Cloud and Tifa – Never Cloud and Aeris

February 28, 2018 Leave a comment

Final_Fantasy_VII_Box_ArtAs I’m sure I’ve made clear, I am a fan of Final Fantasy games. They’re great! If you haven’t played them, I’d recommend that you try a Final Fantasy game or two. What makes them so good is that they contain some common ideas, tropes, etc. without having to be the same story, world, rules, games, etc. through the series. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses that differ from the others, so there’s one that almost anyone will like!

Before I discuss this topic, I want to say that I love all of the characters from Final Fantasy 7! Aeris included! I am just referring to the romantic relationship possibility in the game. This will obviously contain spoilers, so don’t read any further if you don’t want spoilers for Final Fantasy 7! I’ll also include some info from Crisis Core, but that won’t be of a spoiling nature.

Relationship Basics in FF7

In the game, you can go on a date with one of: Aeris, Tifa, Yuffie, or Barret. There’s a system of points being assigned based on choices you make through playing. I’m less concerned with that choice in the game and more concerned with who I think our spiky-haired protagonist should be romantically involved with as part of a story. Yes, this is a common discussion among gamers who play the game.

Both Aeris and Tifa express a romantic interest in Cloud during the game, but there are a lot of details we should be considering when playing the game. Some would say that Cloud should be with Aeris, the attractive flower girl of the slums who Cloud meets early in the game. Others, including I, would say that Cloud should be with Tifa, his childhood friend by his side through some of his greatest trials.

Argument in Favor of Tifa

Tifa is a childhood friend of Cloud’s; they’re close even though they weren’t that close as children. Cloud clearly meant something to Tifa even then, because she brings up the promise they made as children.

The Promise

PromiseKeptWell, as it turns out, Cloud didn’t achieve his goal, so his promise would be void at the point that she said he didn’t keep it during the early scene in the bar. Maybe you had Cloud forgetting the promise he made to her.

That would be the case, however, we learn that Cloud was at Nibelheim during the incident. In fact, he arrived in time to move Tifa’s body when she was hurt and even defeated Sephiroth through sheer will. Maybe that determination came from keeping his promise.

After the Lifestream

Falling into the lifestream and being carried away, Cloud was on the verge of death. When the party finds him, after the portion of the game with Tifa as the playable character, she decides to remain with Cloud while the remainder continues on without them. Yes, I understand that Aeris is understandable dead at this point, but I believe Tifa would’ve stayed with him anyway.

Regardless of the type of love, romantic or friendship, this shows Tifa’s love of Cloud. She was part of AVALANCHE before Cloud, so her leaving the group to stay with him is significant. It’s not like he’s talking, and he may not even know she’s there. It’s meaningful though.

Recovering the Mind of Cloud

Eventually Cloud’s mind is sorted out, and we separate Cloud from Zack as part of this recovery. Tifa is there, helping to guide his recovery the whole way. In many ways, this has to be done by the person closest to him, since he doesn’t even trust himself at this point in the story. Even his own memory cannot be trusted, which means that she is even more important.

It’s not just comparing those memories, however, he’s allowing her to help guide him as he figures things out. She’s in Cloud’s mind during this recovery, a place that only the closest person would be invited in.

Argument Against Aeris

AerisMeetsZackFirst, I care nothing of the death of Aeris in this argument. Were she my choice, I’d have been OK with her having died in the game and still be the right woman for Cloud. My main reason is that Cloud is not right for Aeris, and my argument follows that same line of thinking that death doesn’t change anything.

Aeris is not in love with Cloud, and Cloud is not in love with Aeris. She loves Zack Fair, the SOLDIER First Class whose identity Cloud has assumed by becoming Zack’s “living legacy”. I believe that Aeris expresses interest in Cloud because he’s similar to Zack in many ways. And Zack expresses Zack’s interest in Aeris, which is easy considering that Cloud knew about Aeris from Zack. With his confusion and goal of being Zack’s living legacy, dating Aeris is the obvious thing for him to do.

Wrap Up

I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with my stance, but I will always pick Tifa. When playing the game, I might play the game such that a different date happens, but I’ll always hold Tifa and Cloud in a special place. They’re meant for each other. What can I say though, I married someone I love, and before we were dating, we were friends. I think it’s a good foundation to build from, and I think it’s one that Tifa and Cloud can work from as well.

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Star Wars Video Games Are Great

January 19, 2018 Leave a comment

Over my many years of enjoying video games, quite a few of those have been Star Wars games. It’s a good franchise with quite a lot of world built around it through various games, books, and the movies (of course). In this post, I’ll tell you about a few of my favorites without spoiling too many details of the stories. I know you’re terribly surprised that I like Star Wars games.

Note: before I continue, be aware that when Disney acquired Star Wars, they removed all but the main movies and current cartoon shows from canon. The old games and novels are now referred to as “legends”, so they may be accurate or may not be. Essentially, Disney can use what they like and ignore what they don’t.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

This is one of the many games that I own multiple copies of. In this case, I own the standard disc-installed PC version of the game as well as a Steam copy. I had to start here as it is one of the most popular Star Wars games and one of my personal favorites.

