I'm going to try again to document the entire design and production process of a show as an aid to others. I don't know how many shows I will be doing now that I'm working a full-time day job; this one is grandfathered in, as I accepted the new job under the assurance that I would be taking time off to honor that previous contract.
I've been slow starting this one. It is a new company and a new space and my time is limited so basically I'm going to play it by ear and make it all work during Tech Week. This wouldn't of course work if there were complex effects that needed to be created.
So what have I done? Read the script. Started watching the show on YouTube -- not always the best approach, as you want to be attuned to the unique production not copying what someone else did, but sometimes necessary if for nothing else than to get a feel for how the thing flows. Communicated with Director and Music Director and asked a few questions.
Saturday I made a site visit; met people, showed my face, inventoried equipment, looked at and listened to the space. Which is very challenging; the geometry there is not friendly and my assets are not generous. Not sure how I'm going to set up speakers that will actually work.
There's a fair bit of work to do before Tech Week. Some unfamiliar gear and I'll be reading a lot of manuals. Look at the cast breakdown and see if I can chart some of the microphone use and otherwise start marking up my script. Make a rough channel plan.
And oh yeah -- I've got two weeks to either repair my car enough to handle the long commute down south, or to come up with the bucks to rent one for at least tech week.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Two jobs maybe
Three weeks in, and they are asking me to apply for a better-paying position at the company.
I finally managed to go out to TechShop after work, pulling a four hour shift on the lathe after my eight at the day job. Was a bit tiring, though. And today was my first visit to a show that's in another town two hours away. Just making a visit and looking around the building ate up eight hours all told. With that kind of commute, I don't think I can handle show calls and day job without collapsing. So I'm basically going to lose money doing that show.
But it is an experiment as to whether I can take on design work while working full time. And more importantly, I agreed to do the show before this job showed up, and I don't like to back out on a commitment.
I finally managed to go out to TechShop after work, pulling a four hour shift on the lathe after my eight at the day job. Was a bit tiring, though. And today was my first visit to a show that's in another town two hours away. Just making a visit and looking around the building ate up eight hours all told. With that kind of commute, I don't think I can handle show calls and day job without collapsing. So I'm basically going to lose money doing that show.
But it is an experiment as to whether I can take on design work while working full time. And more importantly, I agreed to do the show before this job showed up, and I don't like to back out on a commitment.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Cheap Eats
I'm not eating cheap at my new job. I'm actually having a nice sandwich or a fresh rice bowl every day. My theory is that when work is tough it pays to take care of yourself. Eat well enough to keep up your strength.
So the nicest eats I'd ever make at home and bring to work were my fake Brötchen; deli meat and cheese in a sliced whole-wheat roll purchased at Acme Bread. I made them dry so they didn't get soggy before what was often a very late lunch; just a little butter in the roll.
A lot of times my standard when I was mixing sound at the Playhouse -- especially on those two-show days -- was something I picked up ages ago at Berkeley Rep; pita bread and hummus, often with an apple to go with it.
When there's no time to actually eat, the best work-with-one-hand-eat-with-the-other is the Cliff Bar. Unlike most energy bars it isn't all sugar and chocolate; the Cliff is almost as hard as Dwarven "Cram," and fills you up as well, too. They last nearly forever so you should always have one or two at the bottom of your gig bag for emergencies.
I recently found a new roll at the Bowl which is much like the whole wheat raisin roll I used to get at Acme (before they raised the price on it a bit too much for my liking). They are both filling and just sweet enough to be palatable with nothing but a little coffee or cold water. These aren't pastries, mind you; they are also solid, serious hunks of bread in the schwarzbrot mold (though nowhere near the seriousness of the latter, and very far from the tooth-breaking solidity of Dwarven Battle Bread).
Which basically segues to eating cheap abroad. My London trip typified my approach; I was at a four-star with continental breakfast, so I ate heavily in the morning, then got through a full day of walking and museums with nothing else but perhaps a cup of coffee and an apple saved from breakfast. Then evenings I'd quiet my stomach enough to make it to breakfast by making full use of the tea and biscuits room service would have left for me.
When I was staying in Montemarte I started with omelet and potatoes, then picked up Parisian street for for a late lunch/early supper; especially the Paris "gyro," a baguette slathered in red chili mustard then stuffed with sliced meats and frittes, all of it wrapped in paper and served open like an ice cream cone. For a lighter repast, crepes made in front of you at tiny crepe stands. I'd stop by the patisserie and fromagerie on the way back from breakfast to my room, and the evening meal was a light snack of bread and cheese or perhaps a little jam.
