeway was identified as the Green River Killer.

From here, we get a taste of who we’ll be stuck with for the next 90 minutes and I can’t say for sure if this is a party I’d stick around for, as it becomes almost another drunk/stoner college kid flick. I won’t say a ton about who is who and their relationships to each other to avoid straying too far into spoiler territory because just about all of it is strung together by foreshadowing. While there’s no surprise who our killer is, the suspense and mystery comes in the form of the motivation and when or if Nick will get caught while on his killing spree. The film has been compared to Hitchcock’s style of suspense in a few ways, and it reminds me of an example he made about suspense vs surprise with a bomb under a table;

“...In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.“

Unfortunately from here on out, there doesn’t feel like a whole lot to comment on beyond some minor exposition that links everyone together; such as three of the friends being in a band and there being some tension between some bitter ex-lovers. It’s more so just scene after scene of things happening and it feels like a drag, even if the metaphorical bomb is lurking just around the corner, which can have you just barely holding out for what the next murder will be and even then it’s hard to say if it was well worth the wait. The acting is a somewhat mixed bag and many of the characters are forgettable. It’s not the absolute worst I’ve ever seen, but not many of them did much to hold my interest enough to care if they lived or died.

Also, did I mention how strange the music choice is? We have moments where we have 90s electronic style beats, and then we cut to what I think is “Habanera” from Carmen and “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from The Nutcracker. I don’t get it. It’s kind of weird and a bit goofy if I’m being honest for the general tone it’s going for - unless that just plays into the dark, satirical comedy aspect. Speaking of which, some moments (especially the murders) are like a fine grilled ham and cheese sandwich with the payoff that I’m sure Patrick Bateman himself would recognize.

If I had to give one decent thing to say about it, it’s that the final act is probably the film’s strongest suit since the first ten minutes with our final chase and a further look into Nick’s psychology with understanding his methods of madness. I will say that while doing some research on this, I came across information about an alternate version of the film where we learn that Nick wasn’t the only person with blood on his hands. However, these scenes were removed due to confusing test audiences, but they can be found on the DVD. According to IMDb, this given more significance in a scene that plays during the credits, but I’m sure you could fit those pieces together on your own with how the final act plays out as a whole. But, I will say I wonder what I’m missing out on and if it parallels the Leopold and Loeb case; especially with how certain film adaptations were a bit heavy handed with focusing on LGBTQ themes, and given what we see unfold, it did pique my interest a bit.

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So, now we’re here. The party is over and the dead are waiting to be picked up. Where do I stand on this one? I recall when I saw this years ago that I didn’t exactly care for it and I rated it 3/10. I thought the characters were bland and uninteresting, it was too hammy for my general liking for being classified as a dark comedy, and I didn’t really care for the pay off. It was a major blur, and I suppose that’s telling to how invested I was in it. But, now we’re here close to 15 years later and something had to change, right?

Well, sort of. I guess it’s just more so telling that my own niche hobbies and interests are bleeding into things and why I have a guilty enjoyment for things like The Curve (1998) and the August Underground trilogy (2001-2007) and it’s focus on true crime, murder, and the concept of the true perfect crime. It was neat to look back on, even if it was just brief glimpses of the criminal psychology discussions. I still don’t particularly care too much for most of the characters, mostly the members of Whiskey Dick. The kills themselves are okay when they’re done well, but a good portion of them are cut to white so you miss all the action. The film is relatively bloodless as well, which is something I felt let down by, as the goriest scene happens in the opening and it’s downhill from there for the most part as far as that’s concerned.

Overall, this is just meh to me. I wouldn’t call it atrocious, but it’s not good either, not even by Saturday night popcorn flick standards. It’s a okay watch if you’re bored and don’t have much else going on, just don’t expect anything worthwhile even for the times. There’s better films from the era out there, but there’s also worse...so much worse.

RATING: 4/10

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pantryplanet65-blog · 5 years

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Presenting the Eater Awards Winners Across 24 Cities

Sure, there are certain restaurants and chefs that gain nationwide renown — places recognized among America’s 38 Essential Restaurants, for example. But the beauty of dining out is that, even in this day and age, it’s a local game: The best restaurants, bars, bakeries, and even food trucks are born of their communities, reflect local flavors, and are indispensable parts of their neighborhoods.

Which is why we’re pleased to announce the ninth annual Eater Awards across 24 Eater cities, recognizing the establishments that have taken their cities by storm. These are the restaurants that emerged as community hubs, the bars that became destinations, the pop-ups that made waves, and the chefs who made an impact on the local dining scene and perhaps beyond.

