This is ... Enderal

A mod? More like a whole new game (spoiler free).

So I've finally been playing the much anticipated mod Enderal since it's finally come out in English. It's amazing.

I don't think it should be called a mod at all. It's like a whole game you'd have paid £15 for at least. The voice acting is really good and I cannot fault the world design. With Skyrim you can sort of allow the lack of stuff Bethesda dotted about because it's so cold and wouldn't be much activity anyway, but most of Enderal (which is the name of the island, by the way) is quite warm and fertile and there are camps and bags and abandoned things everywhere. It really makes the world feel dynamic.

Not just that but it's so much more mature than Skyrim. People swear quite a bit and you see things and hear things you would never hear in vanilla Skyrim (for those not familiar with modding, 'vanilla' here means an unmodded game). It's quite odd, but nice to hear NPCs say words like 'bloody' but that's probably because I'm from London and hear those types of words anyway.

You don't see things like this in Skyrim

One thing I will say - it does sometimes feel a little unfinished. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I feel there are some NPCs and locations about that might have had quests attached to them once upon a time. This isn't a negative thing, just a thought.

I'm only five hours in so far, but I hope there's a lot more content with the two main followers I've met so far. The affection mechanic or whatever it is for followers seems very interesting and reminds me of the companions found in the Dragon Age franchise. I've seen quite a few inspirations from Dragon Age actually - one quest I just knew I couldn't trust a guy because it felt so much like a quest from DA.

I am playing Enderal modded, but only tiny fixes seen below:

• Better Dialogue Controls
• Better Message Box Controls
• Enderal - 60fps Interface
• Always Pick Up Books

I've had two crashes, not sure why but it is probably a memory thing knowing the Creation Engine and its quirks. I've also seen a couple of visual bugs, floating grass and gaps but nothing gamebreaking so I don't mind. The development team are also patching daily.

The story so far seems very interesting. The game starts you off with a distinct background, but it's still quite obscure and allows you to still roleplay as you would like. The beginning of the game is really nicely done - almost like the beginning of a horror game. Plus the writers were clearly not protective of their characters - Enderal is a dangerous land and is in a time of upheaval and upset and this shows.

Conclusion: Go play it. It's super fun and is full of different mechanics and the familiar engine but completely different world and story is refreshing.

AC: Chaotic Turnip Farming

Turnips! Get ya' turnips!

So this one is less of a musing, and more of an observation. And a bit of advice.
Basically my turnip prices in Animal Crossing: New Leaf were over 400 Bells a'turnip. Which is very good. So as usual I posted my turnip prices on the axaforums and offered to open my gates for anyone who wanted to use this opportunity.
What entailed was chaos. People came and went without me even knowing who they were, which wasn't good since some kept sprinting across my lovely grass or didn't leave the tip they said they were going to. Ah well - it was good fun. I did make a nice profit.

Cyberpsychology

For the past few months I’ve been taking part in a chat room called the ‘Dapper Den’, founded from a shared joy of a game called Don’t Starve and a wish to chat more regularly with people who come from the game’s forum. It’s a light-hearted chat room full of discussions, soliloquies, art, songs and the occasional argument. I certainly think it’s defined my summer by quite a bit.

The Guardian website posted an article about the effect of games on the emotions and autonomy of a person; with lots of psychological terms and right up my street. The author, Cara Ellison wrote about a cyberpsychologist Berni Good who spoke about the effects of certain games on a person’s well-being and perception of reality. Good mentioned Halo and the Last of Us (a game I still need to play) and the comments that followed mentioned a host of other games that all fulfil some psychological need the player has.

Ellison went on to explain that cyberpsychology is an accepted aspect of psychology, citing the British Psychological Society’s section on their website and a book called The Psychology of Cyberspace by John Suler. The book is available online as a hypertext, free of charge.

Now, I’m only a little way into this book, but so far I’ve read about Suler’s research into an online group called The Geezer Brigade, a group dedicated to over 55s who are less monotonous and more mettlesome. 

The group sounds like great fun, so it’s a pity I’m 34 years under the age limit. Suler has qualitatively researched into this online group and made me wonder if I could do the same to my Dapper Den group.

