Exploits and Bugs Assignment

This was my assignment for the first week of my class and I felt like it made a good blog post so I hope you enjoy!

Pick a game you've played and discuss two bugs or exploits you encountered while playing. You will need to play close attention in order to find some of these bugs, but they are there. Write 250 words with your analysis. In order get full credit the analysis must include:

• Title, genre, and platform of the game
• How much time you played in order to discover 2 exploits
• Full description of the bugs - what happened, when, where, what were you doing
• Discuss if the bugs are software or design related
• Suggest a possible solution for the bugs 

                As I began thinking about this assignment I was going over various exploits that I had found and used or decided against using more than particular bugs I had found.  Since the main two things I’m going to describe are exploits I will also include a third encounter with an easily explained bug I stumbled into.

                The first exploit I’ll get into is the simpler of the two and one I discovered completely on my own.  Skyrim is an enormous open world role-playing game which allows you to play in a ton of different ways.  It has more rich content than any other game I’ve played; it follows that it’s also one of the buggier games due to that though.  I play it on the PlayStation 3 and discovered this with my second character, so probably between twenty-five and thirty hours of gameplay.  The exploit is quite simple: when you pay a trainer to teach you, upgrading your skill, the money goes into their inventory and when those trainers are your followers you can access that inventory retrieving that money.  So one of the early followers, Faendal, can train you in archery up to I believe 50 skill level.  You can only be trained five times per level but near the start it doesn’t take much more than that to level up.  Faendal can be you follower and then after you train, ask to trade some things with him and take your money right back.   Not only does this allow you to level up very quickly, you also get a useful, if not main, combat skill upgraded.  Personally, I decided not to use this since it cheapened the game for me.  I tend to feel this way about exploits but for the most part I don’t mind them being in a game.  This one would be a pretty easy to fix one though as it’s a design feature.  You could simply remove the gold from the world entirely when you pay for a trainer though this would slightly lessen immersion since it would just vanish.  A better solution would be to put that money into the same type of inventory that keeps their clothes and extra weapons.  For example, Faendal will always have a set of clothes, a dagger, and a bow no matter how much you take from his inventory.  Then, you could have that gold drop should you choose to kill him.  The inventory you can access could be more of what he’s holding for you.  He wouldn’t likely just give you back all the money he earned from teaching you after all.  The gold could also be reset every so many in game days as well, just like most containers in the game.

I can never decide if he bothers me or not...
Ah well, better than Sven! Bloody Bards -.-

                This next exploit is quite a bit more complicated so I’ll try to keep it simple.  Fire Emblem on the Gameboy Advance is a tactical/strategic role-playing game.  I discovered the feature (as it is intended, just not exploiting it) on my own after about maybe 4 hours in or so the first time I lost a character.  When I restarted the game, it loaded right before the fight and I just lost the character again.  In essence I had discovered the slightly less than random Random Number Generator (RNG from now on).  I didn’t really understand though and only got a better inkling later when I leveled up after a fight and had almost nothing upgrade for my character. I wanted to make sure I hadn’t done something wrong so I looked it up.  I only properly understood with a fair amount of research about it on my part.  Fire Emblem uses a series of numbers previously generated that range from 0 to 99.  Every time there is a random event in the game such as hit chance, critical chance, chance of a special one-hit-KO activating, stats improving at level up, etc. it uses one to two numbers.

The method for exploitation comes from the numbers all having been set up before you start and using the movement paths to figure out if they are generally “high” or “low”.   Say one character can move five spaces.  You set the movement path as one right, one down, two left, and one up.  You have used the max amount of movement to go one space left.  If you move the path one more space up, what path will be drawn?  Will it be up then left or left then up?  The creators decided to use the RNG to determine this.  If the next number is “high” (50-99) it will be left or right first and if it is “low” (0-49) it will be a vertical path first.  So you save the game (it autoaves after every confirmed action) and check movements from which you can get a list of high or low values.  Then you reset the game and you have a general list of all the random rolls you’ll get.  It’s impossible to be perfectly precise but this is still a huge advantage.  In fire emblem, lower is better.  If the chance of getting a crit is 25 percent then a value below 25 will succeed.

To use this knowledge you can either figure out the projected battle outcomes or use it to dramatically improve your stat gains.  The latter is more interesting and the only thing I considered using it for.  First, get a character close to level up and next to an enemy they can kill.  Then make a list of high and low values from the paths and find a string of mostly low values (7 is the best since that is how many stats might be improved).  Then you work backwards; you attack first, the hit chance is calculated with two numbers in every game released outside Japan, and if you hit, then there is a number for the critical chance.  If the enemy survives then they get the same thing (if they miss, there isn’t a number used for the critical roll) before a second attack that once again uses 3 numbers.  So if you are killing the enemy with one move it will only take the 3 numbers before.  If, however, you are killing them after their retaliation then it will be seven to nine numbers before (depending on if you miss the first attack and if they hit). Once you figure that out, you load up the save before you calculated the numbers and use the same trick of the path to use up the numbers before where the attacks should start.  After all your work, the character will level up and get a large number of their stats increased making them much more powerful than they would probably be.

