"The Left Hand of God"

I picked up "The Left Hand of God" in a half price sale in WH Smiths. It seemed like my kind of book. And thus, a good idea at the time.

Sadly, now I'm not so certain this was the case.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for books that don't follow convention. I'm all for stories that have surprising twists. What I am not for is books that seem to change their tone 15 pages from the end and end completely differently to how they have been set up.

The book was good. I'm not knocking that. It has a dark, brooding tone. Its portrayal of a violent, religion-fuelled fantastical and fanatical alternate history was gripping, and the fact that I read the whole lot in one sitting shows that Hoffman can tell a good yarn.

But there's just something so very wrong with it in places that I actually feel more frustrated than entertained at turning that last page. There are so many things foreshadowed but never explored later on; there are numerous changes in tone in the middle of the book completely at odds with the grim start; important revelations arrive with no actual foreshadowing at all; the final battle is described with a clinical detachment that deadens any sense of emotional investiture in the wellbeing of the individuals involved; and the final betrayal ruffled my feathers considering two thirds of the book is spent cememting a relationship only to have a parenthetical exposition in the last three pages explain why it just wouldn't work.

Anyone who has read any of my previous blogs knows I'm a sucker for a happy ending and relationships that work out - isn't that why we read fantasy? to escape from the harsh, soul-crushing reality that real life usually thrusts our way? - but it is less well known that I actually have admiration for writers that break conventions, throw away our expectations. I fully expected some big revelation towards the end of the novel. Unfortunately, the revelation that I got was one that hadn't been hinted at elsewhere, and there was too much sense, looking back with the book fresh in my mind, that the story had been pieced together from multiple plots, rather that one coherent whole right from the start.

The ending ends with hints that there is a sequel to follow: and I suppose if Hoffman is to follow convention, a trilogy is a likely outcome. It is highly likely that I will pick up a sequel, simply to find out if any of the seeds laid in this plot but not allowed to blossom within its pages are actually of importancw, or merely red herrings designed to throw the reader off which is, in my eyes, poor writing.

While thinking of something more to say on the matter, I googled the book and found this review which I am inclined to agree with.

So yeah, not a bad book by any stretch. I have read far worse. I'm just glad I didn't pay full price for it.

The Aion Experience - Part I

The Aion Experience: My Impressions So Far

A lot of people who I’ve played MMOs with have been asking about Aion, knowing I play it, and wanting to know my opinions of it. As I am a man who likes to talk a lot about things he enjoys, I decided to create this brief summary of my impressions.

Firstly, this is not a review. As anybody who has played Aion will tell you, the game has a hefty PvP-centric approach post level 25. As my highest level characters are a level 21 Elyos Spiritmaster and a level 22 Asmodian Chanter, I cannot comment on the PvP aspect of the game. But bear in mind that it is there, and it is a big chunk of the game’s premise.

Secondly, most of the ‘reviews’ of Aion that I have seen compare it to World of Warcraft. This is inevitable, it having the greatest market share with — at its height — over 11 million consecutive subscribers. Aion does a lot of things better than WoW, I shall say that now, but I don’t just write from this one perspective.

My actual MMO background starts off with Final Fantasy XI, probably one of the most hardcore of all MMOs in its heyday. I still believe FFXI does some things better than WoW and more modern MMOs, but that is by the by. The reason I stopped playing FFXI as much and went to WoW is the issue of time, and how long things take to do in the game, and that is my first point.

Aion is a game that will take you considerable time to play. By level 21/22, I am already up to around 1.6 million xp needed to hit the next level. Bear in mind that the level cap is 50, and the xp per level curve increases quite dramatically per level, and you can already see that it will take a lot of hard time and effort (based on my current experience with the game) to hit the level cap.

One of the things that I both liked and detested alternatively about FFXI was the enforced partying system. Without a party, you couldn’t do a whole lot past level 10. Which meant 65 levels of partying, pulling mobs, killing them, moving onto the next one, and so on. It was grindy. Very grindy. And yet, thanks to this enforced partying system, the community on Pandemonium server where I played FFXI was very tight. You really did feel like you were playing a massively multiplayer game.

