In addition to the previous blogs, re: Commander Shepard and Ashley Williams, and as I had been quite specific in other characters' posts, I feel it remiss of me not to mention the actors who voice them.
The female Commander Shepard is voiced by Canadian, Jennifer Hale, a big voice acting name in the gaming industry these days and often used by BioWare for various characters in their franchises. As an Englishman, I will say she does a great clipped English accent as Rosalind Lutece in Bioshock: Infinite, and I was thoroughly flabbergasted when her name went past in the credits. Jen gives Shepard the agency and urgency needed for a woman charged with saving the galaxy, spitting fire in Renegade mode, defiant as a Paragon, and enough to rouse anyone's spirit when she gives rhetoric to the troops. My top Shepard moment is a bitter-sweet one, being the speech if you choose to refuse the Citadel's choices and ultimately allow the Reapers to win.
"I fight for freedom; mine and everyone's. I fight for the right to choose our own fate. And if I die, I'll know I died doing everything I could to stop you, and I'll die free."
And as love interest, I love Liara's bit after that.
Another name we see a lot in recent gaming titles is Kimberly Brooks, and the voice of Ashley Williams. From Oracle (Barbara) in the Arkham series, to 'grunt #2' in XCom: Enemy Unknown, to Daisy Fitzroy in Bioshock: Infinite, Kimberly's voice has become instantly recognisable no matter the role. I suspect it's the ever-so slight lispy rasp that she has, which is not to criticise but merely observe and I would say part of her charm. She does a grand job of keeping the balance of gung-ho marine and learned intellectual right.
Saturday, 9 May 2015
Friday, 8 May 2015
And Shepard makes three (Girl Squad!)
https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
Commander Shepard.
Just the name stirs the soul for a fan like myself. Though to define who or what Commander Shepard is as a character whose gender and psyche are chosen by the player, it is different for all. From Shepard's birthplace and upbringing, to his or her achievements and hardships in life, and ultimately the fine minutia of the interactions in-game, we all have different highlights and memories of the Hero of the Citadel. But this piece about my Shepard, Commander Verity Shepard.
Verity Shepard was raised by her parents on the off-world human colony of Mindoir. However, the galaxy is not at peace and the colony is attacked by slavers, killing all who oppose them, including young Verity's parents. She is briefly enslaved but rescued by the Earth Systems Alliance Navy, no doubt sparking her desire to sign up and put right that which is wrong. Later in her career in the fleet, she loses her whole squad to a wild Thresher Maw on the planet of Akuze, a massive and dangerous creature never encountered by humans before; it turns out later in the game that this was a set-up by the dark ops group Cerberus to study the creature's fierceness and the squad's ability to combat it; Cerberus' sick experiments are quite a feature of the game. Surviving adversity as the sole survivor of Akuze, Shepard is put forward for N7 training and quickly becomes the poster-girl of the Alliance. That's pretty much where we come in, and the start of the first instalment of Mass Effect and what can be considered 'canon' for that origin.
One of the unique features of a BioWare title is their morality systems. In Star Wars The Old Republic, it is much easier to define the scale: the light side to the dark, thank you, George, job's a good'un, In Mass Effect, they chose Paragon to Renegade and as arbitrary labels go they did suffice quite nicely. Are you aiming to inspire and to do good through your endeavours? Or are you willing to do anything it takes to get the job done and be damned the consequence?
As you can probably already imagine due to her purposefully, pious name, Verity leaned towards Paragon, In the context of the game, Verity Shepard is what is termed a 'Mary Sue'; a character so without flaw they are beyond suspension of disbelief, in that I chose every Paragon action without choosing any Renegade where possible. Role play is role play, and it made more sense for me that the good Doctor T'Soni would be more inclined to fall for a character like this than a bad-ass. And as I've mentioned Liara, we must come back to Ashley. Girl Squad! Ha!
The Girl Squad thing was funny/peculiar. It originally comes from Dexter's Laboratory, when DeeDee and her two friends start an investigation team because of suspicious activity in the neighbourhood, calling themselves, yes, Girl Squad with a Charlie's Angels type title screen. When I was playing ME1 a lot, and had Liara and Ashley in tow, the Girl Squad always used to pop into my head. That it went into the fic was a spur of the moment thing. I'd written the first time they sound off their names, nearly didn't post it because to be honest, it is quite silly even if not beyond the realms of possibility. It went in. Some commented they enjoyed it, and the Girl Squad they remained. The Girl Squad been a fun feature to use in their interactions, as they jibe and taunt one another. If I'm honest, when I used it in the last chapter of 'Blue', I did have a little gulp myself. Despite its silliness, it is the trios bond.
While the in-game Verity Shepard and her adventures are the basis for my fan fic Shepard, I did have to concede some darkness for her. As I said above, in the context of the game, full Paragon is fine but in reality, it doesn't make for interesting writing. The first piece I ever posted explored this very thing, where Shepard had killed Shiala on Feros and Liara confronts her over it, knowing that Shiala may not have been totally lost to indoctrination. From that piece I began to build my fic Shepard's character; a dark side that sometimes lashes out even if well intentioned, and the occasional loss of control due to it.
I could bang on for ages, hence ending up writing fan fic, so I'll leave it there, except to say that while my trilogy sequel 'The Damned' is slow in progress right now, their story isn't over just yet.
Commander Shepard.
Just the name stirs the soul for a fan like myself. Though to define who or what Commander Shepard is as a character whose gender and psyche are chosen by the player, it is different for all. From Shepard's birthplace and upbringing, to his or her achievements and hardships in life, and ultimately the fine minutia of the interactions in-game, we all have different highlights and memories of the Hero of the Citadel. But this piece about my Shepard, Commander Verity Shepard.
Verity Shepard was raised by her parents on the off-world human colony of Mindoir. However, the galaxy is not at peace and the colony is attacked by slavers, killing all who oppose them, including young Verity's parents. She is briefly enslaved but rescued by the Earth Systems Alliance Navy, no doubt sparking her desire to sign up and put right that which is wrong. Later in her career in the fleet, she loses her whole squad to a wild Thresher Maw on the planet of Akuze, a massive and dangerous creature never encountered by humans before; it turns out later in the game that this was a set-up by the dark ops group Cerberus to study the creature's fierceness and the squad's ability to combat it; Cerberus' sick experiments are quite a feature of the game. Surviving adversity as the sole survivor of Akuze, Shepard is put forward for N7 training and quickly becomes the poster-girl of the Alliance. That's pretty much where we come in, and the start of the first instalment of Mass Effect and what can be considered 'canon' for that origin.
One of the unique features of a BioWare title is their morality systems. In Star Wars The Old Republic, it is much easier to define the scale: the light side to the dark, thank you, George, job's a good'un, In Mass Effect, they chose Paragon to Renegade and as arbitrary labels go they did suffice quite nicely. Are you aiming to inspire and to do good through your endeavours? Or are you willing to do anything it takes to get the job done and be damned the consequence?
As you can probably already imagine due to her purposefully, pious name, Verity leaned towards Paragon, In the context of the game, Verity Shepard is what is termed a 'Mary Sue'; a character so without flaw they are beyond suspension of disbelief, in that I chose every Paragon action without choosing any Renegade where possible. Role play is role play, and it made more sense for me that the good Doctor T'Soni would be more inclined to fall for a character like this than a bad-ass. And as I've mentioned Liara, we must come back to Ashley. Girl Squad! Ha!
The Girl Squad thing was funny/peculiar. It originally comes from Dexter's Laboratory, when DeeDee and her two friends start an investigation team because of suspicious activity in the neighbourhood, calling themselves, yes, Girl Squad with a Charlie's Angels type title screen. When I was playing ME1 a lot, and had Liara and Ashley in tow, the Girl Squad always used to pop into my head. That it went into the fic was a spur of the moment thing. I'd written the first time they sound off their names, nearly didn't post it because to be honest, it is quite silly even if not beyond the realms of possibility. It went in. Some commented they enjoyed it, and the Girl Squad they remained. The Girl Squad been a fun feature to use in their interactions, as they jibe and taunt one another. If I'm honest, when I used it in the last chapter of 'Blue', I did have a little gulp myself. Despite its silliness, it is the trios bond.
While the in-game Verity Shepard and her adventures are the basis for my fan fic Shepard, I did have to concede some darkness for her. As I said above, in the context of the game, full Paragon is fine but in reality, it doesn't make for interesting writing. The first piece I ever posted explored this very thing, where Shepard had killed Shiala on Feros and Liara confronts her over it, knowing that Shiala may not have been totally lost to indoctrination. From that piece I began to build my fic Shepard's character; a dark side that sometimes lashes out even if well intentioned, and the occasional loss of control due to it.
I could bang on for ages, hence ending up writing fan fic, so I'll leave it there, except to say that while my trilogy sequel 'The Damned' is slow in progress right now, their story isn't over just yet.
