Cygon’s Blog

My experience:

Started a new game. I’m sitting in my new spaceship and… that’s it. Actually, a small text on screen indicates that you can contact your “flight instructor” for a tutorial, but I missed that text the first time. Luckily, I selected the instructor ship and opened communication, starting the tutorial all by mysel.

The tutorial asks you to accelerate, providing you with a very helpful display of which key to press, only that it displays the wrong keys. Oops.. At least I discovered that the mouse wheel adjusts speed, so I accelerate. “Well done”, the instructor says.

Then I’m asked to stop and next, to fly backwards. Of course the key displayed is wrong. I press ‘S’ and strafe downwards. “Well done”, the instructor says. What the…? I still don’t know how to fly backwards!

Next I’m told to target a box. Just that… there is no box. After some fruitless searching, I start a new game, do all of the above again and this time, at the same point, some arrows lead me to a box. Were those arrows there before? I don’t know.

Next task. Dock. I select the station and ask for docking clearance. I’m told that I can dock when the docking lights are green. But, uhm, where are those docking lights?

Flying along the station (which takes minutes), I finally discover where my mission target points at. Some kind of docking arm. I fly close. I ram it. I pound into it several times until I notice that the target marker actually hovers over one tiny metal bone of what seems to be the fingers of the docking arm. I fly a tiny fraction towards the finger. Docked.

Immediately, I’m tasked with undocking again. Done. Now fly towards the instructor. He’s 30 km away!

Well, quite some time later, I reach the instructor. There’s another box I have to shoot with my lasers. Err, the box is 30 km away back in the other direction *sob*. I instinctively pressed the ‘J’ key. That always works in space games and so it did here!

Shot the box. I have to return to the instructor. Okay, 30 km back, again. Now, there’s yet another box I need to target with my missiles. Of course it’s 30 km away.

Reached the box. But where are the missiles? Clicked around on the weapons overlay on my HUD.  A small display shows “no missiles installed”. Great, the tutorial is broken, I’m supposed to fire a missile but they forgot to equip me with missiles!

I started over yet again, skipping the tutorial and docked straight away. Nothing to do. Mission: Patrol.

Well, let’s hope the friendly mission target marks guide me to the patrol dudes. Indeed, there’s a patrol ship to which I reported for duty. Everyone’s flying zig-zag. Boring. Pressed ‘J’. Incoming enemies. Finally action!

Some meager ships. Pressed ‘M’ to match speed with an enemy ship. The ship’s computer says “Missile installed”. WTF? So I had missiles with me after all, but have to ‘install’ them… in flight? Damn, I could have finished the tutorial after all.

Shot down the enemies with my lasers (because I don’t know how to fire a missile). Now I’m instructed to fly through some gate. Did so. More enemies. Instead of going for the fight, I search the “control” menu for the “target closest enemy” key (normally: ‘R’), it’s Shift+’T’. Whenever I press it, my selection is simply cleared.

Manually selected the enemies and shot two of them down. Nothing more to do. Wait, isn’t that lasers shooting in the distance? Set course, press ‘J’, wait. As I arrive, the enemies are already dead.

Some jump buoy floats around and just became my mission target. I shoot at it when the ship’s computer tells me “scanning”. Oops. The darn thing had maybe 5% health left. Better wait for the scan to end. Scan ended, read new instruction carefully: destroy buoy. Pang. Done.

Another transmission from somewhere telling me the attack was a diversion. Fly through some gate. Fly through another gate. Wait for messenger ship (huh? what’s up with the messenger? did I miss something?)

Waited some time, now I’m tasked to follow the messenger. The messenger is about 1.5 times as fast as I am, so my autopilot more or less keeps me poiunted at the messenger ship following its predefined path. More enemies appear - too bad I’m 10 km away from the messenger ship.
Cutscene, enemies are destroyed by some pretty brightly lit missile. My computer targeted an argonian ship in the distance. Is this the first contact? I don’t know the story of the series since I stopped playing its predecessors pretty much after the first 30 minutes. And I started this tradition all the way back with the original ‘X’

Nope, the other ships from my patrol arrive (where were they?). Some transmission from nowhere tells me that I’ve done excellent work and defeated all the enemies in the sector (oh yes my cluelessness must have scared them away!). There’s another battle going on or something. The patrol leader says we have to fly through some gate. Then he says “follow my lead” and flies in the wrong direction.

The gate is still marked as my mission target, so I fly through the gate on my own. Several enemies in range. I shoot down two of them when the ship’s computer proclaims “hellbender missile” or something like that. What? Did I just select that missile or is one flying at me? Who knows.

During a dogfight, the computer proclaims: Warning: missile closing in. Since I’m in a dogfight, I’m flying in sharp turns anyway. I’ll just keep doing that. Two seconds later, boom, game over. I lost.

-

Great. That’s exactly the experience I had in the original X 3, too, just that I remember a more polished game overall. I followed the story, then, soon, some pirates or some group attacked me and used missiles. I did that mission maybe 10 times and if the first missile didn’t hit, the second always did. One hit and I’m done for.

