Tag Archives: Bethesda

October 19, 2020 · 23:16

Door two of the arcane

It is time to continue the promise I made myself, and as such I want to introduce you to the floating house. The floating house is the house of a medicine man at the edge of the land, close to the oceans and close to the plains. The people graduating here have mastered the elements of water in all shapes. The people who lives in the floating house can change moist into shard of ice, sharper than any blade, they can cool the land, water the fields and turn lakes into roads. They can create fog so dense that people next to one another cannot see one another. The people from the floating house are always welcomed by those working the fields, especially in time of drought. The origins of the Floating house are unknown, the house was suddenly there and a medicine man claimed it. Over time he learned more than others ever before and the floating house become home to 7 masters and 12 students, only when two graduate two new are admitted. Sometimes one becomes a teacher, when one teacher is closing the end of its life, the call is made and those who can hear it Make way back to the Floating house and submit themselves for inspection by the head of the Floating house. This is how it has been for many many generations. 

The second door
I wandered through the fields, I felt the wheats going through my fingers, the wheat was healthy., strong and nourishing. The waters had done their job in creating a good harvest. Even as I was looking over the fields, I felt heat, intense heat. I looked round, but the glow I expect to see with this heat was missing. I saw two houses, the fields were ok, I looked again and then I saw it. The larger house was radiating heat, a lot of it. As I walked towards the house, I summoned the moist, I focussed it on the house and the rains started, faster and harder, yet the heat remained. Then the side of the house exploded. The heat was overwhelming, and the heat came without large flames. As I walked close to the open side I saw what was going on, there was a lava pond in the house, not a place where it usually came, only the Monks of the Sulphur Cave could this. Their acne knowledge was unknown to anyone but the Monks themselves. These monks were not evil, but their powers were highly destructive, so whatever had set this monk off was something that had to be dealt with, at least if this fine harvest was not to to end up being a pile of charcoal.

I looked at the pool and had an idea, I concentrated on the moist, then turned it to rain, then turned the rain solid and let it slam the roof harder and harder, within a minute the roof was gone and the pond got hammered by icy cold hail. It took a few seconds before the pool turned darker, then darker still and as the blackness of the pond was seen, the heat dissipated. I looked to the fields, they were safe, but the larger stage was not resolved. I decided to walk down the hill, there was a village there, I could feel it, I would hide in the barns and listen to what was going on, perhaps I would learn what had angered the monks, I preferred not to interfere, a monk was not clumsy or taken to whimsy. I felt happy that I saved crops, but I needed to learn what the issues were in this place.

The members of the Floating house are masters of water, as such also ice wielders, they are driven by stealth, sneakiness, covertness and clandestine actions. They believe that the limelight is counterproductive. They help and aid in secrecy, the fog is a great way to hide, nothing hides from them, but the people in the fog cannot see anything and the light fog would carry the voices of any conversation for the longest distance making eavesdropping a good way to find out what was going on. The water staff is a staff of metal with a globe on two thirds filled with water and an uncut diamond representing ice at the top. The staff was more than an arcane relic, only the members of the Floating house could hold them, the reason is actually unknown to all but a few, Not even all the graduates of the Floating house knew that part. 

Premise
Here we now see a premise of two houses, one is out to fight and to be open, the other sets the stage covertly. Like any RPG we have several sider that we want to explore and even as some games try to give students all the options to be everything, there is a larger wisdom in giving limitations. Missions can not always be done in the same way, as such we see one mission having an optional 5 narrations into the same mission. It might not always pan out that way, but the stage might be inviting to a whole range of gamers, the game they play the way they prefer to play it, and optionally a stage where they learn to play it differently.

It is a stage where we open the RPG stage to a larger population, one where we offer choice in the beginning, but after that you must work with the cards dealt. A stage that might be inviting, and is original especially when you see what it out there. Most want to be a D&D, or a Bethesda clone. I prefer to create a new road if optionally available. It is merely an idea, is it a good idea? I believe it is, is it the best idea? That remains to be seen, but like Nintendo, copying others only gives limitations, the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo 3DS became reality by ignoring what others did.

Location, Location, Location
As we are taking. Look at the people in the game, the environment also needs to be considered, in light of the volcano power needed, I set my mind on Kabaena Island in Indonesia. The island would be a 1:1 map, giving us an island that is almost 50 by 40 kilometres, as such having two dozen locations will be leave us a lot of space to evolve the game. I set that size as it was the only flaw that Oblivion ever had, things were too close together, a flaw (as I personally see it) and so did Black Flag. So I chose a sage where there is enough space, yet I wanted to avoid well known places and there is no reason why Kabaena island would not suffice, especially in light of one of the storylines I am shaping in my mind. 

So this was the second door, next is the third door that leads to the Monks of the Sulphur Caves. See ya tomorrow (hopefully), Bethesda eat your heart out! I did this part in about an hour, so less than 4 hours got you all the setting I gave over two parts (well, actually three).

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October 18, 2020 · 22:25

Playing the stage

In light of the actual brilliant move by Microsoft to buy Bethesda, Sony has a bit of a problem, or t least they had one, so I decided to set a new stage, if Bethesda is limiting their exposure to Sony, which we get from Eurogamer, who gives us “Bethesda games don’t have to launch on PlayStation for Microsoft’s $7.5bn deal to pay off, Xbox boss insists”, in addition we see in 

IGN “When I think about where people are going to be playing and the number of devices that we had, and we have xCloud and PC and Game Pass and our console base, I don’t have to go ship those games on any other platform other than the platforms that we support in order to kind of make the deal work for us,” Spencer continued. “Whatever that means.”” With the emphasis on ‘I don’t have to go ship those games on any other platform other than the platforms that we support’, I see it as a clumsy way for Microsoft to give the news that Sony is done for from a Bethesda release point of view. I reckon that they will not make a change immediately, projects were on route, but there will be delay upon delay for others. In a stage where one out of three were Microsoft fans and two out of three were Sony fans, the purchase of Bethesda by Microsoft is definitely a genius move, but the gang fans are not without options. I am hereby offering whatever I create to be used freely for any Sony exclusive game. 