Knights of the Old Republic

The game has a thoroughly epic storyline where you follow a force-sensitive character who eventually becomes a Jedi. As with most RPG games of its era, you get to choose a lot about the character: name, appearance, gender, skills, traits, etc. As an RPG, it’s quite story-driven, so you’ll be making choices throughout the game, and those will often correspond with either the light-side or dark-side of the Force. Having a character alignment system based on player decisions should feel familiar to gamers today, but was not common when this game was originally released.

As Star Wars tends to, the game starts you off in the middle of the action; you’re aboard a ship during a space battle. There’s a quick bit of exposition to get you into the story, and the first scene is more tutorial than anything else.

As with most BioWare RPG games of the era, this game leverages an underlying rules system that will remind people of Dungeons and Dragons, since it is a D20-based system. I’m not familiar with the exact rules of the Star Wars D20 system, but I’m sure this is somewhat close to that pen and paper game’s rules.

For anyone who has played BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter Nights games, this will feel very similar as those use the Dungeons and Dragons rules. And if you’re into BioWare’s newer games, you’ll feel some of where Mass Effect and Dragon Age came from.

Note: If you read my wife’s blog posts, you’d know that we love this game. We named our cats after characters from the game – Jolee and Juhani.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Strangely enough, for those who know that both Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: The Old Republic (The MMO) were created by BioWare, this game is made by Obsidian Entertainment. I don’t know the details for that, but I do know that this game was rushed to completion and not entirely finished when it was released. All the same, Obsidian did make some interesting additions and create a fun game here.

KOTOR_II

It’s built on the same engine as the first game and continues the same story. We follow new characters for this one, but it will reference things done in the previous game, so it’s best to have played that one first. Although don’t be disheartened by the canon being set from the first game. It needed to make choices about what the player chose for the first game in order to pick up here. I believe the canon is that the first game has a male protagonist and the second game has a female protagonist, but you’re obviously welcome to choose how you like.

The second installment in this series adds some new concepts to the game, especially with regards to the relationships your character has with her companions. This will feel very familiar for people who’ve played modern, western RPG games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

I mentioned that the game was rushed, but the Internet has banded together to save the day. There are community patches, which will fix bugs as well unlock content that was cut from the game before release. The content was cut to meet a deadline, so it’s unfinished content. It’s available if you’re interested though.

Note: if you’re into it, my wife did a series of posts about revisiting Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 when she did a replay of it years ago.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I & II

I first played this game on a console, which is great for this style of hack-and-slash gameplay. While the Knights of the Old Republic series could do well on either PC or console, this one shines nicely on a console. I know people that like hack-and-slashing on PC though, so do what you like! Personally, I like getting comfy on a couch when playing a game where I’m running around swinging a lightsaber.

The_Force_Unleashed

Force_Unleashed_2

I’ve paired these two together more for my convenience than anything else. I greatly enjoyed both of them and they follow one of my favorite characters to have ever been part of the overall Star Wars franchise, Galen Marek AKA Starkiller. I’m also a big fan of the actor who did the voice and motion capture work for the protagonist; and luckily for me, he attended a gaming convention near me where I was also in attendance! Needless to say, my wife was not happy about it (she wasn’t at the event). We’re both huge fans of his from this and other work he’s done.

This Force Unleashed series has a fun concept, since you’re starting out working for the Sith rather than the Jedi. Most games start you on the light side and let you choose a path, but this one starts you allied with the dark side. You still have some control of things, but it’s a good difference. In the game, you start as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, so you’re traveling around the galaxy doing his bidding. In these travels, you get to hunt down the Jedi. The events take place between the original trilogy and the prequels, so it fits a nice area of the overall story.

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

One of the better known N64 and PC titles in the Star Wars universe is Shadows of the Empire, which features daring protagonist, Dash Rendar. As you may expect, he’s a “Han Solo”-type character. The game was received well enough at the time. It’s not renowned for any reason, but it is still playable if you’d like to. There are purchasable versions of it on gog and Steam.

Shadows_of_the_Empire

The story is set mostly between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and has you loosely involved with the events of the films. The game released with a novel and comics in a move likely to build hype for Star Wars leading up to the special editions of the original trilogy.

The game featured a few game modes, so it’s not just running around. There are scenes where you’re on foot as Dash, scenes where your ship is “on rails” and you shoot at incoming fighters, there are literal “on rails” levels where you jump along train cars in a 3D platforming style of play, and there are scenes where you ride around on speeders. There’s plenty of variety, and the chance to fight IG-88. In all, it’s a fun game to check out if you enjoy Star Wars!

Wrap Up

Yes, I know there are many other great Star Wars games. For example, I own the games in the Rogue Squadron series, but I just wanted to wrap up this post. I’ll write something about the Rogue Squadron series at some point.

If you’re looking for more used-to-be C-canon for Star Wars goodness check these or any of the other classic Star Wars games. You won’t regret it!

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Fugitives, Potter Books, and Sciences – Geekout 30

February 15, 2017 Leave a comment

Well, these posts are coming along less-frequently, so I’ll try not to spend too much time on every topic in the post. I’ve been writing posts based on prompts in a page-a-day calendar I received last year. Each page has three geeky topics on it. Today I’ll be naming Two Characters that are Hunted by a Government Agency, Two Harry Potter Book Titles, and Six Types of Sciences.

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Here we go!

Two Characters that are Hunted by a Government Agency

This is a fun one! There are so many good choices here, but I doubt many of my regular readers will be surprised by my choices here!

