Roundup

[jaggedwolf]

Media

Jade Empire

Oof, this combat system is a pain, I'm definitely glad I set the difficulty to easy. It's not even that I'm bad at video games, a true fact on its own, but that control over getting your character in melee range of opponents is so damn finicky. I wonder if there's a "kill all enemies" mod like there is for DA:Origins...I'm not that desperate yet.

I've finally reached Imperial City, and thus gotten Silk Fox into my party. She's a little more prickly than the other companions, by nature of her position, but also has quite a bit of information to be use. Also, juggling her and Dawn Star's romances to get the endgame I want has actually been easier than I expected. It feels less like they genuinely dislike each other, and more that they poke at each other's insecurities, both by their own personalities and their connection to the PC. In retrospect, there's probably a mod to pull off romancing both of them even while playing a female PC, but eh, I've gotten fond of Ming now.

One of the few quests I remembered from my first playthrough was the Outlander - the only white guy to appear in the game, ha. He's being a public nuisance in the Scholar's Garden, pontificating on how the Jade Empire is backwards and uncivilized, and the PC gets to 1. defeat him in a debate 2. defeat in him in a physical fight, in which he uses a musket. He's thoroughly unlikable and obnoxious, and I did enjoy that touch, as much as we're finding out how fucked up the Jade Empire is. (Really, one of his debate arguments is basically "you're doing the White Man's Burden wrong, imperialize better!")

Many of the putting spirits to rest quests have had happier explanations than you'd think at first glance, with no clear bad guys. It's not as if all the quests are free of that - the Black Leopard school has a single bad dude at the center of everything, Merchant Bai is getting haunted by the ghosts of the people who murdered him, etc.

But the orphan ghosts tell us they were abandoned and locked in when the town flooded, and we find out the orphan master desperately tried to swim back for them, only he was too late. Ren Ming thinks his wife killed him to leave him for a younger man - she accidentally bought the deadly meal at the market and has been mourning him ever since. In a reversal, a ghost that pretends to be alive gets us to help his daughter find redemption, while at first pretending he wants us to kill her for a bounty.

It's much less of a cynical attitude than the quests first present, and I appreciate it.

Juno Steel and the Tools of Rust (Part 1)

Ahh, more new PoVs? :D This has been an turn from the past two seasons, when we were so firmly lodged in Juno's head. It's a little disorienting, hearing Juno without hearing from him, but I enjoyed the Peter PoV of the previous case, and I am delighted to now get Jet's PoV. Along with the backstory of a much more reckless, ruthless man, his friendship with Rita and his dedication to Buddy. Curious to see where this goes.

Links

The Early Internet, Explained by One Weird Celine Dion Fan Site

Southeast Asia: ICJ launches report on increasing restrictions on online speech