Colourful Stuff

Autopilot is useless but it is worth putting a point into it. If you don't then one hit can reduce your evasion to 0%.

I really want to try a boarding build. Every time I've tried in the past it has been after upgrading weapons. That results in my being to frightened of killing my boarding party to send them in most cases. Also flashbacks of Chris teleporting his crew onto unmanned ships haunt me. I'm still finding medium brutal. I've played fro 20 hours and still haven't taken down the boss, however I've killed it several times on easy. I have reached a point with my knowledge of the game that I know why I'm losing, I've just not been lucky enough to get loot which matches my plans for victory. The lesson that FTL teaches is that planning can help you up to a point, but if your plans become dogma you will die in the vacuum of space.

Has anybody read Hanif Kureishi's Black Album? I saw the stage adaptation a few years ago. I think it deals with fringe Islamic ideas in an interesting way. Often the motivations of radical people can seem completely incomprehensible from a moderate perspective, however the lead character gradually adopts radical ideas in a believable arch, starting as a westernised student and eventually becoming a violent radical. The ideas he subscribes to are hard to sympathise with however he is a very smart and likeable character. It's a good example of how art can problematise the vilification of groups by humanising its members. That is what many anti-Islamic commentators and media outlets forget, at the core of the problem are real people with real human motivations.

I tried a normal run using the Engi layout B ship helmed by a lonely Scoops. For those who don't know Engi B has a focus on automation, starting with one crew member, two systems drones and an anti-personnel drone. The ship also has no scanners so you can only see your room and the drone room. My paranoia about fire and boarding led to the decision to drain oxygen from most of the ship and fly around with the doors open. This was a problem when a rebel ship with beam weapons destroyed my systems drones, my drone room and door system. Scoops' ship was methodically dismantled until life support was destroyed, causing him to slowly asphyxiate in the tomb he had created for himself.

Obviously any editor is aware of the reaction provoked by the publishing an image of Mohammed. In a post-Rushdie, post-Danish cartoon world ignorance is inconceivable. Anybody who chooses to make public inflammatory anti-Islamic imagery does so with a negative agenda.

I've reached the boss with my Engi. Two attack drones and one defence plus the ion weapon you start with. My drones have been tearing most things apart but are less effective against four-shielded ships. Pro tip, set ion weapon to autofire.

Alec Meer has done the inevitable and written a captain's log. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/19/ftl-diary/

Cloaking seems like a cheaper alternative missile countermeasure.

Are people using drones much? They consume too much energy for me to use them offensively but I find having security and systems drones on hand can often prevent a bad situations getting out of hand. I've only beaten the boss on easy, which wasn't too tough with two lasers and two pike beams.

I pressed 'E' on every object my first time through. The ability to pick up the guns and ammo for no reason is a great touch.

That isn't true. There are forced combat sections in all prior ACs and there are no real stealth mechanics.

That is fine, but a lot of weight is placed on a few specific assassinations. There is no mention of the hundreds of guards you eviscerate. The series sense of morality is very skewed.

The violence in the previous games was more styalised. I think one and two did a good job of implying a lot of the nastiness while remaining tasteful with good sound design, dance like choreography and pretty arcs of blood. Three appears to be more explicit and sadistic. The combat has become a lot easier and less methodical over the years and I'm not comfortable that my character will now automatically do despicable things. This discomfort will likely be amplified by the plot moralising and justifying murder.

I'm beginning to thing that maybe the problem I have is with the really stupid conspiracy stuff that justifies the aesthetic continuity. You are right, I am wrong, the series is dumb.

My problem isn't historical. The tedious claims to historical authenticity are almost as bad as genetic time traveling bullshit. I'm not sure how the art team approached the first game but it felt to me that the character was designed for the setting and vise versa. Maybe it is a factor of Ubisoft's enormously fragmented development process but I think the visual cohesion of the first and second games have been abandoned. The idea that the assassins accountramenss would survive from the first to second game makes sense (I believe it is stated that Ezio's outfit was passed down to him from Altair). I'm not sure how they will explain how the outfit has ended up in 18th century America.

The dilution of the aesthetic is a bit gross to me. I hope this illustrates my point.

I'm not saying he should have an eagle on his head, I'm saying the design of the hood has become less subtle to the point of looking a bit dumb. That and all the crap he is lugging about.

Ugh, I just watched the latest promo videos for Ass 3. It made me think how over designed the central assassin character has become. I remember watching the trailer for the first game years ago and being struck by how well the character fitted into the world. Specifically the point at which he slips into a group of monks to evade his perusers. Two took some inspiration from renaissance fashion and applied them in a semi-believable way (I felt it worked well in Venice because the locals seemed to be wearing more outlandish costumes themselves). The new assassin looks like he has no place in the grim setting. I just can't believer he is a product of that time period or that somebody dressed like that could ever be taken seriously. I think the think that really highlighted how cartoonish the character design has become is the embroidered eagle head on the hood. In previous games the eagle design was implied by the shape of the hood, now he just has a picture of a bird on it. The artists seem to be going further down the Dante's Inferno route with each iteration.

"yeah we got this off Garageband, but it's free anybody can use it"

Get back to me when you are up to date. There has been some confectionery DRAMA!

TGBBO is the best show on TV! Sue Perkins can turn anything into a cock gag, which I appreciate. Dibs, did you watch this week's pies episode? Things have started to get a lot more technical.

Modern Nintendo marketing is uncomfortable for different reasons.

Only in the Idle Thumbs fighting game. It isn't canonical.

Big Bird is Video Games, Video Games is Big Bird. I kissed a man!

I think a full size Big Bird would be creepy. My girlfriend would want to know why I had a bald game designer in my flat.