Changes in the New Year

Towards the end of 2013, things got a little bit hectic. Life got busy and I got well behind with my blog posts – and while I could have changed the schedule and posted some this year, I already had a plan of what I wanted to do. However, I got to thinking over Christmas and New Year (shockingly painful, believe me) and I’ve decided to make some changes.

This blog – Innate Wanderings

I’ve basically used this blog, Innate Wanderings, as a platform to experiment, develop my writing, tone, style and much more and while all have been of some interest I’ve kind of strayed from my roots a little and a lot of my thoughts have disappeared into thin air. My blog should be encouraging me to write more, just like my day job but as it stands, I do it because I should, not because I want to.

So, I’m not going to post once a week anymore. I think, to get real value I’m going to aim for two a month. More may drop in as and when I feel it is useful or necessary but Innate Wanderings is going back to its roots (and that’s a whole new story for another time). You can expect to see the following from now on:

·         Creative pieces

·         Writing workshop and activity advice

·         Genre reviews, analysis’s and discussions

·         Book and author reviews

·         More along the same lines, including answering any questions or topics suggested

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while to really get back on track with my career and my favourite hobby and pastime – writing.

New projects

However, I like writing about games, movies and such, so I won’t be giving it up. In fact, I’m working on a new project to begin in February or March but this time, I won’t be doing it alone. I’ve been asking for volunteers; both in general and from specific people and I hope to have a team writing throughout each month of this kind of content. Its things we love as well as you and I’ll be posting more details about that as it gets closer to launch. If anyone else is interested in joining, get in touch with me on dave.r.mccreery@gmail.com.

As for the motorsport – well, I mainly covered F1 and occasionally BTCC. I’m hoping to spend more time going to races and I haven’t decided what to do about this yet. It may come on a separate platform, which I think will help it grow but that depends on my free time.

To summarise

So, expect around two posts a month here, with much more on the new project. If there’s enough demand for the motorsport posts, I will find a way to make it happen. The new project is most likely going to be on a Wordpress blog, rather than this and I am toying with the idea of moving this over there too. Time will tell.

Thanks for your support, and there’s plenty more to come. See you soon!

Tolkien’s 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the best stories ever told, in my ever so humble opinion. I’ve spoken to a lot of people about it – people who have read it, those who have tried and those who have never even managed to get to page one – but there are some things that they all agree on; they’d rather watch the film. I could easily create pages after pages as to why I disagree, but why make something just to cause arguments (they’re more fun in person) when I can focus closely on why I think the story and books as a whole are fantastic?

Hence, this post. I hope you enjoy it!

How would you describe The Lord of the Rings, and the Middle-earth world created by Tolkien in general? Some might say traditional fantasy, others high fantasy while many would simply say fantasy – these would more likely be people who don’t mind a bit of the genre but don’t really understand why there is a ‘high’ fantasy at all. In theory, they’re all right but I would stick with high fantasy. It follows more rules and conventions of that sub-genre than any other.

A grand and epic world, supplemented by main characters that fill that world well and leave the reader in awe in almost every scene are just one of these conventions. The quest that spans the entire story without getting old, and continues despite every problem and obstacle and a villain, who in this story we don’t see much of directly, all combine together in a fantastic way that many other writers cannot even get close to.

We are drawn to certain characters more than others, with Strider/Aragorn being one of the most obvious. While he starts out cold and distant, he quickly becomes the champion for most readers and could easily have been the main protagonist if it wasn’t for the Ring – how easy it would have been to alter the beginning and background to focus on men rather than Hobbits, and full respect for not taking that road. I like Aragorn, but he was a bit predictable at times. That was one of his redeeming and annoying qualities.

Almost every character can be summarised this way but don’t worry, I won’t go through all nine members of the Fellowship.

A lot of people who have read the trilogy, and beyond, have told me there are elements they didn’t like – Tom Bombadil in The Fellowship of the Ring being one of the most ovious. Granted, he probably wasn’t suited to film, and as such wasn’t included, but I am glad characters and events such as his existed. It provided more depth to a world where the entire focus was on one little band of gold.