River Tam

After listing River, I jokingly included “Simon Tam” as my second choice, however, that was just because my wife was watching me type this. I am not going to include him, and anyway, River is more important than Simon to them. They’re only after him to get River anyway. If you don’t know, River and Simon are siblings from Firefly.

Without getting too spoilery, River was extremely smart and experimented on by the Alliance government. After Simon managed to break her out of captivity, they’ve been on the run ever since. The government officials that are following River are quite scary.

Aeris Gainsborough

Everyone’s favorite Flower Girl from Final Fantasy VII, Aeris is hunted by the Turks. While we could get into a debate over the Turks, since Shinra is a corporation and not the “government”, I’m not going to fight too hard on that point. Anyone who has played the game and met the “mayor” of Midgar would likely let me slide on this one.

Two Harry Potter Book Titles

Now this is an easy one. At first seeing this prompt, my wife and I were suggesting that I should do all 7 book titles in order by the number of pages in the books. I’m not confident that I can get the ordering perfectly, and I also don’t feel like writing that much, so I’ll be naming two of the books that I like the best.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Probably my favorite of the series, this book brings in plenty of great things expanding the world. Some of the best include the Marauders’ Map, which becomes very important in later books and facilities all kinds of hijinks.  It also introduces Sirius Black, the Prisoner of Azkaban in the title. Additionally, it’s one of the books featuring a secret mission for Dumbledore.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The Order of the Phoenix was a very interesting novel in name at least. We knew the name well before the book was released, and I remember lots of discussions over what the title could meaning. Dolores Umbridge is introduced in this book, and she’s quite the monster. As always, the Defense Against the Dark Arts class needs a teacher, and she’s probably the worst choice. She’s in the pocket of a misguided government, and endangers the entire wizarding world through her actions. Makes for an interesting story though!

Six Types of Sciences

Not sure where to start here or how specific to get. Types? Physical Sciences, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Applied Sciences, and Mathematical Sciences could be what they mean, but if we’re treating those as the “types” there aren’t enough for it to ask for six. I think it means more specific than that. Since I think we all know sciences well, I’m just going to list for this one.

  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Biology
  • Geology
  • Computer Science
  • Psychology

Wrap Up

Didn’t expect me to pull a Firefly character, did you? Anyway, the next one will be about Gaming, Comics, and Sci-Fi.

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Stephen King, Vampires, and Caped Heroes – Geekout 29

February 12, 2017 Leave a comment

It’s time to discuss some geekiness today! Still a ways behind, but I’m hopeful that I’ll catch up. I’m writing these posts based on a page-a-day calendar that prompts me to name geeky things. Today we’re going to talk about Four Stephen King Book Titles, Four Video Games in which a Vampire is an Enemy, and Four Superheroes that Wear Capes. Seems reasonably possible. We’ll see if I can get all the way to four with that first one…

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And now for the content!

Four Stephen King Book Titles

Sadly, I tried to come up with all four here, but could only name 3. I’m falling one short. I’ve not read any of his books, however, I’m seen the movie adaptations of three of his novels. These are the novels.

IT

Saw this terrifying clown movie as a kid. At the time, however, I didn’t know the significance of who was cast as the clown. Let’s just say that I really enjoy his grin quite a bit. The film is based on the Stephen King novel, as I said, I’ve not read it.

The Shining

I don’t know how closely the film matches the book. I recall people talking about the differences, so I know there are some significant changes. Considering how good the film is, I’d expect the novel is very good as well. I think I might enjoy reading it, so I likely will at some point. Remind me not to take a job as a caretaker of an old hotel in the mountains…

Pet Sematary

This is a strange one. I don’t recall the details, except for undead pets. I think at least one of these was created intentionally. There’s an ancient burial ground (as there always is), and the pets buried there come back to life. Also, I had to look up the spelling of the title, because it’s not spelled correctly. The story is spelled that way because the children made a sign for the pet “sematary” where they buried their dead pets.

Four Video Games in which a Vampire is an Enemy

Had to be enemies. No Vincent for this one. I guess I’ll take my copies of Final Fantasy VII and go home… I’m going to count any enemies, whether they’re prominent in the game or not. I’m expecting that I can get a set of games that will all feature some prominent vampire. I’ll likely not shed too much light on them, however, since I hate spoilers.

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Without getting into the details, this Dungeons and Dragons based game has more than a few vampires as enemies. Some of them are named, significant opponents, so I don’t want to get into those details for reason of spoilers. This is a great, classic game, and there’s an updated version of the game that plays well on modern hardware.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

This past Wednesday I was having a discussion with some friends about what a great year 1997 was for movies and video games. This is one of those 1997 released games that I mentioned. It’s often considered one of the best of this large franchise. Yes, the franchise is full of vampires as enemies.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

This game has been in my Steam wish list for over two years now, and I’ve yet to play it. Having played Vampire: The Masquerade in its LARP form, I know that the game must have vampires as enemies. As I’m sure the main character must be a vampire as well. I always hear good things, and would like to play the game at some point.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

There are plenty of vampires that you can fight in this game. And if you’re not careful, you can become one! There’s some disease that you get first, and you’ll be a vampire before you know it. Oops! People in the game start making comments about it, because you look kind of scary to them once you’re a vampire. Not good. Fun though!