Below, take a peek at the establishments and individuals in 24 cities that emerged as truly award-worthy in 2018 — and head here for this year’s national Eater Awards winners.

Atlanta

Eater Atlanta’s Restaurant of the Year is Tiny Lou’s: “Hotel restaurants never caught on as a dining option for local Atlantans. That is, until Tiny Lou’s opened on the ground floor of the newly-renovated hipster paradise, Hotel Clermont on Ponce De Leon Avenue, above the infamous strip club, the Clermont Lounge. The French-American restaurant’s eponym danced at the hotel’s Gypsy Room in the 1950s. The timeless design of Tiny Lou’s includes elegant touches — white marble floors, brass accents, and bold wallpaper — harkening back to the golden age of fine dining at luxury hotels. With a dream team of culinary talent, including executive chef Jeb Aldrich, who worked alongside his father, Jay Swift, at 4th and Swift, veteran manager and director of restaurants Nick Hassiotis, and young pastry chef dynamo, Claudia Martinez, the restaurant is a breathtaking example of a nouveau French brasserie.”

See the rest of Atlanta’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Austin

Eater Austin’s Restaurant of the Year is Better Half: “In a year where many Austin restaurants and chefs turned to the oh-so-casual, all-day dining craze, it is West 5th Street cafe and bar Better Half that best exemplifies how the trend is done well. It makes sense, since co-owners Matt Wright, Matthew Bolick, and Grady Wright already run the very good East Austin cafe and beer bar Wright Bros Brew & Brew — they know what they’re doing when it comes to creating a warm, inviting, and, most importantly, accessible restaurant.

The result is a space that is, well, just perfectly Austin. There’s the easygoing yet still refined menufrom chef Rich Reimbolt (of course there are tater tots made out of cauliflowers and a solid cheeseburger), a killer coffee program, effortless cocktails, a perfectly curated wine and beer list, a very dog-friendly back patio, and — as a sigh of relief to Austinites — plentiful parking. Better Half is a place that fulfills every potential need.”

See the rest of Austin’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Boston

Eater Boston’s Restaurant of the Year is Celeste: “Created by a passionate team with roots in the arts — a filmmaker, an architect, a writer, an artist — Union Square’s new Peruvian spot Celeste is more of an experience than a restaurant. Sure, you’ll eat and drink, and it’s all wonderful, from the gorgeous ceviches to the fragrant lomo saltado, not to mention the pisco- and mezcal-based cocktails or the carefully chosen beer and wine selections. (Try Oyster River’s pét-nat, Morphos, a bubbly mainstay on the wine list that complements everything, including Celeste’s celebratory vibe.) But it’s not just about the food...”

See the rest of Boston’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Charleston

Eater Charleston’s Chef of the Year is Evan Gaudreau of Renzo: “Chef Evan Gaudreau helms the kitchen at modern, buzzing pizzeria Renzo. his Neo-Neapolitan pie is a riff on the classic — it’s similar in style but not quite traditional. The main difference is his addition of a savory natural levain, which leads to a fermentation of the dough — the entire process takes about 60 hours. He’s also the mind behind the wild toppings, savory starters, and Fernet ice cream. Gaudreau keeps it weird, yet approachable.”

See the rest of Charleston’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Chicago

Eater Chicago’s Restaurant of the Year is Pacific Standard Time: “Chicago’s food scene has been trending away from meaty gut bombs and towards lighter fare in recent years, and arguably no restaurant in recent memory has done it better than Pacific Standard Time. The California-inspired spot, helmed by former Nico Osteria and Avec chef de cuisine Erling Wu-Bower, in partnership with mentors and Chicago hospitality icons Paul Kahan and Donnie Madia, overcame obstacles to help Chicago diners fall in love with an outside-the-box menu that draws from an array of different cultures inside a breezy space in River North.”

See the rest of Chicago’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Dallas

Eater Dallas’ Restaurant of the Year is Macellaio: “After opening Lucia in 2010 and earning a reputation as one of Dallas’s most talented chefs, David Uygur returned in 2018 with Macellaio, a modern Italian restaurant with a major focus on salumi. ... Macellaio is also responsible for one of the year’s most-discussed dishes: tender confit duck tongues served with an addictive onion dip. Unlike Lucia, where a reservation is still pretty difficult to score, Macellaio makes for a more accessible entry point into Uygur’s cuisine that’s a little more affordable.”