Thursday, 7 May 2015
Ashley Williams (Mass Effect)
Ashley got a lot 'bad press'. The reasons are usually two-fold:
1. She made the 'dog' analogy.
2. She said she couldn't tell the aliens from the animals when on the Presidium.
As such, she was labelled 'bigot'. While the second is less forgiveable, even if said facetiously or tongue in cheek, the first is just philosophy and not an uncommon concept. For those who don't know, Ashley says that if you're running from a bear, you'd sacrifice your dog to get away, implying that the Council races would sacrifice the humans in a heartbeat for their own benefit and vice versa. A cynical view, but not without base or merit. Remember of course, that Ashley is very well read, and is always citing passages from great works so it would be fair to say that she is not being rash.
I would personally call her a 'traditionalist', due to her faith. The various faiths of Earth must have had pause for thought when they discovered we are not alone in the galaxy, the idea that God deals only in humans would be ludicrous. But by tradition, and familiarity, many would have continued with their own doctrine and ceremony long after and for those very reasons: tradition and familiarity.
The alien/animal thing? We all say facetious things we don't really mean when we think no-one is listening but unfortunately for Ash, there were a few million of us listening.
But that's all only one small part of Ashley Williams.
Eldest of four sisters, and having a tradition of military service in the family, Ashley joined the Earth Systems Alliance Navy as a ground combatant. However, the Williams family name is tarnished in the military, due to her grandfather, General Williams' surrender of the Shanxi outpost in the First Contact War with the turians and despite that being decades earlier, her rise through the ranks is slow and impeded because of it, still only being Gunnery Chief when we meet her in Mass Effect 1. Her family, her duty, and her honour are what keep her going, and she never flinches at any of them.
In a lighter moment during a conversation with Shepard, Williams says she should ask Liara about her sex life, due to the common misconception that asari are promiscuous due to their reproductive habits (able to mate with any species). Shepard, if you choose to say so, advises that's probably not a good idea as Liara's new to the humans and wouldn't appreciate the attention (already noticing Liara's reserved nature but I digress). "No fun, Commander!" is the response from Ashley, and it's that tiny sliver I take much of my Ashley from for my musings. The older sister who would tease her siblings, jibe them about their boyfriends but with affection. As her own father was often away, also a military man, Ashley says she did a lot to help bring them up as well.
I did find it a little disappointing that some couldn't see beyond their initial assessment, as there's a lot more to the now Spectre Ashley Williams than just a few off-hand comments.
NB: 'Kaiden'. That's as much as the he is able to get from me. I never did a play through where Ashley didn't survive Virmire. Sorry!
1. She made the 'dog' analogy.
2. She said she couldn't tell the aliens from the animals when on the Presidium.
As such, she was labelled 'bigot'. While the second is less forgiveable, even if said facetiously or tongue in cheek, the first is just philosophy and not an uncommon concept. For those who don't know, Ashley says that if you're running from a bear, you'd sacrifice your dog to get away, implying that the Council races would sacrifice the humans in a heartbeat for their own benefit and vice versa. A cynical view, but not without base or merit. Remember of course, that Ashley is very well read, and is always citing passages from great works so it would be fair to say that she is not being rash.
I would personally call her a 'traditionalist', due to her faith. The various faiths of Earth must have had pause for thought when they discovered we are not alone in the galaxy, the idea that God deals only in humans would be ludicrous. But by tradition, and familiarity, many would have continued with their own doctrine and ceremony long after and for those very reasons: tradition and familiarity.
The alien/animal thing? We all say facetious things we don't really mean when we think no-one is listening but unfortunately for Ash, there were a few million of us listening.
But that's all only one small part of Ashley Williams.
Eldest of four sisters, and having a tradition of military service in the family, Ashley joined the Earth Systems Alliance Navy as a ground combatant. However, the Williams family name is tarnished in the military, due to her grandfather, General Williams' surrender of the Shanxi outpost in the First Contact War with the turians and despite that being decades earlier, her rise through the ranks is slow and impeded because of it, still only being Gunnery Chief when we meet her in Mass Effect 1. Her family, her duty, and her honour are what keep her going, and she never flinches at any of them.
In a lighter moment during a conversation with Shepard, Williams says she should ask Liara about her sex life, due to the common misconception that asari are promiscuous due to their reproductive habits (able to mate with any species). Shepard, if you choose to say so, advises that's probably not a good idea as Liara's new to the humans and wouldn't appreciate the attention (already noticing Liara's reserved nature but I digress). "No fun, Commander!" is the response from Ashley, and it's that tiny sliver I take much of my Ashley from for my musings. The older sister who would tease her siblings, jibe them about their boyfriends but with affection. As her own father was often away, also a military man, Ashley says she did a lot to help bring them up as well.
I did find it a little disappointing that some couldn't see beyond their initial assessment, as there's a lot more to the now Spectre Ashley Williams than just a few off-hand comments.
NB: 'Kaiden'. That's as much as the he is able to get from me. I never did a play through where Ashley didn't survive Virmire. Sorry!
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
Much like the original however, a sense of 'attachment' for your soldiers forms, as they go through the missions, getting stronger each time and getting out alive. Losing an experienced soldier in the field is not only damaging to the operation as whole, as that expertise is needed to help keep others alive too and prevent them from panicking, but pangs that they'd come so far only to be killed by some snit of a Sectoid. Each soldier is given a generated full name and once experienced enough, a nickname, which only adds to the attachment. Nicknames like 'Thunder', 'Hex', or 'Rhino', typical grunt nicknames but they are combat experienced soldiers so it's to be expected.
So my pondering has been around how the reserved and usually focussed research specialist, Doctor Vahlen might interact with these 'grunts'. We don't get much to go on from the game, it's not very 'character' based, though from some research of my own, many of the devs wanted Doctors Vahlen and Chen to be married and even created an elaborate model for a wedding ring that was never used. I don't have any issues with the marriage idea but I personally don't go with this, not for what I want to muse. Firaxis themselves have said that no-one is wrong as it doesn't say either way in-game.
Friday, 1 May 2015
My tuppence worth or two cents (Valve, Bethesda and mods)
Obviously, my writing life also revolves around my gaming life so forgive me the indulgence.
So, the dust is settling around the ill-judged move to start a pay for mods model for Skyrim on the Steam Workshop. Well that firmly puts my stake in the ground. I think that neither Valve nor Bethesda thought it through properly and in the initial announcement that paid mods were no longer being continued they said as much, so fair play to them for that. Out of all this, the already fragile community itself suffered most. One of the cries on the Steam Community Forums was that there was no initial dialogue with the users about it. This makes me laugh. The response and backlash on the forums shows exactly why Valve would be reluctant to open up such a channel with the users, the immaturity knew no bounds and was for the most party utterly vacuous and without anything meaningful to say, usually filled with memes, videos, bigotry and expletives. * slow clap *
However, that said, and obviously would be in my interest, I'm not totally against the idea of amateur creatives being able to make a few quid. I've a few of NPC mods on nexus, and initially would have considered upping my game to maybe jump in if it seemed to be working out alright for the modders. If only it were that simple, eh? After this moment of fancy, and after thinking it through a bit more and reading up on some of the real sources of actual modders invited into the initial launch, the current style of modding is too much of a 'shitty mess' for it to be so cut and dried. There's so many shared resources being used, tools created by other modders, shared textures, meshes, the whole kaboodle, because everyone is just doing if for the love of it and is happy for others to make use of it and thus extend the life of the game and their notoriety into the bargain. So who gets paid? Does the guy who made the skin textures you used for your follower mod need paying? The possibility of mods being downloaded from a free site like Nexus or the other place(...), to then sell on Steam was another issue that there was little in place to challenge or avoid that possibility, And then with what turned out to be a meagre percentage of the total for the modder (25%), what about the supporting talent, like voice actors, artists, musicians, story and dialogue writers, and so on?
In short, my opinion would be that the modders themselves need to organise before this can really be attempted in earnest, and treat what is a hobby now as a business, with agreements over assets between themselves in place. We are hoping, however, that this has not been so bad for the community that Bethesda pulls support for mods completely in future titles such as the impending Fallout 4, which they have been very supportive of thus far, providing the Creation Kit for Skyrim and letting us run riot.
