Escape!

Escape!

Last time we left Kamiko and friends they were hitting the water. Starting from the top for Inktober prompts:

I had to get creative for the "Battle" prompt. There's no one for her to really battle except the elements. So I had the water trying to push through the door and Kamiko having to hold it back. Not a battle she's going to win.

The next prompt is "Escape."

The third frame is "Flight" with Jade enjoying himself as he escapes from the sinking train carriage.

The last one is "Squeeze" which I also had to get creative for. The little girl gives Kamiko a big hug when she escapes the train wreckage.

Read My Novel on Wattpad

Christmas is coming soon. I've gone home to visit my mom and brother and I haven't been working on much of anything. Okay, that's not entirely true: I did write more of the novel project I started in November.

It's not related to This Mortal Coil, but you can read it on Wattpad. The story is called The Mechanical Bird. If you like steampunk with a feminist bent, you may enjoy it.

Last Guardian and Uncharted 4

I've also been playing a lot of games. I went through Uncharted 4 and Last Guardian both games I've been patiently waiting to play on the PS4 -- I don't own the console myself, but my brother does.

I enjoyed both of them and I do recommend them if you have a PS4.

I like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus so of course I'm already biased towards liking the Last Guardian. I liked the animal AI for the large beast, Trico. They really nailed having that animal-like "otherness" in his behavior. Trico is difficult to wrangle at times, but if you see him as a wild animal and are patient with him, as you might be with an actual pet, then he's adorable and needs some gentle and repeated coaxing to get him to do what you want. If you see Trico as a collection of game design AI behavior and badly done at that, then you'll probably be annoyed to death. I was of the former opinion, but there were times where it was frustrating to figure out what to do with Trico.

As for the rest of the game, it's the same as Ico and Shadow. You have the run-stumble controls from the previous games. There's plenty of climbing vertigo-inducing heights in a giant castle and solving puzzles along the way. If you don't like that, it'll make your hands and feet sweat like crazy and there's a few ass-clenching moments. It's really well done.

Uncharted 4 is also more of the same, but more. If you liked the previous ones you won't have an issue with this one. UC4 is beautiful, beautiful looking. The graphics are top-notch from the nearly seamless blend between gameplay graphics and cinematics, the facial mo-cap that captures the characters/actors performances, and just the sheer amount of detail in all the set design from the mundane in Nathan and Elena's house to the various exotic locales you visit in the game.

They added some more things to help you with the stealth gameplay -- mainly places to hide as you sneak and a little meter above enemy heads so you can better know their AI state. It's fun to muck with the AI. I also like the run-and-gun gameplay, but that doesn't really serve you well during the story. It's probably better saved for the online survival mode. I played a match of survival and it's pretty much as I remember.

Narratively UC4 seems to take forever to get off the ground. A lot of that serves as a reminder that there's a ton of baggage hampering it down that the writers feel them need to parcel up to get us to the main story. There's the new, new thing in Drake's backstory that drives him in this one, but I won't spoil it for you. Once it gets going though it's non-stop craziness, but there's a bit of the been-there-done-that quality to it all. Still, if you like what Uncharted offers, then it's still fun.

I won't post again until after Christmas, but I think I'll take next Monday off (day-after Christmas) and the Monday after that (Day after New Years). Enjoy your holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

See you in 2017!

P.S. If you really, really want to know what happens in this story, you can always go peak at my Instagram.