This would make me smile.

Personally, I find this exploit to be not only a ton of work but not important.  I find it more interesting to have the random aspects of the leveling up prevalent.  It increases both excitement and replayability for me.  If the makers wanted to take this capability out of the game there are a few methods I thought up.  You could have the numbers recalculated every time you load up the game but then people could do something similar where they just keep reloading to get a good outcome.  A much better and simpler method would be to have the paths prioritize going either horizontal or vertical (I’m partial to vertical).  Then there would be no way to determine what the RNG numbers are even generally and it would be as if the game was generating a number every time.

Now, as I mentioned, I did want to do a third one quickly on the bug I found a while back.  My sister and I were playing Lego Harry Potter, an action adventure game, on PlayStation 3 when we encountered a game-breaking glitch.  We were playing very thoroughly and it was around 75 percent of the way through so we had probably played somewhere around 15 hours.  This was a software glitch, unlike the last two exploits.  We jumped into a trapdoor, down into a secret area.  It autosaved as we entered that place but after solving the puzzle, the thing that was supposed to bounce us up and out didn’t actually get us out, just up.  No matter what we did, we couldn’t leave that small room and since it had saved, there was no way to continue.  We had to quit and eventually play back up to that point.  They did fix this but at the time it was completely awful.  To fix it, I assume they fixed either the launcher or the room exit location so that it would actually get you out when it was supposed to.

Sirius only kind of dies. Cause... He's a Lego.

All RNG details were obtained from:
               

                “Random Number Generator FAQ” by Misael Villegas
                http://faqs.ign.com/articles/520/520430p1.html

On Magic

    I was having trouble thinking up something to talk about for this blog but I still felt like writing.  I wanted to type and I wanted to create.  There really wasn't anything coming to my head though so I decided to go back to some old topics I've considered writing on.  Now, I'm no expert by any stretch of the word on writing.  Despite that, I'd like to talk about magic systems in writing.  Most specifically "soft" and "hard" magic systems.  A lot of this information and these opinions are from a small work Brandon Sanderson did called "Sanderson's First Law" and I may touch on some topics he wrote in his second law as well.  Here's a link if you'd rather read about the laws: http://brandonsanderson.com/article/40/Sandersons-First-Law.

    So magic is incredibly interesting.  In many novels it is the driving force behind all the politics, adventure, mysteries, etc.  Magic often helps if not outright carries the plot.  This isn't a bad thing necessarily!  In the Harry Potter Books, magic is so central to everything in the wizarding world and all the story can be linked to magical events or magic itself.  Harry Potter is also fantastic so this clearly isn't bad.  Magic is a wondrous force of some kind that helps define the fantasy genre though isn't required for it.

    Let's look at what I mentioned briefly: soft and hard magic.  Nothing about magic is defined in reality and fantasy can throw out the rules it wants to anyway so long as there's a good enough explanation.  However, some magic has very little explanation and this is called soft magic.  A lot of Sanderson's first law deals with how much characters can rely on the magic for your plot to be successful.  The less well explained the magic is the less it can be relied on or it will feel too much like deus ex machina.  That doesn't mean soft magic systems have no place in books mind you!  Just that the heroes can't solve all their problems with it.  For example, in Lord of the Rings there isn't much explanation of what Wizards are or how they do their magic nor the elvish magic.  Despite this there is well used magic throughout that doesn't hurt the story.

    An example of hard magic that comes to mind is in one of Sanderson's books, Mistborn.  Other than that I'm having trouble thinking of any good examples...  In Mistborn, the magic system is called Allomancy and the rules are defined very sharply.  They are also pretty simple for the most part and it's in tandem with everything else that makes it exciting.  There are also a few unexplained (to start) exceptions to the rules that keep a good amount of mystery.

