Horizon Zero Dawn

 

I had no idea what to expect with this game. It's referenced a lot and generally in a favorable manner, so I decided to play it essentially based on my Twitter timeline. Additionally, it was available at no cost as part of my Playstation Plus subscription as well, which helped with my decision. The first few times I played the game I wasn't sure if I liked it. It had a post-apocalyptic vibe, which I generally don't like. It took some time to get familiar with the names of the tribes and the nomenclature used to describe the machines. However, once I overcame this initial hesitation (essentially past the introductory tutorial and the Proving), I began to really enjoy this game. It has become one of my favorite Playstation series, right up there with Uncharted.

The game takes place in a world where people live in tribes. You play as Aloy, an outcast girl. Aloy trains to win a competition called the Proving, which would allow her to join one of the tribes and learn about her past. The world seems like it is set in the past, except there are machines roaming and Aloy finds an augmented reality device she wears to learn about the machines. At the Proving, Aloy is the target of an unsuccessful murder attempt, setting her on a journey to not only discover her past, but to discover how the world became as it is and the origin of the machines. It's an engaging story that keeps you guessing until the very end.

I thought almost every aspect of this game was good. I had some minor complaints about portions of the dialogue and facial animation, but otherwise I have nothing but praise for the game. The world & environment where the game takes place is visually stunning, with day/night transitions and a mix of technologically advanced settings and wilderness. It is a fun world to explore. The action is a mix of stealth, melee, platforming, and some puzzle solving. Aloy is a likable main character. I found her witty personality to be quite entertaining. As mentioned above, the plot is great as well.

I want to spend the last paragraph discussing the audio of the game. Unlike many other games I play, this game did not have a map visible on screen. So the only way to see enemies and machines was to visualize them. However, the sound in this game is great, and with a surround system, you could actually hear the machines roaming, especially if they were attacking. The mechanical whir the machines make is incredibly eerie when attacking, which greatly adds to the experience. This game not only looked great, it sounded great as well. My argument against setting up a surround system in the past was that I didn't watch many movies. That has changed, which encouraged me to setup and update my surround system. I did not anticipate that having surround would impact games as much as it has. Horizon is a good example of how having expanded sound can improve the gaming experience. 

Better Call Saul - Final Season

 

I almost didn't watch the final season of Better Call Saul. It had been two years since the previous season and I didn't remember anything that had occurred previously. I read a season 5 recap and decided to watch the 6th and final season of the show, and I am glad that I made that decision. I honestly forgot just how good this show is. Everything about it, from the famous cold open scenes to the writing to the acting is top notch. The writing and acting is especially good. All of the main actors in this show are fantastic. 

The series chronicles Jimmy McGill's transformation into Saul Goodman, a lawyer of questionable morals and con-artist. Saul contributed heavily to Walter White's rise in power in Breaking Bad. This included money laundering and other crimes. It has been nearly 10 years since Breaking Bad and I was admittedly a little fuzzy on the details. I had to read a summary of that show as well to remind myself of the details. I forgot how bad of a dude Walter White was. 

While the first 5 and a half seasons chronicle Jimmy's transformation to Saul right up to the point of the Breaking Bad timeline, the final half of the last season focuses on what occurs after Breaking Bad and the fallout from everything surrounding Walter White. This part of the season was shot in black and white, a nice touch to separate the pre-Breaking Bad and prosperous times from the post-Breaking Bad times, where Saul was in hiding from the feds. Overall this show does a great job of making a slime ball lawyer likable, and at times relatable. It also puts together a story where, for the most part, we don't know what is going to happen next. This is a challenge in a prequel scenario, but Saul does well with this aspect. Overall the show was quite enjoyable. I'm glad I decided to watch the final season. I'm going to miss it a bit, honestly.

So Cold The River (Book)

 

Author Michael Koryta said the inspiration for this book came from the location itself: West Baden Springs, IN. Before discussing the book, I want to take a moment to discuss the location. West Baden Springs (WBS) is best known for two things: Larry Bird and their hotel. I grew up close to the area, which is what piqued my interest in the book. When I was a kid the hotel was in ruins, abandoned long ago. It was difficult to imagine that it was once a prosperous, a destination for the rich & famous. The history of the hotel is well documented, and involves competition between the WBS Hotel and French Lick Hotel, unfound promises of the health benefits of mineral water, booze & gambling, and the rich & famous. Following the Great Depression, the guests and money disappeared, and the hotel shut down in 1932.