So a checklist of the things I want to research about the Dapper Den:

1. What three words would each member use to describe the DDen?
2. What stage of group development might the DDen be in (using Tuckman’s stages)?
3. How well does it address Amy Jo Kim’s nine basic principles for establishing a successful online community?
4. Is there a way I could conduct a survey about the above?
5. What about Mike Godwin’s suggestions?

Cyberpsychology seems like a really interesting subject, however the only masters course available is at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology and I’ve missed the deadline for applicants by two months. Maybe next year?

Beethoven and Boris Bikes

So this weekend I went to the 28^th Proms with my dad. The orchestra played Strauss’ By the Beautiful Blue Danube, James MacMillan’s Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Overture Coriolan and Symphony No. 5. Oh the symphony was in C Minor, obviously.

It was a great evening, if the beginning felt a little rushed because we had lagged a bit (not my fault – I wasn’t navigating). The conductor, a Mr. Donald Runnicles looked like your typical conductor and did this great little jig during upbeat parts of Beethoven’s symphony that really added to the performance.

But for me what really made the evening was MacMillan’s concerto. It had three movements or acts, from what I could tell. The first ‘act’ was of the violinist, Vadim Repin performing solo in a quick, hurried way which was answered sporadically by the orchestra with discordant notes. It was a chase and made us all feel quite threatened. The other two acts, now a blur in my mind, consisted of Repin answering the discordant orchestra with futile, trilling notes, as if fighting the orchestra off but with each response becoming more exhausted. I interpreted it as someone fighting off their insanity or sickness and failing to do so. The piece ended on one quiet, long note of the violin as it finally succumbed to whatever it had been fighting. I was near tears – a first for the RAH.

After the concert ended my dad and I headed for the nearest station when we noticed a Barclays Boric Bike station. We looked at each other and figured – why not?

I’m telling you, they are the way to get around London. It was probably good we rode at night, so I didn’t have to look over my shoulder every two seconds and the traffic was quiet. I hadn’t ridden a bike in months and was a little rusty. Those things aren’t light either, nor do they take into account some people are below the average height.

Still – they were good fun. I recommend everyone has a go on them at some point this summer.

Handwriting Basics

This is yet another blog of me just musing about things. It’s amazing how productive I am on this blog when I have work to do instead.

I know that at least eligible handwriting is promoted in primary schools in the UK, which is great. But it doesn't go much further than that, does it? When I was at university I came across so many students who had handwriting that was illegible, childish or both and I could hardly believe they were taught to write neatly in the first place.

So I was wondering – should good handwriting be a skill taught in schools? As far as I know some skills that used to be taught in my mother’s time have gone out of fashion – home economics, sewing etc. so maybe it’s been neglected because people just don’t write as often as they once did.

Yet I think it’s such an important skill to have. I don’t think it’s important for graphology – which is nonsense anyway. Just that it’s good to know you can write an application form or letter or some notes without needing to decipher it a few months later. I’m left-handed so my handwriting isn't the best, but I self-taught some calligraphy for a little while and it helped my letter sizes become more even.

Despite that, my letters still slant to the left.

The JSA is a Nightmare

Someone I know is on the UK’s Job Seeker Allowance programme. He’s had next to no job experience, so he has to do 13 weeks worth of volunteering to get his benefits. Which is fine – except it’s a nightmare. There’s loads of paperwork and every two weeks you have to sign on in one place and visit your ‘employment coach’ in another.

Which means if you’ve got a full-time volunteering job where you have to do 30 hours per week, you are going to have to make up for that hour or so you spend driving to the centre – where you sign a piece of paper and then getting back to your job. And that’s assuming you can drive. If you can’t drive the whole thing takes even longer. And the money you use for petrol or bus fare isn’t subsidised by the JSA or the Career Development Group (who run the volunteering placements) – so you’re already out of pocket before you’ve even got your first benefit instalment.

Told you – nightmare.

What is a blog?

I've started a new job as an editorial assistant at a publishing firm. Lots of fun. It’s only on a trial basis for now though, unfortunately. Through this new job I've started to read a few more blogs and news articles and had a thought – are the majority of bloggers simply people who have the brains to express their opinion but no idea on what to focus on? Or simply put: blogs are for those with brains but no ideas?

If it is, I feel a little discouraged to continue writing this. But I will. Why? Because I like to write, and blogging makes good practice. I suppose that’s what a blog is too – practice.

If anyone reads this, tell me - what do you think a blog is quintessentially?