Houses of Magic

Any RPG that is set in a Middle Age stage has always been depending on magic, this is how the world we created worked, which does not have to be the case, but there it is. So in that trend, I offer the five houses, however, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, let’s start at number one.

House of Forests

This is the house where druids are created, to set a stage for druids, it implies a close knit connection to forests and fields. Yet there is more to druids, in Gaelic past they were seen as legal authorities, adjudicators, lore-keepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Instead of merely focussing on the tree and magic part, being these gives the setting where in the new game you an be an in-between between two disagreeing factions, you can advice on options to lords in castles and you also will be a healer. The lore-keeper can write magical scrolls, can wield wood into stronger bows and stronger staffs. Giving the druid the only one to create a wooden knife, a mistletoe knife. Setting the fight environment, staffs and wooden weapons are 40% stronger, the mistletoe knife 400% better, so as we look into the character, charisma is much higher, so is intelligence. A druid is a better dealer and much better healer. All healing potions are twice the strength. So this is the ability in the game, the setting of the druid requires a backstory. 

In need of a bandaid?

It started a long time go, 3500 years in facts. In a village was a young man, he was obedient and he did what he could to forward the needs of his father and their family. He was a proud man, worshipping the gods, yet he felt an unnatural pull towards Hades at times, the darkness appealed to him. Now, it is important to note that he was not evil, he felt he understood things. He was not unhappy when the old crops whitened and died. The wheat was captured, the dead leaves became straw for the cows, it made sense to him. So every year he would praise Hades ‘Thank you for taking the remaining crops, let new crops be bountiful’. He would always bring wheat and fruit as homage to Demeter, but after the harvest, after it was all done, he would also bring homage to Hades. It felt right, such as he was. As he was in the courtyard he heard a slam, like a bag of flower hitting the ground. He looked, yet he saw nothing. He walked to the edge of the farm, he looked at the waters of the Aegian, yet he saw a staff, the serpent on the staff was alive, yet the tail of the snake was part of the staff. He heard of it, yet a simple frame like him would never be shown the Staff of Aesculapius. He walked towards the staff, but kept his distance, it was then he saw the man, he walked over and helped him back to his feet. Greetings young man, I am Therapeutae of Asclepius, I tend to the need of the gods. I upset one of them and here I am. The young man offered his arm and it was at that moment when the snake was close enough and bit his leg. The man was scared for one second, then he looked around and set on the low wall surrounding the courtyard. He looked at the land, and softly whispered ‘Hades, I am done for, a snake got me’, Therapeutae looked at him and smiled. You are in a fortunate side young man, this was not intended, but it happened. The venom of the snake makes you an immortal. It is clear that you are a good man, I am back on my feet. The staff flew back into his hands. He shimmered and faded into nothingness. It was today, the man was thinking back to the day where his mortality had diminished, it had been almost 25,000 moons, yet he remembered it like it was yesterday. As he looked into the distance he saw the tavern and the corrupt bailiff and his cronies. He walked towards them, and as it was set, he was quite angry. The two cronies did not see him coming, they were taking to their boss, he hit them both with one swing, he then hit the boss, but did not hit him squarely enough. The Bailiff got up and drew his word. The druid spoke ‘That does not work on me’ and as he stood still, the Bailiff struck, the sword swiped from left to right and the Druid was struck. Then something happened that had never happened before, he felt the spilling of blood, and he looked down. The wound was closing and he focussed again on the Bailiff. He slapped him from left to right to left again and one over the skull for good measure. He looked down, he was whole again, and apart from the small scar, there was no evidence that he had ever been wounded. But what happened to his powers?

So that was the first start of an origin story and the setting of one class, I will try to set out another class perhaps the Floating house, this took me a mere hour, so I might have something more tomorrow. I have nothing against Bethesda, but they deserted Sony and their population, I need to make Microsoft understand how expensive a bill of $7.5 billion is when it misses it objective as Sony will have a somewhat delayed answer to Bethesda Elder Scrolls, and perhaps I will continue to set something to counter Fallout as well, which is a little harder, I know. Will it work? I do not know, but there is a stage where Bethesda will face not only the loss of Sony clients (which is huge), but Sony will get you an alternative, as such Bethesda will end up gaining a contender.

Perhaps Microsoft will learn, perhaps not, Whatever they decide on, it is a lesson that came with a $7,500,000,000 tag, lets see if we can teach them a little more, they seemingly part with money easily enough.

