Semester Reflection

Has it really been 4 months since January? It feels like it has been years. This semester had quite a few ups and downs. For example, I never would have expected the grades I’ve been getting! Mid to high 90s is so much higher than I had ever done in school before. My biggest improvement coming from my new found skill of time management.

As far as the bumps this year? Where do I begin? On January 2^nd there were threats of a third world war. For the first 2 months, almost the entire country of Australia was on fire. Most recently there is a global pandemic that nobody seems to be taking seriously at all. Personally, I have been self-isolating (minus groceries when necessary) for the past four weeks.

My birthday was March 11^th and two days later, on March 13^th (a Friday, might I add), our school stopped all classes indefinitely because of Covid-19. A corona-virus that originated in the Wuhan province of China, has done enough damage to the world that I can no longer attend my classes in person. Oh, and I was also laid off.

I was very frustrated at first, because I had been advocating for closing everything down, but when I was laid off I had lost my income. Luckily for me and others, the Canadian government seems to have really stepped up to the plate, and I’m glad to say that I am proud of how our government has handled the situation thus far. Even if I would have wanted a faster, more extreme, approach. Proactive, not reactive.

All in all, the online learning is getting the job done. Teachers have been marking us with much more leeway and as a result I feel like even though I’ll pass with great grades, that I’m cheating myself. Just because I’ve passed doesn’t mean I know what I’m talking about. I guess for now the future is on rocky ground, and so I’ll just be grateful that me and everyone else is safe for now. Knock on wood!

COVID-19 and Social Distancing

      I remember growing up through SARS, Bird Flu and H1N1. I was pretty young at the time, and I was pretty into zombie media, especially during the H1N1 outbreak. COVID-19 however, has made a much larger impact on the world than any of them. It is not necessarily any more infectious than the others (Flanagan, 2020), yet it has managed to spread much further.

      Unfortunately, it has turned out to be more dangerous to the elderly than younger generations. In order to minimize the deaths caused by COVID-19 it is imperative that we do everything we can to slow the spread.

      Luckily for us, social distancing is our greatest weapon against the spread. If we can stay at least 2 meters away from each at a MINIMUM, we are fighting the good fight! Social distancing, however, is not enough in my opinion.

      I have always believed we need to protect those that are more vulnerable than us. It is my opinion that if you do not NEED to leave your house, then you do not have a REASON to leave your house. I think it is very ignorant and unfortunate that so many people seem to think that the death tolls are inevitable so why bother trying to stop it.

There are many ways we can help each other:

·               Ask your neighbors if they need something from the store if you have to go

·               Stop going out for entertainment

·               WASH YOUR HANDS

      It is true though that Social Distancing will continue to be our greatest weapon however, as it will not only stop you from getting COVID-19, it will help stop your from spreading it to those of us who are the most vulnerable.

Flanagan, R. (2020, March 3). How contagious is COVID-19 compared to other viral diseases? Retrieved March 27, 2020, from https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/how-contagious-is-covid-19-compared-to-other-viral-diseases-1.4836734 

Improving My Study Skills At School

                I had been out of school for almost 5 years (graduated 2015). When I wen to college then I had a lot less on my plate, and because of that, procrastination was king. All I had to worry about was getting my assignments done, and done on time. I hadn’t heard the phrase “time management” until I had already graduated! Now, I have a lot more on my plate, and sometimes it feels like I’ve stretched myself a little too thin.

                Feeling like I have too much to do with too little time, is not a great feeling. So I have been thinking long and hard about what I can do to minimize this feeling. Time Management is the answer. There are two things I have done to improve my time management. The first thing I did was buy a physical planner. I know that I retain information better when I write it down, so I bought a planner from Walmart. Unfortunately, I somehow bought a planner for 2018 (sometimes there is no cure for stupid)! That’s okay though, I just crossed out the months and days, to make them line up with 2020, and now I have a current year planner!