Four Superheroes that Wear Capes

No capes! OK, these guys have capes, which Edna would not approve of. I’m going to allow anything even cape-like as long as it’s a loose fabric hanging down behind the shoulders. OK. Three. Two. One. Let’s jam!

Batman

Considering his nickname is The Caped Crusader, it’s hard to imagine him without a cape. Unlike some others, Batman uses a functional cape. Flight or glider depending on the incarnation, but it’s also part of his arsenal of flare and intimidation.

Superman

How else would you be able to tell he’s flying if he didn’t have a cape being pulled by wires behind him? This cape-wearing superhero would be hard to tell to leave the cape behind. He’s a bit more powerful than most heroes, so if he’s willing to chance it, I won’t tell him otherwise!

Thor

This Asgardian ruler has a certain look to uphold, and the cape is part of his wardrobe. I believe he’d be wearing this cape at home and when acting as a superhero. Again, hard to tell him not to. I think he’d keep the cape if only for the look it gives him.

Dr. Strange

Similar to the usefulness Batman finds in his cape, the Cloak of Levitation that Dr. Strange wears is quite powerful. It’s a magical cloak that allows Dr. Strange to fly and can even move around, acting as a powerful tool or weapon as needed.

Wrap Up

Looks like we got most of that. The next post will cover Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and General Geekiness.

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Known Superheroes, Animated Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Races – Geekout 28

February 9, 2017 1 Comment

Many topics we’ve seen in this series of posts as I try to keep up with a page-a-day calendar I received last year. The calendar challenges me to name some geeky things each day. I go a little beyond that, trying to write something about each one as I go. Today, I’m tasked with naming Two Superheroes without a Secret Identity, Four Animated Sci-Fi Films, and Six Fantasy Races.

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Let’s see how it goes!

Two Superheroes without a Secret Identity

Most superheroes maintain a secret identity, so they can have some semblance of protection for their loved ones and normal lives in general. Sometimes the heroes are considered vigilantes working outside the law, so need the protection from the government as well as from the villains. Whatever the reason, there are some who cannot (or choose not) to maintain separate lives.

Dr. Manhattan – The Watchmen

After turning his transformation, Dr. Manhattan might have the powers to hide his new identity, but I doubt he cares enough to deal with it anyway. He’s completely blue and has incredible powers. He’s probably one of the most powerful characters in all comics. Ever. I don’t remember many calling him anything except for Dr. Manhattan.

Dr. Strange

Considering that his name was already Dr. Strange, that’s certainly not keeping things secret to use it still. My guess here is that what he’s fighting is too obscure for most people to even notice or care. He’s not fighting the normal villains like the Avengers. The magical world is separate enough that he probably doesn’t bother with a secret identity.

Iron Man

Doubt this was always the case, but the current cinematic version of this character almost immediately dropped that secret identity, revealing that he is Iron Man. I think it fits well, since the character is too arrogant to avoid the fame and glory.

Four Animated Sci-Fi Films

This is surprisingly challenging, since there aren’t that many good ones to be honest… Most science fiction films are not animated.

Titan A.E.

I’m probably the only person, but I really enjoyed this movie. I’ve seen it quite a few times actually. It’s objectively not a very good movie, but it has some elements that I enjoy that will seem familiar to any science fiction fans. You’ll probably laugh at how many famous people there are doing the voice acting for this not-so-successful film.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

I hope you weren’t worried about “Spirits Within” when you saw “Final Fantasy”. Yes, it would have qualified for this category, but I’d rather pull this one. This film is part of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation, taking place after the events of the game. Some Final Fantasy games would be considered fantasy, and some are a combination of fantasy and science fiction. Final Fantasy VII is one of the science fiction ones where there’s a world of technology, including some ahead and some behind our own. Mostly it’s just different from our own.

If you’ve not seen this film, I’d steer clear of it if you have yet to play the game. I know it’s challenging to go back to a 20 year old game, but I think it’s worth playing. Once you’ve played the game, the film will provide an interesting continuation to the story. I don’t know how the Final Fantasy VII remake will be, but I’d still recommend playing the original game first.

WALL-E

I love this movie. It doesn’t have the heart-wrenching beginning like Up, but it’s still full of emotion as well as fun. Foreign contaminant. It takes a bit of a comedic approach at times, but it’s got some strong environmental warnings. In the film, the Earth is no longer suitable for human life, and humans now live on generational ships in space.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Even being a Star Wars fan, I’ve yet to see this film. When it was coming to theaters, it looked more like a children’s film than a Star Wars movie. I know that the Clone Wars TV Show and also Rebels are good, but this I’ve never heard good things about. I may watch it at some point. We’ll see.

Six Fantasy Races

If there’s one area I’ve expertise in, it’s this one. Here we can cross into Dungeons and Dragons as well as plenty of fantasy novels. And I’m skipping humans, despite their being a race within the fantasy genre.

Elves

The standard race that appears in most everything. Depictions of them vary from being taller than or shorter than humans. Nearly always though, these pointy-eared creatures, are considered wiser and longer-lived than humans.

I debated bringing in the different types of elves, but that seemed a bit unfair. Many worlds have various elves, Tree Elves, Wood Elves, Forest Elves, High Elves, Dark Elves, Night Elves, etc. Each of these have different traits, characteristics, and societal structures.

Dwarves

One of my favorite bits about dwarves, though not consistent, is that even the female dwarves have large beards. Always makes me laugh, because it would be challenging, given the stoutness of dwarves in general, for humans to tell the difference. Could make for some awkward and potentially insulting pronoun-usages.

