Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane Review

 

Tyrion Cuthbert Attorney of the Arcane borrows heavily from the Ace Attorney formula. The game’s gameplay mechanics are just like Ace Attorney, you have a spunky female aide, a female mentor, and 5 cases to go through among other references (I loved the step ladder reference). I primarily bought this game because I was a fan of the Ace Attorney series as well as a fan of Insaneintherain’s music (He composed a bunch of songs for this OST alongside two other composers). First off, the OST to this game is simply sublime and it’s worth buying on its own.

This game does a great job at difficulty. At first, I felt like this game was an easy version of the Ace Attorney games simply because the first 3 cases were easy. I was able to see where the first 4 cases were going just based off of the evidence provided. The fourth and fifth cases are where the difficulty really ramps up and I was definitely stumped a few times on the last case.

Despite a strong start, I found that the last two cases are where the game really falls apart. The stakes are raised even higher but the logic starts falling apart mainly due to the introduction of new lore. Since magic is an established entity in the game, it follows its own rules and logic thus making the cases still feel grounded (The Ace Attorney games themselves introduced way more supernatural elements with each game). There were definitely some strong logic holes in the last two cases which made them nowhere near as enjoyable as the first 3 cases. This is a darn shame as the game ultimately fails to end off on a strong note.

From here on, I want to mention big spoilers and plot points that didn’t sit well with me:

·       In case 4, a talking monkey is introduced due to the fact he possesses the armband of intelligence. The case goes out of its way to say that the Sword of Spell Eating and the anti magic fields pretty much negate magic. The whole case falls apart because none of these nullify the Armband of Intelligence. The “logic” is that when the armband of intelligence is not worn on the monkey, the monkey slowly loses his intelligence when the lore should be that he loses right away.

·       Eris is a character that is introduced in case 2. You can talk to her in the beginning and present items to her. When you do, an evil portrait of her is shown. This is a huge oversight as that immediately shows she is an antagonist character. I really think the developer should remove that evil pose during her interaction as to not give away the culprit right at the beginning of the trial. Additionally, I didn’t scroll during the case selection screen as I didn’t want to see spoilers but she is shown prominently as the character on the case 5 selection; I hope that case only shows up once case 4 is completed.

·       The last prosecutor was a lame choice. Thematically, it’s cool because it’s the father of Aria. Logically, her father has only been a prosecutor once and is thus a lame adversary. A person with that little experience should theoretically be crushed by Tyrion.

·       Case 4 introduces a deus ex machina which once again, makes the entire case fall apart. Tyrion is at his wits end. Instead of solving the case using logic and evidence, his mother beyond the grave suddenly teaches him how to solve the case immediately and the case is solved. This was an extremely lame ending.

·       In Case 5, there’s a big logic error in how one of the victims was killed. Sibyl was killed via suffocation because she fell into the lake with stoneskin on. The lore said that Hold Creature has to be channeled. This would imply that Aria has to channel the spell and stay on the balcony and continue to channel it to ensure that Sibyl drowns. But Aria immediately moves somewhere else once she throws Sibyl’s body into the lake. This means that Sibyl should’ve been able to remove her stoneskin spell and swim to safety. The only way this murder makes sense is if she can’t swim.

·       The whole ending doesn’t make sense either. The writer does a great job in showing the prince’s reasoning for why he murdered everyone. He gives very good logical claims that getting rid of him would just put the kingdom in a bad spot. Tyrion realizes that Aster purposefully created a power vacuum that is difficult to fill. However, Aster is killed anyway and they put a 19 year old with no experience in governance/politics on the throne. The dragon could’ve easily been the new king considering that a large majority of the nation already reveres and greatly respects him but the writer decided that the dragon just didn’t want to be a leader at all. There’s an epilogue and all the issues that Aster points out aren’t addressed at all in any of the epilogue scene. This is a huge plot drop.

·       The other plot hole is: how did Garrick even know that Celeste was a child of the dragon? This is never explained. In the epilogue, Celeste confronts her father but the dragon never reveals the mother and never explains why he abandoned her.