Tolkien’s writing style may also have been difficult for some readers. I don’t think it’s as hard as Shakespeare, but it can be longwinded and slow at times but the change of pace is something I welcome and enjoy. It shows the world and events move differently for everyone at different times – as it is for us in the real world. Things slow down – the quest doesn’t happen over a couple of days and running at such a high pace and level of stress and tension would destroy our heroes in a matter of days, maybe weeks. While this is a fantasy world and a fantasy story, everything that relates back to our real lives forges a stronger bond between story and reader, don’t you think?

One of the most impressive things about The Lord of the Rings trilogy and world is the scenery, settings and descriptions. There is simply no other way to describe the success Tolkien has at really drawing the reader into a scene or area of Middle-earth. If you had to pick a flaw, it’s that it does slow the flow of the story (which I normally hate) but it gives you a chance to breathe and really take in this glorious world. Without such vivid imagination and descriptions, the films could look quite different and it proves that a dark story or scene can take place in the brightest setting. There are hundreds of other examples out there, but this story is one of my favourites.

As I said, I could easily go into a lot more detail about this – and maybe one day I will! A critical and reasonably academic paper could come from me at some point, but for now, this will have to do. Hopefully, I’ve explored some things to grab your interest in these epic books or inspired you to try again, read them again or if nothing else, watching the films once more.

The ending though, well not the ending-ending, but the bit before it? Oh boy…

No. 1 – Final Fantasy VIII

So, here it is. FFVIII is the number one Final Fantasy game for me. Not the most popular choice but I do have reasons. Hopefully, you won’t stop reading out of disgust. You’ll give me a chance to explain and you’ll even accept a different opinion from FFVII at the top. Maybe?

Story

I’ll hold my hands up and admit it right now – this is not the best story seen in the series. In fact, too many parts of it seem to try and rival VII in some way, which makes it even less appealing considering the different world, look and system involved. That being said, it’s not the worst story either, compared to titles on either side of its release. It is pretty decent overall, with some areas standing out and others lacking. It’s like many Final Fantasy titles in this respect.

The characters are the same. Squall is an emo kid, we get it. He’s annoyingly cool for the first 20 minutes, maybe (if you’re having a good day) but then gets to be a pain in the ass very quickly. By the end, he’s actually grown as a person though, which is something a lot of protagonists throughout Final Fantasy titles just do not do. Each character has flaws to their personality that makes life difficult but they have a goal and they come together to get it done – the romance story is probably one of the weaker aspects while Laguna’s story is great just for the comedy they (try to) bring.

Graphics and music

FFVIII carried on from FFVII’s graphics leap, and it made the game stunning at the time – especially the CGI scenes. Even now, it doesn’t hold up too badly compared to some older games, just a bit blocky but what do you expect from a Playstation title. The music is great too and catches the tone of each scene and area perfectly. These are two areas that Square (later Square-Enix) would later seem to prioritise over gameplay and story. They seem to take the attitude that looks mean everything. Hopefully, they’ll learn that while good and pretty, there’s far more to a title than that.

Junction system

This is probably my favourite aspect of the game, and my favourite system of all Final Fantasy games to date. The system was as simple or as complex as you wanted. You could choose an automatic setup or you could do it yourself and I spent hours tailoring my characters to suit my style of play.

Being reasonably young on the first time playing, I didn’t realise that using junctioned magic MADE ME WEAKER with each spell. Obvious now, I know, but it made magic more tactical than how strong the magic stat was, what the weakness was and how much MP or Mana I had. It would directly impact other stats. Magic was, in some cases, difficult to find so more strategy was needed.

What really let this system down was the ease of which you could max out GF’s (Guardian Forces – AKA summons) and the 1,000 experience points per level. A tiered system would have been more difficult.

Side games

Triple Triad! I love this little card game – it’s a fun addition that isn’t actually necessary to completing the game. Tactical thinking and a variety of rules make it fun to play, even if the AI is a little too predictable at times. I’d love an updated version and I do remember the days where a group of FFVIII fans got together and made an online version. I met some great people back then. The abilities involving Triple Triad and the items you could get definitely made this venture worth it on any play through.