Tokyo is of course rather expensive, and I had to make do with the chillingly small "morning service" of one egg one slice of toast and a cup of coffee all for the special price of only 450 yen. The big meal of the day was -- when I remembered -- curry rice from one of those peculiar places that sell the food via vending machine token, food which is eaten standing up. But you get a lot of curry rice for a very good price.
My cheap eat at home right now is a three-day curry rice. Takes curry paste, coconut milk, tofu, canned albacore and baby corn and water chestnut and sometimes bamboo shoots so is close to ten bucks to make, but stretches to three servings, meaning I can make it one night and then just nuke the remainders for as many as two more.
Well, with luck I'll be able to spend a little more on food in the future. My boss says he'll be calling the temp agency as soon as a full month has passed (he'd do it now but is worried that it looks too weird) and upgrade me to full employee.
So the nicest eats I'd ever make at home and bring to work were my fake Brötchen; deli meat and cheese in a sliced whole-wheat roll purchased at Acme Bread. I made them dry so they didn't get soggy before what was often a very late lunch; just a little butter in the roll.
A lot of times my standard when I was mixing sound at the Playhouse -- especially on those two-show days -- was something I picked up ages ago at Berkeley Rep; pita bread and hummus, often with an apple to go with it.
When there's no time to actually eat, the best work-with-one-hand-eat-with-the-other is the Cliff Bar. Unlike most energy bars it isn't all sugar and chocolate; the Cliff is almost as hard as Dwarven "Cram," and fills you up as well, too. They last nearly forever so you should always have one or two at the bottom of your gig bag for emergencies.
I recently found a new roll at the Bowl which is much like the whole wheat raisin roll I used to get at Acme (before they raised the price on it a bit too much for my liking). They are both filling and just sweet enough to be palatable with nothing but a little coffee or cold water. These aren't pastries, mind you; they are also solid, serious hunks of bread in the schwarzbrot mold (though nowhere near the seriousness of the latter, and very far from the tooth-breaking solidity of Dwarven Battle Bread).
Which basically segues to eating cheap abroad. My London trip typified my approach; I was at a four-star with continental breakfast, so I ate heavily in the morning, then got through a full day of walking and museums with nothing else but perhaps a cup of coffee and an apple saved from breakfast. Then evenings I'd quiet my stomach enough to make it to breakfast by making full use of the tea and biscuits room service would have left for me.
When I was staying in Montemarte I started with omelet and potatoes, then picked up Parisian street for for a late lunch/early supper; especially the Paris "gyro," a baguette slathered in red chili mustard then stuffed with sliced meats and frittes, all of it wrapped in paper and served open like an ice cream cone. For a lighter repast, crepes made in front of you at tiny crepe stands. I'd stop by the patisserie and fromagerie on the way back from breakfast to my room, and the evening meal was a light snack of bread and cheese or perhaps a little jam.
Tokyo is of course rather expensive, and I had to make do with the chillingly small "morning service" of one egg one slice of toast and a cup of coffee all for the special price of only 450 yen. The big meal of the day was -- when I remembered -- curry rice from one of those peculiar places that sell the food via vending machine token, food which is eaten standing up. But you get a lot of curry rice for a very good price.
My cheap eat at home right now is a three-day curry rice. Takes curry paste, coconut milk, tofu, canned albacore and baby corn and water chestnut and sometimes bamboo shoots so is close to ten bucks to make, but stretches to three servings, meaning I can make it one night and then just nuke the remainders for as many as two more.
Well, with luck I'll be able to spend a little more on food in the future. My boss says he'll be calling the temp agency as soon as a full month has passed (he'd do it now but is worried that it looks too weird) and upgrade me to full employee.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Cut Test
Second full week of work. Starting to settle into the routine. Today I meant to go out to TechShop in the eve after work, but the lathe has been booked up since a couple of days ago. If it continues being booked up like this I might have to think seriously about using the one at work. I just don't want to be asking favors this early. A raise is more important to me now than easier tool access.
At least I got a few grenade bodies turned over the weekend. Still have to complete machining them to fill those outstanding M40 orders, though:
Of course, I could get time on the laser engraver, the 3d printer, or the CNC router -- with three of the latter, there's almost always one of them free. But unfortunately, the "CAD" (well, Inkscape files for all but the printer) aren't ready yet. So I guess the trick now is seeing if I can concentrate enough after a long work day peering at serial numbers whilst trying to rationalize the pneumatic tool logbook.