·       As if going to hell and beating the devil in an argument wasn’t extremely out-of-left-field, the epilogue also confirms that there is now a multiverse and other fantastical sci-fi elements. It also confirms that emails exist in the game. The game did a good job in introducing a medieval setting with magic elements but now it’s as if the genre is now shifting to modern sci fi. It just felt extremely jarring.

·       Amnesia in video games is generally a bad writing technique. The main antagonist Eris has the power to rewrite memories of every person she forms a contract with. It made case 5 quite hard to follow as introduction of demons into the game quite frankly adds an element of unknown to the game. Because the characters don’t know how demons work, random and extreme rules (such as amnesia, rewriting memories, demons being unable to lie, etc…) just get thrown in willy-nilly with no context. It made for a very boring read when the writer can just make anything up to suit all the over-the-top drama that happens in the last case.

·       Overall, the writer really could’ve benefited from having an editor point out all the inconsistencies and plot holes present in Case 4 and 5. The game was enjoyable up until that point.

MBA: Frauding it Up

So… Almost two months ago I got accepted into a top 40-50 MBA program. So many thoughts swirling through my head and I know I should have written this back when I got accepted. Ah… Where to start… Where to start…

So let’s start with the obvious: I’m a fraud. I can’t believe I got into such a prestigious program with absolutely no business experience and no full time job. Sure, I work contract and I work as a journalist… But I consider those two jobs to be bottom of the barrel jobs. I would say that my work as a youth leader for my church is the most impressive thing I got because of all the things I brought to the table. I did so much there. My GPA is about 3.5. However, I did not complete my credential program and I wonder if admissions was able to tell whether or not I completed it considering that the last portion is simply a pass/no pass student teaching semester. Also, I avoided math like the plague in college and the only legitimate math class I took in college was statistics. My GMAT scores were horrible (39 percentile). But! On the GRE, I was in 77 percentile for verbal (158), 64 percentile for math (155), and 92 percentile for writing (5.0). I didn’t even study one bit for the writing section so I’m proud of myself for that. I should be glad that this school accepted GRE’s in addition to GMAT. Then, I submitted my application without proofreading my essay because it was the absolute last day to turn it in. It’s highly advised to do an in-person interview but because I simply did not have the money to make the flight; I just bought a webcam and did it over Skype. The one thing that I still remember about the interview is my interviewer being genuinely impressed by my work experience saying that I had 5 years of work experience. If only she knew that both of my recent jobs were bottom of the barrel jobs and the fact that I spend 5-6 months a year doing absolutely nothing but procrastinating.

In my heart of hearts, I feel like I don’t deserve to be in a prestigious MBA program. But deep down, I really really want this MBA. I’m getting nowhere with my life and it’s because of my stubbornness to avoid exposing myself online to anyone from my church group. To this day, I’m still pissed that they just fucking abandoned me.  I had awesome times with them and they were really great but I can’t believe in the end that they were all just fake ass friends. Because of this, I caught off half my networking list. I need this MBA not because I believe in education, but because it’ll give me access to resources to help better myself to finding jobs. I’ll be able to use these resources to leverage my way into an internship or an entry level job.

I’ve been wanting to leave home for the longest time now but have had not the means to do so. There’s so many little things here that bother me and I’ll finally be able to have my own place and do things my way. Also, I look forward to doing all the things that I should have learned a long time ago, such as laundry and taking out the trash.

I’m scared and intimidated. Lots of these guys in my class look like they have a lot of relevant work experience under their belt. I’m just afraid to admit to any of my colleagues that the fact of the matter is that I truly don’t belong. I’m here mainly because I couldn’t find anything better in life and felt that going back to school was my only option.  To me, you need two of three things to be successful (success is defined as making $600+ more than your combined rent/car payment total and having a job you like): network connections, education, and work experience. Unfortunately, I only have education and I had no idea how to get the other two. Going back for an MBA will open me up for connections and work experience so that’s why I’m here. I don’t know truly know what my end goal is and I honestly don’t know what marketers and human resources guys do when they work. I’m also scared that this program may be too hard/lame/stressful for me to handle because  that’s what happened with teaching. I know that this is my last shot at education because I’m not gonna let my parents pay for anything after this. This is my last shot and I hope I made the right choice.