    Most magic systems are much more in between than these examples and lean one way or another.  Harry Potter has a pretty soft magic system.  Some things are explained but for the most part you can do whatever you'd like with magic. However, the characters cannot due to skill or experience so they still have to rely on using other things to solve their problems quite often.  An example of a mostly hard magic system is the alchemy in Fullmetal Alchemist.  You could actually make an argument that this system of magic is entirely a hard system but it's tough to draw any lines with these.  In Fullmetal Alchemist you are able to transmute a set of materials to their equivalent in a different form.  If you want to make wood you need the proper elements to do so: to my knowledge that's entirely hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen.  So if you take something with carbon such as coal (which also has hydrogen and oxygen by the way) with the right amount of water you could create a tree.  Which means you could also create paper or a clock's body (you'd probably need metal for the gears).  However, it takes a lot of study as well to not only know how things are composed and work but how to concentrate just right with the magic symbol thing (transmutation circle).  They don't ever really explain why those are necessary (I don't think) nor why the main character doesn't need one.  So there are soft elements to the system, it isn't utterly explained.  Also, as a side note, what energy does it use to fuel the change?  Is it something inside the alchemist?  And what makes the glow?!

    I have to say, I enjoy hard magic more than soft magic as the constraints make for the most interesting methods and situations.  For example, should you not have as much mass as the person you are "pushing' in Mistborn you will go flying backward, not them, but if there is something with more mass like a building or the ground on the opposite side then the other person will go flying.  This allows for not only interesting battles but also clever tricks like using coins on the ground to "jump" around the city.  The possibilities for situations are incredible as well as difficulties for the characters in other ways.  In essence, I like what the constraints add to the story and the feel of the magic over the wonder and potential power given by most softer systems.  Hard magic makes me think and it makes my mind fly through possibilities then the author surprises me with their use anyway.  It's clever and exciting!

    One last thing I want to mention is the main aspect of Sanderson's Second Law: "Limitations > Powers".  In essence, it is the limitations of magic that often make them interesting.  Using Mistborn as an example again, the allomancer needs to have the metal (we'll go with steel for this one) ingested.  Steel allows you to use your weight to push on metal with your own mass (as well as mass that affects you like a wall).  However, you cannot push on metal inside someone else.  You only have your own mass to work with and you have to face the consequences of pushing something greater than you.  You only have a certain amount and the harder you "burn" it the faster it runs out.  In addition, extended use can have serious consequences on the body (shown with other metals more often).  You cannot surpass the limitations here and that adds so much that you can barely even think of to the action and the story.  This also means, the stronger something is the more its limitations have to be.  For example, Atium is the strongest metal to burn but burns out the fastest making it more of a trump card than a way to win every fight.

    I'd say read the laws for yourself as they are interesting and think about the magic of books you like.  Do you tend to prefer soft magic systems or hard magic systems?

Vaelina Watched

    Vaelina sat at in her chair by the window watching.  Crying.  Her voice caught in her throat, now hoarse from yelling in vain.

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     She had been looking out her window for a while now.  It was a hobby of hers to look out after dinner and watch the sunset.  Before then she would watch whatever caught her fancy and if she felt like it maybe she would draw some smaller things.  She had always been fairly privileged.  Some might even call her spoiled though no one had dared say so to her face.  She watched as an insect skittered across the sheet of glass that helped keep her from getting chilled.  Vaelina's father was the owner of a large portion of land and could afford rare luxuries such as glass for the main house.  The insect stopped moving as it reached the edge blocked by a small ledge.  It was nothing to someone the of her height.  She doubted she could trip on it if she tried.  Of course, she's also have to be able to walk on the window.  As she watched, the insect tried to climb up the comparably imposing ledge but as it struggled to gain traction it lost what it had on the glass and fell.

    Eyes following the small bug, Vaelina caught sight of one of their slaves, Shem, standing up in front of Torim, the manor's current slave keeper.  Shem was a kind man who was often the first to laugh and had told her many stories and fables over the years.  She often recalled his tales of life before working for them and how his eyes sparkled with something she could never place.  Now his eyes were filled with something else.  It was something darker. Something Vaelina had never seen before.  

    Shem spit directly into Torim's face with malice.  Torim reeled back in disgust wiping the saliva from his cheek with the sleeve of his jacket before launching himself forward.  As his fist crashed into Shem's jaw, dropping the large man, Vaelina stepped back from the window.  However, as terrified as she was, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene below.

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    Shem tried to stand but as his lifted himself Torim's boot crashed into his chin from the side, causing his teeth to slam through some of his cheek.  He coughed, spitting up blood and tried to stand once more.  Torim knelt down next to him and grabbed the back of his hair, lifting his head by it.  He whispered something into his ear and scowled before slamming him back into the ground face first.  Cartilage cracked as his nose broke and his vision swam.  He collapsed to the floor for a moment but pride wouldn't let him stay down any longer.  He put his hand down to push himself up but halfway a boot smashed into the same spot.  Shem let out a howl and his back arched in pain as Torim's heel ground the bones if his fingers into the ground.  His lost all strength and collapsed back down but the horror wasn't over.  The heel lifted but quickly returned, just as hard as the last time, crushing his fingers against the hard ground beneath.  