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October 9, 2020 · 05:04

As crazy ideas go part 2

Yup, there is a part 2 to this, my mind would not stop considering and as I am not getting any sleep (it is now 4:14) I decided to give up and give in to creativity. I tried to wear myself out by playing a game on my mobile, but the idle games become tedious at best, they are clever but there is one original and the firm makes several copies, one involving dope, one involving western times, one involving swamps and one involving mining and from there we go on, play one play them all. So I went out of my way to consider what I like. There is Merchant, which is a lot more fun that I reckon it is, and I have supported (through purchases) of the Book of heroes on two systems. There are a few others and one that must be mentioned is Bethesda’s Fallout Shelter, which is still utterly gold. I played it on 4 systems so far. And that got me thinking, there was a Westworld game, I never saw it, but it was based on Fallout Shelter. So what if we unite the worlds of Fallout Shelter and Dungeon Keeper? The Dungeon Keeper out there now is an exploitative joke. Yet the combined form might be different. Consider (those who can) the two games. Heroes enter the cave (the fallout entrance) and they need to get to the heart. The heart (at the far right) is always linked at the end of the first level, and on level 1 there are 4 rooms, now consider that you can go down, but the lower level is no use until you move the dungeon heart. In addition to the imps building new levels and additional rooms, we need to move the heart, so there is a larger concern to be strategical about the growth. And as every room and combinations of rooms invite certain troops, you want to be clear on how you go about it. The troll is no longer a trap-maker, but his presence doubles the speed of the imps, and as we take a look of rooms, we see thinned to make choices and to change rooms. The library gets us the warlock, but a library next to a prison gets you a sorcerer (more powerful), a prison gets you skeletons, yet a prison next to a graveyard will result in vampires. By setting the rooms next to one another and by combining the size of rooms, we create a larger stage of fiends to aid us with the hordes of heroes the will come for the heart. A training room will set the stage for stronger fighters, just like in the game, yet a training room next to another could infill the presence of another kind of character and the implies that the setting of replaying will be overwhelmingly more interesting. Especially when we consider that not only our troops could go to level 50, but so does the opposition. We could also set limits, like the game, a temple will invite up to 2 Dark Angels, but only if the temple is next to the Dungeon heart and the dark angels NEVER leave the temple, so their training will only come from heroes travelling through them. As such you can set more limitations and in that stage we get a new game, an optional essential as the dark angels were WAY too strong. Even though it is in part based on Fallout Shelter, Dungeon Keeper is an established game that has been around a long time and as the game changes increasingly, there would not be an IP violation, Dungeon keeper merely went from top view to side view and Fallout shelter does not have inter-depending rooms. So there, a new mobile game thought through in less than 2 hours, not a bad result I reckon. 

Of course, if anyone else then EA actually creates that game, they will face a few charges of ownership (EA bought Bullfrog), but the stage could be altered and if it is different enough, it might be made. Oh for those making games, let the gamer switch off the bloody music for your game and do not force them to listen to it through the entire tutorial, some do not care how nice it sounds, we merely want to play the game, not listen to the bombastic fanfare of ego.

And that is merely the beginning, when we consider the old games and the new games (Impossible Mission / Covert Action), in this, we see a stage of partial ‘action’ and a game of tactics, so what happens when Impossible mission is much more tactical? As the altered phrase goes ‘You won’t stay a while, you’ll be there forever’ and if the gamer likes the challenge, why not?

All this within an hour (4:59 now), my job is done, time to see if my sawmill can start (the snore capacitor). Time to prepare for the weekend (after some Zzzzzzzzzzzzz).

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September 30, 2020 · 14:56

Another furlong (to the race)

Yup, I stated and I keep (my word for the most), and as my mind wonders towards the new RPG, I need to set in motions the cogs, not the ones in my mind, but any game has cogs, the more it is set to a system, the more natural it comes across. As the player fathoms how things are set, they will also set in motion certain expectations towards continuances of the game.

So here we see the first cog, if you remember yesterday, I spoke about the fur guild, but it is merely one of three (in the initial design. It does not matter if you consider that part the green or the red cog, so the house of worship would be the other colour. When we look into the combinations we get a larger setting, a sort of interaction. The fur guild, the clothing guild, and the  smithing guild are three parts of the cog, and the cog could evolve further. What I call the house of worship would have evolved from the scribes, it gave us the coin-masters (banks and accountants), scribes (recorders and historians), evokers and casters. This makes sense when we recall the actual meaning of evocation (the act of bringing or recalling a feeling, memory, or image to the conscious mind), and as the stage grows, so do the cogs, starting with no more than 5 (three is better) gives you the setting towards a stage where the story can grow. Three is better because you can see how the cogs are maximised, before you add n-teeth to any cog. The interaction becomes important, as a person might become more than merely a trainee of furs. Someone who sets furs and has coin-master skills would be more effective in running a shop and making the more successful. And this stage also impact the coin-master on all guild trades. Scribes would be more effective in creating effective armour, because of historic learnings and evokers might add additional protection on any armour or weapon, now here is the kicker, by not merely adding them, but by limiting the amount of teeth of any cog you can inhabit, makes the game very replayable. It sets a stage where person can be close to very different in each gameplay, giving a larger joy to the game, in all this, when we make sure that the game also evolves different we get a larger bang for the buck and that is where Oblivion failed, you could do it all (which is not wrong), but when you get to do it all, you get through the game a lot faster and in all this the challenge dissipates. It was a flaw they largely avoided in Fallout 3: New Vegas, as the good person could not do all the missions, the bad person got to have a life in the ‘freed’ prison, it might seem small, but the larger implications could be seen over time.

So as we see the cog on two elements, it becomes a larger stage when the cogs interact with optional abilities down the road, for example the druid path cannot be gotten as you slay animals for furs, the arboreal might do so, as such we see that the hunter (bow) gets side, the druid another side, the smith might become the wielder of mauls, it is that difference that sets you apart. Even as the smith can wield the bow, the skills there will go slower than the maul would. In RPG exploring your options is half the fun (at least for me it is), I remember that in Neverwinter Nights (the original) the Scythe had benefits, we lost out on this view in several RPG games and it is time to consider a larger stage where you might get 100 hours of fun as one character, but an additional 80 hours as a second character. Th stage where missions are depending on the class you end up being and setting it to such a way that you are not aware of what you are missing out in the first play through, is what will amaze you the second time around. 

Oh and this came forth (from my devious brain) in less then 5 hours (all added up), so when we see the claims that it is so hard to create on, there is truth there, but it also depends on the visionaries they hire, that is the lesson I hope to instil on Microsoft as I offer these ideas to Sony.

By the way, when you consider the guild structures, and we add water options, agrarian options and we interact on three levels, how many times could you replay a game (apart from the locations) before the game bores you? Consider that some still play Skyrim which was released on 11.11.11, so when the nextgen consoles are released, the game will be 9 years old. That is a record worthy of slaying, so we need to come to the party with a massive (optionally spiked) bat.