I’m severely lacking in many departments when it comes to an MBA student and I’ve got a lot to learn. Everything I’m learning is gonna be new. This is an issue cuz I did horrible in any class that had to do with completely new material. Then again, I did exceptionally well in all my teaching classes, but all those classes were relatively easy anyway. Will I be exposed for the fraud that I am? Or will I triumph over all odds and get that full time job and girlfriend that I’ve always wanted? Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about this opportunity but I know it’s probably not gonna be easy. I’m actually hoping that the program and everything will not be as difficult as I think it’ll be.

What a Depressing Week

Gawd, I feel so down in the dumps that I feel sick in my stomach. What was supposed to be a good week feels like it's starting to go downhill. I found out this week that I won't be going to E3 this year... At the beginning of the year, I didn't really care about E3 since its lost its lustre with me... But as the day approaches... I began to want to go to it considering that I have nothing better to do. It would have given me an opportunity also to meet Chie since I think she's going.

With Tricks' wedding this weekend and Jeka coming down, I was hoping I could get away with calling in sick for Thursday and Friday... I really really hate my Thursday class and when I sent the email that I was sick today... I got a reply back guilting me about how difficult it is to find a sub as well as me cancelling last minute two weeks ago... So now the anxiety of having to learn how to teach one of the classes for tomorrow is starting to get to me... I already had made plans for tomorrow and Friday and now I have to work around them. This situation just makes me even more motivated to quit this job. I just feel really depressed and defeated right now...

Fuck You Ragnarok Online 2

I know there's some PR person from Gravity reading this so I want you to relay this message to your developers. First off, I created a PlayPark ID so I can login into Ragnarok Online 2. Guess what, my email doesn't fit. That's the first time that has ever happened to me. That's fucking stupid. Get that shit fixed. Next, I created a new PlayPark ID and registered it by clicking on the link sent to my email. When I try to login into RO2, it says that my account isn't registered. I tried several times but to no avail. Look, I wanted to give your game a chance but if you're so fucking incompetent to even let people actually play, then you are not worth the time. Fuck you and fuck your WoW clone of a game.

Trapped

Anyway, I find that my titles for my blogs are terrible. I really try to stick with the theme but there are so many other things I’d like to talk about… It’s because I think about what I want to write and then form a title. But once I start writing, I write about extra stuff in addition to the things I’ve thought about writing. Ugh, so yes… Another negative entry. I looked over my last blog in a vain attempt to avoid saying the same negative shit all over again.

So… What I want to talk about is this feeling of being trapped for the past nine years. And yes, I’ve alluded to this in several past entries… The feeling of trapped is still there… I’ve been essentially trapped by my own fears and my own excuses. This takes me back to my cousin Brian. I remember when I used to hang out with him in high school, I always felt that he was the one person always holding himself back. I’d notice that he’d want to do things or want to do things, but could never muster the courage to do it himself. I always thought it was stupid and that he should just go out there and try some times. And now that I think really look at myself these past nine years, I feel that I could truly empathize with my cousin.

This fear… Is truly strong. And the excuses I make for myself… Are really just half-assed excuses; the same ones Brian used to make. They’re good enough to dissuade myself from doing something that I really want to do. For instance… I really hate going downstairs and cooking when there are people in the kitchen. I hate having to move around them… And I hate being asked what I’m doing with my life. Another example is that I don’t randomly talk to women even though I want a girlfriend. Thanks to the awesome advice of Simple Pickup, I realize that I talk to girls in the same fashion that they do; only that I friend zone them. Well, the reason I don’t talk to random women is cuz I’m ashamed that I still live with my parents. And deep down, I would like the option of inviting them over my own personal house. I wanna talk about stupid shit; the same stuff I used to talk about in high school… But I feel like I can’t do it with education co-workers or around some of the random people I meet at social gatherings.

Ugh, it’s these excuses and fear that chain me down. I chain myself down. I keep telling myself that I need to move out. I want to be able to do everything on my own. I want to make my own system. I’m tired of having to follow my parents’ system. I wanna do my own laundry. I want to take out my own trash. I want to be able to place napkins where they’re convenient. I want to be as messy as I want to and clean whenever I want to. I can only do this if I move out. I keep telling myself, once I move out… I can start doing all this stuff I want to do. Things such as talking to a bunch of random women. Also, buying food with the purpose of cooking it. Essentially, I feel like I need to have a “certain something” before I can carry out the actions I want to do… This is basically an excuse since I should be doing what I want to begin with.

