Steven was given a number of comparisons to Zelanzy, whom I also enjoyed very much. His enduring protagonist, Vlad Taltos, is the Han Solo of sword-weilding, magic-throwing, dual-jhereg and accomplished ex-Thief. I like the mix of characters, and how Steven has built up a world that is quite believable in some aspects, yet wholly alien in others, with a variety of different races, each race playing a role in society whether they like it or not. I like the enigma of Vlad's past, how he is mysteriously connected to powerful characters like the Kieron's. I have enjoyed the development and unraveling of the "master" god-like race, and learning little bits and pieces of another of the elder races. And Vlad is just enjoyable as he is.
While I am not always satisfied by Steven's individual books (you can't please everyone), there are a few that have stood out. I liked the last one ("Issola") but really wanted more meat out of it, instead of the appetizer that it was. Steven has also written in a completely different style (following in the footpaths of Dumas?), for which I respect. While hard to read, the tale is amusing and true to Steven's universe.
Even better, Brust has been spotted in forums and blogs, which tells me he is keeping his ears to the ground and listening to his fans. Kudos!
30 July 2007
28 July 2007
Transformers, 2007 movie
I had high hopes for this movie, so decided to throw down some big bucks (all of 6) to see it on the big screen. What a waste!
Probably the killer is that the whole movie is shot in digital. This really sucks for dark scenes. Really. The dark scenes were so grainy that the pixels were probably the size of quarters. I was disgusted.
Next up, there are some really cheesy sequences. To make the dark scenes even worse, there is a sequence that is filmed at the young hero's house, and these 20-foot tall, 20-ton, super-high-tech robots are stamping around in a garden acting like clowns trying not to be discovered by said hero's parents. Dumb.
The dialog leaves a lot to be desired. The action sequences near the end of the movie start making up for the vast hole the movie has dug for itself, but the nails are in the coffin and there is no escaping. I appreciate that they had the ILM folks base the fights off martial arts, and during the daylight, the scenes are crisp and the CGI is quite good, even to the point that artists who did the CGI detailed the robots with intricate moving parts, making it look like a well-engineered marvel that it is supposed to be.
While the movie had some obvious tie-ins to what we grew up with in the 80's (the voice acting for Optimus Prime brought back memories), I could not help but groan when the Transformer-patented transformation sound byte kicked in; it is superimposed over some other machine sound affects, and it just comes out being awkward and not well choreographed.
In the end, I do not even know how the good guys won. Other than Optimus's plasma knife, all the Autobots seemed vastly inferior to the Decepticons.
Probably the killer is that the whole movie is shot in digital. This really sucks for dark scenes. Really. The dark scenes were so grainy that the pixels were probably the size of quarters. I was disgusted.
Next up, there are some really cheesy sequences. To make the dark scenes even worse, there is a sequence that is filmed at the young hero's house, and these 20-foot tall, 20-ton, super-high-tech robots are stamping around in a garden acting like clowns trying not to be discovered by said hero's parents. Dumb.
The dialog leaves a lot to be desired. The action sequences near the end of the movie start making up for the vast hole the movie has dug for itself, but the nails are in the coffin and there is no escaping. I appreciate that they had the ILM folks base the fights off martial arts, and during the daylight, the scenes are crisp and the CGI is quite good, even to the point that artists who did the CGI detailed the robots with intricate moving parts, making it look like a well-engineered marvel that it is supposed to be.
While the movie had some obvious tie-ins to what we grew up with in the 80's (the voice acting for Optimus Prime brought back memories), I could not help but groan when the Transformer-patented transformation sound byte kicked in; it is superimposed over some other machine sound affects, and it just comes out being awkward and not well choreographed.
In the end, I do not even know how the good guys won. Other than Optimus's plasma knife, all the Autobots seemed vastly inferior to the Decepticons.
Oblivion, PC game
At first, I was extremely put off by the first-person perspective; my one biggest pet peeve for first-person is the lack of peripheral vision. There is a view that is a few feet back and a few feet above, looking forward and down on your character which I tend to use a lot, but it does not do the trick wholly.
But then I got into the game. Wow, it is amazing! The graphics are gorgeous, and the game is so open-ended that you could easily just hike trails to see the amazing views; spectacular sun sets, towns that sprawl beneath a realistically snow crowned mountain, forests that hum with the life of the occasional breeze and flitting butterflies. The amount of detail is.... outstanding! There are hundreds of side quests apart from the main story-line; in fact, I often found myself forgetting what the main story line was, just to pursue my interest of the day. This is by far the most immersive and mesmerizing game I have ever played.
There are some draw backs, of course, as no game is perfect. While the leveling system is quite unique (in a good, breathe-of-fresh air way), one can easily find oneself poorly equipped to handle subsequent fights due to the fact that everything in the game levels along with you. I think this can be especially disappointing if you are a warrior class and have accidentally gimped yourself by the choice of major and minor skills, and how you use them. Fortunately, I decided early on to read about character creations and to focus my attention on having an extremely well-balanced character, even to the point where I spend 15 minutes of wall-clock time shooting arrows to increase Marksman, or running willy-nilly and jumping off cliffs to increase Athletics and Acrobatics.