WoW had the opposite effect, sometimes. With so many classes able to solo all but the hardest of “group” quests, WoW often felt very much like a single-player game with the odd grouped instance run thrown in should you be bothered. Even then, you never really had to group to get stuff done. This was more casual, and coupled with something as simple as giving xp for quests (something that FFXI has only really recently caught onto), was the main reason why I spent so much time levelling up characters in the game. Nevertheless, I feel that — apart from the few guildies and friends I made on Shadowsong EU — the WoW community is one of the worst communities I’ve ever met. And as a secondary school supply teacher, I’ve worked in quite a few dysfunctional communities.

Aion, then, puts a bit of the massively multiplayer back into MMORPG. I’d say about 80% of the content between levels 1 and 20(ish) can be soloed. Quests give (usually reasonable) chunks of XP, but there are significant benefits to grouping.

For a start, there are no hybrid classes in Aion. Your Templar is the tank, your Cleric is the healer. Rangers, Assassins, Gladiators are your dps. Sorcerers are dps and crowd control. Spirit Masters are dps through DoTs. Chanters are the class with the party-enhancing buffs. Yeah, Chanters can heal a bit. Yeah Gladiators can tank a bit. And yes, you can customise your character a bit through Aion’s Stigma system, which is the closest thing to talent points that Aion seems to have. But ultimately the class you play chooses your role. Don’t play a cleric if you want to frontline dps. Don’t play a Templar if you want to dish out massive damage.

This isn’t to say that you have to group constantly. For Templars and Clerics, it is certainly the case that it is beneficial and faster to kill stuff in a duo or trio or group, but it isn’t forced down your throat. You can solo. You just have to choose your targets carefully.

However, you WILL have to group at points. Around level 18 for both factions, there are a series of group quests: Black Claw Village for Asmodians, Tursin Outpost (I think) for Elyos. These areas contain elite mobs, who have far more hitpoints and hit far harder than your average normal mob, just like your Notorious Monsters in FFXI, or your Elite mobs in WoW. You WILL need a group to bring these down. A trio can sometimes work, but for maximum killing power, a full group of six is needed.

I like this. To the best of my knowledge, it is practically impossible to solo these quests at the level you get them. Now, it IS possible to get to level 20 and move on to the next zone WITHOUT doing these storyline quests but a) you miss out on a huge chunk of xp (the elite mobs give tons of xp, even in a full group) and b) it would mean a chunk of grinding out xp with boring repeatable quests (sure beats FFXI’s system mind you!)

So if you are an unsociable MMO player, Aion isn’t likely to be for you. There are dungeons in the game, and a massive flight-based PvP area which you pretty much need to group up for to survive — safety in numbers as it were.

Moving on. The classes seem pretty well balanced. They all have some interesting abilities, they all get fairly unique combinations of equipment to use, and the amount of visual distinction between them is pretty high. I’ll not beat around the bush: Aion is a beautiful game. Colour me shallow, but I take great joy in exploring a new fantasy landscape and taking in the details. WoW had me hooked on exploring for a long time, and while Aion’s game world is smaller in size that the multiple contents in WoW, its level of detail is breathtaking at times. I have a folder full of screenshots that is rapidly expanding in size, though I will say that many screenshots simply don’t do the game justice. Not only is everything pretty, but the special effects are awesome and the animations are really lovely and fluid. Check out youtube for some examples of that stuff.

The combat system is fun. And it has to be, because it takes slightly longer than you might be used to to solo kill mobs. On average it takes me between 10 and 20 seconds to kill stuff, but I admit I am not playing the main DPS classes so it may well be all over much quicker for others. Unlike WoW where you basically spam abilities as soon as they’re off cooldown, it is actually beneficial in Aion to weave your auto-attacks in between your abilities. Aion’s abilities work on a Chain Skill system. Here’s an example from my Chanter’s repertoire.

Hallowed Strike (level 1 chain) > Heaven’s Judgement (level 2 chain)

Or

Hallowed Strike (level 1 chain) > Booming Strike (level 2 chain) > Incandescent Blow (level 3 chain)

As you can see, using a level 1 skill opens up the option to use one of two level 2 skills. Heaven’s Judgement has a short-term stun effect, while Booming Strike opens up the possibility to add a third chain skill into the mix. This keeps the combat fresh, interesting, and quite tactical I’ve found so far.