Summary

Overall, FFVIII is a great game. It has its shortcomings as do most, if not all, games. Some people beat down on it more thn others and I’m not sure why. Personal opinion plays a part, but as the title that followed VII, it had a lot to live up to and ultimately failed to surpass it according to most people. Then again, every title since VII has failed in that regard. Technically, I think it works well and it’s one of my favourite games to go back and play with one of the most enjoyable side games of the lot. It’s definitely one of my favourite games of all time and favourite Final Fantasy title to date.

Side note

I haven’t included Kingdom Hearts or non-numbered titles in this top five. I love both Kingdom Hearts and titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Dissidia. They may get their own posts in the future – we’ll see. As it stands, this is based on my opinions of the five games covered, not influenced by other people or sales statistics or anything – just one gamer and his thoughts. I hope you’ve enjoyed the countdown and will join me for more next year.

Just to recap:

5 – FFX

4 – FFIV

3 – FFVI

2 – FFVII

1 – FVIII

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games trilogy is a great set of books – they are well written with excellent pace, strong characters and consistent development. They are great, all round books that stretch beyond their targeted audience. The first two have been made into films with the third on its way but I’ve heard mixed reviews about Catching Fire and having seen it twice now, it’s time to weigh in.

Before I start, I will be covering the books in a post next year so I won’t make many references to them except in relation to the film. You’ll have to wait for a deeper look at the books, I’m afraid!

Getting to Catching Fire

So, we leave Katniss and Peeta after they both survive the 74^th Hunger Games – the first time two people have done so. Their act of love is seen as defiance across the capital and riots are starting, although they don’t know it. Their lives are about to change but neither of them are aware of the full impact of what they’ve just done.

Katniss isn’t exactly likable in the film, at least, not at first. She is cold, calculating distant and acts like she doesn’t care about anyone other than herself, Gale and their families. There is a reason for this provided in the books, more than the world they live in but this isn’t really explained in the film which makes her come across as a bit cruel and heartless at times. I’d use another word, but it might not be suitable. We are going to see these qualities resurface in kind in Catching Fire.

Character development

We learn more about Peeta, Katniss, Haymitch, Gale and more in this film. We see familiar faces and their traits return – Katniss’ complaining and hard-ass attitude, Haymtich’s drinking, Peeta’s patience. These are all present throughout the trilogy, well other than one of what I’ve just mentioned!

In each film, we see the characters grow a little but it’s not until you get to the end and compare the beginning to the end that we see any real changes. Keep watching, you’ll see what I mean.

Pace of the film

The pace of the film is great. It starts off exactly where it needs to and it isn’t slow. It follows the book well, so if you know it, you can understand what Katniss and Peeta have to deal with. How they deal is the setup to the 75^th Hunger Games – the Quarter Quell. We know that it’s coming from the trailers and the premise of the films. No new characters are introduced until after the reaping so we know we’re still following the same tributes and we will for the rest of the trilogy.

We’re treading on familiar territory from the reaping onwards. Same process applies until the end of the film pretty much, so I understand why some people might get bored.

Expanding and elaborating on what came before

It’s the same premise but with a much different delivery. Everything is bigger and more elaborate this time, right from the parade to the training grounds and life in The Capital. The arena is bigger and better than ever before (for the audience anyway) and has a set theme to it, with a logical progression. Figuring this out is easy so it’s left for you to wonder if it was meant to help or hinder our protagonists. You’ll have to read the book or watch the film and decide for yourselves on that one, I won’t spoil it.

Overall

I prefer Catching Fire to The Hunger Games for a few reasons. I think the characters are more relatable in this film – perhaps because we get to know more about them and have more links to them than in the first film. We have more reason to feel for now only Peeta and Katniss, but all of them. Every tragedy is more tragic than in the first film and the lengths they all go to to achieve their own goals is the perfect setting so Mockingjay. Keep that in mind.

