Club Admiralty Blog
A blog about life in general, in as many languages as I can manage. Ενα ιστολόγιο περι ζωής, πολυγλωσσο - σε όσες γλωσσες εχω μεράκι να γράψω.
World of Peacecraft - sounds like Edutainment
Wednesday, Aug 20 2014, 14:38 Education, edutainment, Entertainment, Games, Humor, parody, video games, VideoGames, youtube PermalinkLast week I came across a parody for something called World of Peacecraft, where instead of blowing your enemies to smithereens, you make peace with them through bilateral and multilateral agreements. As I already said, this is a parody, this game does not exist, but it does reminds me a lot of bad edutainment games. The funny thing is that I could see some misguided company trying to make a simulation like this in real life. Remember, just because people like platformer games, doesn't mean that they like solving math in a platforme ;-) Sometimes a game is just escape from the day to day reality :)
Comments

Tweeting Rainbow
Monday, Aug 18 2014, 14:33 Entertainment, Humor, parody, Television, youtube PermalinkI never grew up with Reading Rainbow (I take it that it was popular in the US). My first introduction to LeVar Burton was as Engineer Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Despite my complete and utter ignorance of the Reading Rainbow I did find the Tweeting Rainbow parody quite funny :)

Assassin's Creed Liberation HD | Done
Sunday, Aug 10 2014, 13:33 achievements, Action, Assassins Creed, Entertainment, RPG, video games, VideoGames, XBOX PermalinkRight before I went on vacation I downloaded Assassin's Creed Liberation HD for the xbox 360 ( I think it was on sale). I started messing around with it at the time, but I really didn't get very far. Upon returning I started playing through this portable game upscaled to home console.
The story follows Aveline de Grandpre, an assassin in the making. Aveline is an orphan, living with her father and step-mother who are well-off French merchants in Louisiana. The story unfolds in New Orleans and in the Bayou for the most part, while there is a small diversion (and meetup with Connor, from Assassin's Creed III) in New York, and in Chitzen Itza. Along with the usual missions that push through the Assassin vs. Templar plot, you have a variety of side missions including freeing slaves, taking out business rivals, and playing a mini game which puts you in the shoes of a merchant selling her wares and working the arbitrage opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico.
I have to admit that I wasn't getting into this game right away. One of the big detractors was that there was no exiting the Animus and going into the real world to explore what's happening today. It seems like Aveline's "memories" were tampered with in this world so that only the Templar point of view comes across, thus providing a "fake" ending to the game and a "real" ending which is decidedly pro-Assassin. One of the things that this game brings across is that it starts planting doubts as to whether the Assassin order is better than the Templars.
By the end, this game grew on me, and I would love to see more games with Aveline as the heroine. One of the innovations of this game is that Aveline has three personae: the Assassin persona (which we have come to expect in these games), the Slave persona, because her mother was a freed slave and she can blend into situations that require it, and the Lady persona, on account of her father being a Frenchman in high society, so she can blend in like James Bond in high society mixers. Each persona has strengths and weaknesses, and you can switch personae by going to dressing chambers all throughout the city. This way if you notoriety is high with one persona you can change, go deal with whatever you need to deal with in order to lower the notoriety, and you can switch back. Also, each persona has different side-quests that they go on, like the Lady persona charming certain gentlemen into giving them her jewelry.
While I did do a fair amount of collecting, beyond getting an achievement for it, there is no benefit in the game. I collected all diary pages (Aveline's mother's diary) and all I got was a silly hat. How about a cinematic with a back story? This is one of my issues with Assassin's Creed games: those who collect don't really get the benefit in subsequent games. In Mass Effect if you had completed previous games you'd level up earlier in the new game, you'd get extra gear (if I remember correctly) and other customizations. I wish the AC games did this as well.
As far as Achievements go, I got 14 our of 30 (47%). I finished the game the week before last and I spent a week going through the Bayou and New Orleans collecting stuff. With little payback for this, I don't think I will be going to get any more achievements.
The story follows Aveline de Grandpre, an assassin in the making. Aveline is an orphan, living with her father and step-mother who are well-off French merchants in Louisiana. The story unfolds in New Orleans and in the Bayou for the most part, while there is a small diversion (and meetup with Connor, from Assassin's Creed III) in New York, and in Chitzen Itza. Along with the usual missions that push through the Assassin vs. Templar plot, you have a variety of side missions including freeing slaves, taking out business rivals, and playing a mini game which puts you in the shoes of a merchant selling her wares and working the arbitrage opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico.