Plus with the wonderful animations, I imagine Aion is actually quite fun to watch. Again, check out any HD videos you can find on Youtube to get a better picture of just how dynamic combat is.

The question, therefore, is “Should I play Aion?” and my answer to that will really depend.

Firstly, if you are a big crafter in MMOs, Aion has a very robust crafting system. It is easier than FFXI’s ludicrously irritating crafting system, but no way near as easy as WoW’s. It is, however, more rewarding. It creates gear that is up to 10 levels ahead (in terms of stats) than what you will be getting from mobs of the same level as you. It is, however, painfully slow at times to level, and it will cost you a big chunk of monies.

Secondly, do you like having a well-defined and rounded role for your character? If yes, you might also enjoy Aion (as well as a ton of other games on the market!)

Thirdly, do you like playing games that really push the boundaries of visual experience in the MMO genre? If yes, Aion is definitely worth a look.

I’ve really enjoyed my time with Aion so far, but as I’ve mentioned in past blogs, I’m not really a competitive PvP-style player, so my opinions of the game might change dramatically come level 25 and my first forays into The Abyss, the game’s major PvP hub.

Check back for (hopefully) a followup to this at a later date.

Erase and Rewind

I watched the latest episode of Doctor Who last night, which gave Catherine Tate more of an opportunity to shout at us (a trait acknowledged in the actual story itself for some humorous effect) in an episode that explored what life would be like without the Doctor. It was quite an interesting episode, showing us events that previous companions have been involved in, but how events turn out if the Doctor was to have died in the second Christmas special (the one with the Empress of the Racnoss). It set off a chain of events with repercussions throughout recent history: without the Doctor and Donna having met, no one is able to stop the Judoon stealing the hospital from London (and Martha Jones dies up on the moon); no one is able to stop the Titanic crashing into Buckingham Palace (and the whole of London is wiped out); no one stops the Adipose plot (and 60 million Americans are all killed).

It shows a Donna Noble who never has the chance to break out of the mould, who isn’t given the opportunity to spread her wings and become something better (and while I’m not a huge fan of the character, she has grown on me the last few weeks as she’s gradually become less of the runaway bride and more of a fleshed-out character).

It also shows the return of Rose Tyler. It’s an interesting development in the plot, as the episode Doomsday from the end of the second season still sends chills down my spine. The moment near the end where the Doctor and Rose are separated in parallel universes is one of the strongest dramatic moments on this or any other show I’ve seen in twenty seven years. To bring her back was inevitable, but the look on the Doctor’s face when Donna tells him “Bad Wolf” was incredibly well-played by David Tennant. It was a mix of elation — he and Rose shared something after all — but utter horror too: not from having to deal with her, but simply knowing that having that chance, that the universes are bleeding together, is not going to end well for any of them.

Over several blogs I’ve mentioned how Russell T Davies skipped out on many storytelling opportunities by having the Time War destroy Gallifrey and leaving the Doctor alone in the universe, and yet we’re now faced with what is likely to be a big shiny Reset Button™ and I’m not as excited as I thought I might be. With RTD leaving and Moffatt taking over, it does seem right that he would get a tabula rasa to work with, but four seasons of emotional attachment to characters will be difficult to put behind. It will depend on how it’s done, assuming it is done at all. If it could be done in such a way that the Time Lords can come back without those essential relationships that have been built up disappearing, then I will be happy. But we’ve seen the Doctor grow hugely as a character based on his interactions with Rose, Martha, Donna, Captain Jack, Sarah-Jane, Mickey et cetera, and I simply don’t want all that to mean nothing, either for him, or for them.

Obviously you could play the “they never met” card for the companions, and keep the Doctor remembering, a bit like they did for Connor and Angel in the last two seasons of Joss Whedon’s Angel. It would work, and it would continue with the theme of torturing the Doctor — even if he does get his people and home returned, I’m still not certain he is emotionally strong enough to be able to look upon Rose Tyler and not have her know who she is. Or maybe I’m not. He’s walked away from her before through choice after all. Maybe I just don’t want to see that connection die. I thought having Martha Jones’ tortured family stuck at the eye of the storm and remembering everything when the whole world forgot the events of the Master’s rule as the paradox was reversed at the end of season 3 was a very bold, dramatic move after all.