What is the point of this? If there’s a good game behind all that, why is the very first thing I could do already broken beyond repair? The tutorial I mean. The missiles are another chapter. Maybe there are flares or something. I would have looked for the key, but as I already found out earlier, the game doesn’t pause, so either I know the key beforehand, or I’ve got exactly two seconds to navigate to the controls menu, find the flare key, close the menu and press it.

I’m not going to part with my money just yet…

I’ve held a PayPal account for several years now with no problems. My only usage of the account were occasional donations to some artists whose work I enjoyed, though I planned on using it to accept payments in the future for my indie business.

Well, last year I received an email from Paypal telling me that my account access had been limited due to suspicious activity and that I would have to verify my informations. Fully expecting this to be another one of those annoying email scams, I had already started a mail to spoof@paypal.com so they can take the scammer’s site down.

However, when I searched the supposed scam email’s source for the URL of the scammer’s site, I found none. I logged into my Paypal account and indeed, while I could browse my previous transactions and view my account history (all of which was as expected), the account page displayed a note that my account access has been limited and that I was to verify my account informations and, amongst other things, provide Paypal with a birth certificate. I wasn’t even allowed to close my account.

I wrote to Paypal, informing them that I’m not willing to provide a birth certificate since I see that as a breach of privacy and that whatever repercussions that would lead to, they should take action. My email was ignored and never answered. For one year, I kept getting nagging mails from Paypal telling me to provide the neccessary information, then it stopped.

Behold, when I try to log into my account now, this is what I see:

My tip if you’re using PayPal: don’t try to leave them with too much of your money at once and keep an eye on possible alternatives.

Update: I sent an email to the address from the error message above. Guess what the answer was?

Dear <name removed>,

We apologize but we are unable to respond to inquiries sent to this
e-mail address. Your e-mail was routed to an unmonitored mailbox and as
such will not be reviewed.  

To resolve account limitations, please complete the following steps:

1. Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click Resolution Center at the top of the page.
3. Go to the Action column.
4. Click the "Resolve" button and complete the requested steps on each
lifting requirement outlined.

Very funny. I can not log into my account, but to tell PayPal about it, I have to log into my account first. Furthermore, the email is asking me to again follow the steps I am unwilling to comply with.

It appears to me that PayPal is a fully automated system with most decisions defaulting to the disadvantage of the customer. The system will freeze accounts following mysterious rules and an unhelpful, time-wasting and not thought-through customer support system blocks off any attempts to rectify such situations.

Update 2: Out of distress, I created a second PayPal account, navigated to the resolution center and wrote PayPal about my problems again. Make sure you don’t have anything in your mouth that could spill out if you’re starting to lough - here’s the reply from PayPal:

Dear <name removed>,

Thank you for contacting PayPal Customer Support. I will be happy to assist
you with your locked account.

To help you, please contact from your registered email address
cygon@nuclex.org of your locked account.

PayPal works hard to protect our customers, and uses many security measures
to help ensure your protection. For this reason, we can only send answers
for account related information when the request comes from an email
address that is associated with your PayPal Account. We feel that this is
the best way to ensure that your personal information is not compromised.

If you are unable to find an answer to your question in the Help Center,
you can reach our Customer Service Department by following these steps:

   1.  Go to the PayPal website and log in to your account.
   2.  Click the "Contact Us" link.
   3.  Click the "Contact Customer Service" link.
   4.  Under "Choose a Topic" section, select the topic for your inquiry.
   5.  Under "Choose the Subtopic" section, choose the subtopic that best
fits your inquiry.
   6.  Enter your question in the "Summarize your question in one sentence"
box.
   7.  Click "Continue.".
   8.   On the "Contact Us" page you will find a few suggested search
results based on your question. If you do not receive suggested search
results or if the suggestions do not answer your question, please complete
the form provided.
   9.   Select the language you are writing your message in from the drop
down menu
   10.  Click "Continue."
If you have an issue of immediate concern and cannot find your answer in
the Help Center, see "Help by Phone" for assistance.

I understand your frustration regarding this matter and regret any
inconvenience it might have caused you, Mr. <name removed>.

For crying out loud. Could it be that PayPal is run by a group of mean jokers?

Let me summarize: Once your account is locked, you’re instructed to contact PayPal by email. The email adress provided auto-replies, telling you to log into your account (which you cannot) and contact PayPal from there. And just in case you create a second account, a friendly member of the support staff will tell you to please log into your other, locked account (which you still cannot) and contact PayPal from there.

(Spoiler free!)

I’ve just read my way through 3 of the finest books I’ve had the chance to enjoy in my life:

I have to admit that I have a certain bias towards fantasy stories set in medieval times and that, especially if dragons are involved, it’s hard for me not to give such books a bonus in my personal rating, but still, I think the books in the inheritance cycle are very well written and provide excellent narration.

Maybe my bias shows here already, but when Eragon appeared on the shelves, many critics moaned endlessly about how it was just a mix of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Some plot elements bore a distant likeness to Star Wars and Christopher Paolini used the well-known elv and dwarf stereotypes.