See the rest of Dallas’ 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Denver

Eater Denver’s Bar of the Year is The Family Jones: “The Family Jones Spirit House is hard to pin down, and that’s precisely why we love it — a distillery, a bar, and a restaurant combined, each with talent at the top of their respective games steering the larger ship. Distiller Rob Masters sets the tone here with his imposing copper still, perched in plain sight above the half-moon bar downstairs. Barman Nick Touch is behind the drinks, made with all-house spirits and crèmes and shrubs. And chef Tim Dotson creates a food menu that pairs well but also stands up just fine on its own. Meet the Denver bar scene 2.0. In a city that has produced enough over-the-top cocktails and vodka sodas alike, this new combination at the Family Jones is a refreshing twist.”

See the rest of Denver’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Detroit

Eater Detroit’s Restaurant of the Year is Marrow: “Good things come to those who wait. That’s the case with many of Detroit’s restaurants but even more so with Marrow, whose West Village space was originally designated for a restaurant in 2015. By 2017, the Royce Detroit wine bar’s Ping Ho had stepped in to help usher in a new concept that combined a neighborhood butcher shop with a restaurant. Marrow, which arrived earlier this fall, manages to seamless blend the two halves and doesn’t take itself too seriously in the process. Customers enter through the bar and butcher shop passed a sign that unabashedly declares “We Got Hot Birds” in its advertisement for rotisserie chicken.”

See the rest of Detroit’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Houston

Eater Houston’s Chef of the Year is Jonny Rhodes of Indigo: “ Chef Jonny Rhodes, an alum of Oxheart and chef-owner at Indigo in Lindale Park, is at the forefront of the city’s most innovative, socially aware cuisine. At his 13-seat restaurant tucked into the neighborhood where he grew up, Rhodes experiments endlessly with preserved ingredients of all kinds, whether fermented, smoked, pickled, dried or cured. He also offers diners a lesson in the history of the cuisines of the African diaspora, and the influence they’ve had on dining in America and beyond. It’s a lesson worth hearing, and it’s paired with some of the most captivating dishes in town.”

See the rest of Houston’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Las Vegas

Eater Las Vegas’ Restaurant of the Year is the NoMad Bar: “The name NoMad Bar is a misnomer, since the restaurant from chef Daniel Humm and restaurateur Will Guidara is really an all-day restaurant with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night dishes along with that award-winning bar program from bar director Leo Robitschek. The bar and restaurant sits off the lobby of NoMad and the new NoMad casino, a perfect spot for a cocktail before a show or a bite to eat late at night. The bar comes draped in oxblood red velvet chairs and sofas, some elevated as they approach the commanding bar, while an Austrian velvet and sheer curtain, custom made by Rosebrand, cloaks the bar. In the corner, a Steinway piano sits ready for live performances, often jazz in the evening. The restaurant’s menu offers a lesson in perfection. From the carrot tartare and black truffle tart to the hot and cold oysters and mixed fry, diners here will find a playful yet carefully executed menu that only exhibits why the sister bar in New York earned a Michelin star.”

See the rest of Vegas’ 2018 Eater Award winners >>

London

Eater London’s Chef of the Year is Clare Smyth: “For a chef to open their first restaurant in London is never easy. To do so having been in charge of one of the country’s only three-Michelin-starred restaurants — while working for Britain’s most famous chef — for eight years, means that expectations might hinder rather than help the effort. For Clare Smyth to open Core and earn two Michelin stars at the first available opportunity, with a fine dining restaurant in Notting Hill that is table-clothed without being claustrophobic, and to earn a controversial title by the World’s 50 Best awards body that overlooked Core itself, indicates that she remains firmly among this country’s and the world’s greatest chefs.”

See the rest of London’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Los Angeles

Eater LA’s Design of the Year is The Wolves: “One of the city’s most unexpected cocktail and restaurant projects, The Wolves comes from Al Almeida and Daniel Salin, with partner Isaac Mejia as a managing partner and bartender Kevin Lee helming the drink menu. And what a drink menu it is. ... But the ultimate star of The Wolves is the space, an homage to Parisian salons that uses actual European antiques and period-authentic pieces, creating something that’s unlike anything LA has ever seen. Tucked into the Alexandria Hotel, a century-old building in Downtown’s Historic Core, The Wolves is an antique designer’s delight from the entrance up to the stunning illuminated ceiling.”

See the rest of Los Angeles’ 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Miami

Eater Miami’s Restaurant of the Year is Amara at Paraiso: “After years of anticipation, Michael Schwartz’s Edgewater stunner Amara at Paraiso finally debuted in the beginning of 2018. And more importantly — it lived up to its hype. The two-story, waterfront eatery, which Schwartz called his “love letter to Miami,” was one of the most exciting new spots of the year, seemingly knocking every detail out of the ballpark. From its enviable waterfront location, to its flavorful Latin American inspired fare, to its well-executed wine list, every part of the dining experience was thought out in meticulous detail. Proving once again, good things come to those who wait.”

