Redwolf's Journal (continued)

 I've still been enjoying Book of Boba Fett 's flashback Fett much more than the "present" Fett. The flashbacks show a resilience to the character, which is good. And his arc with the sand people, though predictable, is solid. As a budding crime boss, however, he seems clumsy and lacks the cunning of the bounty hunter who followed and headed off Han Solo back in Empire. But yeah, episode five has probably been my favorite, and it's basically a Mandalorian episode. The Creed is still kind of screwed up and the Darksaber is a big plot device with quirks all its own, but neither of those things that bother me a little are new. I liked the starfighter more than I thought I would, and "Mando" is still a character I like. I also went and watched SW: Visions . As expected of an anthology, it's something of a mixed bag, but I think overall I enjoyed more than I expect. The Duel: The artwork put me off a little at first, but I got into it. The wandering ro...

 I quite liked The Mandalorian . Disney's been doing above average cranking out various series for a while now. I have mixed feelings on The Book of Boba Fett  so far. Some spoilers follow. Boba Fett's a curious character. Originally seen in the Christmas special (which shall not be named in some circles), he really doesn't do much in Empire either. And yet that Empire appearance establishes him as someone with 1) a reputation in the universe ("no disintegrations!") and 2) intelligence and cunning above the norm (by following Han and actually getting to Bespin ahead of him). Though he went down kind of easy in RotJ , the character was set up surprisingly well with those little appearances. In the series flashbacks, we can add action-hero levels of resilience/perseverance and that builds upon the character, making him intimidating and a bad ass even without his armor and gear. This Fett I love. The Tuskins and the storyline there feel a touch cliche, but I very muc...

Thanksgiving was... muted this year. That's natural with everything that's going on. While I've had a couple Thanksgivings/Christmases during which my parents were unreasonably far away (thus I was by myself), this is the first to be interrupted by other factors. If we hadn't had someone in the office here test positive, we probably still would have gotten together for a porch-based meal, but that one incident was enough to push things over the edge and call off gathering. Bit of a bummer, but so it goes. - I've been playing through Assassin's Creed Valhalla of late. It's satisfying, though I can totally understand complaints like combat being mediocre at best and the game being stretched out too much. Still, I'm enjoying most of it and I'm reasonably involved in the story being told. Though I must say, there are some times I really wish I could project into the game more and take some specific action or say something. I certainly could have headed ...

I finally got caught up and finished watching the latter half of Star Wars: Rebels , of which I'd only seen an episode or two. I have some mixed feelings. I was never really a fan of the art style. It felt a little too simplistic and areas too isolated as if arbitrarily limited by polygons on screen. It wasn't a huge drawback, but a little bit of one. Narratively, there were ups and downs. It re-canonized several things, like Thrawn. It brought back Ahsoka, who remains one of my favorite characters in Star Wars in general. It called back to one of the most questionable and unnecessary episodes of Clone Wars (in my opinion) that focused too much on origins of the Force. It established a Force-based space-time Stargate network of sorts... for some reason. It wiped out an Imperial fleet with a bunch of space whales, which is somehow both cheap and glorious at once. I think I like the overall arc of things, but individual episodes often felt formulaic/repetitive to me, which ...

Okay, I should start by saying I've avoided spoilers, barely seen trailers, and set my expectations pretty low. I always say that endings are hard, and building the end of a 9-episode Star Wars sequence is a burden I wouldn't envy. It doesn't help that Episode 8 upended a lot of established content in ways that were... questionable. Where does one go from there? With all that in mind, I think The Rise of Skywalker did okay. I don't feel betrayed or seriously let down. I also don't feel radically uplifted and into Star Wars more than before. It felt more respectful of the canon than The Last Jedi, but it couldn't totally ignore that movie either. There are a lot of references and call-backs as major series characters and threads are gathered up as best as possible to try to tie things together. And with all that going on, things are cranked up to 11. I felt that was unnecessary, but also almost inevitable. Sequels are supposed to be "more and bigger...

I saw a review headline that read something like "... is a great Star Wars game with terrible slides." I think that's really a pretty solid assessment. My biggest problem with it is, in fact, the sliding sections. While the penalty for falling off edges isn't great, it is frustrating as heck to miss a jump over and over. Whoever thought that was a good design inclusion - no cookie for them! Other than that, I would say I found the combat challenging to difficult and turned the difficulty down on some boss fights. That may be because the combat is block-biased (in action combat games, I tend to prefer dodging) and I never got the timing down well, so it might not be so brutal to players who get that down. And at least there is an adjustable difficulty. But the combination of explorative traversal, puzzle-solving, and combat all works pretty well otherwise. Unlocking Force abilities feels pretty good, even if there's a lot of potential backtracking for completi...

