The Witcher III - Wild Hunt

 

Other than a brief trial of the original Assassins Creed (AC), I had never really played any of the AC games until Valhalla. I really enjoyed AC: Valhalla, and I have access to most of the AC games on Playstation Plus, so I decided to give another game in the series a try. I picked AC: Odyssey because my kids really like Greek mythology and they wanted to see the game. Maybe it's because I never got into Greek mythology, but I didn't really care for AC: Odyssey. I disliked it so much, that I quit the game after 5 hours of gameplay. This was disappointing, considering how much I liked AC: Valhalla. Despite my disinterest in Greek mythology, my biggest complaint with AC: Odyssey had to do with pacing of the game. Focusing mostly on main quests, I quickly ran into an issue where the main quests were requiring player levels much higher than I had accomplished. I would enter a quest as a level 5 with the quest recommending a level 8, and I would quickly be outmatched and die. I don't mind grinding out some side quests to level up, but spending 15-30 minutes on a side quest would only give me a fraction of XP needed to level up. I quickly grew tired of this situation and quit the game. I'll circle back around to this situation in a bit, but this is supposed to be a post about The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, so let's move on.

Prior to playing this game, The Witcher was a game and character I was vaguely familiar with but knew nothing about. I had seen the cover of this game several times, and quite frankly, Geralt's face scared me a bit. But the game was (emphasis on was) on Playstation Plus, and after reading about it decided to give it a try as it got fantastic reviews. At this point, I knew Geralt was a "witcher", which meant that he hunted monsters. Otherwise, I knew nothing else about the game or the world in which I was about to encounter.

Here is a brief plot summary from ChatGPT:

You play as Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter (witcher) searching for his adopted daughter Ciri, who is being pursued by a mysterious, otherworldly army called the Wild Hunt. Along the way, Geralt gets entangled in political struggles, ancient prophecies, and the fate of the world itself.

Gameplay is in a large, open-world medieval environment. It is an RPG, with Geralt's skills and weapons leveling up as you progress, and you are allowed to chose which quests you go on and where you go in general. I brought up my frustration with AC: Odyssey, because the pace of The Witcher is fantastic. You are introduced to fast travel right off the bat, and can utilize fast travel to go to any location that you've discovered. You can also discover any location at anytime, limited by just the degree of enemies present compared to the level of your character. Not one time could I not advance the story or finish a main quest because my character hadn't leveled up enough. Here's the kicker - I did some side quests, not because I needed to, but because I wanted to. I never felt like I was grinding away in this game. The story and characters were intriguing enough that I wanted to do some of the side quests. I'm generally a person who focuses on the main story only. One of the ways I know I really like a game is when I willingly do side quests.

I assumed this game would involve fighting a lot of scary monsters, and in the nearly 50 hours it took me to finish the main story, there was plenty of them. However, this game is very story heavy. That could be seen as a negative, but I found the plot so intriguing that I thought featuring it so heavily improved the game. Expanding on ChatGPT's summary above, the main goal of the game is to rescue Ciri. In doing so, you're dropped into a medieval world filled with monsters, sorcerers, and soap opera-esque political struggles. It's intriguing enough that you want to explore and interact with NPCs. The war going on doesn't involve you, per se, and you can choose to ignore it if you want. However, it does involve your friends, and you need their help to save Ciri, so you have to get involved to some extent. Geralt being neutral in the war is an interesting aspect as well. I want to give a brief shoutout to the load screen plot summaries. I can't remember ever playing a game that did this, and I found them quite helpful after I dad taken a pause for a few days to remind me of what was going on. I would say more games should do this, but load screens are becoming a thing of the past.

When I was halfway through the game it fell off Playstation Plus. I was able to buy the complete edition with both DLC packages for $10. What a steal. This game is so well done in almost every aspect. It is one of the better games I've played in a while. I like it so much that I've started reading the books (more to come on that) and have even thought about getting Netflix to watch the TV series.

City Journal: Steveland - Project Pollution Solution

 

Above is a picture of current and modern Steveland, a bustling city of +400,000 people. Steveland is the "city-center" of the Steveland Metro area, which currently has 600,000 people and is still growing rapidly. Very rarely do I build small cities. I'm always inspired to play SimCity by visiting large cities, and thus try to replicate them on the game. One of the aspects of a large city is always pollution. I never want my cities to be polluted, but I've always chalked the pollution up to being part of the cost of running a large city. Despite nearly always having high pollution levels, my cities always seem to thrive, and thus I never tried too hard to reduce the pollution levels. For the first time in 20 years of playing SimCity 4, I decided to pay attention to pollution. Cities: Skylines was my inspiration, honestly. Pollution is a big part of that game, so much so that it can kill off cities by making people sick. While this doesn't happen in SC 4, I thought that in order to make Steveland the best city possible, I should focus on pollution. 