See the rest of Miami’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Montreal

Eater Montreal’s Restaurant of the Year is Pastel: “Kabir Kapoor and Jason Morris were already accomplished Montreal restaurateurs — they made that clear with their Griffintown restaurant Le Fantôme. Now, three years later, their talents have become even stronger as they brought Pastel to Old Montreal. With Kapoor dubbing Pastel as “the complete yin to the yang of Fantôme”, the new restaurant marked progression from the pair’s first opening. Where Fantôme was playful, Pastel skewed intellectual in its approach, boosted by a much larger space and kitchen that allowed for greater experimentation.”

See the rest of Montreal’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Nashville

Eater Nashville’s Restaurant Import of the Year is Emmy Squared: “Opening in March of this year, Hyland’s Nashville outpost of the Detroit-style pizza joint has already found its way onto most every best pizza and burger list in the city. While there have been a flurry of restaurateurs nationwide focusing on importing restaurants to Nashville, many of them relocating here to do so, the Gulch’s Emmy Squared shows that yes, the city did really need another place for pizza and burgers.”

See the rest of Nashville’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

New Orleans

Eater New Orleans’ Restaurant of the Year is Bywater American Bistro: “Bywater American Bistro, the feverishly anticipated restaurant from James Beard Award-winningchef Nina Compton, followed a tough act considering the meteoric success of Compton’s first restaurant, Compére Lapin. Opened by Compton, Larry Miller, and former Compére sous chef Levi Raines, Bywater delivered big-time.

Already named one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America, the precisely executed menufrom Compton and Raines acknowledges the various groups that make up New Orleans’ cuisine as it also reflects America’s current culinary landscape with tuna-brasaola-topped toast, rabbit curry, crab fat rice, and a spaghetti pomodoro that has critic Bill Addison ‘wondering if Compton has the lock on the next pasta trend.’”

See the rest of NOLA’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

New York City

Eater NY’s Chef of the Year is Kyo Pang: “For a couple years, plenty of people knew that Kyo Pang was a talent. Her tiny version of Malaysian cafe Kopitiam had a cult following for her deft take on sweets and classics from her native country. But it closed due to a rent hike — and as far as shutters go, turns out this one might have been a blessing. Her bigger and more ambitious version of Kopitiam, opened along with restaurateur Moonlynn Tsai, has been one of the most satisfying new restaurants of the year, and with it, Pang’s following has reached an expanded audience.”

See the rest of NYC’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Philadelphia

Eater Philly’s Restaurant of the Year is Suraya: “The one restaurant everyone was talking about in 2018 was Suraya, an all-day destination spot in Fishtown (1528 Frankford Avenue). The Lebanese menu of flatbreads and sandwiches during the day and kebabs and whole grilled fish in the evenings is inspired by dishes siblings Nathalie Richan and Roland Kassis grew up with in Beirut — the restaurant is named after their grandmother. They own Suraya with Greg Root and chef Nick Kennedy of cocktail bar R&D (formerly Root). With attractive design both indoors and in the courtyard garden, shelves stocked with olive oils and spices for sale, creative cocktails, and an expertly executed Middle Eastern menu, it’s no wonder Suraya was an immediate hit.”

See the rest of Philly’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Portland

Eater Portland’s Restaurant of the Year is Canard: “This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone: Gabriel Rucker’s exceptional restaurant, which was originally branded a wine bar, extends far beyond that classification. Think of it, instead, as a modern diner, a restaurant defined by its accessibility, playfulness, and eclectic style. Beyond its eye-catching dishes and drinks, like its foie-gras-washed bourbon cocktail and its borderline excessive stack of smothered duck fat pancakes, Canard’s beauty comes in its simple touches — a piece of cinnamon toast in the morning, a cabbage salad tossed in a house-made creamy dressing, a slider with American cheese. Rucker understands that a restaurant should be both understated and creative, but most of all, it should be fun.”

See the rest of Portland’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

San Diego

Eater San Diego’s Casual Restaurant of the Year is Lola 55: “In a town inundated by tacos, Lola 55 has dominated the conversation since its summer opening in the East Village. With a structure set up for success and the intention to become a serious contender in the fast-casual market, the eatery is banking on a crave-worthy menu from executive chef Drew Bent, made using admirable ingredients, to put them above the pack.”