So yes, I’m ambivalent about the whole event. While I don’t really want a big reset button to be pressed — for the reasons listed above — I’m intrigued as to how they will do it if they do do it — my writer’s curiosity I guess.

Now, how does Davros fit in to all this...

Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead - "review" (kinda)

I don’t tend to write reviews of Doctor Who episodes, simply because I imagine I’ll come across gushing like a fanboy, and I do try to avoid being a real fanboy about anything. I’m an incredibly critical person, very rarely able to say anything is so 100% brilliant that nothing was wrong with it at all — especially not television.

But I am a lifetime fan of Doctor Who. I remember being introduced to the programme way back in the 80s. Sylvester McCoy was the Doctor back then, and I remember the Doctor and Ace’s adventures for the 3 or so seasons they travelled together. There was something incredibly likeable, dark, and mysterious about McCoy’s Doctor, especially after the initial season of his time playing the part, where the scripts took a much darker, more interesting direction, questioning who the Doctor is and why he travels as he does.

One of my biggest beefs against Russell T. Davies’ reimagined series was that it was clear from the start that the Timelords, that Gallifrey, were no more. I thought, rather naively, to begin with that this would cut out a huge amount of storytelling potential.

I’m happy to admit that I was wrong. While I sometimes think that the new series has kinda missed out on some of the Lore of the series, most of the stuff that I’m thinking of is from the book line anyway that took place before the Doctor Who telemovie, when no Doctor Who stuff was on air.

I’m thinking Lungbarrow specifically in many cases, which went a long way to exploring a lot of the mysteries of just who the Doctor is, what he could have been, and why he is who he is; but at the same time introducing yet more mystery to the character. Is he a genetic reproduction of the mysterious Other of Gallifreyan history? Will we ever know?

The new series has been brilliant at these little snippets about the Doctor’s past. Lots and lots of little throwaway comments about his life from all the times we’ve not had him on screen. He’s been a father. He’s not good with weddings. He chose his title for a reason. And now, with this marvellous two-parter from Stephen Moffat, we know that at some point he will (probably) find a soulmate, someone he will trust so implicitly that he will reveal to her his real name.

Looking back at Stephen Moffat’s episodes from the 4 seasons so far, I must admit that I’ve enjoyed each one. Even the Empty Child/Doctor Dances, which creeped me out a little bit. There’s something remarkably rich and admirable about the way this man tells a story, and I’m now in the fun position of being torn about what my favourite episodes of the series’ are now.

You see, this time last year I would have said “Blink” was probably the best Doctor Who episode, even if it barely features the Doctor. It was so *clever* and emotional.

The year before, I would have said “Girl in the Fireplace,” and not just because I think Sophia Myles is incredibly hot. Again, it was fun, it was clever, it had little mysteries to reveal, and it was packed full of emotion.

And then came “The Sound of Drums” and the 3-part conclusion to season 3. This arc with the Master was beautifully performed, and while I personally thought the third of the three was a slight letdown until the last ten minutes, the joy of seeing the Doctor pitted against the Master, finally seeing a fellow Timelord in the new series, and then having it all taken away by the end was a hugely emotional turning point in the story. Just as the Doctor is coming to terms with his survivor’s guilt, he’s thrown another curveball.

I would have said those were my favourite episodes, until this latest two-parter. They were excellently paced, featured brilliant acting, a “have you quite clicked it yet” plot, several layers of mystery, and yet another curveball for David Tennant’s Doctor. The whole story with Professor River Song and what her relationship with the Doctor is is STILL left deliciously mysterious at the end of the episode. It’s obviously hinted at that the only situation in which the Doctor would reveal his true name to anyone is during a marriage ceremony, but that is never explicitly stated, and that’s just the way I like it.

The Doctor needs to remain mysterious for him to have his appeal. Would we still have the same affection for the character if he was no longer just “The Doctor” and was called by some Gallifreyan name? I doubt it. His circumstances, his past: we need just enough of that hinted at so we know he’s experienced some degree of tragedy so great that he travels simply to cope with the magnitude of it. In Silence in the Library/Forest of Death we get not hints about his past, but hints about his future. Part of me is fascinated by the idea of knowing what happens in those events. How he meets River Song in future and their whole thing happens.