               

                In my planner, I write down all of my due dates in the Calendar view. In the more detailed view, I write out due dates, but I also write a loose plan of what I want to get done and when. For example, if I know I have 3 hours of free time I will look forward in my planner and schedule myself a block of time where I will work on that assignment. Writing it down helps keep me honest with myself. Plus, the feeling of crossing something off a list just can’t be beat sometimes.

                The second thing I did was recognize that breaks aren’t a bad thing. I’m a slow reader, and worse than that is I have this amazing super power where I can read something 5 or 6 times, and not retain any of it! There is not much I can do about reading slowly. What I can do about not retaining information is recognize when I am not retaining what I’m reading and step away, take a break. I’ve noticed that after a break my work is more efficient, and I can get into a flow more easily. I could spend 3 hours working on something after a long day, and get less done than I would if I took a 1 hour break and spent 2 hours working on it. Recognizing this has helped me improve my work ethic. Now if only I could shake the feeling that I should be working when I’m taking a break, then I would truly understand what it’s like to be an adult.

My Introduction To College Life

I love college, but starting a new program always makes me a little anxious. I've been to college once before, for Video Game Art. I went to Sault College in Sault Ste. Marie, around an 8-9 hour drive north west of Oshawa. It was my first time moving out and so far from anybody I knew at the time, but I still don’t remember being as nervous as I was starting my program this year.

I’ve been out of school for almost 5 years. Now, I live on my own, pay my own bills, have a full-time job that unfortunately barely covers the cost of those bills. I’ve been wanting to come back to school for programming for a few years, because I want to make video games, but I didn’t know anyone who could program. Finally, I decided to enroll into programming.

I’m anxious because I must continue paying these bills and continue living on my own, but without the reliability of my full-time job. As I type this, I still haven’t received my OSAP funds. Luckily my school has a great financial services department!

From their financial aid webpage: https://durhamcollege.ca/financial-info/financial-aid/osap. They give you a quick run down of what you’ll need to apply for OSAP, in my case, as well as other financial aid programs and links to their sites if you want to learn more or apply!

Now that my first week has passed, I am getting more comfortable in my new routine for the next 8 months. Remembering that everyone else is in my class is in a similar or comparable situation that I am reminds me that we’re all making risks everyday.  Sometimes we fail, and that’s okay, because from that failure we get one step closer to success.

My goals for this program are to hopefully graduate with honours. I never tried as hard as I could have in school, and after growing up, I really wish I had, so this time I’m going to. With that being said, please don’t fail me!

OSAP. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2020, from https://durhamcollege.ca/financial-info/financial-aid/osap.

Welcome To Communications

Welcome!

This is the blog in which I will be publishing my thoughts on varying subjects!

If you feel like my thoughts are worth reading, then this is going to be the place to be!

If you feel like you have a subject in which my thoughts are lacking...or worse, then you can feel free to leave a comment!

Your new blogger,

DCNickComm!

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth Review

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth Review

A Binding Review

Just a disclaimer but this will not be a comparison between rebirth and the original Isaac. Although there will be a few examples of improvement.

            So the end of the year has come, and I've had a great one so far. First I want to thank everyone who’s been reading my reviews consistently it helps out so much more than you think. Second, I’ve reviewed some really bad games like Murdered: Soul Suspect, and some really good ones like Shadow of Mordor. It got me thinking, what was the best game I played this year? I didn’t review enough games that came out this year to actually create a list, so instead I’m writing a review for what I believe to be the best game released this year. After 160+ hours in the game, I feel I have the authority to say this is my favourite game so far. Before I start I want you all to know this is my personal opinion and not an objective fact. I know how you people get with your games.

            The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a remaking of the rogue-lite game The Binding of Isaac created by Super Meat Boy creator Edmund McMillen. The game has spawned a hugely committed community. It has even created a career for YouTube personality NorthernLion who arguably makes a living by playing the game and uploading his antics to YouTube.