So, yeah... it's not been a good... hmm... week? Give or take. Not quite the spiraling down into utter lethargy and heavy chest I've experienced before at my worst, but a truly pervasive dull grayness. Work has been less than engaging or satisfying lately, which makes for several hours a day of just existing. That doesn't help. It hasn't all sucked, but even good entertainment feels fleeting and leaves me hollow. I was able to catch up on the first couple episodes of The Mandalorian . I'm generally enjoying it so far, though not without a few issues. A little like diving into an RPG with a character created in a vacuum, there's not a lot of engagement between the lead character and... well... anyone else. That makes for a lack of dialog in general. He's tough, cool, and a man of few words, but that's usually not as entertaining as good banter. I'd also say there's already perhaps an overuse of montages between childhood flashbacks, learning t...

A lot of little Star Wars tidbits seem to have come out in the recent celebration. The Episode IX teaser doesn't do much other than show off a few vistas and returning characters. I'm not sure what to think of Rise of the Skywalker as a name - there's an implication of the family line living on, though Kylo's a Solo and Rey is... a solo? Heh. I think it's a given that I'll see the movie, but I can't say I'm excited or even what I want to see out of it. We get some glimpses of The Mandalorian . I think it may be leaning a little hard on the bounty hunter bit, but I'm sort of glad to see the faction getting more screen time in some form. It may make "Mandalorians" more mainstream and less just "Boba Fett." I'm curious, but not fully invested at this stage. Jedi: Fallen Order is where my interest picks up. That the business side of things (single-player with "no loot boxes/microtransactions") got a lot of focus ...

Well, I think I can finally call this little project done. I wanted a customized Star Wars blaster, and that's what I've got. It was looking about as I wanted after the primary painting, but required some touching up... Also, there was the issue of mounting the sight. I really didn't like the basic one any more than I liked the stock, so I picked up a reasonably cheap holo sight, but naturally the dimensions of a Nerf blaster don't quite fit regular rails, so that required some attention with Dremel, sandpaper, and epoxy to fill the gap left by the stock sight... That seems to have worked out pretty well... And while fixing little paint details prior to putting on a sealing coat, there was at least one thing to add... So, now I have a tiger-striped blaster that matches armor colors, is marked as Mandalorian, and shows clear customization over stock. And the blaster sounds still work. That... seems like a success to me.

This is pretty much precisely how these things go for me. I start a little project like this, but keep running into little things that delay the process. I knew I would be opening up the blaster in order to gut this firing mechanisms and I would be filling in the gap, because while one side of the thing looks fine, the other is the cylinder for loading darts, and that just doesn't fit. Open, remove mechanisms, file/sand down labels, fill in gaps... And yet at every step of the way, there's something. Open it up? Well, gee, the only "jeweler's" screwdrivers that I had that would fit went missing years ago, so I need those. What to fill with? Bondo's a bit extreme, and I was down to my last bit from last year that wasn't mixing well. I sort of wanted to use Green Stuff, but went looking for it at the local game shop and they only had a liquid version, which isn't nearly what I was after. I started using wood filling prior to finding some other epoxy ...

For whatever reason, I've had a bit of an itch to get back into working on a cosplay project. Since my Mandalorian outfit was sort of rushed at the end, I've turned my attention back to it. There are certainly some things I want to improve - proper gauntlets and the like. I've started purchasing a few things there and there to work with, though haven't hunkered down to do the work as yet. And this got me thinking again about a weapon. And from there, I've a bunch of little thoughts... When I started on this last year, I picked up a Nerf Alphastrike because I really liked the basic look, feel, and size of it. The more I looked at it, though, the less I felt it viable for Star Wars. As much as I like the shape, it's really more suitable to Mass Effect or some other "sleeker" sci-fi setting. Star Wars has an older "future" aesthetic and a lot of the canon weapons are pieced together out of WWII firearms and the like. So I ended up backing off ...

*yawn* Dog sitting is okay. Having a cuddly pup (not that she's really a puppy anymore) around has a certain appeal, though I fret perhaps overly much about not understanding what is wanted at any given time. I could do without the seemingly-random barking at something at near 3 am and I'll be glad to sleep in my own bed, but it made for an interesting change of pace. And I got in some entertainments over the weekend. It's hard to avoid spoilers in some cases, but I try... Solo: A Star Wars Story was not a movie that I wanted or felt any need for. I kind of wrote it off early, though trailers got me thinking "this might be an okay action/heist movie in the Star Wars setting." That turns out to be a good summary in my book. It's fine. There's some good action and decent characters. Nothing truly transcends to greatness, but it's an enjoyable-enough ride of a movie. From my perspective, a lot of the worst bits of Star Wars stem from trying to "f...

So, Saturday I watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I will get into spoilers here, but I'll see if I can push those below the Blogspot cut, at least. In general, I enjoyed the movie. I understand, and agree with the existence of, some criticisms I've heard. None of those seriously dragged down the experience for me, though. There were some good characters. There were some awesome scenes. There was some unnecessary fluff. The movie felt very full. But it was all pretty good and felt Star Warsy enough for me. And with that, let's get into some details... Whereas The Force Awakens felt like almost a remake of A New Hope, this movie has callbacks to The Empire Strikes Back. In my perception, they don't feel as direct, but I can't deny the parallels. The opening and ending scenes are clearly evocative of the battle on Hoth. Rey's time with Luke could equate to the training on Dagobah. But at least there's no new Death Star/Starkiller Base. I like Rose. She...