'Gaben will provide' Book of Steam 1:14
So, the dust is settling around the ill-judged move to start a pay for mods model for Skyrim on the Steam Workshop. Well that firmly puts my stake in the ground. I think that neither Valve nor Bethesda thought it through properly and in the initial announcement that paid mods were no longer being continued they said as much, so fair play to them for that. Out of all this, the already fragile community itself suffered most. One of the cries on the Steam Community Forums was that there was no initial dialogue with the users about it. This makes me laugh. The response and backlash on the forums shows exactly why Valve would be reluctant to open up such a channel with the users, the immaturity knew no bounds and was for the most party utterly vacuous and without anything meaningful to say, usually filled with memes, videos, bigotry and expletives. * slow clap *
However, that said, and obviously would be in my interest, I'm not totally against the idea of amateur creatives being able to make a few quid. I've a few of NPC mods on nexus, and initially would have considered upping my game to maybe jump in if it seemed to be working out alright for the modders. If only it were that simple, eh? After this moment of fancy, and after thinking it through a bit more and reading up on some of the real sources of actual modders invited into the initial launch, the current style of modding is too much of a 'shitty mess' for it to be so cut and dried. There's so many shared resources being used, tools created by other modders, shared textures, meshes, the whole kaboodle, because everyone is just doing if for the love of it and is happy for others to make use of it and thus extend the life of the game and their notoriety into the bargain. So who gets paid? Does the guy who made the skin textures you used for your follower mod need paying? The possibility of mods being downloaded from a free site like Nexus or the other place(...), to then sell on Steam was another issue that there was little in place to challenge or avoid that possibility, And then with what turned out to be a meagre percentage of the total for the modder (25%), what about the supporting talent, like voice actors, artists, musicians, story and dialogue writers, and so on?
In short, my opinion would be that the modders themselves need to organise before this can really be attempted in earnest, and treat what is a hobby now as a business, with agreements over assets between themselves in place. We are hoping, however, that this has not been so bad for the community that Bethesda pulls support for mods completely in future titles such as the impending Fallout 4, which they have been very supportive of thus far, providing the Creation Kit for Skyrim and letting us run riot.
'Gaben will provide' Book of Steam 1:14
Wednesday, 29 April 2015
Little Women (no, not the book) -Bioshock
http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
Since I did a passage in 'There's always you' where the Little Sisters are fresh from Rapture with the Lambs and still playing, I did wonder what would happen to them in life once they returned to 'normal society'. We see from the in-game closing scenes that they go on to live full lives, helped by Jack, and are there for him in his final moments but I'd imagine the transition would not be straight forward or easy.
So the last few shorties in my Bioshorts section seem to have been devoted to those thoughts. Not sure always why certain aspects appeal to me, though I will say that attempting to capture the potential fragility of a Little Sister later in life did (yea, I like to prod emotions where possible). Also, the time frame would mean that the sisters would be young women in the 'summer of love' in 1969, which is when Eleanor would be exiting from Rapture - I've implied in other works that Eleanor would have been quite 'groovy' and fallen right in with the beatnik crowd. I felt compelled to explore some of this, that she might seek out her former sisters, though when I started I wasn't quite sure what I had to say about it but I was quite pleased with what came out.
Since I did a passage in 'There's always you' where the Little Sisters are fresh from Rapture with the Lambs and still playing, I did wonder what would happen to them in life once they returned to 'normal society'. We see from the in-game closing scenes that they go on to live full lives, helped by Jack, and are there for him in his final moments but I'd imagine the transition would not be straight forward or easy.
So the last few shorties in my Bioshorts section seem to have been devoted to those thoughts. Not sure always why certain aspects appeal to me, though I will say that attempting to capture the potential fragility of a Little Sister later in life did (yea, I like to prod emotions where possible). Also, the time frame would mean that the sisters would be young women in the 'summer of love' in 1969, which is when Eleanor would be exiting from Rapture - I've implied in other works that Eleanor would have been quite 'groovy' and fallen right in with the beatnik crowd. I felt compelled to explore some of this, that she might seek out her former sisters, though when I started I wasn't quite sure what I had to say about it but I was quite pleased with what came out.
Monday, 20 April 2015
Darker thoughts on dark circumstances (Bioshock and the Little Sisters)
Andrew Ryan's vision was of a society free of the 'petty morality' of church, government or any arbitrary authority, a society allowed to explore everything to its fullest potential no matter the cost/harm. Life is deemed pretty much expendable in this society, for the 'greater good' of progress. We see this everywhere in Bioshock and Burial at Sea, the Little Sisters being the pinnacle of this casual disregard of empathy.
Essentially, as a society that has fallen so far, I wonder if Ken Levine tempered his original ideas for the Little Sisters, and what such people might do to the young for a profit. I shall assume I don't need to expand on that premise more than I have.
In a Rand-ian society, 'lessers' are expendable and exploitable. To what level the exploitation? Long term harm is moot when the person is destined for the dump anyway. If society were to go to those levels of Ryan/Rand, where would it stop? Money buys anything if someone is willing to pay and another to offer the service.
And yes, I am dumb. It is only while writing this that the 'Ayn Rand' / 'Andrew Ryan' anagram thing hit me lol.
I hope these musing aren't TOO dark for some but I enjoy taking things to their nth level, regardless of where that may lead.
Essentially, as a society that has fallen so far, I wonder if Ken Levine tempered his original ideas for the Little Sisters, and what such people might do to the young for a profit. I shall assume I don't need to expand on that premise more than I have.
In a Rand-ian society, 'lessers' are expendable and exploitable. To what level the exploitation? Long term harm is moot when the person is destined for the dump anyway. If society were to go to those levels of Ryan/Rand, where would it stop? Money buys anything if someone is willing to pay and another to offer the service.
And yes, I am dumb. It is only while writing this that the 'Ayn Rand' / 'Andrew Ryan' anagram thing hit me lol.
I hope these musing aren't TOO dark for some but I enjoy taking things to their nth level, regardless of where that may lead.
When is an Easter Egg not an Easter Egg?
In a scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, there are hieroglyphs of the droids from Star Wars hidden amongst the texts. In Jedi Knight: Dark Forces, Max from LucasArts' 'Sam and Max' is hiding in one settlement. In Duke Nukem 2, there is a 'doomed' space marine skewered behind an altar.
These are classic Easter Eggs: little hidden nuggets of interest of no consequence.
In Portal, we see the Borealis' dry dock and reference to Black Mesa.
So I ask again, when is an Easter Egg not an Easter Egg? At what point does a hidden piece of information become 'lore' or 'canon', rather than 'Easter Egg'? No-one seems to be jumping up and down that Sam and Max must then be in the same universe as Star Wars, or that Star Wars precedes Indiana Jones in some Zelda-esque impossible timeline.
A hell of a lot has been made of both the direct and perceived links between Portal and HL, beyond the realm of fanfic. But what if they are just Easter Eggs and no intention was ever made to actually follow through on such ideas?
Of course, the Borealis is cited in HL2, but that doesn't guarantee an in-game connection. If devs followed through on EVERY idea like Aperture being in competition with Black Mesa, story lines would be a right mess. It could have easily been an afterthought, that once Portal was ready for testing (no pun intended), some bright spark thought, "Hey, Aperture's a science facility, Black Mesa's a science facility, we're all Valve, so why don't we..." and added the slide show content in Portal 1 purely as an Easter Egg, which the 'joke' then continued into Portal 2.
Don't get me wrong, I WANT a HL/Portal cross-over, but one has to temper the vigour sometimes. Particularly after one of Gabe's recent uncommitted interviews.
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Skyrim (Erdi)
http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
I've done a short tale and a few oneshots of Skyrim, and recently been modding the game myself with some new followers. While the characters of Skyrim are not quite as fleshed out as in other franchises, there lies the intrigue as they are empty pages to be filled.
In my tale 'Road to Breezehome' I suggested that Mikael the Bard used to study at the Bard's College in Solitude, and being a ladies man woo'd Lisette and Erdi. Now in my tale, some time after he was at the college, Mikael had written a less than flattering song about the girls of Solitude and Lisette finds out about it when the Dragonborn visits the Winking Skeaver tavern; Lisette wants to go to Whiterun to have 'words' with Mikael with Erdi.
I'd a few ideas about where that short 'sub plot' might go but recently I played Skyrim to test out my mods, but I created a rare male character. Upon encountering Erdi at the Blue Palace, she wasn't quite the same as when I meet her as a female character. When female, she's quite enthusiastic about the idea of two women on the road, adventuring, strapping men in every tavern but when you're a male character, she's more melancholic, that she spends her time daydreaming about a more exotic and adventurous life rather than lowly court maid.
Perhaps Erdi ever remembers her questionable time with Mikael fondly, as about the most interesting thing that has happened in her life; that he was two-timing her with Lisette just made it more exciting.
I've done a short tale and a few oneshots of Skyrim, and recently been modding the game myself with some new followers. While the characters of Skyrim are not quite as fleshed out as in other franchises, there lies the intrigue as they are empty pages to be filled.
In my tale 'Road to Breezehome' I suggested that Mikael the Bard used to study at the Bard's College in Solitude, and being a ladies man woo'd Lisette and Erdi. Now in my tale, some time after he was at the college, Mikael had written a less than flattering song about the girls of Solitude and Lisette finds out about it when the Dragonborn visits the Winking Skeaver tavern; Lisette wants to go to Whiterun to have 'words' with Mikael with Erdi.