The above picture is a pollution map, showing where pollution is the heaviest. The darker the color, the more pollution is present. As you can see, essentially the entire map is covered with some amount of pollution. The pollution levels on the chart are above 200. Below are the same pollution maps and graphs, but this time after Project Pollution Solution. As you can see, the map shows almost no pollution, and the graph shows the pollution level around 20.

As you can see, there has been a dramatic decrease in pollution levels, and the land value and environment opinion polls in the city are far in the green and going up. I have never had a green environment rating in a city opinion poll in a city of this size. There were three main ways I accomplished this. The first was with a tax plan that favored manufacturing and high tech industry, while more heavily taxing dirty industry. The second was with an emphasis on higher education in order to have skilled and competent workers for the more high tech industries. Lastly, and likely most importantly, I used air pollution mods, which acted as gigantic air filters to suck pollution out of the air. So basically, I cheated. But either way, Steveland has become the cleanest and most environmentally favorable city I've ever created.

Luke Cage (Season 2)

 

Season two of Luke Cage picks up where season 1 ends. With Cottonmouth dead, Mariah Stokes (Dillard) is now fully in charge of the Stokes family business - selling guns. However, a person from Mariah's past shows up, fully ready to take on Mariah and rule Harlem. His name is Bushmaster, and he's all hyped up on Nightshade. From ChatGPT:

After clearing his name, Luke Cage has become a hero in Harlem, admired by the community but also pressured by the fame and expectations that come with it. While Luke tries to balance his public image and personal life, new and old enemies rise to challenge him.

• Mariah Dillard fully embraces her role as Harlem’s power broker, seeking to build a criminal empire with her partner Shades, but her brutal methods and family secrets start to unravel her influence.

• Bushmaster, a new villain with enhanced strength and a personal vendetta against Mariah’s family, emerges. He wages war on Harlem, forcing Luke into the middle of a violent conflict.

• Luke’s strained relationships with Claire Temple and his father add emotional weight as he wrestles with what it means to be Harlem’s protector.

• Misty Knight, recovering from the loss of her arm in The Defenders, rebuilds her career and identity with the help of a bionic prosthetic from Danny Rand (Iron Fist).

By the end, Harlem’s balance of power shifts dramatically:

• Mariah dies in prison, leaving Harlem’s Paradise to Luke.

• To protect Harlem, Luke reluctantly steps into the role of “the new King of Harlem,” blurring the line between hero and crime boss, and raising questions about his future.

Season 2 of Luke Cage is a decent gangster show, but is not a great superhero show. Initially it is a little unclear who the main villain of season 2 actually is, but as the season progresses it becomes clear that it is Mariah. Bushmaster is the new character, and he is not a great guy, but has legitimate reasons to be angry at Mariah and her family. I think Mariah not being a superhero herself as the main villain, and Luke being too nice of a guy, becomes an issue as the season progresses. Luke fights with Bushmaster a couple of times, but despite having opportunities to kill Mariah (or at least not help her in the fire), he doesn't harm her. I remember one scene where he and Misty are looking for Mariah, and she's at Harlem's Paradise (her club, which is basically where she's always located) the entire time. She never hides. Misty's actions as cop, then former cop, then cop again, as well as Luke's involvement with law enforcement are problematic as well, but that's a rabbit hole I won't go down here. Likewise, I don't know how much I enjoyed the Luke as a celebrity aspect of the show either.

Probably the best part of season two was the relationship between Mariah and Shades. Shades (played by Theo Rossi) is an exceptional character, and the dynamic between the two characters always grabbed your attention while they were on screen. 

Going back to the comment about season 2 being a decent gangster show but not a good superhero show, the reason why I said that was because I feel like Luke could have been removed from the story and it would have played out exactly the same. In the end, Mariah's daughter kills Mariah, not Bushmaster or Luke. Luke doesn't even eradicate Bushmaster from Harlem - he just leaves on his own. Luke had multiple opportunities to get rid of Mariah, but instead he bounces back and forth from wanting her dead to protecting her. Potentially Bushmaster would have succeeded in replacing Mariah as the king/queen of Harlem had Luke not interfered, but generally Luke could have been absent and the story would have been the same. This is a major problem since the show is supposed to be about Luke Cage. 

In the end, I suppose Luke succeeds and ascends to the throne as king of Harlem. But it's almost like he just falls into this position, as opposed to earning it through his superhero powers. I like Luke Cage, the character, but all of these reasons are why The Punisher has been the better show. On the surface, The Punisher is a character (and show) that I wouldn't be interested in at all. But one thing is for sure: You can't take that guy out of the show and have the same outcome.