The more I write about this state of fear I’m in, the harder it gets for me to actually describe it. I feel the need to learn how to dance; to let myself go. But I tell myself that I need to find some hip hop dance class. I’m like… Holding myself back in so many ways and it’s so hard to break out of it. Even now, I tell myself that I will break free and remake myself once I either go to grad school or go teach abroad.

I gotta say that I regret taking up this teaching job. I know I said this in the last post, but a world of self doubt is starting to fill within me… The reason I didn’t want to teach for a long time was cuz student teaching went horribly wrong for me. I told myself that the next time I’d teach is when I decide to teach English overseas. In my desperation for a job, I took up this tutoring job… And I gotta say that I had a bad day with some kindergarteners today. The thing is… That they’re rebels and I got one bad apple in that class that’s making it exponentially harder to run the class. Now that I think of it, I think it’s cuz of her dumb ass that’s giving the other kids the courage to disobey. I know full well that I don’t have control of that class and it’s only gonna get worse in the upcoming weeks. Even there I feel trapped cuz I have no idea how to punish them. I remember I used to think that it was sad when kids in the old days would get hit by teachers by like, rulers or something. Now, I’m seriously starting to wish that sort of punishment was allowed in schools today. I remember in job training that they said that the concept of respect is being lost since there are a lot of single parent homes; or homes where the parents are rarely there. I feel trapped in this class because I’m not sure how to punish these kids. If I were a normal teacher, I could just put the kids in time out, send them to the principle, or give them a red card. With this job, I need to have all the kids in front of me at all times. Just thinking about it fills me with frustration.

I always thought that if I taught overseas, that I’d do it for one year… After today… I think it’s safe to say that I should just try to do one semester first. And gah, I hate it. I hate this fear that this tutor job is instilling me. If I had it my way, I’d quit right now and start searching for a new job. I’m starting to seriously wonder if teaching really isn’t for me. Now that I think of it… I really regretted picking up that Monday job… I wish I could say that I’m glad that I got to try out a new experience… But honestly, all I feel is regret that I did this in the first place. And hence, the theme… Trapped. I’m trapped in this job for another five weeks. I’m starting to be filled with a fear that I may experience this when I teach overseas… And man, that would suck. I feel like I should write more, but I don’t know what else to say without repeating myself.

Oh, I remember what I wanted to talk about… I wonder if I have some sort of subconscious high expectation about a job. Back when I volunteered for church, I gotta say that I loved every minute of it. There wasn’t really a day where I felt it was horrible. I quit the whole church thing cuz I lost my faith in god… And when I worked in Squeenix, I gotta say that I totally loved it… However, the last two projects left a bad taste in my mouth; maybe I’m just tired of doing ESRB. What I’m trying to say is that I want a job that I enjoy going to everyday. Or even, something I wouldn’t mind getting up for and going to. If I can look forward to at least an average day every time I go to a job, I think I could be okay with that. But with teaching… I have too much of a hate/love relationship with it. Sometimes it goes better than expected. Sometimes, it goes by just fine… And sometimes, like today, it just goes horrible. And it’s this constant roller coaster that I hate.  Everyone is bound to have bad days at work… But I feel it happens too often when I’m at this job. It really makes teaching overseas look less attractive.

Well, I’m tired so I’m gonna stop here.

Finding the Right Job

I remember when Chie asked me why I don't write in my blog all the time. She asked if I didn't have the time for it. I told her the truth: it's because I have nothing really positive to say. Personally, I just think it's lame to have consistent, negative blog posts all the time. My deleted Tumblr felt like that... Deep down, I want to talk about something positive; be super excited about something and look forward to it... But I know, in my heart of hearts, that I'm not happy with my life... And I feel I won't be happy until I get a reliable girlfriend, a stable job, and when I'm living on my own.

I thought the next time I'd write here was when I found a job so that I can talk about something positive for a change. Well... I did pick up a new job. It's in an after school tutor program. Part of me is afraid to write the name of the company since job training made me re-realize that all the negative things you say on the internet will come back to haunt you. I learned this the hard way with my interview with Blizzard several months ago... Now, I try to say all my negative things when I feel that I'm anonymous.