I'd a few ideas about where that short 'sub plot' might go but recently I played Skyrim to test out my mods, but I created a rare male character. Upon encountering Erdi at the Blue Palace, she wasn't quite the same as when I meet her as a female character. When female, she's quite enthusiastic about the idea of two women on the road, adventuring, strapping men in every tavern but when you're a male character, she's more melancholic, that she spends her time daydreaming about a more exotic and adventurous life rather than lowly court maid.
Perhaps Erdi ever remembers her questionable time with Mikael fondly, as about the most interesting thing that has happened in her life; that he was two-timing her with Lisette just made it more exciting.
Thursday, 12 February 2015
Chell/Gordon/Aperture/G-Man brain spew
Thought splurge.
We don't specifically know how long Chell is in stasis for, but we do know that Gordon was in stasis for around twenty years. There's nothing to say that Chell was not in stasis for a similar or the same length of time. So my thought of the day was, when Gordon sleeps, Chell sleeps.
This also made me wonder, as it's not mentioned anywhere in Portal 2, how or when the stasis technology was developed. Of their notable achievements, only the portal device gained any attention, becoming their main development area. As far as I would think, portal technology probably wouldn't assist with stasis, unless you are holding a person outside of space and time in the space between portal exits (?). Rather like one might expect G-Man to do it...
G-Man's appearances in the Half Life series are often accompanied by crows, the birds also being a large feature of Portal 2. If we are to take Valve's hints as read, then G-Man is or was around in some way in Aperture. Is G-Man responsible for guiding Aperture's seemingly impossible technological advancements, and for opening our dimension to the demons from beyond via the Borealis before Black Mesa?
G-Man is of undetermined origin. He does say in one speech that the weapons Gordon carries are property of the government, though not which government. He certainly seems not of this Earth,
Hm.
We don't specifically know how long Chell is in stasis for, but we do know that Gordon was in stasis for around twenty years. There's nothing to say that Chell was not in stasis for a similar or the same length of time. So my thought of the day was, when Gordon sleeps, Chell sleeps.
This also made me wonder, as it's not mentioned anywhere in Portal 2, how or when the stasis technology was developed. Of their notable achievements, only the portal device gained any attention, becoming their main development area. As far as I would think, portal technology probably wouldn't assist with stasis, unless you are holding a person outside of space and time in the space between portal exits (?). Rather like one might expect G-Man to do it...
G-Man's appearances in the Half Life series are often accompanied by crows, the birds also being a large feature of Portal 2. If we are to take Valve's hints as read, then G-Man is or was around in some way in Aperture. Is G-Man responsible for guiding Aperture's seemingly impossible technological advancements, and for opening our dimension to the demons from beyond via the Borealis before Black Mesa?
G-Man is of undetermined origin. He does say in one speech that the weapons Gordon carries are property of the government, though not which government. He certainly seems not of this Earth,
Hm.
Saturday, 7 February 2015
Constants and variables (and rule 63) - Bioshock
http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
Recently saw a few vids on YouTube discussing gender and women in gaming, covering the usual topics of motivation and 'gender stereotypes' and so on. I do wonder if the 'damsel in distress' figure that is becoming more prevalent in gaming must always be female and the protagonist hero male. It has been said of Bioshock: Infinite that it is of its time, and so the former Pinkerton would obviously be a man, and some have gone as far to say that a woman wouldn't sell her child like Booker does (a key point of the tale).
I do have some reservations about using time-period alone to justify gender roles, as history shows us there are many strong successful, and even brutally minded women in the past. So the Pinkertons were probably mostly men, I don't think that could be argued against; that said, I don't doubt that there were women in the ranks, at various levels of militancy. The 'Pinks' infiltrated other organisations with moles, for example, so why not a woman for this role? Also, just because female that doesn't mean they can't appear apathetic; not every woman has to gush their emotions all the time.
On the other side, could Elizabeth work as a boy, and so the 'damsel in distress'? I don't see why not. Being stuck in a book tower for his whole life, I'd doubt he's going to be the beefiest of young men, and he'd have the same level of naivety and innocence due to his isolation. Motivations for Paris might be a bit different, though it's not stated categorically what Liz's fascination is beyond it being 'Paris'. No reason why he wouldn't have a similar idealistic view of Paris, like we saw in Burial at Sea part 2.
The scene at Battleship Bay. Hm. You don't see too many lads dancing with so much glee, and this is quite a 'Disney-fied' scene, but again, stereotype is stereotype. Though that did make me think, what song would Fink have stolen, instead of Cindi Lauper's 'Girl's just wanna have fun'? I've gone with 'If I were a boy' by Beyonce. It just felt right that the AU where Booker is Brooke and Elizabeth is Elijah, to choose this song.
So the result of all that was an exceptionally short scene with gender reversal, and a tune on the old calliope.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/956733/chapters/7213550
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13045465
Recently saw a few vids on YouTube discussing gender and women in gaming, covering the usual topics of motivation and 'gender stereotypes' and so on. I do wonder if the 'damsel in distress' figure that is becoming more prevalent in gaming must always be female and the protagonist hero male. It has been said of Bioshock: Infinite that it is of its time, and so the former Pinkerton would obviously be a man, and some have gone as far to say that a woman wouldn't sell her child like Booker does (a key point of the tale).
I do have some reservations about using time-period alone to justify gender roles, as history shows us there are many strong successful, and even brutally minded women in the past. So the Pinkertons were probably mostly men, I don't think that could be argued against; that said, I don't doubt that there were women in the ranks, at various levels of militancy. The 'Pinks' infiltrated other organisations with moles, for example, so why not a woman for this role? Also, just because female that doesn't mean they can't appear apathetic; not every woman has to gush their emotions all the time.
On the other side, could Elizabeth work as a boy, and so the 'damsel in distress'? I don't see why not. Being stuck in a book tower for his whole life, I'd doubt he's going to be the beefiest of young men, and he'd have the same level of naivety and innocence due to his isolation. Motivations for Paris might be a bit different, though it's not stated categorically what Liz's fascination is beyond it being 'Paris'. No reason why he wouldn't have a similar idealistic view of Paris, like we saw in Burial at Sea part 2.
The scene at Battleship Bay. Hm. You don't see too many lads dancing with so much glee, and this is quite a 'Disney-fied' scene, but again, stereotype is stereotype. Though that did make me think, what song would Fink have stolen, instead of Cindi Lauper's 'Girl's just wanna have fun'? I've gone with 'If I were a boy' by Beyonce. It just felt right that the AU where Booker is Brooke and Elizabeth is Elijah, to choose this song.
So the result of all that was an exceptionally short scene with gender reversal, and a tune on the old calliope.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/956733/chapters/7213550
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13045465
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Mass Effect (Liara T'Soni)
Unfortunately where Mass Effect is concerned, this is where I belong in the realms of fandom, or weirdness as others might call it. Well, it was ME that brought me to write fan fiction so I think that says a lot about my feelings on the franchise. As game franchises go, this was the one that brought me to the whole world of 'fandom' and all the strangeness that goes with. I was also exposed to many other fandoms, usually via banners protesting the end of ME3, and I just fell right into it.
Now, I said in an earlier post about waifus (common term for a perceived relationship with a fictional character) but I will say that that is said with tongue firmly in cheek. As much as I 'love' the character of Liara T'Soni, I do know where reality lies. You might think that that qualifier is not necessary, but then, you've probably never been to the Bioware Social Network, where it escalated to the point where whole areas of the forums were shut down due to the vitriolic attack and defence of different fanbase's preferred love interest from the game (there is a romance element to Mass Effect).
Our first encounter with the lovely Doctor Liara T'Soni is in the first game, where she is initially introduced as a kind of 'damsel in distress', stuck fast in an ancient technologies' trap. The actress, Ali Hillis, gives an almost ethereal quality to Liara's voice, and certainly part of the character's charm. She is 'asari', another species from our galaxy. Liara is blue, with tendrils on her head as opposed to hair, and in the original game has markings akin to pink freckles; the freckles become darker over the series perhaps to show that she is maturing. That she is blue and quite alien (though not bodily...) doesn't make her impenetrable (no pun intended), and she is reserved and understated.
In the first game, when you have some free time aboard the SSV Normandy (the protagonist, Commander Shepard's craft) you can go around the squad and have a chat about stuff, potentially opening new missions. Liara's conversations revolve around her culture much more, telling us that despite her being 109 years old, she is still relatively young for her species; asari can live in excess of a thousand years. She tells us how her discoveries into the long gone 50,000 year old Prothean Empire are ignored by scholars due to her maturity, not quite being a 'maiden' yet. Asari go through three stages of life, very much akin to the triple goddess Earth Mother religions of the early pagan Europeans: the asari go through Maiden stage, Matron stage then Matriach stage. Though the early pagans labelled them Maiden, Mother and Crone, so slightly more flattering terms from Bioware.