            The game does its best to tell you as little as possible. This is a plus in my book, because although it lack’s detail it forces the player into learning what is going on without the game holding their hand. Although the downside to this is it is not very welcoming to new players as it can be a little overwhelming at first. The main draw of the game is its randomness. Every time you die, you have to start over from the first level. No two runs you have will be exactly alike. On each floor (for the early game) you are guaranteed two items. There are over 300 items and each one has a unique benefit. Some of the items are objectively good, while others are just bad.

All of the items have synergies with each other, and this is what gives the game its high replay ability. Some of the synergies will guarantee the player a win while others will guarantee a loss. Others force the player to adapt. Adopting new strategies to maximize their success. The game allows you to become extremely over powered to the point where you can’t lose unless you actively try to. These overpowered runs are what makes Rebirth unique, and addictive. There are so many ways for the player to win. A huge downfall of the original game was that each time you played you had one strategy. This resulted in a lot of the wins being extremely similar. Fixing this keeps the game feeling fresh and exciting. Even after 160 hours of playing I still find myself getting synergies with items that make me feel like a child on Christmas Day.

There are strategies that can be adopted by new players, and strategies that should be adopted by high level players. One such strategy is the deal with the devil. From the second floor and onwards the game incentivizes not taking damage. If you can do this then you are rewarded with a deal with the devil after defeating the boss. In the deal with the devil you can trade health for damage. With these deals you can become extremely powerful. Not being able to obtain a deal with the devil can sometimes ruin a run. Every character has a different play style, and I’m not going to talk about all of them, but I will talk about one of my favourites. Eve, who is arguably the weakest character starts with an item called Whore of Babylon which gives a massive stat boost when Eve only has one heart. This incentivizes taking damage early for the boost. Not getting an early deal with the devil can really ruin a run with Eve as it gets hard to manage her health.

The story, which is almost exclusively told through gameplay, is surprisingly deep. Each character, item and enemy lends itself as an aspect to Isaac’s story. Even gameplay mechanics tie into the story extremely well. For example, Lazarus who died and was revived by Jesus four days later, starts with an item that revives the player after death. The surprising amount of detail in the games’ story is astounding. It must have taken weeks to get up to the standard that The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth holds. I’m not going to try and explain the entire story as it is long and subjective. Basically, Isaacs’ mom is abusive, emotionally or physically is unknown. Isaac, being just a young child, is trying to figure out why this is, and he turns to religion. Convincing himself that he has sinned and trying to purge himself of that. If you want to know more, go to the link at the bottom of the review where user Jayborino of Reddit does a much better explanation of the story.

Its controls are tight and easy to pick up but take some time to master.  A cute 16-bit art style lends to its extreme adult themes. Some of the enemy hitbox’s need to be fixed, like the wall spiders. Some of the items have been nerfed/buffed to fix some balancing issues. The developers over at Nicalis have been doing a really good job at updating the game with these fixes.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a testament to good game design. It is proof that a game doesn’t need to hold our hand for us to understand what is going on. The lack of information goes in the face of how games have been treating players, and it not only proved that players aren’t stupid but actually yearn to learn more on their own terms. It showed that a small indie game can spawn a community that is not only large but friendly and extremely welcoming to new players. It’s a game that will always have a place not only in my heart, but thousands of others as a charming and addictive game.

9.8/10

Happy Holidays to everybody! Have a Happy New Year as well. Um, don’t drink and drive. Blablabla. I’m going to do my best at posting reviews back on schedule! Thanks for a great year I hope to see more of you guys next year!

http://www.reddit.com/r/bindingofisaac/comments/2m33ys/i_am_the_author_of_the_isaac_endings_explained/

The Evil Within Review

The Evil Within Review
The Review Within

The Evil Within starts off with detective Sebastian Castellanos arriving at a mass murder in Beacon Mental Hospital. While investigating, Sebastian is looking at the security footage and sees the person who is responsible. We later learn that this individual is Ruvik and he is the game’s main antagonist. Ruvik looks up at the security camera and then teleports behind Sebastian and this is where the game starts.