*flop* Well, that was good. Was pressed for time getting suited up after a meeting ran long, but hey, it still worked out. Walked a few blocks downtown after work to see a lot of people out with their kids there. On the up side, the suit's wearable. The quality is good enough to turn some heads and win the office costume contest (not that there was high turnout there, but still). It's recognizably Mandalorian to those who know such things, and close enough to get a Boba Fett comment from those less into the fandom. Nothing fell apart. Getting sprinkled on wasn't a big deal. I definitely call that a success. Drawbacks? Well, it's a bit confining, limiting some range of movement. If I'm giving it another lengthy/serious wear, I definitely want to make some better vambraces. These were just thrown together with EVA foam, shaped, painted, and velcro'd pretty quickly and don't have any fancy features. And it doesn't take much to fog up the visor - not ...

Well, I did finally get myself back to work over the weekend. As I said when I started, it's very easy for a project of this magnitude to fall out of favor with me enough to get sidelined. The con (and now Halloween) are really the only halfway motivating "deadlines" for such a thing, making it seem pointless the rest of the year. Over the weekend, I adjusted and sewed a number of velcro patches. I did some final shaping of body armor pieces and got them painted with the gun metal base coat. I glued together the girth belt. Somehow, that doesn't sound like as much as it felt like. Last night, I got home from work and dove back in, managing to get the black coat on all the armor pieces before it got too dark. So what's left? Well... there are a number of things that need doing: - Red pattern paint on armor and clear sealant. - Webbing belt and attachment for codpiece. - Finish girth belt. - Boot accent work. - Pattern/cut/sew kama. If I finished those ...

Rogue One... ... is a good movie in its own right. ... feels like Star Wars even without serious Jedi presence. ... is a good example of how to expand the universe and fill in gaps without feeling overly cheesy and pandering, which is something the prequels didn't manage. ... does not feel overly stilted and scripted like the prequels did. ... is a darker story overall, feeling closer to Episode V than VI, for example. ... feels like it could have been a campaign, especially in the West End Games era of the Star Wars RPG. I very much enjoyed the movie. I didn't enjoy everything about it, but the whole felt good. There are genuine emotional moments that feel earned. Character arcs feel a little rushed, but work. I knew I was going to see it, so I didn't follow the rumor mill very closely. In the end, I got a Star Wars movie that I didn't fully realize I wanted. It sets things up for A New Hope pretty perfectly by telling its own solid story. There are severa...

I've been reading some posts by one of the people behind Ultimate Online and Star Wars Galaxies. Most are about development of the latter. I've said before and I'll say again that I find looks behind the curtain in such endeavors to be fascinating. Getting insights into the creative ideas behind a major project like that, and seeing how they intersect with practicality, is educational. Sometimes it's also a bit heartbreaking. SWG has a reputation as being pretty unique among MMOs, love it or hate it. I never played, so I can't render an informed opinion. But there was so much ambition behind the design, that I am impressed by it. Hearing how much of that got scaled back or cut because of things like legalities, development timelines, or simple hardware constraints is something anyone even considering game design should see. And even those of us who only play the games can benefit from it by seeing how complicated things truly can be.

Hmm... I can say "Yay, Ahsoka's back" and I'm not sure anyone here really would know or care...

So, little bits of the next Star Wars... Cultural diversity Stormtroopers? I'm all for it. That's either a character in disguise or a sign that the Empire ran out of clones at some point, the later being a theory I always subscribed to anyway. The scene itself of one person popping up over a desertscape, however, looks... low-budget? Hovery, roller-ball droid? Uhh... that seems highly impractical and just not right to me. Stormtroopers readying for assault? This looks just a little too shiny and slick somehow. Overly blocky desert speeder thingie? Not fond of the design, but the feel of the clip harkens back to the speeder bikes, at least. X-wings look decent. Dark-clad dude with a red saber that has... mini-saber cross bars? Argh! Why, oh why do people keep feeling compelled to "outdo" what is already a frickin' laser sword? Lightsabers > new colors > dual-wielding > double-sabers... Blarghle. This creation is almost as impractical as a light...

I had some discussion about story and presentation, having just done Arah in GW2 this weekend for a couple people. So here are some sort of general thoughts... Now, it should be acknowledged that telling a player-driven story in an MMO and offering real choice may be a Sisyphean task. Offering real choice means more development time in making branches of the story. Making any story that centers on the PC involves some slight-of-hand in a multiplayer environment to be even remotely believable. And on top of that, opinions vary on what the best way really is. WoW : The game always kind of skirts the issue of player involvement. Big bad bosses are taken down by "heroes" or NPCs. Questgivers occasionally show recognition for the PC, but it's pretty trivial and interchangeable. With major bits of story "told" through raids, it's pretty easy to miss out on some things, too - though Blizzard has been more inclusive with LFR instances and such. Ultimately, I so...