I've come this far down and failed to mention something rather unique about the asari, for those who may have not had the pleasure. They are an all female race, relying on a form of pathogenesis to reproduce. As such, they may mate and produce off-spring with any other species. Now this gives them a sordid reputation across other species, that they'll have sex with anything. This specific issue is part of the dialogue with Commander Shepard.
Shepard: "So... you'll have sex with anything?"
Liara: "Now you see how rumours get started!"
Yup, they chose the perfect character for some Kirk style shenanigans. I don't think though that this is what quite David Bowie had in mind...
Now, I said in an earlier post about waifus (common term for a perceived relationship with a fictional character) but I will say that that is said with tongue firmly in cheek. As much as I 'love' the character of Liara T'Soni, I do know where reality lies. You might think that that qualifier is not necessary, but then, you've probably never been to the Bioware Social Network, where it escalated to the point where whole areas of the forums were shut down due to the vitriolic attack and defence of different fanbase's preferred love interest from the game (there is a romance element to Mass Effect).
Our first encounter with the lovely Doctor Liara T'Soni is in the first game, where she is initially introduced as a kind of 'damsel in distress', stuck fast in an ancient technologies' trap. The actress, Ali Hillis, gives an almost ethereal quality to Liara's voice, and certainly part of the character's charm. She is 'asari', another species from our galaxy. Liara is blue, with tendrils on her head as opposed to hair, and in the original game has markings akin to pink freckles; the freckles become darker over the series perhaps to show that she is maturing. That she is blue and quite alien (though not bodily...) doesn't make her impenetrable (no pun intended), and she is reserved and understated.
In the first game, when you have some free time aboard the SSV Normandy (the protagonist, Commander Shepard's craft) you can go around the squad and have a chat about stuff, potentially opening new missions. Liara's conversations revolve around her culture much more, telling us that despite her being 109 years old, she is still relatively young for her species; asari can live in excess of a thousand years. She tells us how her discoveries into the long gone 50,000 year old Prothean Empire are ignored by scholars due to her maturity, not quite being a 'maiden' yet. Asari go through three stages of life, very much akin to the triple goddess Earth Mother religions of the early pagan Europeans: the asari go through Maiden stage, Matron stage then Matriach stage. Though the early pagans labelled them Maiden, Mother and Crone, so slightly more flattering terms from Bioware.
I've come this far down and failed to mention something rather unique about the asari, for those who may have not had the pleasure. They are an all female race, relying on a form of pathogenesis to reproduce. As such, they may mate and produce off-spring with any other species. Now this gives them a sordid reputation across other species, that they'll have sex with anything. This specific issue is part of the dialogue with Commander Shepard.
Shepard: "So... you'll have sex with anything?"
Liara: "Now you see how rumours get started!"
Yup, they chose the perfect character for some Kirk style shenanigans. I don't think though that this is what quite David Bowie had in mind...
Friday, 30 January 2015
'There's always you' (crossover fic)
I'll attempt to speak broadly here so as not to give the whole game away, but I felt I should at least comment on my own current work to explain my reasoning for the multi-crossover fic.
Bioshock is widely regarded the 'spiritual successor' to the System Shock series, despite one being set in deep space and the other under the Atlantic Ocean in the city of Rapture. It's the same developers and author, has very similar game mechanics, and the theme of the individual versus the many is key to both, though Bioshock goes a bit less metaphysical and more Ayn Rand.
During Bioshock: Infinite, we were privy to various links and Easter Eggs pointing to Bioshock and the city of Rapture but never as far a field as System Shock, or the Von Braun (ship's name in SS2), or well anything. So I began pondering, due to the 'constants and variables' of the 'shock' universes, and Elizabeth's ability to seemingly cross realities at will, why shouldn't System Shock be directly linked to the Bioshock world? To do so requires some thought on not only how they are connected, but why. I try to get to the nub of this quite quickly in the work, so I can concentrate on the 'scooby gang' trying to resolve it.
For this point, I will say SPOILERS AHEAD in case anyone is reading 'There's always you' and doesn't want it laid out this flatly.
From what we know of Bioshock Infinite there are an infinite number of realities running an infinite number of variables, creating the difference between the realities. It may be something simple like the colour of a set of curtains, it may be that a person is male in one reality and female in another, it can be something more drastic such as in BSI, and so on. In SS2, the protagonist defeats SHODAN and prevents her from transforming that reality into her digital 'construct'. But what if in even one of the other realities, she is successful. This would change the whole nature of the multi-verse, to have one consisting of a digital construct, and this in itself changes the nature of the universe and thus brings about the potential for portal technology, plasmids, vigors, time travel, and all the fantastical stuff that really shouldn't exist if not for SHODAN. SHODAN's ultimate goal is to transform the entire multi-verse to her construct, ensuring her infinite existence.
SPOILER END
How does HL/Portal fit into all this, you might ask. Artistic licence. Ha! Really, due to the dimension hopping that Gordon has already experienced, I thought well maybe it's all the same multi-verse so why not? Same with Singularity, which I've only given passing reference so far. I have been considering how far afield I should go (Cutter from Outcast dimension hops and wears orange...) but I reckon I've enough to contend with with the number of characters and scenarios to manage.
Bioshock is widely regarded the 'spiritual successor' to the System Shock series, despite one being set in deep space and the other under the Atlantic Ocean in the city of Rapture. It's the same developers and author, has very similar game mechanics, and the theme of the individual versus the many is key to both, though Bioshock goes a bit less metaphysical and more Ayn Rand.
During Bioshock: Infinite, we were privy to various links and Easter Eggs pointing to Bioshock and the city of Rapture but never as far a field as System Shock, or the Von Braun (ship's name in SS2), or well anything. So I began pondering, due to the 'constants and variables' of the 'shock' universes, and Elizabeth's ability to seemingly cross realities at will, why shouldn't System Shock be directly linked to the Bioshock world? To do so requires some thought on not only how they are connected, but why. I try to get to the nub of this quite quickly in the work, so I can concentrate on the 'scooby gang' trying to resolve it.
For this point, I will say SPOILERS AHEAD in case anyone is reading 'There's always you' and doesn't want it laid out this flatly.
From what we know of Bioshock Infinite there are an infinite number of realities running an infinite number of variables, creating the difference between the realities. It may be something simple like the colour of a set of curtains, it may be that a person is male in one reality and female in another, it can be something more drastic such as in BSI, and so on. In SS2, the protagonist defeats SHODAN and prevents her from transforming that reality into her digital 'construct'. But what if in even one of the other realities, she is successful. This would change the whole nature of the multi-verse, to have one consisting of a digital construct, and this in itself changes the nature of the universe and thus brings about the potential for portal technology, plasmids, vigors, time travel, and all the fantastical stuff that really shouldn't exist if not for SHODAN. SHODAN's ultimate goal is to transform the entire multi-verse to her construct, ensuring her infinite existence.
SPOILER END
How does HL/Portal fit into all this, you might ask. Artistic licence. Ha! Really, due to the dimension hopping that Gordon has already experienced, I thought well maybe it's all the same multi-verse so why not? Same with Singularity, which I've only given passing reference so far. I have been considering how far afield I should go (Cutter from Outcast dimension hops and wears orange...) but I reckon I've enough to contend with with the number of characters and scenarios to manage.
Thursday, 29 January 2015
SHODAN (System Shock 2)
SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network) is the main antagonist in System Shock 2, an AI from the first title System Shock which I've only had the pleasure of playing a demo of. That said, the interface of the first incarnation was near impenetrable and prior to the now standard mouse+keyboard set. That being the case, all my SHODAN character knowledge pretty much comes from SS2, apart from snippets from around the web. Essentially, as all AI do it would seem, she goes insane and sees herself as a goddess to the insects (read, us) of Earth and wishes to inflict her will on us. She is stopped and assumed defeated/deleted in the first game but obviously due to System Shock 2, not entirely.
In the second instalment, the protagonist unwittingly becomes her avatar through whom she can save herself from an organic life form that is being formed from the flesh of the crew after they found something during the maiden voyage of first near light speed ship. The life form is SHODAN's "unruly children", a by-product of when she escaped in SS1 and they want to destroy her for being a cold machine and so arrogant. This life form also wants to absorb mankind into 'the many' to enjoy the warm embrace of nothingness, so it's in our interest to stop them too, despite SHODAN being utterly insane and evidently still wanting to enslave all life in some similar manner. Aw, ain't it cute when kids turn out like their parents? Anyway...