See the rest of San Diego’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

San Francisco

Eater SF’s Bar of the Year is True Laurel: “From its inception as a spinoff to showcase Lazy Bear bar director Nicolas Torres’s cocktails, True Laurel was destined for greatness. The bar’s design — a quirky mid-century-inspired room filled with primary colors and an homage to the work of Isamu Noguchi — invites creativity, which extends from cocktails to the menu of bar bites like crispy hen of the woods mushrooms with a gourmet approximation of sour cream and onion dip. The “Pea-casso” cocktail combines aquavit, snap peas, Espodol, clarified lime, flat tonic, and Arak Sannine to create one of the city’s best cocktails of the year, complete with a Picasso-esque garnish of snap peas. Above all, it’s a fun, bustling addition to SF’s craft cocktail scene.”

See the rest of SF’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Seattle

Eater Seattle’s Restaurant of the Year is Little Neon Taco: “With popular eateries Neon Taco, Tortas Condesa, and Westman’s Bagel and Coffee, chef Monica Dimas has been showing off her range of cooking skills, leadership, and adaptability for years. But until 2018, Dimas’s projects have all been walk-up windows, rather than full-fledged restaurants. With Little Neon Taco on First Hill, Dimas finally spreads her wings in a charming space bedecked with Mexican ephemera. Here, she slings her tacos — some of the best in the city even when they were only available inside the Capitol Hill bar Nacho Borracho — alongside additional winning dishes like mole ribs, elote, tortas, posole menudo, and horchata. She’s truly realizing her immense potential with this opening, taking her rightful place among Seattle’s top chefs.”

See the rest of Seattle’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Twin Cities

Eater Twin Cities’ Chef of the Year is Jose Alarcon: “Alarcon went from working the line with the chef collective at Lyn65 and helming a few pop-ups to opening not one, but two Mexican restaurants that beguiled Twin Cities dinners. ... [At Popol Vuh and Centro] Alarcon and his team single-handedly elevated exceptions for what Mexican cuisine can be - moving far away from fried tortillas and cheese into a world of subtlety that celebrates the regions into the rightful world arena where people everywhere are realizing the astounding breadth and depth of the country’s food.

That this chef opened not one, but two restaurants to such success and still managed the tightrope walk of Minnesota’s expectations and busting through boundaries of fine dining is nothing short of extraordinary.”

See the rest of the Twin Cities’ 2018 Eater Award winners >>

Washington DC

Eater DC’s Chef of the Year is Marjorie Meek-Bradley: “Tasked with lending a local perspective to an established Brooklyn brand, Marjorie Meek-Bradley pulled off a major feat. At the St. Anselm tavern that opened in Northeast D.C. in September, Meek-Bradley has flipped the stuffy D.C. steakhouse stereotype on its head, deploying a fun, fresh menu full of salads and sides that draw attention away from a full complement of animal proteins. Her grilled winter squash salad with hazelnuts and beets sounds simple enough, but a precise injection of grapefruit purée whisks its to a higher place.”

See the rest of DC’s 2018 Eater Award winners >>

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Source: https://www.eater.com/2018/12/5/18114597/eater-awards-winners-2018-cities-best-restaurants-chefs

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dylan38sanders · 7 years

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Build Better Events Through Education Sessions, Healthy Food, Training Event Staff, And More

If you think your events are getting a bit stale, there are a few ways to freshen them up without spending a lot of time and money. For one, you could focus on better hospitality. Simply thinking about the wellness of attendees with healthier event food options can make a big difference to them. Also, empowering event staff to extend a helping hand. It not only gives event goers an awesome experience, it also boosts employee morale.

You can also improve event engagement by using affordable yet bleeding edge technology, such as live streaming and RFID bands. Another way is to make your education sessions suit the audience, while also tailoring it to your event goals.

It also pays to be prepared. Here’s our own event planning checklist. Take it and change it up to spice up your next event.

Big Brands Teach How to Increase Your Event Audience

With the skyrocketing availability of online media, many big brands are experiencing a hard time getting new audiences into their events. When people aren’t willing to leave the house to attend live gatherings, it’s the event professional’s job to create novel ways of getting people off their couches and into venues. Follow the footsteps of a few big names as they spearhead new ways to increase their event audience. From using technology to flaunting more benefits, these brands are reimagining the event landscape and enticing more people to get up and join in.