In 2006, the hotel received funding to be restored and reopen. In 2007, 75 years after it closed, the hotel reopened. By this time I was living in Pennsylvania, and so the news of the reopening was off my radar. Since moving back to Indiana, I have visited the hotels a few times, but it wasn't until a conference this previous spring that I actually stayed overnight as a guest. There is something special about this place, something that is difficult to explain in words. I think a lot of it has to do with how well they restored the hotel and surrounding grounds to look like they originally looked. It is such a unique hotel, and has such a rich history, that traveling through the arches and down the long brick driveway feels like passing through a time warp to the 1920s. I completely understand how the hotel could inspire a story such as So Cold The River.

Much like how the reopening of the hotel was off my radar in 2007, so was Michael Koryta's fictional book. After staying at the hotel this past spring I became aware of the book. I found staying at the hotel so intriguing I decided to read the book, despite not knowing anything about the plot. It's a supernatural mystery & thriller, about a guy from Chicago named Eric who unknowingly transports the spirit of a former resident back to "the valley" (the area around French Lick and West Baden Springs is called Springs Valley because of the mineral springs). The spirit consumes the man, until it is transported to another man named Josiah, who is a relative of the spirit. As Eric is haunted by the spirit and trying to figure out what is going on, Josiah becomes unstable as he is transformed into a living version of the spirit's personality. It's an interesting story that leaves you guessing until the very end on how the book will conclude. It's neat how the author uses French Lick's Pluto Water as the vessel for transporting the spirit, and how he incorporates the hotels and surrounding areas of Springs Valley into the story. They have since made the book into a movie which got terrible reviews, but I plan on watching it to at least see how the hotels and Springs Valley look on TV. Reading this book was a nice departure from all the Star Wars books that I had been reading. I needed a break from that genre, and this was a nice opportunity to read something new.

Thor: Love and Thunder

 

Ragnarok is one of my favorite movies in the MCU and Thor one of my favorite characters. Thus, I had high expectations for this movie. When I read it received somewhat mediocre reviews, I lowered my expectations a bit. This movie has all the big characters, including a pretty good villain in Gorr the God Butcher, and Natalie Portman as The Mighty Thor. Can't forget Korg. There was even a guest appearance from the Guardians of the Galaxy at the beginning of the movie. The '80s rock theme was fun and unique. There were a handful of laugh out loud moments, but generally the movie felt a bit shallow and wasn't all that memorable. Roy Kent from Ted Lasso was shown as Hercules in the credits scene so it will be interesting to see his character in upcoming MCU projects. Additionally, Jane succumbs to her illness so we likely won't be seeing her in future movies, unless it is in the form of flashbacks.

The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick

 

Continuing their tradition of periodic specials versus regularly scheduled episodes, The Grand Tour released A Scandi Flick last week. Apparently this is the first special in a few years, which is kind of hard to believe. This special has the group traveling across northern Scandinavia in 90s rally cars. Hammond picks the most obvious car: The Subaru Impreza WRX. May picks a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO. Clarkson, being Clarkson, picked an Audi RS4, which in no way is a rally car (it's an executive saloon, as May called it). The other hosts constantly point this out, stating that the RS4 isn't a Quattro. The Audi Quattro Sport was a dominant rally car in the 1980s, and made the Audi brand famous. Interestingly, the challenge called for 4-door cars, and the Quattro Sport was a 2-door car. Also, while the RS4 isn't called Quattro, almost all modern Audi's utilize Quattro all-wheel drive technology. I'm biased, but the RS4 is easily my favorite car of the group. Clarkson calls its naturally aspirated V8 one of the best engines ever made.

In the grand scheme of Grand Tour specials, this one is just OK. I find the landscape interesting, as Scandinavia is not a part of the world I get to see often on TV. Some of the locations were absolutely stunning, like something from a James Bond flick. Reminded me a bit of Siberia, though not nearly as rugged. The talking point of this show will be James' horrific crash in the tunnel. While drag racing in a tunnel, James doesn't get stopped in time, slamming into the wall at the end of the tunnel. It was a bad crash, one that left him sidelined for a couple of days but could've been a lot worse. The rest of the episode was filled with typical Grand Tour shenanigans, though some of them seem a bit scripted.