Forza Horizon 5 and the End of the Console Wars

 

When I originally came up with this post, I meant for at least a portion of it to be about Forza Horizon 5 (FH5). I've never owned an Xbox, and thus never owned or really played any of the Forza games. However, the series was always on my radar as a racing fan. I even contemplated buying an Xbox at one point of time just to play Forza Motorsport. When it was announced that FH5 was coming to PS5, I was super excited and bought it within a month of its release. Admittedly, I've only played the game for about an hour at the time of this post. I'll play it more when time allows, but it isn't really my type of racing game. However, I will say this - the game looks and sounds fantastic. Despite not playing it much, it does introduce a much larger gaming topic, and that is the end of the console wars, something that I think very much needs to be discussed.

As long as I can remember there have been console wars. Nintendo vs Sega, then Nintendo vs Playstation, then Playstation vs Xbox. Third party games have generally been on all platforms, but each system had their share of exclusives, with Forza being a huge exclusive for Microsoft's Xbox, akin to Gran Turismo on Playstation. A few years ago, Sony started releasing some of their games on Windows. Then earlier this year, Xbox released some of its exclusives on Playstation. This is a major development in gaming, something that even just a few years ago would seem impossible. FH5 has been one of the best selling games on the Playstation in 2025. The fact that Microsoft is willing to allow one of their premiere gaming franchises to be played on their rival's console, and the fact that it has sold really well, to me signifies the end of the console wars as we have known them. This is a huge win for gamers and consumers, and I think (hope) that the huge number of people playing FH5 on the Playstation will lead to other Xbox exclusives being released on the Playstation. No longer will there be great games that can only be played if you own a certain console. This signifies a massive shift in how companies approach their gaming business, an approach that has been present for 30+ years. I think the fact that FH5 was ever released on the Playstation, and its huge success on the Playstation, is a major shift in gaming, and one that is a huge win for gamers. Now if we can just get Nintendo to play nicely and release its games on other consoles...

Tropic Hustle

 

The Tropic books have been a nice alternative to the more dense books I often find myself gravitating towards, such as Game of Thrones. Sometimes it is nice to sit down and read an enjoyable book that is quick to read and doesn't require a glossary or a map or a Wiki search of the characters. Tropic Hustle is the third book in the Tropic series, and while decent it has been my least favorite thus far. Luke Angel is the main character, a pilot who seems to always find himself wrapped up in a mystery. The first two books mention that his father is a criminal who is in jail, and that Luke does not have a relationship with his father because he believes his father is responsible for the death of his mother. The general plot of this book is that his father, Frank, gets out of jail and is retrieving a stash of diamonds that he had hidden prior to going to jail. Despite hating his father, Luke agrees to help because in exchange for his help, Frank agrees to give Luke his beloved seaplane the Tropic Angel. Not only does Luke love the plane, but he believes it will help revive his struggling piloting business.

The adventure follows Luke and Frank down to the Florida Keys, the location of Frank's shenanigans transporting drugs for the cartels back in the day. From ChatGTP:

Protagonist: Luke Angel, a former military pilot turned seaplane business owner, cherishes his laid-back Florida lifestyle, his dog, and flying GoodreadsTertulia.

Conflict: Luke’s prized antique flying boat hits a bureaucratic snag—its registration is entangled in legal troubles. To clear it up, he must reluctantly seek help from the one man he despises: his father, Frank Angel, an ex-con with a murky past and a reputation in the drug-flying world Goodreads.

Complication: Frank has just been released from prison—but he’s not alone. Criminal adversaries from his old illicit ventures are on his trail. The stakes skyrocket when it turns out the location of Frank’s hidden treasure is known only to Luke, the son he once abandoned GoodreadsTertulia.

The Tension: Caught between love for his dog and seaplane and hatred for his father, Luke must decide how much he’s willing to risk. He faces dangerous pursuit, familial betrayal, and the need to reconcile—or at least confront—the man he swore he’d never forgive GoodreadsTertulia.

The book itself was fine, but I didn't find the story to be quite as good in this book as it was in the first two. There wasn't much of a mystery in this one. While there were a couple of plot twists towards the end (a few people shot, etc.) the overall story pretty much played out like you'd expect. Additionally, it took a solid 80-100 pages for the story to really take off, which is kind of a slow pace when the entire book is only 300 some pages long. The first 3rd of the book is used to setup the plot, but not much actually happens and if you've read the prior two books you kind of already know the background.

Overall, this book was good and was a quick and enjoyable read. Not quite as good as Van Coops' first two books in the series, but good none the less. He's apparently working on the fourth book in this series, and I'll likely pick it up to read when it comes out.

City Journal: Steveland - The Initial City

 

Above is the city of Steveland. I've created this city many times as a demo or learning city on Cities Skylines, but this is the first time I've developed it in SimCity. As you can see in the above picture, it is a densely populated city of 370,000 people. What you can see above is considered the downtown or city center of Steveland, with the surrounding area expanding outward to create the overall metro area. I have built cities that are loosely based on real cities before (see London), as well as completely fictional cities (Westeros, which unfortunately I don't have any city journal entries for). What's interesting is that Steveland is a hybrid city. The regional map is of New York City, with the Steveland city center being where Brooklyn/Queens are located in reality. Following our recent trip to Boston, the city is heavily influenced by the real Boston. However, it has some influences from Chicago as well as lesser influences from London and even Indianapolis.