I have to admit that I wasn't getting into this game right away. One of the big detractors was that there was no exiting the Animus and going into the real world to explore what's happening today. It seems like Aveline's "memories" were tampered with in this world so that only the Templar point of view comes across, thus providing a "fake" ending to the game and a "real" ending which is decidedly pro-Assassin. One of the things that this game brings across is that it starts planting doubts as to whether the Assassin order is better than the Templars.
By the end, this game grew on me, and I would love to see more games with Aveline as the heroine. One of the innovations of this game is that Aveline has three personae: the Assassin persona (which we have come to expect in these games), the Slave persona, because her mother was a freed slave and she can blend into situations that require it, and the Lady persona, on account of her father being a Frenchman in high society, so she can blend in like James Bond in high society mixers. Each persona has strengths and weaknesses, and you can switch personae by going to dressing chambers all throughout the city. This way if you notoriety is high with one persona you can change, go deal with whatever you need to deal with in order to lower the notoriety, and you can switch back. Also, each persona has different side-quests that they go on, like the Lady persona charming certain gentlemen into giving them her jewelry.
While I did do a fair amount of collecting, beyond getting an achievement for it, there is no benefit in the game. I collected all diary pages (Aveline's mother's diary) and all I got was a silly hat. How about a cinematic with a back story? This is one of my issues with Assassin's Creed games: those who collect don't really get the benefit in subsequent games. In Mass Effect if you had completed previous games you'd level up earlier in the new game, you'd get extra gear (if I remember correctly) and other customizations. I wish the AC games did this as well.
As far as Achievements go, I got 14 our of 30 (47%). I finished the game the week before last and I spent a week going through the Bayou and New Orleans collecting stuff. With little payback for this, I don't think I will be going to get any more achievements.

Archive
Feb 2021
Jan 2021
Dec 2020
Nov 2020
Oct 2020
Sep 2020
Aug 2020
Jul 2020
Jun 2020
May 2020
Apr 2020
Mar 2020
Feb 2020
Jan 2020
Dec 2019
Nov 2019
Oct 2019
Sep 2019
Aug 2019
Jul 2019
Jun 2019
May 2019
Apr 2019
Mar 2019
Feb 2019
Jan 2019
Dec 2018
Nov 2018
Sep 2018
Jun 2018
May 2018
Apr 2018
Mar 2018
Feb 2018
Jan 2018
Dec 2017
Nov 2017
Oct 2017
Sep 2017
Aug 2017
Jul 2017
Jun 2017
May 2017
Apr 2017
Mar 2017
Feb 2017
Jan 2017
Dec 2016
Nov 2016
Oct 2016
Sep 2016
Aug 2016
Jul 2016
Jun 2016
May 2016
Apr 2016
Mar 2016
Feb 2016
Jan 2016
Dec 2015
Nov 2015
Oct 2015
Sep 2015
Aug 2015
Jul 2015
Jun 2015
May 2015
Apr 2015
Mar 2015
Feb 2015
Jan 2015
Dec 2014
Nov 2014