Not only is Catching Fire my favourite book of the trilogy, but it’s my favourite film so far. Knowing what comes next, it may well stay that way.

F1 2013: Season Review

Now that the dust has settled on another Formula One year, I’ve been thinking about this season: the highs and lows, shocks and surprises and I thought I’d get a little summary together to tie us over until the new season begins next year. Feel free to disagree with me and let me know why!

Kudos to the Champ

No matter whether you like him or hate him, Sebastian Vettel has done some remarkable things the last four years, as has the Red Bull team. We have been the witness of some dominating performances reminiscent of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. People will complain, as always but there’s plenty going on after the winning position if you pay attention.

The records Vettal has broken, and at such an age, are incredible and he’s probably not done by a longshot. I’ll be interested to see how he copes with the lows if and when they come his way. We saw a darker, meaner side of him in the team orders fiasco early in the season. Is there more of this to come? Time will tell.

Stand out driver

There are a few names to mention here. Fernando Alonso for Ferrari has once again pushed more than most other drivers with an inferior car. Valtteri Bottas has proven he has some talent, but whether he can transform that into results is something else. Nico Hulkenberg has once again shown this season why he is so highly rated. Max Chilton set his own record of finishing every race in his rookie season.

However, I have to give it to Lotus driver Romain Grosjean. Compared to the driver he was last season, and despite a few hiccups this year, he has proven himself to be fully deserving of his place in F1 and with a team such as Lotus. We have not seen all the French driver can do and if Lotus can pull it together next year, he could be a title contender. Wouldn’t that be a great reward for him!

Stand out team

Of all the teams, Mercedes did better than expected, especially judging by their performances since the brand took the team in 2010. To have the pace they did was downright shocking to everyone on the grid – unfortunately they couldn’t hold it in the race due to high tyre wear. They solved it through the season (probably helped by the ‘illegal’ tyre test they did) and were often the closest challengers to the Red Bulls.

Best race

I enjoyed Melbourne, Australia, the most. I like the track, and being the first race of the season always means there are some unsure faces and some unpredictable results. Kimi Raikkonen won the first race after an unsurprising Red Bull front row. At first, it was a case of familiar faces at the front. It soon changed and the season would offer a little more spice but things soon settled down and things got boring in subsequent races, unfortunately,

Worst race

Silverstone was probably the worst race of the season, but on the other hand, it was the most interesting. It was the worst because of six tyre blowouts that could have, at any point, seriously injured the driver in the car and others around it. It was worse because we’d seen tyre failures like this before but nothing this severe. I said at the time I was surprised the race wasn’t stopped and I still hold to the belief. It was a ridiculous environment to be in. It did lead to a change in compounds for the next two races – did that play a part in Red Bull’s success in the second half of the season? Undoubtedly.

Biggest surprise

For me, the biggest shock was McLaren being so uncompetitive. It was ridiculous that one of the teams we’re used to seeing challenge for wins and championships couldn’t get a podium this year, especially after Jenson Button won in Brazil. Lewis Hamilton, for all his problems, definitely made the right choice that year. Whether it continues to pay off, is something we’ll have to see, as well as if McLaren can make it back to the top.

New rules and changes

One advantage to waiting a while before posting this review was these “new rules” being introduced. I’m a bit confused that they’d go for double points at the last race rule but not an increased weight limit to be fairer to drivers – I mean, really?! The fact that this rule would have made only three – yes, THREE – differences to the championship in about ten years makes it a stupid rule that won’t really do anything. I kind of understand why they did it, but one race is kind of pointless if someone wins with three or four races to go in the season. It seems like a cheap shot and not thought out at all, but with all the other changes, it will make for an interesting year.

Overall thoughts

Not the most dramatic or enthralling of seasons by a longshot, but it definitely had its moments. While some things will be carried over to the new season, the new rules and regulations mean that we are going back to square one for many teams and that should give us a much more interesting season to come as teams and drivers get to grips with what they have to work with. I’m very excited for 2014!