The picture above has signs that point out various landmarks throughout the city. The first thing that I want to point out is the identification of districts. This is a concept that exists in Cities Skylines as well as in real cities. In Skylines, you can apply various district ordinances and themes to the districts. You cannot do that in SimCity. However, I like the concept of districts and thus decided to create the South & North End districts, as well as the Airport and Park districts, Old Town, Central Loop, and the East & West Industrial districts. This is the first city I've ever built in SimCity to feature districts.

The picture above shows the Steveland Common. This is obviously a play on words of the Boston Common, but the point being is that there is a large, central park and green space in the middle of a densely populated city. This is a common city design approach, and many major cities throughout the United States feature such parks, including New York City (Central Park), Chicago (Grant), and St. Louis (Forest).

In the above picture is the Steveland Garden, this city's version of the Boston Garden. More importantly, however, is the North Station. Unlike NYC's Penn Station, Boston doesn't have a central station. Instead, it has a North and South station for its commuter and regional trains. I decided to loosely model my commuter train lines like Boston in terms of how there are two major stations in the downtown area, a North station and a West station. The subway and light rail network is a bit influenced by NYC, though there is a Chicago vibe, as shown on the transit map below. The purple line represents the Central Loop for the light rail network, just like Chicago's loop.

Some other features to point out in the picture with the signs is Steveland Park, this city's version of Fenway Park. Also, if you notice the interchanges on the highway are labeled as South Split, NW Split, etc. This is a nod to north and south split in Indianapolis. Also, the highways are labeled as M & A, followed by a number. This is a nod to the highway system nomenclature in the UK & London.

This concludes my introduction to Steveland. As you can see, it blends features from many different cities, some of my favorite cities in fact. Additionally, in the above picture you can see there is a lot of surrounding land available to develop the entire metro area. Up next in Steveland's City Journal is a project inspired by Cities Skylines and another first for me in SimCity - the cleaning up and reduction of air pollution.

Jessica Jones (Season 2)

 

I really like Jessica Jones the character, and I really enjoyed the fist season of this show. The second season was a bit of a tough pill to swallow, however. The season starts with Jessica struggling, both mentally and with alcohol, following the events with Kilgrave. This is completely understandable, as Kilgrave is possibly the most terrifying Marvel villain I've encountered. As Jessica deals with her own demons, she discovers that others with powers are dying, which leads her to research and investigate IGH, the company responsible for giving her powers. She discovers that someone with powers is targeting others with powers and killing them. For the first several episodes we have no idea who this person is, only getting brief glimpses of them here and there. This mystery surrounding who the main villain is for season 2 lasted an episode or two too long, to the point where it became a bit frustrating. We eventually find out that it is Jessica's mother, who survived the crash that supposedly killed Jessica's entire family after receiving treatments from an IGH doctor. Jessica is obviously pissed, but instead of killing her despite having numerous changes, she drags her feet and by the end of the season ends up trying to protect her until her friend Trish Walker ends up shooting her. Ouch.

Speaking of Trish, the side characters step up big time in season 2. Trish becomes addicted to officer Simpson's (from season 1) adrenaline drug. At first she is using it to help investigate who the villain is, but eventually this turns into her wanting to get her own powers, and goes as far as consulting the IGH doctor to perform the same procedure on her as he did on Jessica and her mother. Once again, Jessica is pissed. 

Malcom is promoted at Alias Investigations, only to be alienated by Jessica. He then tries working with Trish before she turns on him. Jeri Hogarth, the lawyer who is in multiple Defenders series shows, is diagnosed with ALS and also shows interest in working with IGH to possibly heal her ALS. In the end, she is conned by both her former colleagues at the law firm and the former IGH employees who end up robbing her. Hogarth, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, is a great side character. Generally I like Trish, Malcolm, and Jessica, so it is tough to watch all of them struggle so much.

I'm sure you could do a much more in-depth discussion on how the second season highlights complex female friendships, mother-daughter relationships, rivalry, etc. The characters are written and acted very well, and these concepts are likely explored well here. I felt like the plot pace was a bit slow in terms of revealing the main villain, and once she was revealed she just wasn't as intriguing of a character as Kilgrave, though it was nice to see David Tennant's character make a brief appearance this season. I also really like all of these characters, so seeing them struggle and bicker so much was just sad, honestly. At the end of the second season, everything was looking as if it was improving for them, albeit individually. They were still pissed at each other. Here's to some reconciliation and forgiveness for season 3.