Oct 2014
Sep 2014
Aug 2014
Jul 2014
Jun 2014
May 2014
Apr 2014
Mar 2014
Feb 2014
Jan 2014
Dec 2013
Nov 2013
Oct 2013
Sep 2013
Aug 2013
Jul 2013
Jun 2013
May 2013
Apr 2013
Mar 2013
Feb 2013
Jan 2013
Dec 2012
Nov 2012
Oct 2012
Sep 2012
Aug 2012
Jul 2012
Jun 2012
May 2012
Apr 2012
Mar 2012
Feb 2012
Jan 2012
Dec 2011
Nov 2011
Oct 2011
Sep 2011
Aug 2011
Jul 2011
Jun 2011
May 2011
Apr 2011
Mar 2011
Feb 2011
Jan 2011
Dec 2010
Nov 2010
Oct 2010
Sep 2010
Aug 2010
Jul 2010
Jun 2010
May 2010
Apr 2010
Mar 2010
Feb 2010
Jan 2010
Dec 2009
Nov 2009
Oct 2009
Sep 2009
Aug 2009
Jul 2009
Jun 2009
May 2009
Apr 2009
Mar 2009
Feb 2009
Jan 2009
Dec 2008
Nov 2008
Oct 2008
Sep 2008
Aug 2008
Jul 2008
Jun 2008
May 2008
Apr 2008
Mar 2008
Feb 2008
Jan 2008
Dec 2007
Nov 2007
Oct 2007
Sep 2007
Aug 2007
Jul 2007
Jun 2007
May 2007
Apr 2007
Mar 2007
Feb 2007
Jan 2007
Dec 2006
Nov 2006
Oct 2006
Sep 2006
Aug 2006
Jul 2006
Jun 2006
May 2006
Apr 2006
Mar 2006
Feb 2006
Jan 2006
Dec 2005
Nov 2005
Oct 2005
Sep 2005
Aug 2005
Jul 2005
Jun 2005
May 2005
Feb 2005
Dec 2004
Nov 2004
Sep 2004
Aug 2004
Jun 2004
Apr 2004
Mar 2004
Feb 2004
Jan 2004
Jul 2003
Oct 2000
Jun 2000
May 2000
Mar 2000
Jan 2021
Dec 2020
Nov 2020
Oct 2020
Sep 2020
Aug 2020
Jul 2020
Jun 2020
May 2020
Apr 2020
Mar 2020
Feb 2020
Jan 2020
Dec 2019
Nov 2019
Oct 2019
Sep 2019
Aug 2019
Jul 2019
Jun 2019
May 2019
Apr 2019
Mar 2019
Feb 2019
Jan 2019
Dec 2018
Nov 2018
Sep 2018
Jun 2018
May 2018
Apr 2018
Mar 2018
Feb 2018
Jan 2018
Dec 2017
Nov 2017
Oct 2017
Sep 2017
Aug 2017
Jul 2017
Jun 2017
May 2017
Apr 2017
Mar 2017
Feb 2017
Jan 2017
Dec 2016
Nov 2016
Oct 2016
Sep 2016
Aug 2016
Jul 2016
Jun 2016
May 2016
Apr 2016
Mar 2016
Feb 2016
Jan 2016
Dec 2015
Nov 2015
Oct 2015
Sep 2015
Aug 2015
Jul 2015
Jun 2015
May 2015
Apr 2015
Mar 2015
Feb 2015
Jan 2015
Dec 2014
Nov 2014
Oct 2014
Sep 2014
Aug 2014
Jul 2014
Jun 2014
May 2014
Apr 2014
Mar 2014
Feb 2014
Jan 2014
Dec 2013
Nov 2013
Oct 2013
Sep 2013
Aug 2013
Jul 2013
Jun 2013
May 2013
Apr 2013
Mar 2013
Feb 2013
Jan 2013
Dec 2012
Nov 2012
Oct 2012
Sep 2012
Aug 2012
Jul 2012
Jun 2012
May 2012
Apr 2012
Mar 2012
Feb 2012
Jan 2012
Dec 2011
Nov 2011
Oct 2011
Sep 2011
Aug 2011
Jul 2011
Jun 2011
May 2011
Apr 2011
Mar 2011
Feb 2011
Jan 2011
Dec 2010
Nov 2010
Oct 2010
Sep 2010
Aug 2010
Jul 2010
Jun 2010
May 2010
Apr 2010
Mar 2010
Feb 2010
Jan 2010
Dec 2009
Nov 2009
Oct 2009
Sep 2009
Aug 2009
Jul 2009
Jun 2009
May 2009
Apr 2009
Mar 2009
Feb 2009
Jan 2009
Dec 2008
Nov 2008
Oct 2008
Sep 2008
Aug 2008
Jul 2008
Jun 2008
May 2008
Apr 2008
Mar 2008
Feb 2008
Jan 2008
Dec 2007
Nov 2007
Oct 2007
Sep 2007
Aug 2007
Jul 2007
Jun 2007
May 2007
Apr 2007
Mar 2007
Feb 2007
Jan 2007
Dec 2006
Nov 2006
Oct 2006
Sep 2006
Aug 2006
Jul 2006
Jun 2006
May 2006
Apr 2006
Mar 2006
Feb 2006
Jan 2006
Dec 2005
Nov 2005
Oct 2005
Sep 2005
Aug 2005
Jul 2005
Jun 2005
May 2005
Feb 2005
Dec 2004
Nov 2004
Sep 2004
Aug 2004
Jun 2004
Apr 2004
Mar 2004
Feb 2004
Jan 2004
Jul 2003
Oct 2000
Jun 2000
May 2000
Mar 2000