Have fun considering what else the future of gaming has to offer.

 

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September 30, 2020 · 01:46

The race is on

It is like any race, it is not set to a state where we all set the marker, some set the marker and then changed the game, I admit, that we cannot blame them for becoming multibillionaire overnight, but it sets the race to a much larger degree now.

As GamesRadar gave us less than a day ago ‘Bethesda founder on Microsoft purchase: “What Microsoft owns, Sony cannot get”’ we see “If the strategy works, it will be a brilliant counter-move against Sony. Users from around the world will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this deal”, this is where Christopher Weaver is extremely wrong. There is a reason why I threw away my Microsoft console. Consider the I had both, the (what I personally call) betrayal by Microsoft towards its gamers, is a stage I cannot abide by, so as I set part of it in script a year ago in ‘An Intellectual Property example, Part 2’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2019/09/09/an-intellectual-property-example-part-2/) it is time to come to the aid of Sony, there is something about Microsoft buying its way to the top that I resent and they are doing it for very different reasons, not because they love gamers. Consider the amount involved, they want something else and Microsoft is not to be trusted. 

So the need to find or create a new RPG exclusive to Sony gamers, to upset the Microsoft act, shows that not only were they (partially) stupid, the fact that they do not hold the exclusive stage of RPG, Bethesda never did, but the act to force people into a path might seem brilliant, yet only if there is no alternative and there is. So there is now a need to attack both Fallout and the Elder Scrolls. Even if I am not their enemy, their new owner must be taught a lesson, ignoring gamers in the gaming industry is the most stupid thing one could ever do.

Fantasy

The game starts in a small city, we see a man at a well, he is merely looking around, wondering where he is. We get our first flashback. He is a young man walking out of a London Fish And Chips shop, he has a few coins left and drops them in a hat, stating ‘me last money, you’re welcome to it’, the man looks at him smiling drunk ‘bless you young man, bless you indeed’, the boy walks on, not seeing the mark on the mans hand was he waves at the boy, making him stumble into a wall and vanish. This same young man looks around, wearing a cheap jute outfit, no shoes he looks around still somewhat dazed and confused. 

As the game starts, we see two more flashbacks, the arrival of where he is now, brigands robbing him and the small farm where he got his clothes and some food. He thanked the farmer and left and entered this small town. Even as he is getting his bearings he needs to figure out what to do next. He had been watching the people and did get some grasp of what they were saying, it had been a day later and hunger is setting in, he has three options. There is a guild in one direction a house of worship in another direction and a building he does nt comprehend in a third one, he never sees people from there come into his direction.

Guild

As he walks towards the guild he is met with staring eyes, not distrustful, but staring. His attire is not that of a guild person, and as he is in front of the guild, he looks around and sets himself near the door, not too close as a beggar, wondering what will happen next. For an hour or so as he watches people entering and leaving. About three hours later a woman comes out offering him some bread. He accepts and bows curiously and whispers ‘Thank you’, she looks strange, like she is not sure what he is saying, he nods, smiles and slowly eats a small piece of bread. She nods and walks away, as he eats he feels stronger and better, the bread was good, he is still hesitant to enter the guild, yet a little later a man walks out towards him. He gestures him to follow and that is exactly what he does, following the man towards one end of town and following him inside his house as the door is held open. 

Trainee of furs
He is shown the basement, which is actually nice and warm and shown a corner with a small bed. The man points at the bed and points at what might be a toilet, he is given a small jar with water and some more bread. He nod and smiles, the man walks away. 

The next morning he is given much better clothes and he is shown a fur and given some sort of bone to flesh the pelt, he does the and does all the other ones, after which he is shown how to salt the pelt., the too he does, the day ends having prepared 25 pelts.

Houses of worship
As the man moves towards the worship house, he is met by a woman, she odd at him, almost like she sees that he os not what he seems to be, she invites him and offers a cup of warm drink, he accepts nods and takes a sip, it is like tea, but very sweet. She smiles and gives him another drink, this too is warm but a little bitter, not sweet at all, but oddly refreshing. She watches the two  drinks as they impact hm and she points towards the door, she walks there and gestures for him to follow. They walk through a corridor with art and into a small hall, where others are, they partially look at him but they return to their work, they seem to be scribes. She offers a book, the book is in a language he does not know, but he recognises the letters. He then gestures towards a piece of paper and some charcoal, she hands it to him and he writes the alphabet, and pronounces the letters, after which he sets down the numbers and refers to them, he also does some math which gives a response, he is gestured to follow and he is offered to a man, the man looks down on him, yet when he is offered the roll of parchment his impression changes. He gestures the man to follow and he does, he is taken to a room, where a bed is there is a table with some food and drink and he is left for the evening

House of coins
Here he sees something that is almost Babylonian, but it is a script that reflects numbers, as he is given a parchment he gets to do the numbers in the first day he gets to write down the numbers from 1 to 30, the day ends.

So here are the first two sets of level 1 for Sony (they get to use this), and as I go through the settings of the guilds and houses of worship (house of coins, house of speech and house of thought) we get a very different RPG, because the trainee of furs would soon be out of luck in the house of worship, yet they all have different paths and different outcomes. A stage the is not merely fantasy, but the stage that closely resembles the time before the renaissance yet after the treaty of Claremont, the world was mot malleable then. Well, even as the race is on, it took me less than an hour to come up with this part, so I hope that they are awake at Sony, because as I personally see it (and if we believe GamesRadar), Christopher Weaver set the tone and I merely opposed it by making a new RPG, we all have to unite towards Sony to make sure that the Microsofts of this world do not spoil gaming for us.