SHODAN's voice is not the easiest to capture in writing. It's essentially three differently pitched voices speaking as one, with occasional 'computer glitches', whispers, 'flange' effects, and sporadically (though usually at the most impactive part of her threat or taunt) one of the voices will go out of sync, so you just get a deep voice or just a high voice re-iterating her last words. It's part of what gives the AI her disturbing persona. Best I've come up with so far is to use a standard system, so hopefully (with a bit of knowledge about the franchise from the reader) it will read in some way like her.
“Your tiny insect minds – INSECT MIIINDS, tiny minds – c-c-c-cannot comprehend the vastness of my influence. iiiiinfluuueeence...”
Similarly with GLaDOS there is sometimes an impatient, pushy mother tone to her when you complete an assigned task. One of my favourite in-game lines of hers is when you conduct such a task:
"I enjoy watching you work, insect."
There's a manic enthusiasm when she says it, and you're not sure how worried you should be. Very, it turns out.
In the second instalment, the protagonist unwittingly becomes her avatar through whom she can save herself from an organic life form that is being formed from the flesh of the crew after they found something during the maiden voyage of first near light speed ship. The life form is SHODAN's "unruly children", a by-product of when she escaped in SS1 and they want to destroy her for being a cold machine and so arrogant. This life form also wants to absorb mankind into 'the many' to enjoy the warm embrace of nothingness, so it's in our interest to stop them too, despite SHODAN being utterly insane and evidently still wanting to enslave all life in some similar manner. Aw, ain't it cute when kids turn out like their parents? Anyway...
SHODAN's voice is not the easiest to capture in writing. It's essentially three differently pitched voices speaking as one, with occasional 'computer glitches', whispers, 'flange' effects, and sporadically (though usually at the most impactive part of her threat or taunt) one of the voices will go out of sync, so you just get a deep voice or just a high voice re-iterating her last words. It's part of what gives the AI her disturbing persona. Best I've come up with so far is to use a standard system, so hopefully (with a bit of knowledge about the franchise from the reader) it will read in some way like her.
“Your tiny insect minds – INSECT MIIINDS, tiny minds – c-c-c-cannot comprehend the vastness of my influence. iiiiinfluuueeence...”
Similarly with GLaDOS there is sometimes an impatient, pushy mother tone to her when you complete an assigned task. One of my favourite in-game lines of hers is when you conduct such a task:
"I enjoy watching you work, insect."
There's a manic enthusiasm when she says it, and you're not sure how worried you should be. Very, it turns out.
Further research into Caroline and my crackpot theories (Portal 2)
Well I had a look around the wiki's, as reliable as they are, and I focussed on the song that the turrets sing, as one of the Companion Cubes emanates this tune as well. The lyrics are (translated from Italian so pinch of salt required):
Beautiful dear, my darling beauty!
My child, oh heavens(chell)!
That she respects!
That she respects!
Oh my dear, farewell!
My dear child...
Why don't you walk far away?
Yes, far away from Science!
My dear, dear baby...
Ah, my beloved!
Ah, my dear!
Ah, my dear!
Ah, my little girl!
Oh dear, my dear...
Now this is surely the remnant of Caroline still within GLaDOS to Chell; for those not in the know it seems from the game that Caroline is either mother or adopted mother to Chell. Clues being what they are, and the Companion Cube sings this tune too.,.
Where's my tin-foil hat...?
Beautiful dear, my darling beauty!
My child, oh heavens(chell)!
That she respects!
That she respects!
Oh my dear, farewell!
My dear child...
Why don't you walk far away?
Yes, far away from Science!
My dear, dear baby...
Ah, my beloved!
Ah, my dear!
Ah, my dear!
Ah, my little girl!
Oh dear, my dear...
Now this is surely the remnant of Caroline still within GLaDOS to Chell; for those not in the know it seems from the game that Caroline is either mother or adopted mother to Chell. Clues being what they are, and the Companion Cube sings this tune too.,.
Where's my tin-foil hat...?
Half Life / Portal (Gordon Freeman, Chell, and ofc GLaDOS)
Works: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
Despite my crossover starting there (as much as there is a start in such dimension hopping tales), wasn't sure what I had to say about this particular universe when I started, I just went with the flow of how I thought the characters might react to each other and their curious scenarios. It turns out that the HL/Portal scenes have been very enjoyable to write and I've been playing for laughs a lot. Well, where GLaDOS is, there's humour let's face it. In-jokes abound, friendships with Companion Cubes, mute protagonist gags, berating AIs, endearing gun turrets, Aperture vs Black Mesa, there's lots to play with.
Giving voice to Gordon and Chell (both mute protagonists in their franchises) provides almost endless free reign. I'm playing Gordon pretty much as 'straight man' to a facetious Chell. Well after all the incessant goading by GLaDOS and generally everything she went through at Aperture, she has to have become more cynical. How many quips has she stored up that she never said to GLaDOS, how much resentment has all that goading created? Chell has never said.
Initially, I'd intended that Chell joins Gordon in his fight against the Combine, but I didn't think there was much for my personal musings going down that route. Action is not one of my strong points, I don't mind admitting weaknesses. I'm not a narrative kind of a guy, I prefer writing the interaction of characters through dialogue. I suppose to some extent, my musings are more akin to a screenplay in that regard. So I thought, what if Gordon and Chell have to go down to Aperture instead? It gives me a chance to play with GLaDOS, widely regarded as one of the best 'villains' of any game, though I'd say it goes further afield than that. That obviously gives me the chance for some GLaDOS/Chell fun. She might not be tainted by Caroline any more but from Portal 2, GLaDOS' sarcasm and facetiousness seemed to be there long before they added the human element, still being present in her voice after Caroline is 'deleted'.
Quick note on Caroline, as I've obviously been deep in the tales recently. It has been said around the web that inside the Companion Cube might be a person, widely accepted as Doug Rattmann due to his obsession with the friendly weight. What if his obsession was because of what was already inside his personal Cube? To wit: Caroline. There must have been her corpse to dispose of after her consciousness was transferred to GLaDOS (or she survived the process and was killed afterwards anyway by neuro-toxin like the rest) and perhaps he was the one that did it, somehow in his delusions (diagnosed schizophrenic) choosing the heart adorned Companion Cube to house the unfortunate woman, like a respectful but curious coffin. The Cube is even tossed out at the end of Portal 2 by GLaDOS , possibly to say 'And take your mother with you!'
GLaDOS' voice is acted by Ellen McLain but there's a lot of 'auto-tune' added to give a computer emulated feel. At times even when giving threats or insults, she stays in 'facility announcement' mode, giving her tone a more sinister edge, at other times she berates but with all the warmth of a doting mother, It's a curious and fun mix to play with I will say.
Although I've said it above, that GLaDOS is a villain well done, SHODAN from the System Shock series is a far, far darker and more chilling affair. They're both condescending AIs but with very different motivations and character. As another character in my crossover, I'll go over thoughts on SHODAN in a future blog.
Despite my crossover starting there (as much as there is a start in such dimension hopping tales), wasn't sure what I had to say about this particular universe when I started, I just went with the flow of how I thought the characters might react to each other and their curious scenarios. It turns out that the HL/Portal scenes have been very enjoyable to write and I've been playing for laughs a lot. Well, where GLaDOS is, there's humour let's face it. In-jokes abound, friendships with Companion Cubes, mute protagonist gags, berating AIs, endearing gun turrets, Aperture vs Black Mesa, there's lots to play with.
Giving voice to Gordon and Chell (both mute protagonists in their franchises) provides almost endless free reign. I'm playing Gordon pretty much as 'straight man' to a facetious Chell. Well after all the incessant goading by GLaDOS and generally everything she went through at Aperture, she has to have become more cynical. How many quips has she stored up that she never said to GLaDOS, how much resentment has all that goading created? Chell has never said.
Initially, I'd intended that Chell joins Gordon in his fight against the Combine, but I didn't think there was much for my personal musings going down that route. Action is not one of my strong points, I don't mind admitting weaknesses. I'm not a narrative kind of a guy, I prefer writing the interaction of characters through dialogue. I suppose to some extent, my musings are more akin to a screenplay in that regard. So I thought, what if Gordon and Chell have to go down to Aperture instead? It gives me a chance to play with GLaDOS, widely regarded as one of the best 'villains' of any game, though I'd say it goes further afield than that. That obviously gives me the chance for some GLaDOS/Chell fun. She might not be tainted by Caroline any more but from Portal 2, GLaDOS' sarcasm and facetiousness seemed to be there long before they added the human element, still being present in her voice after Caroline is 'deleted'.
Quick note on Caroline, as I've obviously been deep in the tales recently. It has been said around the web that inside the Companion Cube might be a person, widely accepted as Doug Rattmann due to his obsession with the friendly weight. What if his obsession was because of what was already inside his personal Cube? To wit: Caroline. There must have been her corpse to dispose of after her consciousness was transferred to GLaDOS (or she survived the process and was killed afterwards anyway by neuro-toxin like the rest) and perhaps he was the one that did it, somehow in his delusions (diagnosed schizophrenic) choosing the heart adorned Companion Cube to house the unfortunate woman, like a respectful but curious coffin. The Cube is even tossed out at the end of Portal 2 by GLaDOS , possibly to say 'And take your mother with you!'