I did go down a bit of a rabbit hole while researching this blog post in terms of the Audi Quattro Sport and Group B rally racing. I have seen the ridiculous clips of this category of rally racing, the ones where the cars are flying through the air at ridiculous speeds with spectators within a few feet of the car. Visually spectacular, but incredibly dangerous. Being a fan of Audi, I was well aware of the Quattro Sport and its importance to both rally racing and the Audi brand. However, I had no idea Group B was the name of the rally league that made it famous. I had never heard of Group B until I saw it on Gran Turismo 7. To participate in Group B, only 200 production models of the car had to exist, which is how the Quattro Sport was born. Despite being 40 years old, the car today is still visually appealing. Audi made just a touch over 200 cars, sold 164, and sold only 10 in the United States. Motortrend has an interesting article discussing the creation of the Quattro Sport and what made it so unique. "A car that shouldn't exist" they call it, which makes it even that more awesome.

Baseball History

I like sports quite a bit, but rarely discuss them on this blog. There is just so much to discuss when it comes to sports, and the pace is so rapid, that it would be impossible to keep up. With that being said, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge how awesome baseball has been in the month of September. Let's start with Albert Pujols.

When Albert signed a one year contract with St. Louis at the beginning of the season, I didn't think much of it honestly. I figured it would be a final swan song to cap off a hall of fame career in the city where it all started. Albert has been great this season, anything but an aged veteran on a publicity tour. Watching him climb the all-time home run leaders list has been pure entertainment. As he approached and passed A-Rod for fourth all-time, and then last night hitting career home run 700, it has been awesome to watch. He joined Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and the Babe as only the fourth person in MLB history to hit 700 or more home runs.  Adding fuel to this fire is Aaron Judge's chase of Roger Maris' AL home run record of 61 homers. As of today, Judge has 60 home runs this season, just one shy of Roger's record. Not since the Sosa & McGwire season in '98 have I went out of my way to watch people bat in anticipation of a home run. It is fantastic sports drama.

Providing less drama but possibly more impressive is the record set by Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina for 325 career starts as a battery. The duo they passed set the record of 324 in 1975, and no other battery has even come close since. Think about all the variables and perfect circumstances of events that have to take place to make this happen. First of all, you have to have two players who are good enough to stick around the big leagues that long. Second of all, you have to have said players play together essentially for the duration of their career. In the era of free agency and trades, accomplishing this task will be exceedingly rare. Additionally, the game is different today in terms of how pitchers are utilized, with less frequent starts and larger rotations. They say records are meant to be broken, but I honestly think this record will never fall. It has been an amazing month of baseball and an absolute joy to watch.

Nintendo Direct - September 2022

 

I bought the Switch back in 2017 exclusively to play Breath of the Wild (BotW). The game was also released on the older Wii U system, and I thought about buying it instead of the Switch because it had Twilight Princess HD, a Zelda game that is on my podium of favorite Zelda games, and The Wind Waker HD. I've never played The Wind Waker so I was interested in giving that game a play. Despite being an older system, the Wii U at the time cost as much as the Switch, and in some instances up to twice as much as a Switch. With that being said, I got the newer Switch, which turned out to be the right decision as I have played and enjoyed that system far more than I ever would've imagined.

Rumors of Switch ports of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker have been around for years at this point. They gained some steam prior to this week's Nintendo Direct. The event came and left without an announcement of the games. I was a bit disappointed, but I didn't have my hopes too high. Plus, I have a pretty full game queue with all of the games from Playstation Plus. I would enjoy playing the games in HD, so hopefully they will get rereleased at some point.

The highlight of the event for me (and many others) was the announcement of Tears of the Kingdom, fka BotW 2. BotW is also on my Zelda podium, and is one of my favorite games of all time. Despite finishing the game in 2018, I still periodically play the game to find Korok seeds and experience Hyrule. I just recently found the final Shrine. It is exceedingly rare for me to revisit games like this after I finish the main story. It is a testimony to how much I like the game. Suffice it to say that I am really looking forward to Tears of the Kingdom. We also got a release date for the game - May, 2023. I will have the game preordered and downloaded so that I can play it as soon as possible.