    Stunned, Shem lay there as Torim circled to his feet.  Nothing happened for a moment but the reprieve was short, broken by a flash of pain even more intense than the feeling in his hand.  Torim pulled back sharply and the claws of his whip, embedded into the top of Shem's back, tore free pulling strips of skin and muscle with it.  Blood arced through the air, following as if reluctant to sever the connection with the now missing flesh.  The skin on his back screamed along and his voice channeled the feeling.  His back felt... looser.  The skin no longer tight across his muscles.  The ends of the whip snapped back into Shem's back hitting his side this time, digging into the area under his ribs.  He had hoped the pain would be less this time but was disappointed.  He would continually be disappointed as the taskmaster's whip continued to tear his back to shreds eliciting screams of pain that reached far into the twilight.  

    After what seemed like hours of pain to Shem, Torim walked around to his front and gestured to two other nearby slaves who cringed instinctually but dutifully, fearfully, came over and picked him up but his arms.  Shem's hung there limply, groaning as blood flowed down his legs.  His shirt was falling off and any skin that remained on his back hung off of him limply.  Torim came up in front of Shem and punched him in the gut causing more blood to leave his mouth.  He didn't even notice as some of it landed on the boot of his assailant.  Whether that would have satisfied anything in him or just filled him with terror no one could say.  Casually, Torim reached up with his hands to the sides of Shem's head, and swiftly twisted.  Shem's pain faded from his eyes and his body somehow slumped even more in the other slaves' arms becoming literal dead weight.  

    In a quick gesture, Torim tilted his head back and to the right toward's the lake.  The slaves carrying Shem quickly complied almost running to go dump yet another mutilated body in the waters.  Torim walked back toward the house where Vaelina's father was sitting in the porch's shade with his wife.  He sighed and lightly shook his head at Torim's actions.  Now he needed to buy a replacement.

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    Vaelina sat at in her chair by the window watching.  Crying.  Her voice caught in her throat, now hoarse from yelling in vain.

    Eyes red from her tears shed for the slave, Shem, she managed to shuffle over to her bed before collapsing onto it.  She tried to remember the twinkle of Shem's eyes and the sound of his laughter but it was lost.  All that could come to her mind was his flattened hand, the thunder of the whip's crack, his body's limpness after his neck was broken, and the piercing screams of pain.  She still heard them in her head and they wouldn't stop.  Delirious, uncontrolled screams that drowned out all other thoughts.  Choking on her sobs she cried herself into a fitful sleep.

This is for... McSleuthburger!

    What is it about stealth that's so exciting to me?  This is what I'm gonna talk about and explore via blogging about it.   At this point I can't say for sure why and hopefully we'll find out this way!

    So stealth... let's see... there's always the tension involved?  When you are sneaking about and following someone there's that feeling of nervous excitement.  In addition to them having no idea you aren't there, you never know exactly what people are going to do.  In video games enemies generally patrol along pretty specific routes if at all.  It's interesting and makes for good gameplay because actual sneaking is incredibly difficult.  I do quite enjoy stealth and I tend to be fairly good at it.

    Hmm... Let's look at it on a game by game basis and avoid real life stealth for now.  Let's look at thief first as I've played that pretty recently.  Thief has one of the more robust stealth systems and for good reason.  Unlike many games you are somewhat weak; you are able to knock people out and kill them should you desire but if you get into a fight, chances are high you may not make it.  So in that game you have to worry about the sound of your footsteps which is based on speed of movement and floor surface.  Then there is the darkness of the area you're in and of course, where the guard (or whoever you're avoiding notice of).  Combining these you come up with a game system that makes you play more intelligently.  Maybe that's what I enjoy about it?  I like the way you have to watch and plan what you do, you don't run straight in and kill everything.

Thief has one of the more tactical stealth engines.

    On the other hand, I've been playing Bioshock pretty recently as well.  In that I decided to take a lot of plasmids (upgrades) in the direction of stealth, speed and melee.  With my character this way i run around fast (though magically silent) and hit things with a wrench.  It's pretty fun and there are some stealth aspects involved.  In this case however, it is completely different style of stealth since the people are much less observant, it moves very quickly, and isn't all that risky; I can take on a group of opponents without much worry.

This guy won't know what hit him...
It'll be a wrench, by the way.

    I have one more game I want to look at though this obviously isn't covering everything about stealth nor the attraction in crime games/shows.  In any case, the last game for this log which is taking me way too long to write is Sly Cooper.  In this game, maybe because I've played them all a couple times, I can combine the feeling of speed and agility with intelligent style of stealth.  In the Sly Cooper games you make incredible heists of skill and daring.  I'm stoked to play the new game.  There isn't much tension in these even when I wasn't as... practiced.