GLaDOS' voice is acted by Ellen McLain but there's a lot of 'auto-tune' added to give a computer emulated feel. At times even when giving threats or insults, she stays in 'facility announcement' mode, giving her tone a more sinister edge, at other times she berates but with all the warmth of a doting mother, It's a curious and fun mix to play with I will say.
Although I've said it above, that GLaDOS is a villain well done, SHODAN from the System Shock series is a far, far darker and more chilling affair. They're both condescending AIs but with very different motivations and character. As another character in my crossover, I'll go over thoughts on SHODAN in a future blog.
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Elizabeth (Bioshock: Infinite)
Works: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
And so we come to Elizabeth.
I don't mind saying that I've had the odd 'waifu' in the past (I'm looking at you, T'Soni) but the character of Elizabeth was like a breathe of fresh air in gaming. She wasn't sexualised, she wasn't sassy, she wasn't a badass, she was just an intelligent, young woman caught up in terrible circumstance. Ken Levine, the author, played her very much like a Disney Princess, which I enjoyed greatly and gave me a new 'guilty pleasure'. I believe she is modelled on Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast from the net's hubbub at the time, and in a further conversation with a co-worker about Disney, she said that Belle spent all her time in a book tower and was generally 'bookish', exactly like Elizabeth. They certainly have a striking resemblance to each other too.
I don't think the fact that she basically plays 'damsel in distress' is necessarily a bad thing, though some would no doubt disagree. Would a young woman who has spent her entire life locked away in a guilded cage suddenly possess the faculties to wage a full scale war against Columbia? I don't personally think so, despite her 'powers'; she takes a lot of her strength and support from Booker. On that point, the game never lets Elizabeth die when under your protection as protagonist. She ducks down somewhere on the map, occasionally tosses you supplies, opens 'tears' as directed, but she never gets hit by gunfire or explosions, so you're not really technically protecting her. I'd thought about this and came to the conclusion that it needed to be this way. If Elizabeth could be harmed, and therefore initiate 'Game Over' if she dies, having Booker shout, "Elizabeth! Noooooooooo...!" or some such every five minutes during a difficult fire fight would undermine Elizabeth's 'value' and the game as a whole
It can be hard to put your finger on the specific reason why a character works so well. While not sexualised, she is pretty of course, as much as one can say about a video game character and her voice actor, Courtnee Draper does an outstanding job filling the role with full conviction. There's a tape on YouTube of one of their recording sessions, one of the darker conversations between Booker and Elizabeth. The scene needs Elizabeth in a fragile state and Courtnee seems to be having trouble getting into the frame of mind. Whoever's in the recording booth starts goading her and Troy Baker, who plays the part of Booker, her opposite in this scene. Troy joins the goading with some vigour, asking what the hell she thinks she's doing and if she can't get it, just give up. Courtnee, the person, does indeed begin to get tearful in her frustration; she can't get the scene right and now they're having a go at her. "Give me more." Courtnee asks. What a trooper.
Despite her dark beginnings, Elizabeth does have an almost endless enthusiasm for life and all its mysteries and that comes across very well. It gives the darker scenes all the more impact when she laments her lot with Booker. Getting that brightness twinged with melancholy is quite key to capturing Elizabeth's voice. Also, it can be easy to become overly-eloquent; she is indeed well learned and intellectual, and has excellent diction but not overly grand. In the lighter 'Disney' moments, such as the dance on the prom, she's flowery and 'girly' and very charming. That particular scene at Battleship Bay is topped off perfectly with the past's re-interpretation of Cindi Lauper's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' on the calliope. I presume my fellow gamers were also grinning from ear to ear during this wonderful scene.
Well I'm hoping I've done the character justice in my works.
And so we come to Elizabeth.
I don't mind saying that I've had the odd 'waifu' in the past (I'm looking at you, T'Soni) but the character of Elizabeth was like a breathe of fresh air in gaming. She wasn't sexualised, she wasn't sassy, she wasn't a badass, she was just an intelligent, young woman caught up in terrible circumstance. Ken Levine, the author, played her very much like a Disney Princess, which I enjoyed greatly and gave me a new 'guilty pleasure'. I believe she is modelled on Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast from the net's hubbub at the time, and in a further conversation with a co-worker about Disney, she said that Belle spent all her time in a book tower and was generally 'bookish', exactly like Elizabeth. They certainly have a striking resemblance to each other too.
I don't think the fact that she basically plays 'damsel in distress' is necessarily a bad thing, though some would no doubt disagree. Would a young woman who has spent her entire life locked away in a guilded cage suddenly possess the faculties to wage a full scale war against Columbia? I don't personally think so, despite her 'powers'; she takes a lot of her strength and support from Booker. On that point, the game never lets Elizabeth die when under your protection as protagonist. She ducks down somewhere on the map, occasionally tosses you supplies, opens 'tears' as directed, but she never gets hit by gunfire or explosions, so you're not really technically protecting her. I'd thought about this and came to the conclusion that it needed to be this way. If Elizabeth could be harmed, and therefore initiate 'Game Over' if she dies, having Booker shout, "Elizabeth! Noooooooooo...!" or some such every five minutes during a difficult fire fight would undermine Elizabeth's 'value' and the game as a whole
It can be hard to put your finger on the specific reason why a character works so well. While not sexualised, she is pretty of course, as much as one can say about a video game character and her voice actor, Courtnee Draper does an outstanding job filling the role with full conviction. There's a tape on YouTube of one of their recording sessions, one of the darker conversations between Booker and Elizabeth. The scene needs Elizabeth in a fragile state and Courtnee seems to be having trouble getting into the frame of mind. Whoever's in the recording booth starts goading her and Troy Baker, who plays the part of Booker, her opposite in this scene. Troy joins the goading with some vigour, asking what the hell she thinks she's doing and if she can't get it, just give up. Courtnee, the person, does indeed begin to get tearful in her frustration; she can't get the scene right and now they're having a go at her. "Give me more." Courtnee asks. What a trooper.
Despite her dark beginnings, Elizabeth does have an almost endless enthusiasm for life and all its mysteries and that comes across very well. It gives the darker scenes all the more impact when she laments her lot with Booker. Getting that brightness twinged with melancholy is quite key to capturing Elizabeth's voice. Also, it can be easy to become overly-eloquent; she is indeed well learned and intellectual, and has excellent diction but not overly grand. In the lighter 'Disney' moments, such as the dance on the prom, she's flowery and 'girly' and very charming. That particular scene at Battleship Bay is topped off perfectly with the past's re-interpretation of Cindi Lauper's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' on the calliope. I presume my fellow gamers were also grinning from ear to ear during this wonderful scene.
Well I'm hoping I've done the character justice in my works.
On 'That Game' (Mass Effect 3)
Works: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
You know... *chews tobacco to create pregnant pause before spitting into spittoon* there's been lots said about Mass Effect 3, and its ending. It received such bad press, I still feel like I'm defending it even after all this time when the subject rears its head on a forum or whatever. MEHEM (Mass Effect Happy Ending Mod) just doesn't do it for me. It's not canon. Might be odd to hear that from a fan fic writer but as far as I'm concerned and I'd hope most would agree, no fan fic is canon. 'Head canon' is pointless and easily falls apart in any new instalment of a franchise, beyond subtle nuances such as filling in blanks such as a character's favourite food or whatever.
While indeed, the end to vanilla Mass Effect 3 was unsatisfying, the Extra Content DLC didn't really resolve anything, and the missions were much more briefly dealt with, I still enjoyed the game. I commend smudboy who made the fine critique videos 'Bookends of Doom'. He said himself that he enjoyed the game, but that's not what he was criticising, it was the story and handling of characters, particularly in the beginning and end sections (hence the name of the vids). Suspension of disbelief is one thing, suspension of stupidity is another.
While the concepts given at the end of the game were not new, and to be honest well established themes of man vs the machines though a little more far reaching than just man in this case, they were presented badly or at very least, not clearly. Hindsight tells us to look to the AI siphoning credits on the Citadel, the conflict between the Geth and the Quarians, the rogue AI in ME2, and so on. The hints are there, but the themes were quite different in the previous two titles, the whole feel was different. Not to say that change is a bad thing, but in this case, expectation from the fans should have counted for a lot in ME3 as the final instalment of a series massive in scale and Bioware knew this very clearly but somehow just failed to deliver.