Perhaps tomorrow an opponent to Fallout, but I am not too fussed, Cyberpunk will take care of that part for me. 

Well, that is my cloud of creativity taken care of, for now that is.

 

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September 28, 2020 · 00:33

Exit stage right

Yup, I am back. In the first there is the Swiss issue I discussed earlier today, as set the free movement ending is not reached, 68% rejected that part. So in this the larger stage were (as I personally saw it) the fear mongering side, but that is merely my view on one part. The election was on a few items and the Swiss have spoken, they rejected the ending free movement part and I am fine with it, yet I do feel that the term of all those benefits, I wonder if we ever get to see a list on that. But no matter what it was up to the Swiss and they rejected the notion.

Then there is the corona issue (not the beer), as per now we have 33 million infected and one million are dead. I believe that this number is actually higher, but I cannot prove it, the top three are USA, India and Brazil. In this I partially reject it because I believe that Indian infected is most likely a lot higher and those who died are cremated rather fast, so even as the numbers are too low, I cannot say that there is intent here, consider that in India the alleged personal need for ignorance is high, a nation where the Mumbai region alone has 55 million people, so 6 million over all India and only 95,000 deaths does not add up. When we apply the global mortality rate, the death count in India is close to 50% too low, a nation where population pressure is through the roof. I get it, not every person gets tested, there are not enough test packages to get even close to the testings required, there is no blame, no one is at fault, but we need to realise the setting and in a lot more places than India, the setting does not add up. 

And in the third setting, we see that there is every indication that President Trump will be exiting the stage on the right side. There is an overwhelming amount of push on places like Twitter where we see the Rock, George Takei, Billy Baldwin, David Cross and numerous others are giving their voice to Joe Biden, there is even a growing amount of Republicans on that list (including me) and the stage that President Trump has set is for the bulk of all the people no longer acceptable. I reckon that if the voting amount is raised from 55% to 65% it will be over for President Trump. As far as I can tell, at no time in history have Americans united against an elected president ever before. These events are making the anti Vietnam and anti Lyndon B. Johnson events fade. Even as Joe Biden has presently a 10% lead, it is a dangerous setting. Some people will fall asleep and will not bother voting, but the is the danger that got President Trump into the Oval Office in the first place. I would hazard a guess that if only 65% votes, one could argue that the USA does not deserve saving, not t this stage. The active people seem to realise that and their voice is simple “please vote”, they do not say who to vote for, they seem to think that this will be enough to get them to vote and hopefully not for President Trump. People like Dwayne Johnson are more eloquent in this, they name the people they endorse and give additional information. Still, I am to some extent in awe, I have never seen such a level of unison coming from America since WW2 (the Hitler is bad group) and perhaps it is important to pause at this notion. Yes, I remember my last piece, yet that was not about being pro-Trump. That was about the law and the constitution, little pesky things all kind of people want to avoid, I do not. 

What else is on the table? 

Well, games would be my guess and even as we are all still reeling from the Bethesda, now Microsoft decision, PC Gamer gives us a past overview (at https://www.pcgamer.com/au/what-happened-to-12-of-gamings-biggest-studios-after-they-were-sold/). I understand what they bring and I do not oppose it, but what stands out is that Bethesda is bought for more than the amount spend on 12 other acquisitions (not all Microsoft), there we see the the purchase of Mojang by Microsoft implies that all is not lost for Sony, yet this close to release of a new console makes it a question mark at best. In this there is also the thought that EA has options for Mass Effect and even the original trilogy, yet that is for another time. For the most the countdown clocks are running for Cyberpunk 2077 and the PS5/Xbox series X. November 19th 2020 for Cyberpunk and the consoles will come at November 12th (PS5) and November 10th (Xbox). The mayhem starts in 43 days 6 hours and 34.2 minutes.

 

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September 24, 2020 · 18:59

The stage of a game

We all have an idea, some have the idea of a life time, but I cannot make that claim, not because I do not have one, but because I have too many. Yes there is the call to make remasters (Knights of the Sky), there is the call to reinvent the wheel (System Shock by Nightdive Studios), or there is the need to take it to the next level, a next level that was not possible in the past, mainly because technology did not allow for it.

This is how I always saw Pirates (by Sid Meier), there was a chance where Black Flag was a nice tribute, but it was the dawn of PS4 and Xbox One and Ubisoft took a cowardly way to progress a franchise on a lack of factors. So as I initially played Black Flag, my mind went racing. And then I remembered another pirate game, a board game with additional bluff cards. So what happens, when w take the foundation of Black Flag and make it more towards the original the Sid Meier made? The map would be well over 20 times the size, a lot more like the actual map of the Caribbeans in those days, the game would not be some fruity assassin, it would be your version and you get to live the life of a cutthroat, a buccaneer, a privateer, it is up to you, to go from a small skiff to a full-grown galley or slave ship if you are good enough. You see, there is something totally awesome about the way the game Elite Dangerous is designed (by David Braben). There your life does not matter, the game does not care, nor should it and it is time to set that stage to RPG and a pirate RPG makes a lot of sense. You cannot always be a captain, you start as a simple sailor. And in this you could get to a rank if you are good enough. 

So how do we go about it, we tend to look towards the wars of adjustment, yet there are so many wars the were never on the radar, the Dutch independence wars (which took close to 80 years), the age of piracy and lets not forget the Sudan wars (Mahdist War 1881-1899), all places that seem to be forgotten. Who remembers the siege of Khartoum? Some are so set in a stage of winning, the we sometimes forget that half the fun is surviving, so how far will you get? The original siege went on from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885, so what happens when you are in charge, how long will you last? Games are so much about winning, the we forget the enduring is nothing less. To make it to the date or even past it would be a victory and a half. It is so American to be the victor the most of them do not understand ‘the Last Samurai’, it is not about winning, it is about not losing, or better stated, the way you live towards the final days matters more, we forgot about that part, didn’t we?