Another downside is that after a while, even though there are vast quantities of NPCs, each with a different role in life and a real schedule that they can follow (including eating and sleeping), they start to aggregate into a small set. You start to recognize voices from one NPC to the next, the bodytypes start to blur together, and they all seem to get the same rumors from the same source. I have to admit that the game attempts to address by introducing new topics as you progress (folks rumor about things you have done) and that the NPCs talk to each other just like real people would.
I am also a big believer in that if you are a master or expert at something, it should really stand out. When meeting other characters, the fighters, thieves and assassins stand out. For instance, the Morag Tong Assassin; you probably don't see much of him, right? =) And the Imperial soldiers seem quite adequate to handle threats on the road from bandits and highwaymen. But the mages and wizards all seem vastly underpowered. I have a hard time finding a game where magic users can stand on their own. I liked "Dawn of Magic" because it is all about using spells to progress, and you can actually take down enemies with that alone. I laughed when, in Oblivion, I was fighting in the Arena and my "coach" warns me about a high elf I am facing. When I fought this supposed wizard, he pulled out a dagger and tried to run me through. What's up with that?!? My character has a strong focus on using magic (currently, all my magic attributes and skills are maxed), but I still find that I go through mana like crazy when casting big spells. It would be nice if you could hotkey a mana potion or a Welkynd stone. Unfortunately, I find the eye-candy in spellcasting a bit wanting, and the group affect spells never seem to do enough damage. Yes, you can soften them up with weakness spells, but dang it, I am the Arch-Mage for crying out loud. *grin* Additionally, I would love to see a blademaster and other expert fighters actually look like they have practiced for hours and hours on end; I want to see more moves, more technique and more style. The 3 or 4 "moves" that one attains when progressing through the various levels are quite unflattering, and not always effective; the side-step power attack when you become a journeyman is useless when you get it, and takes a long time to get right.
The game is great! I have already put a lot of time into it, and I can tell I still have a long way to go. This is mostly because of the myriad quests that one can uncover by talking to various folks and doing various actions; one will find that a particular action may open up a line of discussion with a previously "unknown" character, which may lead to a quest which takes you across the country and back, meeting new people... and it grows. The creativity and ingenuity behind the numerous quests are both extremely satisfying and quite successful of breaking the tedium of a hack-n-slash focus.
But then I got into the game. Wow, it is amazing! The graphics are gorgeous, and the game is so open-ended that you could easily just hike trails to see the amazing views; spectacular sun sets, towns that sprawl beneath a realistically snow crowned mountain, forests that hum with the life of the occasional breeze and flitting butterflies. The amount of detail is.... outstanding! There are hundreds of side quests apart from the main story-line; in fact, I often found myself forgetting what the main story line was, just to pursue my interest of the day. This is by far the most immersive and mesmerizing game I have ever played.
There are some draw backs, of course, as no game is perfect. While the leveling system is quite unique (in a good, breathe-of-fresh air way), one can easily find oneself poorly equipped to handle subsequent fights due to the fact that everything in the game levels along with you. I think this can be especially disappointing if you are a warrior class and have accidentally gimped yourself by the choice of major and minor skills, and how you use them. Fortunately, I decided early on to read about character creations and to focus my attention on having an extremely well-balanced character, even to the point where I spend 15 minutes of wall-clock time shooting arrows to increase Marksman, or running willy-nilly and jumping off cliffs to increase Athletics and Acrobatics.
Another downside is that after a while, even though there are vast quantities of NPCs, each with a different role in life and a real schedule that they can follow (including eating and sleeping), they start to aggregate into a small set. You start to recognize voices from one NPC to the next, the bodytypes start to blur together, and they all seem to get the same rumors from the same source. I have to admit that the game attempts to address by introducing new topics as you progress (folks rumor about things you have done) and that the NPCs talk to each other just like real people would.
I am also a big believer in that if you are a master or expert at something, it should really stand out. When meeting other characters, the fighters, thieves and assassins stand out. For instance, the Morag Tong Assassin; you probably don't see much of him, right? =) And the Imperial soldiers seem quite adequate to handle threats on the road from bandits and highwaymen. But the mages and wizards all seem vastly underpowered. I have a hard time finding a game where magic users can stand on their own. I liked "Dawn of Magic" because it is all about using spells to progress, and you can actually take down enemies with that alone. I laughed when, in Oblivion, I was fighting in the Arena and my "coach" warns me about a high elf I am facing. When I fought this supposed wizard, he pulled out a dagger and tried to run me through. What's up with that?!? My character has a strong focus on using magic (currently, all my magic attributes and skills are maxed), but I still find that I go through mana like crazy when casting big spells. It would be nice if you could hotkey a mana potion or a Welkynd stone. Unfortunately, I find the eye-candy in spellcasting a bit wanting, and the group affect spells never seem to do enough damage. Yes, you can soften them up with weakness spells, but dang it, I am the Arch-Mage for crying out loud. *grin* Additionally, I would love to see a blademaster and other expert fighters actually look like they have practiced for hours and hours on end; I want to see more moves, more technique and more style. The 3 or 4 "moves" that one attains when progressing through the various levels are quite unflattering, and not always effective; the side-step power attack when you become a journeyman is useless when you get it, and takes a long time to get right.