Dwarves are always shorter than humans, and are nearly always miners of some kind. They’re often greedy, hoarding gold, gems, and jewelry within their mountains. They’re also stocky fighters who can drink ale with the best of them.

Halflings

Halflings are a very short race, even shorter than dwarves most times. You may also know them by Tolkien’s name for them, Hobbits. Their small stature makes them light-footed and good at pilfering and burgling. Often overlooked for their size, most stories and gaming systems feature them more powerful than some might expect. Judge them by their size, do you?

Orcs

I often feel bad for Orcs, because everyone immediately assumes they’re all evil monsters based solely on their monstrous appearances. I’m sure there are stories where an Orc as good, but I’m not currently thinking of one. Orcs in Tolkien’s world are monstrously-perverted Elves if I remember correctly. If that’s the case, that at least means that they’d share some characteristics with the Elves. Are the Orcs smart? Are they wise? Would they, if they could, create a society of their own?

Gnomes

This nuisances come in garden variety or as illusionists. Probably more than that, but I had to make the joke. Gnomes are tricksters sometimes, and as such specialize in illusions if you play RPGs. They’re also very small, which you probably guessed based on the garden ones.

I’ve unintentionally played a gnome in a game of D&D. I was playing a Human Bard with very close ties to the Druids, and had requested a Reincarnation rather than a True Resurrection if I were to die in my adventures. It happened, and the Reincarnated brought my character back as a Gnome. Luckily, the Bard’s abilities at performing were epic, so he was able to resume his previous life. Just a bit shorter

Goblins

And everyone’s favorite race to hate, the Goblins. More than a decade ago, a comic called Goblins Comic was created. I haven’t read it in a long time, so I don’t know where the story has gone. It seems to still be going though, so maybe I’ll check in on it. What’s interesting is that the story follows two sets of main characters, some traditional characters, and a one is a group of Goblins. It’s great, because Goblins are not often the main characters of stories and are generally just the evil creatures that adventurers kill at the beginning of their quests.

Wrap Up

Next up for your geeky enjoyment is General Geekiness, Gaming, and Comics. See you next time!

“Yeah, I wouldn’t place a lot of confidence in what you just heard. Over and out.” – Wolf, answering a pager.

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Fictional TV Cities and Video Game Dragons – Geekout 27

February 8, 2017 Leave a comment

As I make my way through my backlog of these, I’ll try to keep this interesting. I think there are a few good ones today. On this page of my page-a-day calendar I’ve been acting upon, I am supposed to name Two Characters from the Wind in the Willows, Four Fictional Cities which appear in Television Shows, and Two Video Games in which a Dragon is an Enemy.

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Here goes!

Two Characters from the Wind in the Willows

Never heard of this. What is it? Book? Movie? TV Show?

Four Fictional Cities which appear in Television Shows

I think I’ll choose cities where the show is based, not just ones that appear in the show. This will limit my choices, so I’ll allow myself to hit the same fictional world if needed.

Gotham – Batman (various)

Home of the caped crusader himself, Gotham has been in plenty of shows, including a show bearing the name. Where its located has changed between interpretations, but it’s a big city with some theatrical villains to be sure!

Central City – The Flash

Home of our good friend, Barry Allen, this centrally located city is somewhere in the middle part of the continent. Did the name give it away? I think it’s been in Ohio before, and I’m sure some interpretations have it further south in Missouri or Kentucky. Central is kind of relative term here, since the absolute middle of the country doesn’t have enough people.

Hawkins – Stranger Things

This nice, quiet Midwestern town doesn’t exist, does it? If it is named after a real city, sorry. It’s certainly not like this one though, or I seriously need to worry more in my life. If you’ve not seen Stranger Things, I’d recommend you check it out. It’s a Netflix sci-fi series that’s set in the 1980s, so it’s got all kinds of fun cultural references. I’ll give you a hint, the town’s not as quiet as I made it seem…

Sunnydale – Buffy the Vampire Slayer

What?!?! You mean the city surrounding the Hellmouth isn’t real?!?! I don’t think it is, since that name seems wholly manufactured to be ironic. Anyway, This is the city where Buffy fights against vampires, demons, etc.

Two Video Games in which a Dragon is an Enemy

Dragons are often enemies, so that part wasn’t too much of a restriction. I’ll allow any tier of enemy, so it doesn’t have to be the main villain of the game.

Skyrim

In this game of the Elder Scrolls series, there’s a great deal of dragon lore to be had. I’ll toss this mild spoiler in here, you play the game as a Dragonborn, which means that you have the soul of a dragon. You’ve got some nifty powers from this trait. And as I’m sure is no surprise, you get to kill dragons in this game. In fact, you get the chance to kill a dragon voiced by the same voice actor who plays Mario in all of those games.

Final Fantasy VIII

In Final Fantasy VIII there’s a fun scene where the character you’re controlling is performing on camera for a movie and in the scene he’s supposed to fight a dragon. Well, a real dragon shows up instead of the fake one. There are plenty of dragons you can fight in random battles in the game, but this one’s just a fun situation. After some running away, the characters regroup and fight the dragon.

Wrap Up

That’s some progress. Let’s see if we get some good stuff from Comics, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy tomorrow.