Increase Your Education Sessions’ Value with These Tips

Education sessions are a staple of any kind of event. There are those who use these to get a better insight on the industry. Others take it as an opportunity to boost their career credentials. Whatever the reason for their presence, it’s important to give attendees a great takeaway. If you’re thinking that this means longer sessions, think again! Concise, practical, and relatable sessions are the way to go. Check out these tips to learn more about boosting your sessions’ effectiveness.

Is Your Event Food Healthy Enough?

The health revolution is sweeping across all industries, including events. Attendees are all looking for healthier eating options. But can your venue deliver? Event-goers have varying health needs. Some might want to have “brain food” to maximize their experience. Others might have allergy restrictions you need to be aware of. Here are some important ways your venue can take on a more active role in giving healthier options to your attendees.

Conformity isn’t the strong suit of the events industry. Click To Tweet

Contrarian Views from Event Professionals

Conformity isn’t the strong suit of the events industry, where disruption is the norm. When a professional has an unpopular opinion, it definitely attracts attention! Take for example the idea that all the stress you’re experiencing is your fault, not that of the industry. Or the notion that you can have a successful event company by managing it remotely. Maybe it’s the concern that photographers have gained too much power especially in the area of photo rights. Or that quantity is better than quality. Weird as these might sound, each of these ideas are grounded on reality and deserve to be studied for the nuggets of wisdom they contain.

Event Security: Raising the Stakes

The recent Las Vegas shooting has cast the spotlight on events and how they can provide adequate security for its attendees. In this article, security expert Todd Madison sheds light on the finer points of event security. Madison draws upon his Secret Service training to answer difficult questions, like striking the proper balance between visible and discreet security, and sending security-related messages to attendees. He also discusses ideas such as planning for the worst-case and warning signs to look for when in the midst of an event.

Linkedin Is Going “Snapchat” with Its Geofilters

Snapchat made the concept of geofilters famous. Now, LinkedIn is adopting the same tech for its new video-creation feature. This new in-app feature allows users to record and share clips within the LinkedIn app, allowing them to share filters specific to the events they are attending. This gives the otherwise sober network a healthy dose of fun and color. While the concept has been tested only in a handful of events, the company plans to roll it out to cover more ground in the future. Currently, all illustrations are made by LinkedIn itself, but there’s always the possibility they could hand the reins over to their multitude of users.

Make Your Next Venue Hunt a Breeze!

Finding the perfect venue can turn out to be a confusing mess, especially when there are so many options available. Fortunately, there are a few important things you can keep in mind to make scouting for your next location easier and more time-efficient. First, you need to have definite criteria of what you’re looking for. You also need to make the event meaningful to your company’s persona, while avoiding all the clichés. Paying by the hour is also a good idea, especially if you’re not really expecting to use the space the entire day. Check out more of these tips in this indispensable guide for your next event!

Email marketing is still the best way of promoting events. Click To Tweet

Email Marketing Essentials for Events Professionals

While live events are the most effective at promoting a company or a product, email marketing is still the best way of promoting events. This means that to harness this channel, you need to have a concrete grasp of all the essentials. Is your core message clear and easy to understand? Maybe your subject line is too long. Or does your message appear too “canned” and devoid of personality? Check out how to avoid the most common email marketing pitfalls and up your marketing game to the next level.

Airbnb Takes Another Step at Accommodating Business Travelers

Airbnb has recently partnered with WeWork for a pilot program aimed at creating a shared workspace for business travelers. This works by promoting WeWork’s rooms and desks when you sign up for an Airbnb room. This can be a serious disruptor to the hotel industry, as the duo has begun rolling out joint services in huge areas like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Sydney, and London. This fits well with the newly-released Airbnb feature of allowing customers to look for “business travel-ready” spaces.

Event Staffers Take on New Roles in These Massive Companies

What do Ford, Nestlé, and Intel have in common? They are all taking a people-first approach when doing events. Instead of just focusing on the logistics, these brands are giving their event staff a bigger role in making each event a success. From Intel’s event-oriented staff training program to Ford’s training master classes, these brands make sure that their event attendees interact with people from the company, not just displays or technology. Human hospitality is still the top priority, and it’s an example the rest of the industry would do well to follow.

Airbnb and WeWork seem like a match made in heaven. While one provides the accommodations, the other makes access to on-the-go office space hassle-free.

How about you, what kind of partnerships can you offer other companies serving the same customers that you do? It might just be the win-win opportunity you need to boost your business.

from Endless Events http://helloendless.com/education-sessions-event-staff/

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thebakedbeans · 7 years

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Mass Effect Narrative Review

And here’s the second narrative review I promised. This time I’m going to talk about Mass Effect, the trilogy not Andromeda. I also realize that these are more of rambling thoughts than reviews. So eventually I’ll need to call them something different.