We can set any gaming stage, but it is how we play where we see if we measure up, not if we merely tap the mile poles in a game. I reckon that the achievements made us all a little complacent in games. We can go in any direction, a Hindenburg flight simulator, yet in there we will always come up short against the Microsoft flight simulator, it makes more sense for them to add the Hindenburg. Yet what happens when we turn the script? What happens when we set the stage to a simple thing, what if the player is a no one, yet his/her grandfather was Hades, Poseidon or Zeus? What happens when we map a place like Monte Carlo completely and get him to retrieve a relic that one of the 2,261 millionaires or 50 billionaires has. Is it in a house, is it on a boat or is it somewhere else (like a museum)? We can simplify any game for as much as we can, but in the end we need a healthy story and for the most Wars tend to do that (an unhealthy endeavour if ever there was one). I saw the need of a game on mines, and remembered some bomb defusing game on the CBM-64, so where to go from there? The stage of a game is important, because it sets a vested interest of the gamer, Ubisoft had the down to perfection in Assassins Creed 2 and Brotherhood and after the they lost the plot, they almost won it back in AC4 Black Flag and they definitely got it back in Origins. I would think the a Battlestar Galactica RPG is one the would be favourable with the BSG fans, but not much outside that, the same can be said for Babylon 5, the Star Trek fanbase is huge, so that tends to be a close win any given day of the week, but that does not guarantee a good game, the issue is seen when an idea with a small base entices a large following, that is the stage we all seek. CD Project Red did so with Witcher and seemingly is about to do it again with Cyberpunk 2077.  It is the setting the fuels the story, and the story is everything, I have always believed that, it is the power of an RPG. It is because of the that we see out the great stories (Tolkien), yet I wonder what happens when we try this with Herbert on a larger scale with Dune, not merely on Arrakis, why if all the other places become involved? Perhaps a visionary will see that option with the next Dune movie (2020). In this books have been the strongest source of inspiration, mainly because there are so many of them. Yet most of us go to the same source, why? I agree that it is appealing, but there are so many nations with alternatives. That is something we saw when someone created the Untitled Goose Game, brilliant t in its foundation, as such I wondered if someone had considered the same thing with a cat (Minoes, Annie M. G. Schmidt), a writer the has a following of millions in the Netherlands and Belgium. In that same setting, as Skyrim became such a hit, did anyone ever look towards the famous Spanish Comic books of the Mercenary by Segrelles? It has all the makings of a much larger game, a stage where some are set not in multiple games, but one game with a season pass and several DLC’s.

Then there is the comic hero Rork, by Andreas, or even the Trigan Empire by Don Lawrence. I remember growing up to these stories and the stories of Ravian (Valerian), I am a little surprised that the Trigan Empire never made it to the silver screen or the computer, Don Lawrence has a flair for imagery and the computer always needs this. So what is the stage of a game that will be set next? The is the question and the is where players like Sony and Google/Apple will find themselves. Microsoft might be acquiring the brands (Bethesda), yet they do not have the stage alone and the next innovator might be just around the corner. For me, the idea that the $7,500,000,000 lemon the Microsoft acquired (not Bethesda mind you) would backfire largely and loudly and the would be OK with me.

As I personally see it, Microsoft pissed of true gamers and that group of people doesn’t pull punches when they play with their idols, we do not fault Bethesda in any of this, but aligning with Microsoft was not the best idea, as some say, you are only as good as your next game and Bethesda had plenty of winners, but what is next? We look not merely to the stage of the game, but to the next stage of gaming and I believe that they are too often hiding behind terms like ‘hype worthy games’, yet that is a setting from the mind of a marketing department, they predict that people who play games, will think this is a hype. Yet true hypes come from games the are on the edge of what is possible in gaming, the Witcher 3 is the perfect example there. Cyberpunk is also on the stage, neither of them are Microsoft games. Yet it was brilliant to buy Bethesda, but the also means that those who do not love the Microsoft console will look to the borders and see what else is possible, optionally setting the stage for the $7,500,000,000 lemon, not because of Bethesda, but because gamers have a lack of trust in Microsoft and the fact that some had the numbers that only 1 out of 3 considered the new Microsoft console, the gives me the impression that Microsoft has a much larger problem and buying software houses will not solve it, making visionary games do and the is the lesson Microsoft has not learned. They opened the door for Sony to look what else is out there, what else could become an exclusive and the is where Sony will win and gamers will win. Because it is on the edge of possible gaming where new gamers will be born, new games will be born and at the end of my life I see that there are options coming towards gamers, games the will create new gamers, it will create new creativity and new thinking through gaming and this is a good thing. The simple truth is the there is real gaming beyond Ubisoft and Microsoft, true gaming is never soft, it is challenging and the is where we need to look, we need to look where they are not looking. That is how I got most my IP in several fields. Not by being some bullet point presenter like all the others, but by looking in a direction they decided not to bother looking. That is how most revolutionary IP is created, and it is funny as this is the way Microsoft and Ubisoft started, to look where no was. Too bad they forgot about the part of the equation and I reckon the Sony is waking up to that lesson at present.