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Fruit Games, Anthropomorphic Characters, and Mad Scientists – Geekout 26

February 7, 2017 Leave a comment

OK. I fell off the wagon. Let’s see if I can catch up. I’m only about a week behind right now. Today I am supposed to name Four Tabletop Games in which Fruit appears, Six Anthropomorphic Comic Book Characters, and Two Franchises Featuring Mad Scientists.

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Time for geekiness.

Four Tabletop Games in which Fruit appears

This was surprisingly difficult. I’ve spent plenty of time trying to come up with these, and as a result, I’m going to be super lenient in my interpretation of “appears”. I’ll count pictures of it or physical representations of fruit (even if the game calls that fruit a vegetable).

Apples to Apples

There are Apples on all of the cards, so it’s fairly obvious. This is a light, party card game. The backs of the cards have apples, but the fronts of the cards have either prompts or answers.

Hi Ho Cherry-O

This isn’t even the prompt about naming kids tabletop games, but I was thinking of cherries and came up with this game. If you couldn’t guess from the name, this is a children’s game. Don’t know much about it, and I don’t even know if I’ve played it. Did it have commercials when I was a kid?

Agricola

This board game has little wooden bits they released as an add-on pack called “Vegimeeples”. It made it so you could have shaped pieces for your grain and vegetables. The current pack includes grain shaped and carrot shaped pieces. Originally, however, the orange vegetable pieces included were pumpkin shaped. And for those of you that know already, pumpkins are fruit, not vegetables.

Scoville

If you’re not a spicy-food fan, you likely don’t know that there’s a heat scale called the Scoville Scale. It helps in determining how hot a food will actually be. This board game is named after that scale, because the game is about peppers. Many people think these are vegetables, but they’re technically fruit. The seeds inside are a giveaway. I’d recommend leaving these out of your next fruit salad though…

Six Anthropomorphic Comic Book Characters

As you’ve probably noticed if you’ve been following along, comics are not my specialty, however, I am able to get some of the info about them. Knowing that, I’m not going to restrict myself in not duplicating in a franchise. Six is a lot to not do that.

And in case you don’t know, anthropomorphic characters would be ones that are human-like without being human. They are likely going to be bipedal and be able to grasp things in hands, but the animal may not have those traits normally.

Rocket Raccoon – Guardians of the Galaxy

I only know this character from the movie, not from the comics, however, I would assume they’re not completely off-base with him. The character is a raccoon that’s been modified. He talks, walks on hind legs and grasps things in hands.

Leonardo – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

With a pair of swords and wearing blue, this turtle is a mutant as large as a human and very human-like. My favorite of the turtles.

Michelangelo – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The party turtle of the group, Michelangelo is the orange, pizza-eating machine. My wife’s favorite turtle.

Raphael – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

He’s the red-wearing turtle.

Donatello – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This purple-wearing turtle does machines.

Splinter – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The mutant rat who trained the turtles, he’s just as large and human-like. He also grasps things with his hands and walks upright on hind legs.

Two Franchises Featuring Mad Scientists

Well these are fun! Mad scientists create such interesting things. I’m not going to be super strict on the “mad” part, allowing for anyone who has crazy inventions or experiments (whether madness is involved or not).

Walter Bishop – Fringe

This one has some fairly good madness. If you’ve not seen Fringe, I’d recommend watching the show. It was good fun. As you’d expect from television, it loses some of its direction as it goes, and gets into strange territory sometimes. This character is the best part of the show, which says something great about Walter. You can’t help but love this wild and crazy scientist.

Dr. Nefario – Despicable Me

He made a fart gun, so that’s kind of mad. Also, made pretty much all of Gru’s tech, so he’s got skills.

Wrap Up

We’ll be back soon with some Fantasy, General Geekiness, and Gaming.

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70s Sci-Fi, Tolkien Works, and Soap Operas – Geekout 25

January 30, 2017 Leave a comment

One of the Christmas gifts I received from my in-laws this year was a page-a-day desk calendar. On each page, the calendar has a challenge to list some geeky things given a set of three prompts. I’ve been writing about these each day. I’m slightly behind, but this page wants me to list Four Sci-Fi Television Series from the 70s, Two J.R.R. Tolkien Titles, and Two Daytime Soap Operas.

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In responding to these prompts, I try to say something about my answers, and some of my answers I know more about than others! Anyway, let’s get to the meat of this post!

Four Sci-Fi Television Series from the 70s

I thought this would be easier, but now that I’m thinking about it, most of the classic sci-fi shows I can think of are 60s, 80s, or 90s shows, not 70s. Also, I’m going to say that “from” here is going to mean that any of a shows episodes were airing during the 70s. And even with that exception, I’m still going to come up short.

Battlestar Galactica

The original version of this show started in the 70s and ended in the 80s. I’ve tried to watch this show, but I didn’t really get into it. I first watched the re-imagined version of the show that aired in the 2000s. The premise of the shows is that the Cylons (artificially intelligent robots) killed most of humanity and the Battlestar Galactica is a surviving starship.

Dr. Who

I believe the show started in the 60s and has been running at least intermittently ever since. This is one of those shows that’s high up on my to-watch list, but I’ve only seen a couple of episodes in the middle. I need to binge watch it at some point.