Sly leaves a signature behind during his heists;
it's one of my favorite things about him.

    However, you can't really combine all of these aspects. Maybe that's part of it.  Even when you know what you're doing and you're still just sneaking around or behind enemies it's always new and exciting.  There's something they all have in common though: fooling your opponent.  When you can sneak through a level and steal a priceless treasure leaving no witnesses or disturbances other than the one missing piece you feel so awesome.  When you dispatch your foe without them knowing you were there despite his paranoia and attentiveness you feel like a bad ass.  When you pull the wool over someone's eyes and they never say it coming it's such an exhilarating ride.  Also, going along with stealth is often roguish charm and the appeal of a fast, smooth talking charmer should never be overlooked.  Now, I'm going to go keep watching my crime show, Leverage, and wish I had the money to get Dishonored.  At least I have Assassin's Creed 3 pre-ordered! This time next week I'll be playing that and you can bet that for the most part, I'll play stealthily.

Random Ramblings. Quite So.

    So I don't have a definite topic on my mind today.  I feel a mixture of boredom and depression though so I'm going to ramble for a bit on a few things plus whatever comes to mind.  Okay?  Okay.

    So today was a pretty good day mostly though I have some things I'm going to complain about.  I really hate feeling unimportant.  I'm not sure if that's a selfish feeling or not but as much as I like when people want to be around me and want to be talking to me it feels better when someone needs you for something emotionally.  I wish I could be there for my friends more than I am but no one really needs any help.  If they do then they have someone more suitable to turn to.  It may just be that I've been feeling lonely while surrounded by people these last few days but I feel redundant even when I'm the only one there.  That doesn't make much sense does it?  Ah well, all of that was mostly written to get some thoughts out of my head and on to something else.  It's a better way to deal with things than other ways I often do.

    That is actually something I was considering typing about.  I deal with stress and depressing moments in a few ways, some pretty good and some pretty awful.  Of course, it all depends on who you ask as I sometimes feel, even after wards, that the awful methods of dealing with things work just as well as anything else.  Anyway, one way I started using again is obviously writing about things   I have kept journals in the past but they often felt like more of a responsibility than something that I was doing to help myself and sort through my thoughts.  There're more times when I write due to an inspiration of some sort though and thus it isn't the huge help it might be able to be.  Another way I deal with things is by losing myself in something.  I often play video games or watch movies or shows for fun but also when I am feeling less than fantastic.  The same thing goes for books of course but I'm hesitant to read things I haven't before when in a bad mood as I often find myself associating something with the emotions that I had at the time and I'd rather not color books with such a bias.  This goes for games/movies/shows too of course but to a lesser extent as those can pull me in more quickly though often not as much.  It's a bit hard to explain the distinction I have between them.  I've mentioned before that Twilight and Kingdom Hearts are two of my escape paths.  Either they have really strong feelings attached to them or they may be tied to happier memories but either way, I often find myself with one of those when things are spiraling out of control.  Things aren't always that easy though.  I often feel the need to do something more extreme and nothing seems to scratch the urge.  It usually involves hurting myself in some way.  I try not to do it as those who manage to notice are rarely pleased with me which doesn't really help anything.  Nevertheless, I've felt it also helps.  I'm sure many people would argue that it really doesn't though and it may very well not.  It's not really something I worry about as much as a lot of people probably would think that I should.  What is most scary is when I don't actually feel bad at all but I have the desire to do it anyway.  In any case those are the most common ways I deal with things.

    Anyway, another topic I wanted to address was about Guild Wars 2 which I've been playing a lot more lately.  I still haven't gotten very far with any characters at all  since I keep making new ones to try the different styles out.  In any case, I finally chose a definite favorite race.  The Asura are technical geniuses who not only build amazing mechanical wonders, they also understand and can manipulate powers of an arcane nature with incredible ease.  These guys are my favorites by far!  I do enjoy the Charr, a large feline/canine race who make really bad-ass warriors and such as well as engineers (they do a lot of war machine stuff in their society) and rangers.  Now, they can just as easily be other professions but I always tend to play classes with races the feel right to me.  I also do the same thing with genders.  I feel that a berserk warrior is more naturally fit to a male (this is only for me as simple preference, I would never object to others playing nor being a bloodthirsty female of any race).  I also don't mind the Sylvari though they can be a bit strange in ways.  Despite that they are a fascinating race that I haven't seen the likes of previously.  Humans are a bit dull and the Norn sometimes are more annoying than awesome but at times they can be cool.  The Asura are a bit silly but not in a way that detracts from their awesomeness to me.  Their buildings are based strongly around cubes and is a mix of magic and technology which is way cooler to me than the Charr's city of hard metal.  Though there is more, I'm going to top it off with the fact the the Asura has the best dance by a long shot.  The others pretty much look silly when they dance while the Asura do incredible pop and lock dancing; that is my favorite style, by the way.