No. 2 – Final Fantasy VII

Yes, Final Fantasy VII only comes to number two in my top five and I know that will cause some surprise (even controversy) among die-hard Final Fantasy fans about how I have no idea what I’m on about. Well, just bear with me and I’ll explain why.

On another note, I did say last time that I’m really grasping at straws for the top three because I love them all, so this is what it’s come down to.

The game

On its own, FFVII is probably my favourite game of the entire Final Fantasy franchise. The story is gripping, the characters (mostly relatable) and if you’ve managed to learn anything about me from these blogs, then you should know that I love science fiction and such related themes, even in a fantasy based genre!

It’s clear throughout the game that there is more to the story than we’re being told in this title. It keeps the audience wondering and we don’t need to know anything else – it’s great that we do learn (I’ll come to that) but it isn’t necessary for what I’m getting from the game, or what I want from it. There’s love, heart break, betrayal, soul searching, laughter, adventure, history and future and so much more. It could be a seven series long TV show or more with all the side stories and characters you come across.

The Materia system is brilliant too, and you get a chance to really give your characters abilities that you prefer and suit you style of play. This is based on your weapon and amour choices and a lot of time can be spent finding the best weapon and armour combination before you get your Materia combination right.

The Materia itself is a great way of doing things, and limits how often you can use abilities per battle before it resets after each fight. However, you can ‘master’ each one to get a new one and come up with some truly powerful (and almost unbeatable) combinations. In most, if not all cases, when you max out a Materia you get a new one so you can put each of your favourites on numerous characters. In the end, it makes things too easy if you try too much.

However, there is a point throughout the whole game, and the Cloud and Sephiroth rivalry is well known, probably one of the most famous throughout the Final Fantasy series. The graphics and music for the time of release were also fantastic, and were a real ground-breaking move away from sprites (which I still miss). It was the beginning of a change in look for the series that has been carried on through to the current generation, and soon to be next generation, of titles.

All together

So, why is FFVII only number two in my top five? Well, unfortunately, this title isn’t just a game for me, and it’s nothing so simple is a VII-2 this time (thankfully). Unfortunately, with mobile games, handheld games console games, a movie and animated shorts all tied in to the VII universe, it’s almost impossible to tell what’s been planned and what has been added on as a money maker.

Even if it was all planned, which I’m not completely sold on, the amount of information and planning is staggering. Cloud suffers from the same problems in almost every game he title he appears in, so what’s the point, other than a quick turnaround in Advent Children. Zack stands out like a sore thumb from the world and his Soldier mentors, which is interesting but his unwavering resolve doesn’t work for me. The story of the Turks isn’t convincing and made me like their characters less, making subsequent play throughs of any game less enjoyable. The only extra the series I enjoyed somewhat was the PS2 title Dirge of Cerberus, but it made me think more deeply into VII’s world than ever before and I still had answers and hopes of a sequel that was never to be thanks to simple mechanics and a lacking story not befitting the FFVII brand.

I could go on, but I’m giving you a taste of the problems of what has happened to the FFVII title. I could go on for quite some time, but this expansion of the world or and universe has decreased my love and enjoyment of what is a standout game.

Conclusion

You may accept my arguments, or even agree with some of them, and it still wouldn’t make a difference. That’s fine, this is my opinion. FFVII on its own should probably be at the top spot, as it is for many fans. For me, having played and seen the other titles in this series, I’m less than thrilled now and while I, like most of you, would love a HD remake of this title, it would still never return to the top of my list now. However, it will always be up there as one of my favourite titles that I spent countless hours on through numerous play throughs.

Sony’s Next Generation Console Arrives: A Weekend with the PS4

Depending on how you look at it, I was one of the organised or very lucky ones to get Sony’s next-gen console, the PlayStation 4, on the first day of release. I told everyone I knew that for the whole weekend I’d be busy trying out the three games that came with the system. I’ll go into a little bit about these as well later. I’d also like to draw your attention a blog post from October where I attended Play Expo and got my first look at the console, controller and one game. Read it here.