Two J.R.R. Tolkien Titles

This well-known author almost needs no introduction. Tolkien is an English author from whom much of modern fantasy storytelling finds inspiration. People who write fantasy stories have often read fantasy stories, and these days, those authors have all read Tolkien’s works.

Interestingly, he was a linguist, and I have books containing his translations on a bookshelf behind me. I find Old and Middle English very interesting, and he was very interested in the English language.

The Hobbit

As the name of this book suggests, this story follows the adventures of a Hobbit. The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, quests with a band of Dwarves in search of a great treasure guarded by a dragon. This is actually a children’s story, and remains very popular even today. In fact, it recently received an adaptation in the form of 3 films.

The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien’s most well-known work, The Lord of the Rings is an adventurous tale of the forces of Good trying to cast off the Evil in the world. It is the sequel to The Hobbit. I believe Tolkien originally wrote this story with the intent of it being all one volume. The story is rather large, so you can understand why it may have necessitated being split up.

Most people are familiar with The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Those are the volumes that together comprise The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s interesting to call it a trilogy, because each of those volumes is actually split into two books. That makes it fun, because there are six books in this “trilogy”.

The Silmarillion

Added a bonus one here. This story is technically an incomplete work by Tolkien, however, it did end up getting “finished” and published. I’ve yet to read the book cover to cover, but I intend to at some point. If I were to describe this book in a very simple way, I’d say that the other books are about adventures within Middle Earth, Tolkien’s imagined fantasy world, but this book is about Middle Earth itself.

Two Daytime Soap Operas

Now here’s a strange topic. I’ve heard of these, but I know nothing about them. I know the jokes about crazy storylines and such. Are these shows really like this?

Days of Our Lives

I only know the name. Can’t think of anything else to say about this.

The Young and the Restless

Don’t know anything about this either. I just know the name.

Wrap Up

That was a bit rocky, but I’m looking forward to the next listings on Gaming, Comics, and Sci-Fi.

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Insects, Kid Tabletop Games, and Comic Dogs – Geekout 24

January 29, 2017 Leave a comment

I’m a bit late wrapping this one up; life gets in the way sometimes. Anyway, I hope you’re still here and looking forward to some geeky topics. This one will be a bit quick, and it’s about Six Types of Insects, Six Children’s Tabletop Games, and Four Named Pet Dogs in Comic Books.

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Make it so.

Six Types of Insects

Upon reading this, I was a bit confused. Is “type” a technical term for these that I didn’t know existed. I commented about this to my wife, and she wasn’t sure at first what they meant either. We established they must have meant something along the lines of a word or words that people use to describe a group of species that are insects regardless of the taxonomic level. For example, it might be possible for a genus or a family to be an answer. Not sure what I’ll have in here though!

If you’ve ever played the board game Dominant Species, you know that insects are everywhere, and they’ve got way too many different species!

Ants

Ants are a remarkable type of insect, both for what they create and accomplish together and for their societal structure. Ants are everywhere on this plant, and that’s due to some really great achievements in their species. They build elaborate tunnels, work together, and have different classes with different roles.

I was a big fan of the game Sim Ant when I was younger. In the game, you controlled one ant at a time competing for resources against rival ant colonies, and you could make new queens to colonize other parts of the yard.

Mosquitos

One of the most hated of insects are mosquitos. Yes, there are many different mosquitos, which is why you hear about certain types being in certain areas. This is very relevant due to certain species being able to spread certain viruses and parasites that can harm humans.

Flies

One of the most annoying on this list, these little buzzing creatures get our attention quite easily. I don’t know that much about them, however, I do know that there are some species of these little buggers. It shows the significance of these fellas that we use a “fly swatter” to kill insects that aren’t even flies. We dislike these so much, we have a weapon with their name on it…

Bees

The insect on my list with the worst public relations team has to be bees. This is due to their close relationship to wasps, not their close relationship to ants. How do you know they’re closely related to ants? Remember that I talked about complex social structures and accomplishments of ants? These little guys are similar to ants; they have different roles, communication, and build things together. We love these insects for their role in pollinating plants as well as making honey!

The reason they have such a bad image is that many people think that yellow-colored wasps are bees. You can look up the difference, but one of the best ways to tell is how fuzzy it is. It’s not very scientific, but bees tend to be fuzzier and wasps are usually smoother. I’d guess this is because the fuzz helps to pollinate.

Butterflies

Humans love looking at butterflies. These insects make such beautiful patterns and colors and their wings, which really grab our attention. And when they’re flying around, they’re not buzzing and making annoying sounds. They’ll even sometimes gently move those wings while sitting otherwise still.

We also tend to find their larval form kind of cute. They’re caterpillars! It might be gross to some, but these little guys walk around on stuff until they eventually cocoon up and become butterflies!

Beetles

Not to be confused with the musicians, these little creatures are a strange group. I don’t know enough about them, but I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of beetles in your life.

Six Children’s Tabletop Games

I wasn’t sure why children’s was the topic here. Am I supposed to be remembering these from my youth or remarking on new ones? I don’t really know, so I’m going to name a couple each of children’s versions of modern games,  children’s versions of classic games, and classic children’s games.

Catan Junior

If you’ve heard of Settlers of Catan, you’ve gotten at least a glimpse into the modern world of board gaming. Catan is from the mid 1990s, so it’s not exactly new either. Catan Junior is the children’s version of the game. It’s simpler to play than the regular version, but the basic idea of the game remains.