I’d like to not talk about the ending though. There’s tons of articles and videos out there already talking about it and anything I have to say wouldn’t be anything new. Instead I’d like to talk about some stuff the trilogy did right. Let’s just jump right in and start with the first aspect that comes to mind: Shepherd’s party.

You get a lot of different party members in a lot of different games. But Mass Effect is one of the first games where the members really mattered to me. They all come with really well defined personalities as opposed to the standard tropes of what makes up a party (except for Kaiden, that dude is cookie cutter boring). Granted there are SOME tropes but I think the game for the most part does a good job of fleshing out organic characters with actual personalities as opposed to the routine values and responses you could expect.

One way it does this is by allowing you to talk to them as people with different attitudes and beliefs. They have different aspects to them that make them seem more human. For example, Ashley seems like the typical soldier. Comes from a long line of them, values family and unity. But then as the games progress you get to see that she believes in a higher power, support humanity’s self reliance, and that the army discriminates against her family b/c her grandfather was the first general to surrender to alien forces; so she works twice as hard as anyone else to improve. Those last two traits might be connected as she wants humanity to be only beholden to itself as her ancestor’s experience with aliens has been a negative one. Now I’m not saying these are well defined traits, but they’re enough to make her seem like an actual person. Someone with memories, thoughts, feelings. She seems like more than just the typical trope of a tough as nails soldier who follows orders and had a gruff exterior. Ashley might have those traits, but they’re not all that she is. That’s what makes personifies her and fleshes her out.

I’ll cite another example, Mordin Solus. At a quick glance, he seems like the typical run of the mill smart talking scientist. The type of person that then they speak, everyone else gets lost and asks them to repeat what they said. But after talking to Mordin and learning about him Shepherd learns more. Mordin is a great singer, and the type of guy to focus on the ends more than the means; but is also a deeply regretful man. Mordin has taken some real fucked up things in his past. Though he understands his actions were necessary, however still mourns the fact that it happened at all. Eventually he starts a clinic to heal the plagued, but still retains his do what is necessary outlook; dude kills some local gang members and leaves their bodies outside his clinic as a message. Shepard can even ask him about killing to which Mordin will reply something along the lines of healing people and killing people can both be helpful. It all fleshes out his character and changes him from the “scientist” into just another member of the crew with their own unique disposition.

The reason I bring all this up is because losing these companions is one hell of a blow to both the player and Shepherd. When I mention mechanics supporting narrative this is what I mean.

In the 3rd game, Mordin is going to die. It is preventable, but for the most players Mordin dies. Depending on what you said to him earlier, he might even sing a song that he sang for Shepherd in the previous game. That shit destroyed me. But it’s great to know that the pain that was felt by me as a player was echoed by Shepherd the character. After the mission people will all give their condolences and Shepherd will respond accordingly, but it was a poignant moment where I felt like I was fully synced up to what Shepherd was saying and feeling...utter devastation at the lost of my friend.

It happens again with Thane. The ill, dying assassin Shepard meets in the 2nd game. I helped that man reconnect with his son. Then in the third game that same son is with his father in the hospital donating blood so that his father can live. Seeing him there makes Thane feel all the more real as there were actual consequences and outcomes that occur from previous actions. Many games have characters go through arcs, but even if they learn in that arc they don’t really grow after it’s over. Thane does, he becomes loyal to Shepard. Which I choose to understand as him fighting that much harder and with more unity than otherwise because of the respect that Shepard earned from him.

And of course come the 3rd game Thane died on me. In this game his illness has progressed to the point where he needs to be hospitalized. But his last act is a heroic one, and I’d still like to think it was out of loyalty to Shepard (assuming you earned it in the previous game). As he lays on his deathbed his son reads a prayer. Thane was always a religious man so it befits him. Turns out though that the prayer was not intended for Thane, but for Shepard. There’s a line in the prayer that reads “and he/she will be a companion to you as he/she was to me”; and I remember putting Thane is my party all those times, levelling him up, using his skills. He was a companion to me indeed. That was the first time a game made me tear up. I was going to miss my companion. To me it was more than losing just a video game character, it was losing a friend.

You might think that I’m reading too much into the game or giving it too much weight. But I think Mass Effect gave the characters enough personality and vibrance to make their loss have actual meaning behind it. Other mediums do this all the time, and I see no reason why games would be any different. The narrative of the game has just as much an effect on me as any other story. The exception is that I am way more involved in Mass Effect’s story than many others as I have direct involvement in the lives of the characters. So to lose one, means I took an action that led to their death; in a way you could say that I played a large role in all my companion’s deaths. That weight is great though, like a compelling tragedy, the emotional pain makes the narrative that much sweeter.