I’m not making any secret of the fact I have always been a PlayStation gamer. I wasn’t keen on the Xbox and while the 360 was better, there was never a big reason for me to switch. I’m pretty good at being objective but make of that what you will.

Console

Sharp, angular and very stylish is the easiest way to describe the PS4 console. I’ve read plenty of comments about how people don’t like it but it’s a definite improvement from the PS3 and it is plenty heavy – despite not being much bigger than a slim line PS3. My package came with two controllers and the camera, which offers little for me and my current selection of games but some interesting things to explore and try. This will hopefully be explored more in the future and while the camera most likely isn’t as advanced as the Microsoft counterpart, it is very responsive.

While you can connect to the internet wirelessly, unless you have a PlayStation Plus account (which is the paid version of the PlayStation Network) a lot of the online functionality and online multiplayer aspects of the games are not available. While not overly expensive, and with some handy features, it’s worth considering. Cloud storage will be one of the most used aspects, I predict, given the size of the hard drive, which sounds impressive, until you realise how big the game files are on the PS4. As an average guess, you might get 10 saved on there, and cloud storage will be needed if you don’t want to delete anything.

Better than that, though, is the fact you don’t have to wait for a game to download or install completely before you play it. Installing what you need as you need it makes the system much more efficient. Just something to keep in mind!

Killzone: Shadow Fall

This was the game included in the box with the console. I haven’t played the Killzone games other than the main console titles – the handheld console games eluded me – and each one was pretty good. The gameplay was good and each time, Killzone offered stunning visuals with a less than brilliant story. For Killzone: Shadow Fall, the pattern is largely the same. As expected with the next-gen console, the graphics are incredible (but if they weren’t, I’d be very disappointed) and the gameplay is still very good. The PS4 controller is well used and the touchpad has a use, although somewhat basic for what I would have liked. All you do with it is swipe up, down, left or right to determine the actions of your drone. It’s a start, but nowhere near what I’d hope it would be capable of.

Overall, it’s a great game that continues the legacy of Killzone well. The story and characters could be better but I’ve been blown away with how good it looks and how well it plays that I can get past it. The multiplayer was fun as well, which is useful in an FPS title.

Need for Speed: Rivals

So, generally I like my racing games more in the format of a bunch of cars on a circuit for X amount of laps and trying not to blow myself up. Boring? Probably – but that comes with being a motorsport fan. When they release an F1 title for this console, I’ll be first in line for it. Need for Speed: Rivals is a pretty fun game which is stunning to look at (and that’s just the cars) and very easy to play. Two very quick intros at the start give you the basics of playing as a racer and a cop. You can switch between the two at any point and with a number of challenges, modes and things to unlock there’s plenty to keep you busy.

I crash a lot on this game. I’d rather pick a slower car with better handling, although it doesn’t help much, to give myself the best chance. The crashes can be spectacular though. What does get me is that while it’s fun to play offline on your own, the open world concept that lets you race against anyone (AI or player) at any time. This is the default setting.

Battlefield 4

I have to admit, FPS titles such as Battlefield or Call of Duty never really appealed to me – there was nothing wrong with them, I just prefer fantasy/sci-fi stuff if given the choice, and there are some great sci-fi shooters which I usually end up playing more. Once again, this game looked stunning. I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout as I tried to work out what was happening and where and who and what weapon I should use and who was shooting me and where my team was. If you are familiar with the genre, and probably previous titles of this series, you might be fine. Otherwise, it can be a little overwhelming at first.

Saying that, I couldn’t stop playing for hours, no matter how hungry I got. If it can keep me like that, and I’m not the biggest FPS fan, then it’s probably a good shout. I prefer the genre of Killzone: Shadow Fall, but Battlefield 4 plays just as well and I’m more invested to the story and team right now. However, the touchpad use is even more limited on this title, which is a shame.

Summary

This probably goes without saying but I’m generally impressed so far. Having to pay for PlayStation Plus is a bit annoying but something that will probably come good over time. This console is definitely geared to gamers so far and the only thing I’m worried about is hard drive space. We’ll see how that pans out in the future but it’s been a very good weekend and no issues whatsoever so far!