At least it is a little cooler this week. I still think maybe my first project should be a personal cooler I can point at my face for a little spot relief. I just can't sit at my desk and concentrate when it is as hot as it has been.
At least I got a few grenade bodies turned over the weekend. Still have to complete machining them to fill those outstanding M40 orders, though:
Of course, I could get time on the laser engraver, the 3d printer, or the CNC router -- with three of the latter, there's almost always one of them free. But unfortunately, the "CAD" (well, Inkscape files for all but the printer) aren't ready yet. So I guess the trick now is seeing if I can concentrate enough after a long work day peering at serial numbers whilst trying to rationalize the pneumatic tool logbook.
At least it is a little cooler this week. I still think maybe my first project should be a personal cooler I can point at my face for a little spot relief. I just can't sit at my desk and concentrate when it is as hot as it has been.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Maybe better fed maybe less of a theater artist...
One week into the new job. Full-time work, but currently through a temp agency; they are all talking about keeping me for as long as I want to stay but until I see a regular employment contract I can't trust that I'll still have work a week from now.
And of course I'm right now in that wonderful tight spot you get when you've started a job but the first check hasn't arrived yet...and unfortunately, all those expenses of commute and meals away from home and so forth aren't going to wait. I'm not down to the wire, but I am low enough to where I can't afford to smog and register my car before the registration deadline arrives.
I also have a show I previously accepted that is going to be a pain to fit around my new work schedule.
So. In the long term (if there is a long term) this should help my finances. In the short term; if I hadn't taken the job, I'd right now have the equivalent of 3-4 weeks wages in my pocket. And enough time to do some much-needed car repairs before Dreamgirls goes into tech.
And more time to complete current prop orders. I went into the shop yesterday and am going again today, but I'm still a little tired after that first week (hot days, physical labor, and overtime hours as well). I'm hoping that once the hot weather cools down a little and we catch up a little with the backlog at work so the days aren't quite as crazy, that 6 am - 2:30 pm schedule they have me on will permit making a run out to TechShop in the late afternoons, and thus continuing both the prop work and the utility of that membership.
Which is also why I'm going out today to do more lathing, despite a desire to stay in and put my feet up for one day at least.
And of course I'm right now in that wonderful tight spot you get when you've started a job but the first check hasn't arrived yet...and unfortunately, all those expenses of commute and meals away from home and so forth aren't going to wait. I'm not down to the wire, but I am low enough to where I can't afford to smog and register my car before the registration deadline arrives.
I also have a show I previously accepted that is going to be a pain to fit around my new work schedule.
So. In the long term (if there is a long term) this should help my finances. In the short term; if I hadn't taken the job, I'd right now have the equivalent of 3-4 weeks wages in my pocket. And enough time to do some much-needed car repairs before Dreamgirls goes into tech.
And more time to complete current prop orders. I went into the shop yesterday and am going again today, but I'm still a little tired after that first week (hot days, physical labor, and overtime hours as well). I'm hoping that once the hot weather cools down a little and we catch up a little with the backlog at work so the days aren't quite as crazy, that 6 am - 2:30 pm schedule they have me on will permit making a run out to TechShop in the late afternoons, and thus continuing both the prop work and the utility of that membership.
Which is also why I'm going out today to do more lathing, despite a desire to stay in and put my feet up for one day at least.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Amazon Puppies, Wild Rovers, and Paleotech.
Was reading comments on Charles Stross' blog in re the basic failure of the Puppies (Sad and Rabid) to achieve any more at the Hugos other than general obstructionism. The point was raised that the puppies might have a valid complaint if, indeed, story-telling was being sacrificed on the altar of proselytizing on a feminist/socialist/egalitarian/whatever agenda.
I'm going to avoid the easy snark that the only books I've had to put down for heavy-handed messages getting in the way of the story have been libertarian. And yet, there is at least one libertarian, climate change denier, and general crazy who still tells a heck of a story while beating on those drums (Hogan) and I still enjoy his books.
Instead, the direction I want to explore is why I am not driven away by, why in fact I (an educated, straight, white male) am more attracted to books that go beyond the standard model of heroic white male military man/engineer/two-fisted scientist having rousing adventures and a little between-the-chapter-breaks hetero sex.