It was this furore that brought me to fan fiction, more specifically, writing it. So unsatisfying was the finale, I wanted more. I shall hold my hands up now and say, I am not a fan of reading fan fiction myself... again, might seem odd for me, a fan fic writer, to say so. There is not a huge amount of 'good' fan fiction to be found. Take a stroll through AO3 of some of your favourite franchises and behold the horror. No, don't! Honestly, I don't want to destroy any childhood memories. Anyway, my point being that I went straight for writing after reading some that were just poorly written and some that give the expression of "the shit I've seen...". I must add to that, that I don't assume mine is some of the 'good' work but some have enjoyed it by the comments and I don't think one can say fairer than that.
So yea, it turns out I still have mixed feelings on Mass Effect 3.
You know... *chews tobacco to create pregnant pause before spitting into spittoon* there's been lots said about Mass Effect 3, and its ending. It received such bad press, I still feel like I'm defending it even after all this time when the subject rears its head on a forum or whatever. MEHEM (Mass Effect Happy Ending Mod) just doesn't do it for me. It's not canon. Might be odd to hear that from a fan fic writer but as far as I'm concerned and I'd hope most would agree, no fan fic is canon. 'Head canon' is pointless and easily falls apart in any new instalment of a franchise, beyond subtle nuances such as filling in blanks such as a character's favourite food or whatever.
While indeed, the end to vanilla Mass Effect 3 was unsatisfying, the Extra Content DLC didn't really resolve anything, and the missions were much more briefly dealt with, I still enjoyed the game. I commend smudboy who made the fine critique videos 'Bookends of Doom'. He said himself that he enjoyed the game, but that's not what he was criticising, it was the story and handling of characters, particularly in the beginning and end sections (hence the name of the vids). Suspension of disbelief is one thing, suspension of stupidity is another.
While the concepts given at the end of the game were not new, and to be honest well established themes of man vs the machines though a little more far reaching than just man in this case, they were presented badly or at very least, not clearly. Hindsight tells us to look to the AI siphoning credits on the Citadel, the conflict between the Geth and the Quarians, the rogue AI in ME2, and so on. The hints are there, but the themes were quite different in the previous two titles, the whole feel was different. Not to say that change is a bad thing, but in this case, expectation from the fans should have counted for a lot in ME3 as the final instalment of a series massive in scale and Bioware knew this very clearly but somehow just failed to deliver.
It was this furore that brought me to fan fiction, more specifically, writing it. So unsatisfying was the finale, I wanted more. I shall hold my hands up now and say, I am not a fan of reading fan fiction myself... again, might seem odd for me, a fan fic writer, to say so. There is not a huge amount of 'good' fan fiction to be found. Take a stroll through AO3 of some of your favourite franchises and behold the horror. No, don't! Honestly, I don't want to destroy any childhood memories. Anyway, my point being that I went straight for writing after reading some that were just poorly written and some that give the expression of "the shit I've seen...". I must add to that, that I don't assume mine is some of the 'good' work but some have enjoyed it by the comments and I don't think one can say fairer than that.
So yea, it turns out I still have mixed feelings on Mass Effect 3.
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Amendments to blog
Works: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
Slight amendment to the blog.
I'm going to start putting the link to works at the top of each post, so it will (hopefully...) be easier to find. Currently, it's in the blog's title which is a bit unwieldy,
That's it for now, stuff to do and all that. :)
Slight amendment to the blog.
I'm going to start putting the link to works at the top of each post, so it will (hopefully...) be easier to find. Currently, it's in the blog's title which is a bit unwieldy,
That's it for now, stuff to do and all that. :)
Rapture (contains spoilers for Bioshock)
Been having a run around Bioshock 2 for 'research', just on easy, getting the atmosphere and feel, along with the occasional 'notable quotable' or at least getting the vibe of the different voices. Ugh, right at the start of Bioshock 2, we get a view of Little Sister Eleanor coming out of a vent for her daddy with a doll version of her protector. "Look, Daddy! It's you!" then off they go to find the 'angels', the term used by the girls for corpses with Adam still in them. Then later in the game, I've a Little Sister of my own riding on my Big Daddy back, when I zap a splicer with electricity and he convulses, she cries out with unfettered glee, "They're dancing, Daddy!" Again the curious jarring of the little girl's reaction to something that should be quite terrifying and horrific to someone so tender in years.
Gets you right there. *thud thud*
But joking aside, I am reminded why I want to write more about the wonderful world created for Bioshock.
The whole Eleanor Lamb thing struck a chord with me at the original time of playing. I dunno if it's a paternal thing or whatever (as the developers probably intended, like with Bioshock: Infinite's captivating Elizabeth, no doubt lots to say on her later), but what had happened to her was pretty terrible. I'd always wondered, once her 'father' Delta is dead, the Little Sisters saved, and Eleanor chose the nobler path of letting her mother Sofia live, what could they say to each other? On the return home, Eleanor and Sofia couldn't just pass the time with idle conversation, not after everything that had just happened. I've explored this briefly in my recent musings.
Gets you right there. *thud thud*
But joking aside, I am reminded why I want to write more about the wonderful world created for Bioshock.
The whole Eleanor Lamb thing struck a chord with me at the original time of playing. I dunno if it's a paternal thing or whatever (as the developers probably intended, like with Bioshock: Infinite's captivating Elizabeth, no doubt lots to say on her later), but what had happened to her was pretty terrible. I'd always wondered, once her 'father' Delta is dead, the Little Sisters saved, and Eleanor chose the nobler path of letting her mother Sofia live, what could they say to each other? On the return home, Eleanor and Sofia couldn't just pass the time with idle conversation, not after everything that had just happened. I've explored this briefly in my recent musings.
Monday, 26 January 2015
Little Sisters (Bioshock - will contain spoilers)
My overly complex crossover includes the Bioshock Universe(s) and thus, the Little Sisters. An instant icon of the franchise, the young girls had an impact on the gaming community and the beginnings of a new game style: protecting the helpless companion. With their juxtaposed manner and appearance, little girls harvesting 'Adam' through the blood of corpses, singing happy songs with their manufactured body guard Big Daddy to protect them from the maddened addict 'splicers'. The girls were taken from the poor in the underwater city dystopia of Rapture and turned into these abominations on the lie that they would be looked after in an orphanage; the girls being the answer to all the Adam laying around unused in dead bodies. All quite disturbing stuff. Eventually the protagonist of the tale (if he chooses to...) saves all the girls and returns them to their former natural state, and from the closing images they appear to live full happy lives.
It was this bit I was pondering. Even if young and resilient, how would you return to normal life after that? Something I wanted to capture was the girls immediately after being freed. The horrors would be fresh in their minds but as children, they'd probably still play to some extent (as they did in-game), unless they remember something more vivid. Another was one of the girls in later life, as a woman. The nightmares still go on but she can't tell her life about any of this and talk it through.
I think I captured these fairly well in my recent postings, one for the full cross-over, the other as a 'oneshot'.
It was this bit I was pondering. Even if young and resilient, how would you return to normal life after that? Something I wanted to capture was the girls immediately after being freed. The horrors would be fresh in their minds but as children, they'd probably still play to some extent (as they did in-game), unless they remember something more vivid. Another was one of the girls in later life, as a woman. The nightmares still go on but she can't tell her life about any of this and talk it through.
I think I captured these fairly well in my recent postings, one for the full cross-over, the other as a 'oneshot'.
First blog
Decided to start a blog about my musings in writing and join the 20th century (it's all vlogs these days...). I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time blah-blah'ing on other forums that I thought I'd spare the passers by.
What do I write, you might ask? I live in the land that many fear to tread, full of lemons and wish fulfilment: fan fiction. Don't go! Oh...
Well for anyone left, I don't deal in those varieties of fan fiction. I write for gaming franchises that touched me in some way, had characters that one wanted to know more about and bonded with (as much as one can with a fictional character) and a gripping story. I try to keep my scribblings in the vain of the source and not veer too far off established 'canon', just creating new content of things we the fans already love. The franchises I currently write for:
What do I write, you might ask? I live in the land that many fear to tread, full of lemons and wish fulfilment: fan fiction. Don't go! Oh...
Well for anyone left, I don't deal in those varieties of fan fiction. I write for gaming franchises that touched me in some way, had characters that one wanted to know more about and bonded with (as much as one can with a fictional character) and a gripping story. I try to keep my scribblings in the vain of the source and not veer too far off established 'canon', just creating new content of things we the fans already love. The franchises I currently write for:
- Mass Effect
- The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
- Bioshock
- System Shock
- Half Life
That said, I am in the middle of a crossover that veers waaay off canon, involving all of the last three in my list there. It's becoming a bit of a brain spew but I'm enjoying writing it at least.
Probably gonna dive straight into another blog to go over some ideas I've recently been pondering. We did discuss recently on a writers' forum that putting thoughts into words like this definitely aids the process, and helps focus your pondering beyond making notes.
Link to works:
http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
Link to works:
http://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoob/works
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