The end of 2020

 

The last post for 2020. Some good things, lots of bad things and a whole barrel full of seriously annoying things. I don't think anyone is sad to see 2020 go away. Here's hoping '21 is going to be better.

The world has seen mass protests against corrupt governments, and of course Covid-19 dominated everything everyone did and although vaccines are slowly being distributed we're not out of the woods yet, so keep using masks and washing your hands. One day it'll be over.

But that's enough real world stuff. The world of gaming has had it's share of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments as well.

Looking back in this blog I was surprised to see that the failed launch of Warcraft III Refunded Reforged, was in February, this year. I could have sworn that it was last year, but no. Time has managed to both rush and crawl by at the same time.

Loot-boxes spent a lot of time in the news this year, culminating in both The Netherlands and The UK declaring them as gambling. I still maintain that it is perfectly possible to make games that are fun, fair and capable of generating extra income for the developers/publishers without resorting to garbage gambling mechanics.

The new, big game debacle has of course been the dramatic launch of Cyberpunk 2077. From working okay-ish on PC to bad on console to not at all on last gen consoles, few have been entirely happy. CD Project Red are naturally working hard to fix the issues, like a bug where if you looted too much stuff, it corrupted your save file. It wasn't the triumphant launch CDPR and everyone else wanted, but I don't think it's a disaster either. From what I've seen it is going to become a fantastic game. One day.

In the mean time, there are multiple lawsuits flying around, the CDPR devs are claiming the company leaders are lying, Sony removed the game from the PS Store and... well it seems almost appropriate that the original pen-and-paper rpg was called Cyberpunk 2020, and seeing as how 2020 has treated everyone, well, I don't know. There is a sarcastic joke in there somewhere, find it if you want to.

If this year has taught me anything else gaming wise, it is don't pre-order, do your own research instead of relying on biased media, don't give in to FOMO (fear of missing out), don't buy unfinished games, and have patience.

It's going to be interesting to see what the new year brings and despite the previous one, and the perhaps somewhat bleak tone of this post, I am optimistic. So I hope you will continue to visit me here on Eccentric Spheres and share in what's to come.

That's that. Join me again next year, until then have a great week, stay safe and don't blow yourself up with fireworks! See you in 2021!

The Jewel of Seven Stars

 

It's time to get literary since just last night I finished The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker, who is of course most famous for his 1897 novel Dracula. The Jewel of Seven Stars, was written in 1903 with a revised edition published in 1912.

The version I found free and legal on Project Gutenberg is the 1912 edition, which apparently is missing a pointless chapter and has a happier ending than the 1903 version. Otherwise the editions are the same.

Mild Spoilers ahead.

In a nutshell the hero, Malcolm Ross is summoned by a young woman, Margaret, who he is sweet on as her father Abel Trelawney, a famous Egyptologist has been attacked by a mysterious assailant in the middle of the night. Mr. Trelawney is in a trance and has left very strange instructions for what to do in just such a case.

Other characters like the young Doctor Winchester are pulled in to the mystery as they try to understand what has happened while struggling with unseen forces. This is the first part of the book.

In the second part, Mr. Trelawney and his associate Eugene Corbeck explain how they found the tomb of the sorcerer queen Tera and how the whole sequence of events came to be.

In the third, the small group of main characters go to a small house in Cornwall to investigate whether Queen Tera's knowledge of mystic powers are truly real.

Mild Spoilers end.

The whole novel was a bit tough to read, as the language and grammar is very old school. A modern editor would probably have a fit trying to get the sentence structure to make sense. Quote; No one, not accustomed to packing, could have the slightest idea of the amount of the amount of work involved in such a task”. I did get used to it after a while, but it is a bit rough.

That said, part one is in my opinion very good. The mystery is interesting and is what I'd say the only part of the book that could be classified as horror. The story moved along at a good pace.

Part two is interesting but a bit slow. A lot of talking, exposition and flashbacks with nothing really happening. Still captivating enough, especially if you have an interest in Egyptology. Since Howard Carter, the man who found the tomb of Tutankhamen also discovered the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut in 1903, it is likely that Stoker was inspired by these events. I myself have a love for the subject matter, which helped me with part two of the book.