It isn't because those can't be good reads. It is that I've already read it. I've done the standard model. And this is why I mention Amazon above; I can see the benefit of being able to find something exactly like that which I already know I enjoy. But I don't require that it all be like that. I don't even require that the majority be like that.
This is where I so easily part company with the fears of the Gamer Gaters and Puppies alone. Medal of Honor games are still being put out every year. Baen Books is still publishing standard-model military sci-fi. These show no signs of going away, and there's enough to slake the thirst of anyone who isn't retired and helpless to find anything else to do with the endless hours of their day.
When I go to a deli, I like to order the named sandwiches. I already know what a sandwich made "my" way tastes like. I've made it before. I want to see what someone else can dream up. And if I like it, then even if I am hungry and in a hurry and just want something I trust to eat, the list of foods I already know and trust will be a little longer.
So I like reading a story with different aims. Different kinds of characters. And even if it appears to be the standard model, when you open the field up to people who have proven capable of writing about other experiences, they are also going to discover new insights and new angles in the standard model.
So, no, I don't think you lose the "Just a plain adventure story with rocketships and dinosaurs and white male heroes with rayguns clenched in their tan burly fists" if you allow other stuff to get written and read and, yes, win some Hugo awards. You get new tools and tricks that filter across the field, so even the most reactionary of the old guard (assuming there is one!) can write the kind of story the puppies were asking for...and make it even better at the things they want it to do!
Meanwhile I've got a new job. Back on full time for the first time since...well, it's a couple decades back. Too early to say if I'll be working full time long enough to make changes in how I do things. If I do less props, give up my TechShop membership, or whatever. Waaay too early to say any of this, because I have yet to complete a full week. The most consecutive days I've worked so far is...two.
Today was more stripping old carpet off dollies and putting fresh carpet on them. Plus getting into a long-range modification of the dollies they've been putting off for months due to lack of labor/time to do it. Which meant a big chunk of the day was in the very cool little "wood shop." Which has the basic tools for wood working, but is really more of a machine shop. Including mill and lathe, pretty much the same series as the ones I've been using at TechShop.
All is not high tech in my life, though. I ran out of ground coffee one morning and did a cup of slip-joint; used a pair of pliers to crush coffee beans one by one. It was laborious, but I got my morning cup out of it. The most paleo-tech exercise was folding boxes for recycling; I guess I've been reading enough about neolithic culture and technology I finally realized that the gravel in the recycling area has pieces with enough of a flaked edge to be used to slash tape. And the last low-tech improvisation was matching the old elastic of a pair of vintage goggles by tea-dying (actually, I brewed up black coffee, threw in an equal amount of roibos tea, and simmered the material in that for an hour to reach a half-decent reddish tan).
I'm going to avoid the easy snark that the only books I've had to put down for heavy-handed messages getting in the way of the story have been libertarian. And yet, there is at least one libertarian, climate change denier, and general crazy who still tells a heck of a story while beating on those drums (Hogan) and I still enjoy his books.
Instead, the direction I want to explore is why I am not driven away by, why in fact I (an educated, straight, white male) am more attracted to books that go beyond the standard model of heroic white male military man/engineer/two-fisted scientist having rousing adventures and a little between-the-chapter-breaks hetero sex.
It isn't because those can't be good reads. It is that I've already read it. I've done the standard model. And this is why I mention Amazon above; I can see the benefit of being able to find something exactly like that which I already know I enjoy. But I don't require that it all be like that. I don't even require that the majority be like that.
This is where I so easily part company with the fears of the Gamer Gaters and Puppies alone. Medal of Honor games are still being put out every year. Baen Books is still publishing standard-model military sci-fi. These show no signs of going away, and there's enough to slake the thirst of anyone who isn't retired and helpless to find anything else to do with the endless hours of their day.
When I go to a deli, I like to order the named sandwiches. I already know what a sandwich made "my" way tastes like. I've made it before. I want to see what someone else can dream up. And if I like it, then even if I am hungry and in a hurry and just want something I trust to eat, the list of foods I already know and trust will be a little longer.
So I like reading a story with different aims. Different kinds of characters. And even if it appears to be the standard model, when you open the field up to people who have proven capable of writing about other experiences, they are also going to discover new insights and new angles in the standard model.