            The game doesn’t hold any punches, and within the first ten minutes I am upside down hanging from the roof while a guy literally cuts someone in half. This quick transition to horror translates to the games difficulty curve as well. The game is extremely difficult (I played on the normal difficulty) and it actually feels unfair in the early game. The enemies are extremely durable and hit hard, so if you think you’re going to try and save ammo early game then you have another thing coming.  That being said, the enemies strength actually caused a real stress. This is both a good and bad thing, because early in the game I was genuinely scared of fighting enemies and I wanted the calm moments to last forever. However, by the end of the game I just felt exhausted.

            This brings up another point; while the gameplay is strong and can hold its own, the game is entirely too long. By the end of it I found myself fighting through waves of enemies just so I could get more exposition on what was going on in the story. The most stressful parts of the game were when Sebastian was forced to fight waves of enemies, because they could last over twenty minutes with no checkpoints.

            The development team was led by Shinji Mikama, who worked on the first four Resident Evil’s. The team claimed to want to bring back the original survival horror aspects of those early Resident Evil games. I will be the first to say that this holds true in some sense. The game really feels like the old Resident Evil games especially the fourth installment. Unfortunately, it seems that the strategic elements of those early games have been traded in for more difficult enemies. There is no inventory management which I felt was a strong strategic point in the Resident Evil games because it forced the player to plan their moves in the future, including when to heal and which weapons to use and save.

            On the bright side, this game is actually really creepy. There are a plethora of different environments, some of which are actually terrifying. A big props to the environment artists because I felt that was the strongest point of the game. Also the enemy design was fantastic and every boss felt new and more terrifying. All of this helps keep the game fresh even in the late game. The biggest problem was that I fought way too many bosses. Every other chapter there is another boss, which just ends up being a scary looking bullet sponge.

            The story was the strong point of the game for me. It started off strong and kept me interested throughout. Constantly Sebastian is in a different area and the player has a hard time figuring out what is real and what isn’t. Although it’s not a new story it was fun and exciting to unravel. Also, Ruvik is an extremely well designed antagonist, with a strong backstory that explains exactly why he is doing what he is doing. It also subtly leaves the question open to the player if they agree with him or not.

The strongest moments of The Evil Within were the chapters dedicated to exposition. This is because so many things would happen during these chapters, and I wasn’t stressed out from an influx of enemies. There is one moment that stands out to me, when Sebastian first meets Ruvik, he is led through a door, however when Sebastian gets to the door he is teleported back to the end of the hallway, and when he starts walking toward the door and tidal wave of blood washes him away, and he wakes up in a new area. Then, without missing a beat he says “Something fishy is going on here,” (I am a huge fan of cheesy lines in a horror game/movie). Moments like this are what make the sections of endless enemies worth it. The reaction of the player when something like that scene happens is the real payoff in The Evil Within. These moments can be seriously scary but don’t happen very often.

The game unfortunately does suffer from some pop-in during cut scenes and it only played in 30fps which is a minor problem, but in this day and age it should be better than that. They claim they wanted it to feel more lifelike but I feel they were just busy working on more important things than the frame rate and were scared of backlash from the PC community. Also there was one cut scene where one of the character models didn’t have any opacity maps, so I could see all the textures in his hair.

It is a shame the game fell flat in some sections because with portions of the game being so strong, especially the early game (ignoring the difficulty). The Evil Within could have been something amazing, and has potential to be Game of the Year. Hopefully in the inevitable DLC planned for the future, the problems with the game are fixed and the strengths are improved. I had a lot of fun playing The Evil Within and was actually scared during some portions of the game, but I feel the game adds a false difficulty by throwing waves of enemies that get bigger and bigger as the player gets stronger. I wish I could give this game a higher score because I feel like it deserves it for what it did right, but I cannot overlook the problems that this game has.

7.3/10