Ticket to Ride First Journey

Like with Catan Junior, this is a children’s version of a modern game. In this case, as you likely guessed, it’s based on Ticket to Ride. With its basis being one of the easier train-themed board games, the children’s version should be approachable for kids.

Clue Junior

I think everyone reading this knows Clue, and to no one’s surprise, they make children’s versions of this. I’ve not played it, but I’d guess it just reduces the number of options to make the game easier and shorter.

Monopoly Junior

Another of the classics, most people will know monopoly. The kids version if going to be the same basic game, but with a smaller board and bigger pieces. I’ve seen this in store, and remember seeing the player pieces showing through plastic windows. The pieces are huge, which makes sense if you expect kids less-precise hands to use them.

Candy Land

And into the classics! This game has an awesome movement mechanic. You draw a card and move to the next space with the card’s symbol. Plus, it’s candy themed!

Chutes and Ladders

Probably known as Snakes and Ladders to some of you, this game has spaces where you can climb up ladders or slide down chutes. Chutes are bad, and ladders are good. I’m not sure how great “chutes” is for little children anyway, since I don’t think they know what those are. One probably has to explain to children that they’re like slides or something.

Four Named Pet Dogs in Comic Books

Don’t know the comic book dogs. Sorry. I tried to think of them. I think my wife will be disappointed, since she seemed excited by this prompt. She knows comics much better than I do!

Wrap Up

OK. I’m back in catch up mode, so I’ll try to get the next one out soon. The next one will cover Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and General Geekiness.

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Hellboy, Sci-Fi Captains, and Flying Creatures – Geekout 23

January 26, 2017 1 Comment

Are you as excited for this list as I am? Probably not, since I’ve seen the prompts. Let’s jump right into this one! Today I’m tasked with naming Two characters from Hellboy, Four Fictional Sci-Fi Captains, and Four Fantasy Creatures that Fly.

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Let’s put it all together!

Two characters from Hellboy

Nope. I wasn’t excited about this one. The extent of my Hellboy knowledge is that I’ve seen parts of the movie a couple of times, many years ago. I also can’t come close to naming two characters.

Hellboy

Yep. I’m cheating here probably. This is all I’ve got. I know there’s the blue fish-looking guy and some others, but this is the only name I can come up with.

Four Fictional Sci-Fi Captains

This is one of the ones I was excited about, since there are some great choices.

Malcolm Reynolds – Firefly/Serenity

Malcolm is the Captain of the Serenity, a Firefly-class transport vessel. I’m not going to sit here and try to sell you on the show, I’m sure I (and others) have done that before.

Jean-Luc Picard – Star Trek

An honorable member of Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard captains the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I’m betting most of you knew that already. He and Kirk are Star Trek’s best known, which makes sense having each captained Enterprises on television and movies. And if you want to bother him, just barge in and call him John Luck Pickerd.

James Holden – The Expanse

I originally watched this series, but started reading the books before finishing watching the first season of the show. Now I’m nearly done reading the sixth (the most recent) book in the series. Season two will be out soon. It should cover the events of the second half of the first book. I’m looking forward to it. James Holden is a good captain of the Rocinante.

Han Solo – Star Wars

Didn’t think I’d skip this one, did you? Go Han Solo! This scruffy-looking Captain of the Millennium Falcon joins up with the rebellion after agreeing to ferry Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Have you really not seen Star Wars? If not, let me know. I’ve got recommendations for where to start!

Commander Shepard – Mass Effect

“I’m Commander Shepard and this is my favorite blog on the Internet.” – Commander Shepard

The protagonist of the Mass Effect series he/she captains the Normandy. I don’t want to get too into the details, since they’re pretty significant to the stories of the games. When playing the game, you decide whether Commander Shepard is male or female, so it’s hard to pronoun in this post.

Four Fantasy Creatures that Fly

One of the most useful abilities for a creature is flight. This level of mobility makes creatures useful in stories as hunters, mounts, and sometimes both!

Dragons

I’m not really sure what I need to say about Dragons as you should know of these already. There are plenty of types of dragons, and many of them are capable of flying. D&D players enjoy telling you the alignment of dragons based on the color of the dragon. It’s a thing.

Flying Bison – Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Kora

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang is often accompanied by his lifelong companion and friend, Appa. As a flying bison, Appa is able to carry Aang and his friends in their travels. Flying bison are very large creatures without wings, so how they manage to fly is quite mysterious. We know they’re using airbending (air magic from the show) somehow, but how they can keep such a heavy creature up is beyond me!

Griffin

Common in fantasy settings, griffins are mythical creatures composed of features of a lion and an eagle. They’ve got wings and talons from the eagle and have hind legs, bodies and tails of a lion. I think there’s some disagreement on the features of griffin heads, but I usually think of a lion head with a beak. Either way, they fly using those wings, so count for this list.

Interestingly, my character in the Solar Exalted game I’ve mentioned previously just finished taming a Griffin as a makeshift mount. Should be quite useful as I need to fly quite high very soon.

Thestral – Harry Potter Series

These creatures are visible only to those who’ve seen death, which means they’re invisible to many. They’re almost skeletal horses with bat-like wings and are how the carriages are pulled to Hogwarts Castle in the Harry Potter series.

Wrap Up

That’s all I’ve got for you today. Tune in next time for a post covering General Geekiness, Gaming, and Comics.

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