For me, this doesn’t lessen the books in any way. It would become a problem if he actually reused plot elements, because then, I could predict the story and all suspense would be destryoed, but that’s not the case here. Far from it. I think the inheritance cycle tells a genuinely good story.

It’s not without its weaknesses, either. The author sometimes falls trap to the “explainology” that is plaguing mainstream cinema: everything must have a clear and logical reasoning and you better stump the viewer (reader) with his nose into it and then, just to be sure, tell them that they’ve just observed an explanation for the behavior or happening of xy at time z.

The rules of magic in his world also feel like they are becoming a bit of a problem for the author. Magic in Alagaësia seems to be just too powerful. Whereas in other fantasy novels you wonder why the magicians don’t simply telekinetically sever a major artery or smash the brains of the soldiers in an approaching army, in the inheritance cycle, the magicians actually do it.

To counter these attacks, magicians erect wards to protect their own army against such spells. Attacking mages then again will try to find clever and obscure attacks the wards don’t protect against. And if that’s not complicated enough, being a magician is synonymous with also being a telepath, so magicians can battle each other physically, while attempting spells of doom, while using enchanted items and while trying to take control of the enemy magician’s mind.

In short, sometimes, magics seem quite out of control in this story. This earns both a point for a daring and novel idea, but also one for a common weakness in the plot.

Back on the bright side, everything else is solid good work. I am especially happy about how the storytelling doesn’t fell victim to the sightseeing syndrome: while it never stops being interesting, the story doesn’t just jump from spectacle to spectacle with everything inbetween just there to pave the way for another big event.

Granted, you will find this, too, in other books - and if the author is inept, it bcomes real nuisance that’s both boring to the reader and keeps the story from making progress, but I think this is one of the areas Christopher Paolini excels at. Whenever he tells about an unrelated experience by one of the characters, it satisfies something the reader was curious about and he still keeps the tension of the greater story alive.

The consequences of many decisions eragon has to face are as difficult to see for the reader as they appear to the character himself. And eragon doesn’t follow the accepted code of chivalry for modern action heroes. He loses his temper, makes a wrong decision or chooses to create a lesser evil to prevent a larger one. He is neither the typical anti-hero I guess most of us are now fed up seeing depicted again and again in mainstream entertainment nor is he the brilliant knight in shining armor.

The books also don’t shy away from depicting evil in the most real sense: torture, grave unjustice and crimes for which you just want to hit your clenched fist on the table while reading. Who wouldn’t want to punch Galbatorix in the face - again and again - after reading what he really did near the end of Book 3?

-

So, as you may guess, in my opinion, while the concepts used are not novel, the inheritance cycle is a very well executed and unique story with interesting characters and all the suspense, emotions and beauty I could have wished for.

When I google for reviews, I get the impression that everyone is fond of criticizing the inheritance cycle, but I say this was one of the best reads of my live. I’ve bought the first three books and when book four is published, I shall buy them all again in a matching slipcase.

A book doesn’t define itself by how eloquent it’s written or by how novel the ideas are alone. A book should stoke emotions, entertain and if you will, satisfy some primal urges along the way. That, at least for me, is what makes a good book.

This weekend, on a LAN party, I had the chance to play Sacred 2 on a friend’s PC. I already liked Sacred 1, especially because of the detailed and beautiful dragons, but had already put Sacred 2 on my “don’t buy” list because of it’s online activation requirement.

When I played Sacred 2, I came across a guy with really good face textures that looked familiar somehow. Clicking on him, he revealed himself as Hansi from Blind Guardian! After doing some quests in which undead metal fans had stolen the band’s instruments, I was given a performance from the whole band in sunwind. Pretty cool!

The last time I’ve seen a real band appear in a game was Gothic 1, where one night, In Extremo played in the old castle. Now I’m torn between buying the game to support this fantastic idea (and the band, of course) and boycotting it to protest against the silly copy protection.

After thinking long and hard, my final decision was to buy the Collector’s Edition and post in the game’s forums, explaining just like I did here, that the only thing that made be rethink my decision to boycott the game was the performance by Blind Guardian.

Turns out Ascaron, the game’s developers, stand firmly behind this copy protection. Just so much as mentioning DRM in your post will get it deleted instantly, referring me to a forum with one (!) thread where everyone that wants to talk about DRM should post. So much for my attempt at providing friendly feedback to the developers. Apparently this is how it works these days:

a) Make random assumptions about how some crazed copy protection scheme is going to save the day

b) Dump your game out into the world

and c) if one of your customers comes along to give you some friendly, non-demanding feedback, plug your fingers into your ears and shout “lalalalala”

Or, if you prefer an analogy, assume your government would not allow people to voice their opinion except for in a small, dark room where hundreds of people complain to each other without the public being “influenced” by those naysayers. That would be a very ethical use of the government’s power, wouldn’t it?

So, to say it a little bit less friendly this time: Ascaron - you guys suck!

I’ll try to cancel my order on amazon and buy some Blind Guardian merchandise instead. Thanks for nothing.