It is however in part three that the book falls apart. Once the group gets to the house in Cornwall, I had a devil of a time following the narrative. Again we get a lot of talking, arguing and explanations of things we already know. I also had a hard time with locations. Mr. Trelawney shows the group a cave under the house and I got the impression they want to hold a ceremony there, but then all of a sudden they hold the ceremony in a room in the house. The actual ending was anti-climactic and felt incredibly rushed, as if Stoker had half an hour to finish the story and simply ended it.

The Jewel of Seven Stars is a gothic novel with its supernatural elements coupled with romance and mystery. I liked it, and would recommend it to fans of such literature. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to a casual reader just looking for something to read. It's good but not great.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week. Stay safe!

Time to learn

 Hello and welcome back to Eccentric Spheres!

This week we're once again putting on our learning hats, and watching some documentaries. I have found one about some of Egypt's lost wonders, one about Tsunamis and one about how the Soviet Union lost the war in Afghanistan. I hope you find them interesting and entertaining. 

Beyond that, I don't really have anything else to say, so please enjoy and join me again next week for more eccentricity. Until then, have a great week and stay safe!

Egypt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfJykypi7o

Tsunami: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ci0q-r7RHw

Afghanistan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1joxBmBYZw0

Dragonlance Chronicles

 

A couple of days ago, I finished the original Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, and I figured I'd talk about it. This wasn't the first time I read the trilogy, but the first and only time I did, was about twenty years ago, so it was time.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning are by now iconic fantasy novels. Published in 1984-1985, they began as adventure modules for the new Dragonlance setting for Dungeons & Dragons. The modules were written by Tracy Hickman, and he wanted to expand on the game he was running in these modules by turning the game sessions into a series of novels, which TSR (the then publisher of D&D) reluctantly agreed to. Another writer was slated to write the novels but he fell through so Hickman and his assigned editor Margaret Weis decided to write the trilogy on their own.

Enough back story, let's crack on. Mild spoilers ahead.

The story follows a band of heroes which includes Tanis Half-Elven, Flint Fireforge, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, the brothers Raistlin and Caramon Majere and Sturm Brightblade as they return home after a long five years apart. But times have changed and evil now stalks the land as the minions of the cruel Dragon Highlords cause trouble for everyone. The meet, rescue and team up with two plains barbarians Goldmoon and Riverwind and set off on adventure. Later on, they are joined by Tika Waylan, Laurana and Gilthanas Kanan (brother and sister) and a couple of others. Together they seek to stop the Dragon Highlords from conquering the world for the evil Goddess Takhisis.

The cast is pretty big but it isn't that hard to follow. The names aren't that similar and since the entire group is rarely in one place at the same time, there is little risk of getting them mixed up.

The story is solid if not groundbreaking. The Chronicles follow an old arc also used in the original Star Wars trilogy, with the threatening setup followed by a dark middle and ultimately a costly but happy ending. Simple and functional.

The writing is clean and easy to digest, but it is in the world and the locations that the Chronicles really shine in my opinion. The world of Krynn is presented in a believable way and feels both natural and functional which contrasts nicely with the more outlandish places that the heroes visit. Making everything incredibly fantastic is an easy trap for fantasy designers fall into, and Hickman and Weis elegantly sidesteps this, making the world feel alive and if not real then at least believable.

There are a couple of nitpicks though. A description of the elven homelands explains that it took the elves several hundreds of years to sculpt but “what is that to people who measure their lives in centuries”... I'd say that is quite a thing then.

The second book starts with a brief recap of an entire adventure that took place between the books. This felt very odd as not only did it sound like a very cool adventure, but why structure your story in such a way? Why not include it? If it would have made the Chronicles too long, then change the story. Imagine if the Lord of the Rings had started as it does, but then had jumped to Rivendell and merely mentioned that the journey had been perilous and that the encounters with the Ringwraiths were scary and so on. It jarred me quite badly, but it is what it is.

The Dragonlance Chronicles is not great literature, and that is in many ways its strength. It's a simple and clean fantasy adventure story. One might call it naive, and maybe it is, at least compared to the above mentioned Lord of the Rings, but it is also easier to read and nowhere near as cumbersome. It knows what it is and it doesn't try to be anything beyond that, which I respect. In the world of role-playing game novels, it is a venerable old war horse and if that is your thing, you do yourself a disservice by not reading it. If you come looking for high art you are in the wrong place.

I liked it and I recommend it.

That will do for this time. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week and stay safe.