Anyway, I really wanted a job in human resources, public relations, editing, or marketing... I've searched for months but still got nothing. I got a few interviews but never got any jobs... So I decided to look into education jobs; even though I didn't want to. I came across a site where they teach video game after school classes. I thought that was awesome. The only negative part was that it was K-8. I prefer teaching high school kids but I thought I should apply anyway. And just my luck... Out of all the jobs I apply to... The first education job I apply to actually interviews me and accepts me.

I wish I could say that I enjoy this job... But I don't... I think it's mainly due to the fact that I have a hard time teaching K-2 graders... I absolutely love the 4th graders though. If I got a choice to teach which kids I wanted, I'd always choose 4th and up. I dunno... I already feel like quitting after these 8 weeks are done... I feel so... Half hearted when I do this. I dread going to these sessions because I feel... Fearful. I don't feel... Prepared. I don't really know what I'm doing and I don't have mastery over any of the classes I'm teaching. If anything, I think I'm doing an average job. There's a part of me that sort of regrets taking up this job. I didn't want an education job until I decided to teach overseas. During my first week of teaching, all the negative feelings I felt when I did student teaching are resurfacing: I'm having a hard time controlling the kids and I feel like I'm not doing the best job. It's a very demoralizing feeling to me.

All these thoughts are making me think that being a teacher may not be cut out for me at all. Deep down, I resent education. I want to teach the youth something REAL. I want to tell them what education really is: a game. It's a stupid game you have to play to get successful in real life. Almost everything I've learned in school has not directly helped me in getting a job. I got my BA 5 years ago and I still  have not landed a full time job. Yes, I've worked as a quality assurance tester and I do work as a blog writer as well, but those are just unstable and not very profitable. Yeah, I spent 2009-2011 doing the credential program but in the end, I realized that the American education system is just really shitty. Like I said earlier, I want to teach kids something real; something useful... Like life lessons. Ironically enough, things that were taught by GTO. Of course, he'd make a terrible teacher by America's standards... But I think that there's so many more important things to learn than reading Shakespeare, knowing tectonic plate movements, and the Pythagorean Thereom is. You know what I think we should be teaching the youth? We should be teaching the youth how to write a cover letter, how to write a resume, how to research jobs on the internet, how to change oil on your car, how to effectively use public transportation, how to balance a checkbook, etc... You know, REAL life skills. Once we teach kids those important skills first, then we can tell them to read archaic novels...

Maybe if I were a one-on-one tutor... I could teach that... But if I do, that would be opposing the rigid, dumb, American education system... This after school tutoring job is making me think that I should teach overseas for a semester first... I originally wanted to do a whole school year. I'm very excited about the prospect of exploring a new country while getting paid. I'm also excited about the prospect of talking to random women and getting a girlfriend. I missed out on so many girlfriend opportunities in high school and I suffered depression in college... And then I lost half my friends cuz I was a part of a cliquey bullshit church group that abandons its own members when they leave.

I dunno... I need a full time job that I enjoy. Honestly, I really enjoyed working as a quality assurance tester. It was awesome. The people there were awesome and I just loved it. However, the last two projects were so stale and lame that I got tired of quality assurance... It's just too... Unstable. I need a full time job that pays at least $16/hour and I gotta work it 40 hours a week... If anything, I think $18-$20 an hour full time would be the best for me. If I can do that, I should be able to live comfortably.

It's times like these where I wonder if I'm still suffering from depression... It's those times when I wake up and I dread about going to work... Where I have zero motivation... It's been 5 years since I graduated... Yeah, I do know that only 50% of college people graduate... But what use is this fucking BA if I can't even get a fucking job?! Gawd, so many missed opportunities. I wish I could tell the youth what a joke our education is... The truth is, I want to help them learn REAL life stuff; things that help them... Because I failed because education lied to me. Or rather, it didn't technically lie to me... It just taught me all this useless shit thinking that it'd help me rather than telling me how to really help me. Cuz let's face it, if education taught us how to be truly successful, then the American education system would lose money. It doesn't take all these years to teach someone how to get a full time job; I know that for sure.