 

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September 23, 2020 · 21:58

The power of push

Yup, push is by far the greatest power in levelling the playing field. So when I heard that Bethesda had joined the Microsoft farm. From a tactical point of view, it was a brilliant move, the research a few weeks ago showed that merely 1 in three would select a Microsoft system, 1 in 3 is set to 3 in 9, but now there is every chance that the purchase might give Microsoft a shift towards 4-5 in 9, this is an important shift. We might see that it is a shift that cannot be avoided, but I see it as the opportunity to add to the power of Sony. You see, every RPG game is the same, there is land and there is a story, but what happens when we change that? What happens when the map is not defined by the story? What happens when we set it in two different dimensions? So what happens when the story has a localisation part? What if the map is wherever we need it to be, and we add the story on top? What if we can add the story to the map wherever it is? There is off course the need to transfer the map of the world into a playable map (which is not initially possible), yet the segregation of the two is a first step in a much larger frame, a frame that RPG games have not considered in the past. Yet it is only one of two parts, the second part is the revitalisation of the maps we play on. Yet what happens when the actions of a first game transfer to the second game? I am not talking about merely a change to an area because of actions (Fable), but the stage where the castle we add in the first game will be there in the second game as an existing location. At present, games are designed retroactively to avoid issues (Harry Potter), yet what options come alive when we embrace them? I thought in the direction before, but not to this degree. So consider the stage in a land, as we play the first game we offer quests we offer choices and so forth, but what happens that even beyond what we see in Mass Effect, the impact is not merely people, what happens, when we add and destroy locations, so the second game has the added/removed parts? We have seen shadows of this in games, but not to this extent, it is a larger stage of the accountability of the player. We accept that some will choose to only add locations, but in all this we forget that any RPG can have two sides, so what happens to the power core of any land, when there is no destruction? Bethesda did that quite nicely to leave us the options to save or destroy Megaton, but the is merely a fraction of what is possible, in that game the trade routes and the surrounding locations were not impacting by a shifted economy. So what happens when (in Fallout 4) the vaults become power villages? Each with an economy? That was in the back of my mind as I was looking at the Ultima setting, but that game is not alone. Yet there is no good example, because it has never been done to this degree before and it opens up all kinds of new settings and options in RPG gaming. 

In all this we need to thank Bethesda, no matter what reasons they had (the number 7,500,000,000) is a pretty nice reason, the station is now a larger setting, all kinds of needs to see a larger RPG change and even as Microsoft has the lead with its (as some say) 23 first person studio’s, it was a guy like me on a sofa who came up with the idea that no one ever brought to a game, not to this degree and that is where 23 studio’s came up short and Sony has the option to make a change to gaming, a larger change and that is what they have always done, I wonder how they will do it this time. I hope that we get to teach Microsoft another lesson, they have already been inclined to the fact that not listening to their gamers comes at a cost (only 1 out of 3 decided to buy the next Xbox), but there is every chance they get to learn that money does not solve everything, if you do not have the grasp of those who can create, you have nothing.

The power of push tends to hand a lending hand, but this time not to Microsoft.

 

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September 22, 2020 · 03:16

The house of RPG

Yup, the news only just hit the walls of the internet and a new stage is already underway. This is not about slamming Bethesda, they made a decision and I reckon that 7 billion plus is a nice looking bandaid, but now the house is falling over, because the stage of gaming is set into another realm. Do you think that Sony will like the age of dependancy of Microsoft? So as Bethesda becomes a Microsoft institution, Sony will have to look in other directions. Yes there are good RPG’s out there. There is the Witcher and Cyberpunk is about to arrive, yet the stage is largely untapped and now we see that there is a larger need for an exclusive option for Sony. Lucky for them there might be an option. Richard Garriott created the Ultima series in the early 80’s, yet it was in 1985 that Ultima IV: Quest of the avatar was born. It would take RPG’s to new heights, heights that would not be equalled for well over a decade. Now consider a first person RPG (like Skyrim) with its own rules, its own places, and a storyline that can surpass most RPG games out there. On a map that would be close to 6,000% larger than Skyrim. The map of Britannia (Ultima 1-9) was almost completely designed by the time Ultima 4 was there and the game only got better. The stage would add new dimensions to RPG gaming, something that could be done again in a 1st person setting. It would add new directions in gaming from the original setting, something that had not been done for some time. And then there is the story. Even now I see new stages in shrines and stones that the original never allowed for. There is the stage to combine Ultima 4 and 5 in a much larger setting in sequence in one game. It implies a gaming size that surpasses most RPG’s in hours and way the game is played. The Ultima series set a larger stage with the use of ships and that could remain, so there would be more in the game and more challenges. The largest is to stay original to the Ultima formula and not be swayed towards more of the same. A game that becomes a journey, a journey that we have not seen before and in this Bethesda opened the door by becoming part of Microsoft. I hope that they will remain on the Sony systems, but there is every indication that Microsoft will take a time advantage and use Bethesda games to push people towards their console. That move makes sense because there are plenty of Elder Scrolls and Fallout fans, but that also means that Sony now has the task to protect its core gamers by offering an exclusive brand of their own and that is where we see the value of Richard Garriott optionally go through the roof. I believe that for Richard Microsoft buying Bethesda might seem like the opportunity of a lifetime. No matter how Bethesda phrases it, they are quoted to have stated “all future Bethesda games will release on both Xbox and PC, but their appearance on other consoles will be determined on a “game by game basis”” this is what I would call a dicey setting for Sony, but not all is lost, they could look towards what was and redesign it to the new. Ultima is one of the most likely franchises and the stage is much larger than you think. Microsoft has paid over $7 billion for Bethesda (actually they bought Zenimax Media, the parent of Bethesda), it is a clever move, but if Sony counters it with new RPG, that price might be a little sour, especially if the RPG marketshare brittles away from Bethesda. Microsoft ends up in a stage where the overpaid for a brand that is well worth it, but as Sony counters what was not set to value, the value of Zenimax media will take a bit of a dive. So not only is there an alternative, my mind has already seen the optional design for an adjusted RPG game that would be every bit as satisfying as the original, more so when you consider that the original was never first person, but in my mind I added a stage that the Elder Scrolls never possessed. It is not merely good news for Richard Garriott, it would also be great news for Iolo, Jaana, Julia, Dupre, Geoffrey, Mariah, Katrina and Shamino. They can dust off the weapons they hung up in 1992. And the world would optionally see them back into action as early as 2022 if Sony gets a deal with Richard Garriott sober rather than later, because Microsoft was sly in getting the deal, but was it a clever move? I am not so sure about that. If we are to believe some market research results, only one in three opted for Microsoft, the rest went the way of Sony. I had issues with the results as it was against two systems and Nintendo was left outside the choice, I believe that the Microsoft numbers are not that great to begin with, but that is pure speculation from my side. Will I be proven correctly? 