Meet Zojja and Mr. Sparkles!

    So this has been fun and taken a long time to write, which was half the point.  Some of it may not be the best stuff to have on my blog but I doubt most people will read it anyways.  Hope you enjoyed!

What Would You Want to Be?

What would you want to be?

And what would you really be?

In a world of wonder,

in a world of magic,

in a world of fantasy?

What about a Warrior?

A mighty fighter of brute strength

or a skilled artist of the blade?

A berserker fighting through pain

or an armored tank, utterly unafraid?

A knight at war for honor

or a mercenary who kills to be paid?

Mayhap a Mage?

Blasting foes with fire

or freezing them in ice?

Creating light in your palm

or is darkness more your vice?

A spell to read people's thoughts

or one to tip the dice?

Could you be a Cleric?

Mending comrade's wounds

or restoring life to the dead?

Experienced in the field

or incredibly well read?

Healing others for profit

or to help your team get ahead?

Though maybe a Thief?

Picking pockets on the street 

or using blades to cause harm?

Silent as a shadow

or filled with roguish charm?

Nimbly fleeing from guards

or never even raising an alarm?

What would you most want to be?

And what would you actually be?

In a world of wonder,

in a world of magic,

in a world of fantasy?

    So I wasn't really coming up with anything to blog about but I eventually decided to talk about fantasy and what I would want to be compared to what I'd probably actually be.  I started that as an introduction but it became a longer poem than I originally intended.  It's pretty basic but I think I like it anyway.

    As a quick note, I want to let everyone know about my inspiration for the idea as well as the poem.  It's a young adult novel entitled School for Adventurers which is being co-authored by Kara Loo and Jennifer Young.  http://www.schoolforadventurers.com Here you can read about the story and characters as well as see a sneak preview of the first five chapters!  That's a fair bit too.  It's a young adult novel so fairly easy reading but even so, it was over 130 pages for that sample and I liked it fairly well.  You can also find their kickstarter page and support the authors' work. I'm poor and can't do that but maybe one of you might be able to!

    So personally, I would definitely want to be a thief most.  I love stealth and hiding in the shadows.  I'm a huge fan of both wielding a single and double daggers as well as bows if you want to include those in a thief's repertoire   I believe it should be included though that may be the influence of the the Thief games.  In that archery can be used with special arrows that augment your regular stealth options such as water arrows that put out torches or moss arrows that coat surfaces in a mos which you can sneak across much more quietly than other surfaces like metal.

    I also am a fan of the way they are often more interesting as characters.  They can't just brute force their way through a problem with strength or magic, they use finesse in their methods and have to circumnavigate challenges using their intelligence and instinct.  Rogues, assassins, scoundrels, duelists, thieves, etc are all incredibly interesting and my favorite personally.

Guild Wars 2 has some of my favorite art.

    On the other hand, I may very well not be a good thief.  While I can be quiet, occasionally graceful, able to sit still for a long time and able to think around problems with the right mindset, I am rather large.  I can't climb worth anything and I may feel bad about many items I steal as my moral compass can be frustratingly rigid at times.  More on that in some later blog probably!  I am very intelligent though I don't care to study so I may make a decent mage and a decent cleric.  I also might have it in me to be a warrior simply due to my large build (tall, broad shouldered, etc) though I think that fits least well due to my fairly low pain tolerance   I'm not a fan of pain at all.  It hurts!  ... In any case, I don't think it'd fit as well.  If you know me I'm curious as to what you think.  What do you feel about for yourself?  Hope you enjoyed!

-Brilliant Baritone

Tangents Sprung from Fluffy Hair

    So I haven't made a post in forever but that's a mix of business, laziness, and just not having any thoughts I really felt like sharing.  Tonight however, I'm feeling much more bored with my usual activities and no one is available to hang out. This is in spite of my hair being awesome and fluffy today.  All I really wanted for the day was to share my the fluffiness of my hair and my good mood.  Sadly things don't always turn out how we'd like them to.

    I'm going to run off on my first tangent of this post.  I really like fall!  It's my favorite season of all of them and I doubt it will ever change.  I hate the heat of summer and fall brings the brisk and chilly air that is perfect for wearing hoodies and jeans.  It's perfect for cuddling up with that someone special and just enjoying being close to someone.  To me, fall is the mot beautiful season both literally and figuratively.  Don't worry, I'll explain.  Fall is the season of death.  Things are coming to and end in both the year and the cycle of nature.  Winter is the period of rest and being dead while fall, to me, is the transition.  Despite this, everything makes an effort to be vibrant and as beautiful as it can.  It's a final farewell.  It seems like nature is shouting that if it's going to die (albeit only for a while) it's going to live as hard as it can before it's over.  I think I'd like that in my life.  I know it's not a new idea of course.  Knowing the phases, realizing their meaning and actually living that way while maintaining responsibility though?  That isn't the easiest of things to do.  Still.  Fall is beautiful and it makes me feel alive.