But then part of me doesn’t want to know. Because the conclusion of their story had such a huge dramatic and emotional impact, I’m not sure any revelation of their “first” and subsequent meetings could do the concept justice.

I think one of the reasons this episode resonates so much to me is the idea of being in love with someone who doesn’t know who you are, a concept that forms part of the foundation of my first novel, and kind of slips into the second and third parts of the trilogy too (or will do, when they’re written). It’s actually kinda strange how many of my ideas seem to end up used in episodes of Doctor Who before I get a chance to publish them — someone must be in my head invading my thoughts and stealing my ideas. Or something.

There is a bit of time travel and reincarnation in the trilogy, as well as an underlying thread that will be revealed by the end of the books. I suppose in a sense I’ve used that Doctor Whovian device as something to drive the story, though my characters have zero control over the method of travel and spend much of the trilogy dealing with paradoxes which hopefully all work in a continuity sense.

But anyways, I was talking about these two episodes. I’ve just watched them again, back-to-back, and I must say I’m looking forwards to two things now:

1) How is Russel T. Davies going to top those two episodes this series — its already well established that Rose is going to return, and stuff is going to hit the fan, but I’ve avoiding reading any spoilers about what might happen next.

2) What is Stephen Moffat going to do with the series when he takes over in 2010 for series 5 (and yes I really REALLY hope that David Tennant is still the Doctor by that point.)

Not really a review is it this... So I’ll give the episodes a score of 9.5/10 — as close to storytelling perfection as I can imagine at this time.

DEATH NOTE (live-action movie) – REVIEW (spoilers!!)

So as a follow up to my finishing watching the Death Note anime, I did a bit of reading on Wiki, hoping to clarify a few of my mind’s issues, and came upon the fact that there was a live-action movie version of the manga, with a few key differences. I stopped reading there, and decided to watch it for myself first.

And I must say, I’m glad I did.

I’m not big on film versions changing huge amounts of an established fictional work. I can understand it with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy — it’s such a huge work that doing a proper version including everything would turn it into a twenty four hour long film. In much the same way I can understand the film version of Rowling’s Order of the Phoenix doing the same thing.

But I was intrigued as to whether it would work shortening 12+ hours of anime into around what, 5 hours of film…

As it turns out, it worked beautifully. While certain parts of the plot naturally had to be changed, the whole thing felt so much tighter. There was no messing about with Near and Mello. No Yotsuba Corporation. No extraneous shinigami and plot turns.

And, perhaps most importantly, it was a battle of wits between Light and L for the whole 5 hours.

I won’t say a lot about the acting or casting, mainly because it’s not really very important to me in this instance. The character designs are taken straight from the anime for the most part. What really mattered was how the story was told, and in my opinion it was the more fluid, poignant version of the events surrounding the Death Note.

Yes it changes the ending in order to keep L alive long enough to unmask Kira properly. But it was handled poignantly. It also includes a bit of a monologue for Misa, which if you’ve just read my thoughts on the anime, you’ll know I was wanting. In some ways, because the cast was kept smaller, the emotional attachment to the characters was tighter. I was happy Chief Yagami survived, though I felt quite sad that he had to keep the secret of Kira/Light’s relationship from his daughter and wife.

Really the only thing I felt that the live action version lacked was the music. Unlike in the anime, where music played an important part in building suspense, I didn’t really notice the music in the film. I also kinda missed the internal monologues of Light and L, but in a film version too many of those would get very confusing so I’m glad they didn’t have many. Just enough to give away thoughts if absolutely necessary.

All in all, I’d recommend watching it after watching the anime run rather than before.

Score: 8.6/10

DEATH NOTE (anime) – REVIEW (spoilers!!)

I’m very particular about what I watch. Sounds like a crazy statement considering my confession to liking Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. But yes, I very rarely watch stuff that isn’t recommended to me by at least one person whom I trust.

I first heard about Death Note on the IGN TV site and read a couple of reviews of miscellaneous episodes. It sounded interesting, and I put it on my (fairly extensive) list of anime to watch. This list is kind of a wishlist, as most of the time I never get any of the stuff on it to actually watch.