So, no, I don't think you lose the "Just a plain adventure story with rocketships and dinosaurs and white male heroes with rayguns clenched in their tan burly fists" if you allow other stuff to get written and read and, yes, win some Hugo awards. You get new tools and tricks that filter across the field, so even the most reactionary of the old guard (assuming there is one!) can write the kind of story the puppies were asking for...and make it even better at the things they want it to do!
Meanwhile I've got a new job. Back on full time for the first time since...well, it's a couple decades back. Too early to say if I'll be working full time long enough to make changes in how I do things. If I do less props, give up my TechShop membership, or whatever. Waaay too early to say any of this, because I have yet to complete a full week. The most consecutive days I've worked so far is...two.
Today was more stripping old carpet off dollies and putting fresh carpet on them. Plus getting into a long-range modification of the dollies they've been putting off for months due to lack of labor/time to do it. Which meant a big chunk of the day was in the very cool little "wood shop." Which has the basic tools for wood working, but is really more of a machine shop. Including mill and lathe, pretty much the same series as the ones I've been using at TechShop.
All is not high tech in my life, though. I ran out of ground coffee one morning and did a cup of slip-joint; used a pair of pliers to crush coffee beans one by one. It was laborious, but I got my morning cup out of it. The most paleo-tech exercise was folding boxes for recycling; I guess I've been reading enough about neolithic culture and technology I finally realized that the gravel in the recycling area has pieces with enough of a flaked edge to be used to slash tape. And the last low-tech improvisation was matching the old elastic of a pair of vintage goggles by tea-dying (actually, I brewed up black coffee, threw in an equal amount of roibos tea, and simmered the material in that for an hour to reach a half-decent reddish tan).
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Tomb Raider on "hard"
I decided I was going to stay away from the 2013 game until I made my Mac upgrade; with luck I'd have forgotten enough of the details to make it fresh again, plus I was going to play it on the "hard" setting. And oh yes...turn up the graphics a bit.
Well, the first and last didn't work so well. Oddly enough, except for some glitches, running the PC version in Wine appears to get as good a framerate, maybe even better. Well...part of what I'm seeing is possibly an intentional wandering reticule imposed by the "hard" version.
In any case, "hard" actually corrects some of the ridiculousness of the game and perhaps even a bit of the strong ludonarrative disconnect. Lara is in a rather more realistic amount of danger. You can get killed with one or two swipes of a blade, and a machine gun will kill you in a fraction of a second if you let yourself get caught out in the open.
Regenerative health is slowed way down, to the point that injuries you take in a battle essentially are your problem in that battle. And in the close confines of the game levels, with smart, pursuit-oriented AI, you really have to work to break away enough to get any recovery. All in all, it feels a lot more like catching your breath for a moment; effectively, you are still hurt and going to die if they hit you again, and you can't just hide behind a rock and wait until your hit points are back to full.
Meanwhile the enemy regenerates, and as fast (or faster!) than you do. They can take a lot more hits than you can, and if you don't concentrate on putting them down for good they will recover and come back after you in very short order.
So cover becomes a lot more necessary. Furthermore, "hard" introduces a flinch status effect; if you get hit at all, you reel and drop target. So no more standing out in the open taking calm headshots. You really have to use cover, and pop your head up for brief moments only.
Oddly enough, though, I was able to play to the end getting killed at about the same rate I was used to. Partly because I'd been playing through just the combat sessions most recently and trying stupider and stupider things (like using only the pistol, or by trying to get through the big fights on almost entirely melee). I was able to get through the set pieces by making my decision cycle just a little faster (aiming quicker, finding cover quicker), and increasing my situational awareness (really staying conscious of incoming dynamite, enemies with ranged attack, and also keeping an eye out for environmental options.)
Oh, yeah. The flaming barrels also do less damage to the enemy, so you can't rely on them as much. Or, rather, you have to use them as a stun effect and follow up.
Starting a second run, I was feeling comfortable enough with "hard" setting to indulge in some melee again. This was tougher, as the enemy ranged fire is a lot less distracted by your running around, and the melee AI is a lot smarter about reacting to an early dodge. I got killed by ONE samurai half a dozen times before I finally figured out how to demonstrate to him that ancient steel katana against aluminium alloy ice axe wasn't as one-sided as he thought it was.
Discomfitingly (but quite realistically) the game believes the proper technique in many of the larger set pieces is to select the automatic rifle and hose. In the final showdown against the Oni (about a hundred samurai) it works just fine to re-enact the Battle of Nagashino; only instead of putting lacquer armor against volleys of arquebus, you are relying on the devastating firepower of a modern assault rifle with underslung grenade launcher.