Simply Gorgeous

    I may also feel alive due to this next tangent though!  I have been dieting these last few weeks.  Five is more accurate.  It's been exactly 36 days according to the thing I've been using.  I just recorded my weight today and I'm making pretty good progress!  I've lost 13.6 pounds so far.  It may not always seem like a ton to me.  I don't look that different to me nor is it incredibly large compared to how much I want to be.  Still, it's working remarkably well.  All I've been doing is counting calories basically.  My parents both did this before I started and so I want to as well.  My limit for a day is technically 1690 calories.  I feel disappointed if I get past 1600 though.  Ironically, some days I eat really light and I have to eat extra so that I get to at least 1200.  Apparently it's not healthy to have less and your body thinks it needs to store more fat?  I don't know.  What's remarkable about this is that I don't actually Do much.  I have my college online, I play video games and watch shows/movies, and I read.  I don't do a whole lot of exercise but I'm still losing over two pounds a week on average.  It can be tough though.  It isn't at home very much but when I go out to eat it's so difficult!  I usually only eat half of my meal and it's over alf the calories I'll eat for the day.  Also, salads can be bloody deceptive!  Many restaurants have salads as meals.  These often sound pretty good.  Yeah... I had a crispy chicken salad on an earlier week.  It was around 1500 calories alone >_<!  whatever they put in those (chicken, sigh...) is calorie-filled.  It isn't always bad though.  I had a salad somewhere else and used only half the dressing they gave me on the side.  That was a pretty low calorie option and incredibly tasty!

    Tangent number three is about books.  In fact, it is about four books that have become an infamous sensation.  That's right, this tangent is all about the Twilight series.  Now, as you may know, I am a male.  You may also know, I like to play video games.  I read fantasy books that are deemed quite well written.  I really love the Twilight books.  I typed that sentence quite hard, just so you know.  I don't care if you think it's pathetic of me, I'll always hold them pretty close in my heart.  Now, that doesn't mean I read them all the time though I have read them all at least twice.  They're something comfortable, something safe.  When something happens or I feel incredibly down about something, it's not uncommon for me to pick up and try and lose myself in it.  Kingdom Hearts is a similar thing for me actually but that's not for this tangent.  Now, I know it isn't the best writing in the world.  I also know that Bella isn't the best of protagonists.  I also know how horrible and blasphemous it is to have vampires sparkle.  Though you know what?  The other aspects of the vampires I have no problem with.  Had it just been a species of predator that had evolved to look human and found human flesh the most satisfying no one would mind Meyer's vampires.  My point of all this is that I'm so sick of everyone hating it.  Clearly not everyone hates Twilight as it sold incredibly well!  Something about it is enticing right?  It may not be to you, but I enjoy it and I really hate all the crap it gets.  I can respect your opinions, yeah.  It's fine if you've read it and didn't like it.  How could I blame you for that? A lot of people who vocally bash it haven't though!  These are people who comment on how it's badly written too!  It makes me really annoyed when I shouldn't let it but it gets to me every time.  I'm fine if you know it's not your style of book and you know that it wouldn't interest you so you don't read it. I also know it won't stop being ridiculed any time soon either; people like easy sport after all.

    Tangent four is related to tangent three actually.  It's about Brandon Sanderson, one of my favorite authors.  Sanderson writes more than I can fathom.  His first work, Elantris, was published in 2005.  Okay, not too long yeah?  He has six short stories/novellas, four young adult books in a series, Mistborn, a full size trilogy with a fourth book recently published, two standalone novels, And his most recent novel, the start of a longer series, The Stormlight Archive (hardback 1001 pages, paperback 1250ish... yeah.).  In addition to all that he also finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series which is known for its intense amount of plot lines and characters.  Sounds like a ton, yeah?  That's not it though!  He also teaches some writing classes.  He does a lot of writing for his blog as well.  Even more than that however, he does some behind the scenes writings chapter by chapter for many of his books that can be found on his website!  He writes a lot.  It's discouraging in some ways.  On the plus side, He'll often have new stuff for me to read!  That's much better than slower authors.  My other favorite author, Patrick Rothfuss, writes much slower.  The Name of the wind came out in 2007 and the second book in 2011...  I really want the third one out so I can read the rest of them because they are incredibly fantastic!!! Sigh... fantastic enough it completely discouraged my novel I was working on.  That's okay though, with hindsight, I didn't have enough meat for my plot.