But then I read more reviews of it, saying how it was an interesting psychological thriller full of cat-and-mouse intellectual games, and my curiosity grew.

And then of course a couple of friends told me to watch it. So I spent a couple of weeks getting hold of all 37 episodes of the anime, and sat down to watch them (in-between other stuff).

Synopsis

It’s quite difficult to write a real synopsis of the anime as a whole, but it revolves around the eponymous “Death Note”, a notebook that grants its owner the power to kill anyone whose name they write on its pages while having that person’s face clear in their mind. It is found by a college student called Light who, being incredibly bright and therefore a bit bored, and also being disgusted by the evil and violence he sees in the world, decides to test the notebook to see if it is true. Upon finding that it does indeed do what it says on the tin, he then devises a way to cleanse the world through Justice and, throughout the first few episodes, becomes “Kira” — from the English word “killer”.

Soon the police begin working with a famous detective called L to thwart Kira/Light’s plans, and indeed a game of intellectual cat-and-mouse begins.


Thoughts

I like programmes that make me think. Especially ones that involve some kind of moral or philosophical debate. My already confessed love for Tru Calling and, to a certain extent, the original design philosophy for Andromeda is to do with this. Any kind of musing on the extent of human good and evil, or cosmic balance, interests me. It’s a theme I draw upon in my own writing, though it’ll take a couple of novels before you start to see just what’s going on there.

Death Note is a prime example of the kind of thinking/debating I like to see explored. While, in my opinion, the end of the series seems a little bit rushed and not quite as well-thought-out as the initial 20 odd episodes, there is nevertheless not a single episode I didn’t enjoy.

(I also must admit I didn’t like the change in intro/ending music that happened halfway through the run, but I skipped through that most of the time anyways.)

Really it isn’t the actual end of the series that I have an issue with. The actual story, though a little rushed (I understand that a large chunk of the original manga was condensed for the second arc of the anime, while the first arc was played out in full) was pulled off well. It was the actual characters themselves that lost a bit of credibility: especially Light himself. He went from being a meticulous genius to an almost dull, impetuous youth. Now I can see that this might have been designed to show a descent into arrogant madness, but for me it didn’t work. Light spent the last few episodes doing nothing but waiting for Near to do something.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more the second half — the last 15 episodes or so — bug me. It was all about proving stuff we, the viewer, already knew, rather than foil and counter-foil as the Light/L storyline had been.

I must admit, I did find myself quite involved with certain aspects of the characters in the second half though. When Light kills Kiyomi Takada, the girl whom he says he wants to make a goddess of his new world, I actually said out loud “You bastard!”

With Misa, I was never entirely certain she was going to be anything except a puppet for him. With Takada, I actually believed that Light had found someone whom he would treat as an intellectual and romantic equal. This made her death a much more shocking revelation of Light’s depravity.

I suppose it’s the romantic in me that wants to find out more about Misa’s feelings after Light’s defeat too. While I felt the final moments of the series were given the time needed to satisfy the audience and absorb Light’s defeat and descent into madness, Misa looking out over the city could have worked better with some kind of final monologue from her.


Review

So, on to an actual review. Death Note is, in my opinion, a must see for any fan of anime that doesn’t just watch it for the crazy action scenes. There aren’t many in Death Note. While there are a couple of short physical exchanges between Light and L, there’s no super high jumping or lightning bolts being thrown around. It is all very grounded in realistic actions, as befitting a show whose main way of entertaining is getting the audience to think. It is character driven, not action driven.

The version I watched was a fansub, and as such had — at several points — fairly dodgy English subtitles. I don’t know what the actual English dubbing is like, but the original Japanese voices are very expressive.

The animation is fluid and very well done. The use of lights and darks, shadows, and saturated colour schemes in character’s internal monologues really adds to the design/look of the series. You KNOW when Light is being Kira, or when L’s brain is working overtime. It’s revealed not just in their words, but in their stylised character designs on screen.

One of the series’ strengths — apart from the new intro/credits music introduced halfway through — is the music. The score is very strong, poignant, and reflects the action on screen well. I must admit I can’t help but compare L’s theme to the theme for The Exorcist, but that maybe only adds to the character for me.


So over all, I give the series an 8.5/10.