You can actually get through a lot of the battles with not particularly much trouble by hosing with the automatic rifle, using the plentiful ammo the game has made available for that one weapon. It is a lot harder on "hard" to cherry-tap with just pistol or bow, as both do significantly less damage with each shot in this mode, and the game still doesn't see fit to distribute their ammo quite as copiously. I actually had to go through my old routine of allowing melee opponents to close so I could whack them with the ice axe then go through their pockets for reloads for my preferred weapon!
Oh, and as is the wont for cover-based games, the cover mechanism itself gets you killed a lot. Get too close to a crate and Lara will hunker down despite being in a pitched melee battle at the moment, and despite being on the side facing the machine gun at the time. And as you try to maneuver her around to the side which actually provides some protection, the seek-cover AI makes her cling to the damned thing instead of moving nimbly, as if the damned thing was covered in rubber cement.
On the good side for the game, the AI is smart, and will toss grenades in after you as well as sending flankers. It is pretty much impossible to camp and snipe. You have to keep moving. And that too is realistic.
So, yeah. It feels a lot less like you are invincible, and even bows and arrows a lot more credible a threat. Automatic weapons are properly terrifying; you have to prioritize those and give them no chance to hit you at all. Because even a couple rounds or a fraction of a second caught in the open will kill you.
And that makes Lara's cutscene reactions a little more plausible (although why, particularly after the game's little Japanese history lesson, it insists on having her arm herself with her weakest weapon in every cutscene instead of just pulling out the automatic rifle...)
Of course, it would still be a better game it Lara had options other than fight her way through everything, if the big set-pieces weren't so egregiously insistent on being arena-style combat against a massed and alerted enemy (which only emphasize how appallingly silly it is that Lara survives them), and if tombs and puzzles weren't given such a grudging and even patronizing treatment (a very "Oh, very well, if you have to have these things...")
I've said it before. She's a climber, she's smart, she's an archaeologist. And she has the usual "hero" angle of winning through because they are desperate enough to try something spectacularly foolish and dangerous. But none of this is utilized by the game. She doesn't get the chance to do a risky climb over their heads, or find something cool and exploitable in her environment, or read an ancient inscription to find a secret way. Instead she fights face-to-face (even hand to hand) and wins because the player's mouse hand is just a little faster at lining up the reticule than the AI is.
That doesn't support the character or the underlying story, and it doesn't feel real either. And at the end of the day, for every bit of accomplishment you feel, there is an accompanying bit of frustration in how the game is manipulating you and/or taking the play out of your hands entirely.
At first blush the experience is cinematic, but the more you play, the more conscious you are of just how much work went into coldly and cruelly patching every possible hole to ensure that no player, no matter how good, could possibly take the tightly scripted vehicle off the rails for even a second.
And once you realize that, you can't help but squarely blame the creators for completely failing to realize the story they are trying to present is poorly thought out to the point of being schizoid. That their meticulously crafted combat sections have damned-all to do with the story of the young archaeologist trapped on this demon-haunted island.
Well, the first and last didn't work so well. Oddly enough, except for some glitches, running the PC version in Wine appears to get as good a framerate, maybe even better. Well...part of what I'm seeing is possibly an intentional wandering reticule imposed by the "hard" version.
In any case, "hard" actually corrects some of the ridiculousness of the game and perhaps even a bit of the strong ludonarrative disconnect. Lara is in a rather more realistic amount of danger. You can get killed with one or two swipes of a blade, and a machine gun will kill you in a fraction of a second if you let yourself get caught out in the open.
Regenerative health is slowed way down, to the point that injuries you take in a battle essentially are your problem in that battle. And in the close confines of the game levels, with smart, pursuit-oriented AI, you really have to work to break away enough to get any recovery. All in all, it feels a lot more like catching your breath for a moment; effectively, you are still hurt and going to die if they hit you again, and you can't just hide behind a rock and wait until your hit points are back to full.
Meanwhile the enemy regenerates, and as fast (or faster!) than you do. They can take a lot more hits than you can, and if you don't concentrate on putting them down for good they will recover and come back after you in very short order.
So cover becomes a lot more necessary. Furthermore, "hard" introduces a flinch status effect; if you get hit at all, you reel and drop target. So no more standing out in the open taking calm headshots. You really have to use cover, and pop your head up for brief moments only.