Now I’d really like to emphasize how much effort Bioware put into the characters in Shepard’s crew. For almost every single person, I can answer the question “What do they do when they’re not on the job?”. Because for a lot of other character for a lot of other games that question remains unanswered. I literally have no idea what Fawkes from Fallout 3 does when he’s not following me. However I do know that James Vega works out and cooks food when he��s not on mission. Tali helps the helps run the ship’s systems on the Engineering deck. Samara does her weird biotic meditation. The fact that I can answer this question means there’s enough internal logic behind the people to make their actions and by extension themselves seem real. Their world does not revolve around Shepard’s, just like how my friends and family’s lives don’t revolve around me. Therefore I would treat them like I would treat any other person. And the more I treat them like real people the better my interactions with them become, then I’ll actually end up liking most companions; Shepard’s team feels like a real team to me because I know these people so well and what they can/can’t do.

The second point I wanted to bring up was the continuous narrative between games. Yes, there’s a lot of gripe about how the endings didn’t take into consideration your past actions. But there is still a fair amount of content that depends on previous events. Even if it equates to a mere war score number, playing the first game all over again really does make me ponder some more choices.

For an example, at the end of the first game Shepard has to make a major decision regarding the fate of the Citadel Council. Whether to spend resources to save them and the ship they’re on, or save those resources and let them die. If you haven’t played the sequels then the choice seems pretty black and white. You pick the option that agrees with your paragon/renegade status. But I went back and played all 3 games again. This time thinking “if I were Shepard, what would be the best decision?”. The answer I arrived at is that the best decision is the one that helps to stop the reaper invasion. So even if I’m paragon, maybe it’s better to let the council die so that the resources that would’ve been used to save them can be used to stop the actual reaper invasion once it happens. Turns out that that’s true in the third game if you played as I did, and I was able to use those resources in the final battle instead of wasting them in the first game.

That’s a real consequence for your action. Some may say that a war score number is a shallow way of conveying that action; but remember way back when I said that I enjoy games where the gameplay mechanics support the narrative? Well now it’s time to discuss that in more detail.

Overall I don’t think war score is a bad mechanic. In the end everything Shepard does is to stop the Reapers. A war score number is a metric to see what his past actions have done towards this goal. A short term and impulsive Shepard will have a very low war score as they should, and a Shepard that has thought through each choice will have a higher score. It ties a tangible mechanic to the narrative path that the player chose. So all the narrative that follows is because of the mechanics that created that outcome; and those mechanics themselves were created because of the previous narrative events that happened before. It’s like a cycle that runs on the player’s choices.

Not the most elegant method for sure, but it does the trick. The gameplay ends up reflecting what the player is doing. Which is really a huge part in what I look for in a strong narrative. Games like Fallout 3 or Fable don’t really change the way they play based off the narrative. In those games some people might like you and others won’t due to your morality. There’s never a point where the player doesn’t get to experience a huge chunk of content or entire groups of significant people might not be there because of what the player did (yes you can argue Metaton won’t be there if you blow it up, but there’s about 2 significant characters in the whole town and one of them still survives). Few games can match that level of narrative exclusivity.

It also makes each player’s experience unique. One player’s army may not be the exact same as another player’s. Sure there might be some strong similarities, but depending on previous actions there can be huge differences too. Saving Wrex means that the Krogan won’t be complete assholes, and killing him/letting him die means that the galaxy is real hesitant and untrusting of the Krogan. That’s a massive dichotomy that rests on a scene that spans less than 5 minutes. Again, serving as a reminder that what you do in each game affects the others down the road. It’s the whole butterfly flapping its wings type of thing. The galaxy’s attitude towards the Krogan depends on that one part in the first game, so fucking that part up can ruin the Krogan as a whole.

This type of storytelling lends a sort of permanence to the overall narrative and game feel. Mass Effect does have an edge though in that it was created with multiple games in mind so it can stretch the end results over a longer period; But I think the result is still strong, even with the ending controversy. The realness of the characters couples with the responsibility behind each move you take means that the trilogy really does have mechanical support for the story and emotional weight rivaling any other story from games, movies, books, etc. Hell I’d go so far as to say it’s pioneering better stories for games. Think about how many games now have decisions carry over from previous titles. Not saying Mass Effect was the first to do this, but it certainly is one of the most famous; and if we have more games that can do this or similar stuff, then I think we’re going in a great direction.

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