A Couple Books of Sanderson's

   Yup.  I think that's a large enough blog for today!  I'll try and keep up an occasional blog from now on, I really will.  What will the next one be?  More random thoughts and tangents?  Another thing about a video game or series?  Maybe on books?  It'll be whatever I feel like!  That or maybe what you think I should write on.  If you Do have desire to read about something, let me know and I'd be happy to write on it!

Oh yeah. Rothfuss is a Wizard. Just FYI.

A "Sequence" of Unfortu-Aughhgghh!

In case you were wondering, non-existent readers, what I know well is video games.  I study them (literally - I'm majoring in video game design) and I play them a lot.  I think they make for great entertainment, training, and emotional substance.  Also you get to kill things.  Am I upset at something?  No problem, I can just bang a pillow on something and set up a game.  It could be a violent and bloody or it could just be an engaging story. Am I upset or depressed? Chances are you'll see me playing an old favorite like Sly Cooper and (much more likely) Kingdom Hearts. Video games make my favorite party activities as well - hot seat Soul Calibur is incredibly fun. ... Now I'm thinking about how fun it could be drunk...  Anyway! I love and know video games.  So in this blog I'll be talking about them! Hurrah.

So I wanted to share my thoughts on a game I got recently titled Sequence created by indie developer Iridium Studios.  Now I'll briefly summarize: Sequence is a cross between RPG, DDR, and sarcasm. Attention should now be mine.  Alright. Sequence is a game for PC via steam and (for a while now) XBLA.  However, I would recommend playing with a controller no matter which console you're on.  You can play on the PC with a wireless 360 controller if you have the adapter or with a wired controller if you download this: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/d/xbox-360-controller-for-windows.  It's free and should work fine.

-random interesting interlude!-

If you DO have a controller hooked up to your computer you can do a TON with it!  I have a set up using a program called XPadder that allows me to control the mouse(and all three main buttons), zoom functions, fullscreen(f11), control netflix with enter and escape, the arrow keys, volume, switch tabs and windows, back and forward (browser functions), and page refresh all on one controller with easy use.  I love it and I use it to watch netflix, browse websites, and read things on my computer.  Such as Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker - a full book you can download off of his website for free.

-end interlude!-

So Sequence is easier with a controller because it is rather hectic and just feels more smooth on a controller.

Here's how gameplay works.  You have a circle in the bottom center of the screen.  This is your Spell selection.  You start with only two and quickly move up to 3 then 4.  eventually you get up to 6(I think).  You can choose what these spells are from direct damage, healing, altering spells (such as one that makes the next spell more powerful or sacrifices HP for mana etc.), and siphoning spells.  I can't say what they all are as I don't have them.  You select a spell with the left or right thumbstick and cast with the right bumper (this is default.  Sadly, you Cannot switch as freely as I'd like.  Not yet anyway).  These spells all take different times to refresh and have varying powers and mana costs.  On either side of the spell ring are two health pools, the left is yours and the right your opponent's.

The action takes place on three screens above the previously mentions circular shapes.  These three screens rotate by pressing the triggers on the controller.  One screen is red; this is where opponent's attacks come.  Another is blue and you regain mana here.  The last is green and it is where you cast spells.  Just like in DDR, arrows come down in the screens.  When they come down the red screen you have to switch to it and hit the arrows or you take damage.  Sometimes, it's worth taking some damage to finish casting a spell.  Speaking of which, casting is done by hitting the arrows that come down the green field.  These don't come down on their own; they are triggered by casting the spell.  If you miss an arrow when casting the spell, you lose all the mana put into it and nothing happens.  The last area, blue, is a fairly constant steam of arrows that replenish mana when hit.  You lose nothing from letting the arrows pass.  So combine that with occasional effects from the bosses and things get hectic quickly.

Hecticy-ness

In addition to the battles there is an inventory and crafting system.  One of my favorite things about the game is the humor throughout.  In the inventory, each item has a ridiculous description! a few examples are "Goblet: A small younger goblin.  His name is Billy.", "Copper Wire: a listening device, worn by cops.", and "Bottomless Pit: A topless pit would have been much sexier.".  Seriously, if the humor in this game doesn't get to you, I may not be able to be friends with you.  The voice acting can sometime fall a bit flat in my opinion, like the delivery is just a bit off, but the dialogue is great overall and I find myself laughing more often than not.

Overall it's really a great game and on Steam a measly 5 dollars! It's completely worth that price and with any luck, there will be more content released in the future.  personally, I'm hoping for a type of versus!  I mean, it could work close to the same but when you cast spells, the damage is then spread out over arrows in the defense field based on the spell.  Anywho, I highly recommend it!

-Brilliant Baritone