Oddly enough, though, I was able to play to the end getting killed at about the same rate I was used to. Partly because I'd been playing through just the combat sessions most recently and trying stupider and stupider things (like using only the pistol, or by trying to get through the big fights on almost entirely melee). I was able to get through the set pieces by making my decision cycle just a little faster (aiming quicker, finding cover quicker), and increasing my situational awareness (really staying conscious of incoming dynamite, enemies with ranged attack, and also keeping an eye out for environmental options.)
Oh, yeah. The flaming barrels also do less damage to the enemy, so you can't rely on them as much. Or, rather, you have to use them as a stun effect and follow up.
Starting a second run, I was feeling comfortable enough with "hard" setting to indulge in some melee again. This was tougher, as the enemy ranged fire is a lot less distracted by your running around, and the melee AI is a lot smarter about reacting to an early dodge. I got killed by ONE samurai half a dozen times before I finally figured out how to demonstrate to him that ancient steel katana against aluminium alloy ice axe wasn't as one-sided as he thought it was.
Discomfitingly (but quite realistically) the game believes the proper technique in many of the larger set pieces is to select the automatic rifle and hose. In the final showdown against the Oni (about a hundred samurai) it works just fine to re-enact the Battle of Nagashino; only instead of putting lacquer armor against volleys of arquebus, you are relying on the devastating firepower of a modern assault rifle with underslung grenade launcher.
You can actually get through a lot of the battles with not particularly much trouble by hosing with the automatic rifle, using the plentiful ammo the game has made available for that one weapon. It is a lot harder on "hard" to cherry-tap with just pistol or bow, as both do significantly less damage with each shot in this mode, and the game still doesn't see fit to distribute their ammo quite as copiously. I actually had to go through my old routine of allowing melee opponents to close so I could whack them with the ice axe then go through their pockets for reloads for my preferred weapon!
Oh, and as is the wont for cover-based games, the cover mechanism itself gets you killed a lot. Get too close to a crate and Lara will hunker down despite being in a pitched melee battle at the moment, and despite being on the side facing the machine gun at the time. And as you try to maneuver her around to the side which actually provides some protection, the seek-cover AI makes her cling to the damned thing instead of moving nimbly, as if the damned thing was covered in rubber cement.
On the good side for the game, the AI is smart, and will toss grenades in after you as well as sending flankers. It is pretty much impossible to camp and snipe. You have to keep moving. And that too is realistic.
So, yeah. It feels a lot less like you are invincible, and even bows and arrows a lot more credible a threat. Automatic weapons are properly terrifying; you have to prioritize those and give them no chance to hit you at all. Because even a couple rounds or a fraction of a second caught in the open will kill you.
And that makes Lara's cutscene reactions a little more plausible (although why, particularly after the game's little Japanese history lesson, it insists on having her arm herself with her weakest weapon in every cutscene instead of just pulling out the automatic rifle...)
Of course, it would still be a better game it Lara had options other than fight her way through everything, if the big set-pieces weren't so egregiously insistent on being arena-style combat against a massed and alerted enemy (which only emphasize how appallingly silly it is that Lara survives them), and if tombs and puzzles weren't given such a grudging and even patronizing treatment (a very "Oh, very well, if you have to have these things...")
I've said it before. She's a climber, she's smart, she's an archaeologist. And she has the usual "hero" angle of winning through because they are desperate enough to try something spectacularly foolish and dangerous. But none of this is utilized by the game. She doesn't get the chance to do a risky climb over their heads, or find something cool and exploitable in her environment, or read an ancient inscription to find a secret way. Instead she fights face-to-face (even hand to hand) and wins because the player's mouse hand is just a little faster at lining up the reticule than the AI is.
That doesn't support the character or the underlying story, and it doesn't feel real either. And at the end of the day, for every bit of accomplishment you feel, there is an accompanying bit of frustration in how the game is manipulating you and/or taking the play out of your hands entirely.
At first blush the experience is cinematic, but the more you play, the more conscious you are of just how much work went into coldly and cruelly patching every possible hole to ensure that no player, no matter how good, could possibly take the tightly scripted vehicle off the rails for even a second.
And once you realize that, you can't help but squarely blame the creators for completely failing to realize the story they are trying to present is poorly thought out to the point of being schizoid. That their meticulously crafted combat sections have damned-all to do with the story of the young archaeologist trapped on this demon-haunted island.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)