The game is great! I have already put a lot of time into it, and I can tell I still have a long way to go. This is mostly because of the myriad quests that one can uncover by talking to various folks and doing various actions; one will find that a particular action may open up a line of discussion with a previously "unknown" character, which may lead to a quest which takes you across the country and back, meeting new people... and it grows. The creativity and ingenuity behind the numerous quests are both extremely satisfying and quite successful of breaking the tedium of a hack-n-slash focus.
The Star Wars books
At one point, I was on a kick of reading Star Wars books. I even included the originals. I found the experience interesting, but was soon jaded (no pun intended, for those that are fans of The Right Hand). My last book was one of the New Jedi Order, where one of the Solo Jedi kids are killed in action.
As I read a book here and a book there, I enjoyed seeing different species and different ways of handling things. You get some that are overly aggressive, some that are pathological, and some that are extremely charitable. While I find the Yuuzhan Vong (everyone needs an impossible, unconquerable, evil antagonist, right?) a little far-fetched at times, I think the powers that be have done a good job at making them fit in the Star Wars Universe. It is sorta fun keeping up with all the old heroes, but sometimes they just seem really stupid for all the power and responsibility they possess. And for the Jedi Masters, especially Luke, I find it unbelievable that they find themselves in such pickles.
As I read a book here and a book there, I enjoyed seeing different species and different ways of handling things. You get some that are overly aggressive, some that are pathological, and some that are extremely charitable. While I find the Yuuzhan Vong (everyone needs an impossible, unconquerable, evil antagonist, right?) a little far-fetched at times, I think the powers that be have done a good job at making them fit in the Star Wars Universe. It is sorta fun keeping up with all the old heroes, but sometimes they just seem really stupid for all the power and responsibility they possess. And for the Jedi Masters, especially Luke, I find it unbelievable that they find themselves in such pickles.
Ally, by Karen Traviss
I enjoy works that explore other sentient species. It is unfortunate that most aliens are limited by the author's creativity (no way around that *grin*), but you get some interesting inventions. Karen's multi-species, universe-spanning, gamut-running story does a good job of painting a civilization that is technologically superior, the Wess'har. I found it strange that they focus on "balancing" things, making sure one life-form does not wipe out lots of others (including lower forms of life); for an alien superpower billions of miles away, they sounded a bit too American.
But I liked it overall; I enjoyed the varieties of species that are introduced and how they interact. I did not really care for the parasite that was obviously introduced in an earlier book. A parasite that makes its host nearly immortal by repairing the host from any sort of damage and equiping it for any sort of environment, in mere seconds. Come on.
I may go back and read one of her earlier books. The one prior, Matriarch, may be good for getting some background and the center-stage women. We will see.
But I liked it overall; I enjoyed the varieties of species that are introduced and how they interact. I did not really care for the parasite that was obviously introduced in an earlier book. A parasite that makes its host nearly immortal by repairing the host from any sort of damage and equiping it for any sort of environment, in mere seconds. Come on.
I may go back and read one of her earlier books. The one prior, Matriarch, may be good for getting some background and the center-stage women. We will see.
Light, by M. John Harrison
Sometimes when looking for a new author, I do judge a book by its cover because I get a mental block and I cannot decide on any other limiting factor. This was the most un-sci-fi looking book (a big white cat on the cover with a pair of unique dice).
But I was quite disappointed with the book. Way too much swearing and sex; it really detracts from the story, of what little there is. If this were a movie, it would probably be a porno fest with some CGI spaceships thrown in and a bunch of murders. Quite distasteful. The reviews on the book were so misleading. How in the world did it get such great reviews!?! Reading the comments on Amazon are humorous, and those that thought the book was awesome... just plain sad. I will never read a M. John Harrison book again; it is horrible stuff.
The only aspect of the invented universe that I appreciated was the K-tech, and the concept of the space-faring craft being multi-dimension and using integrated intelligences (human and otherwise).
But I was quite disappointed with the book. Way too much swearing and sex; it really detracts from the story, of what little there is. If this were a movie, it would probably be a porno fest with some CGI spaceships thrown in and a bunch of murders. Quite distasteful. The reviews on the book were so misleading. How in the world did it get such great reviews!?! Reading the comments on Amazon are humorous, and those that thought the book was awesome... just plain sad. I will never read a M. John Harrison book again; it is horrible stuff.
The only aspect of the invented universe that I appreciated was the K-tech, and the concept of the space-faring craft being multi-dimension and using integrated intelligences (human and otherwise).
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