I actually do not know, but the Bethesda move has set a level of shock on me, that is true enough, yet I have made up my mind, I will not get the Xbox, and if that leaves me without future fallout and elder scrolls games, so be it, yet it took me no more than an hour to set an optional new stage of Ultima, so there is always an option, there will always be RPG, the question becomes will Bethesda be part of that? I actually do not know, there is too much unknown at present.

 

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September 13, 2020 · 23:09

Retracing steps

That is the mood I am in, I am retracing certain steps from the last 12 hour. You see, I came up with a new idea for a movie, but I get so many of them, now I am in that state of mind on what I was thinking of. You see, it matters, because even as one thought does not, it tends to move in a direction that my mind was ignoring, and with that, the train of thought was creating a station that could matter a great deal. I know I was in the mindset of quests in TES-VII, then I was remembering the path of Hades, the path of the dead (I was in a stage of setting missions for the storyline of the Necromancers, and it is good to remember the classics (Hades is as classic as it gets), so my mind wavered. It wavered for a moment to the movie ‘How it Ends’ (because of the fires in the US. And then I remembered something, what if the world is saved, not for people, but for all the others? What happens when the path of Hades is a disease so devastating that it deletes 98.7% of all people at present?

This entire world remains with a mere 101,000,000 on the entire planet. I remember an idea for a DNA based disease. You see DNA is used to create proteins, they  are required for a person to function, but what happens when a specific DNA is created, almost shaped like a ‘Y’, the letter can be seen as 3 parts (see image), the included, the excluded and the  method of transformation. It does not matter which colour is what, it was the idea that counts. With a world now at 110 million, nature could repair itself, we have lost many animals, but those who remain would have a setting to survive and this time around, mankind is not as trusted as much and nature will be much harsher to overcome, of course but that is if we can brave the elements, the couch potatoes won’t get to much of a chance. Yet that is the setting we will talk about another time, for now, the idea of a setting of survival, this wouldn’t be a survival story, we have seen plenty of those, it will be about the setting stage of spreading a disease like that, that is why it is a DNA disease, the people become the carriers and the rats setting the plague on their fellow human beings. 

Each person becomes a carrier, every community a lighthouse of more and new sick people. And when the disease surpasses certain percentages, we see governments fold, we see the greed driven run in panic and we see the caring in a stage when there is nothing more to care for and no one left to care for. So why Hades? Hades was the fist born of Cronos, he is not as high regard as Zeus or Poseidon, but in all this Hades as god of the underworld has more options, all those who die serve him, in the end we all end up serving Hades, no exceptions. Also according to myth, he was the most displeased with mankind, so he gets to end most of us. 

And in this, what if Olympian DNA is part of the disease, if the method of transformation is Olympian, the gods and Demi gods are automatically immune. Yet that would not be enough, the stage is not merely what they could do, but the stage that they arrived here gives more rise to the place where their ship now is (in the Peru-Chile Trench) at roughly 7,600 metres depth. So when we consider the first hurdle, it is not Hades giving us the DNA finger, it will be Hades convincing Poseidon to allow it to happen, which gives us the stage of vengeance of what man did to the oceans and Poseidon was on board, in this Zeus is made useless as Poseidon and Hades united in their disappointment of mankind. There is more, but that is where I got in about an hour, the (optional) mini series would be about how we flaunted and spitted on what we have and when nature is in a stage where it does not care where we end, we see a consumer driven population that cannot fend for itself. It would result in a slightly less optimistic view on the world in 10 parts of about an hour. 

There is a nice symmetry here, we denied the Greek gods, the Italians overrun them and now the Greek gods get to overrun all of us, it merely a matter of perspective, and the DNA virus? I forgot where I left the Genome Compiler, you see, the idea was set not on the station of merely DNA, but the setting of what happens when we add two new elements to the stream, we see the two elements as merely a stage, but what happens when the two new ones interact with the four known ones and connect? That is why I came up with the ‘Y’ shape and no DNA has any defence against the two parts it never met before, in this the stage where a mere 1.013171122% gets to have an actual immune response, and when you consider COVID-19 where only 4% is deadly, it should be enough to pretty much scare you to death, if not that, then consider the city of New York, with a mere 109,187 left alive, it will be a case where those left alive will ponder the setting of ‘the deafening silence’ not for a moment, but in EVERYTHING you do, it should be an unnerving experience for all. 

Anyway, I was merely playing with ideas and as I create new settings, I also set new idea’s for whatever is in front of me, in this case it is a mission for the Necromancer guild, a station where we see an optional new challenge for those in need in Cyrodiil, in this case a temple that needs to get erected, in this case, either the Niben Bay or the Panther River, I haven’t decided yet. But I am decently sure that I will set a very different altar near Anvil, a set stage that allows for much more entertainment, especially if you need to get there from Elden Root, ahh, so much to do, so little hard drive space. Life remains full of challenges (for those still around in a year or so), fate is a fickle thing, so let’s be marry and enjoy an Irish Stew, optionally with a red ale.

Retracing my steps was a little more entertaining then I thought, but I will accept that 7,683,000,000 might disagree with me, so go complain to Hades, or Ralph Fiennes, or Cheyenne Jackson, or James Woods, or whatever he calls himself now. I am happily a non caring person at present (because I am hungry). 

Have fun!

 

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