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Rewriting Lanius: Fixing Fallout: New Vegas’ Ending

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A couple of days ago Jon of Many A True Nerd uploaded a video on the trouble with the Speech skill in Fallout. There’s a lot to get into with that, and you should really watch that video, but the gist of it is: it’s either OP, or practically useless. The major illustration is what I’m going to talk about today: the final boss fight in New Vegas, against Legate Lanius. If you have Speech maxed out – and only Speech – you win the fight without even fighting (and thus the game). That’s pretty crazy – again, watch the video – and so Jon puts forth a few ideas that might fix this one particular issue, without going against the point of “winning without combat”:

  • be a sufficiently good warrior that Lanius runs away (especially if you’ve already cleared out the Legion Camp) – this also involves revamping the rep system.
  • have the previous fight for the Hoover Dam go so well for the NCR that Lanius doesn’t see the point of continuing a lost battle, and retreats – this again involves a rework of the rep system.
  • be able to convince the Kahns to attack the Legion interior, which would force Lanius to retreat to take care of that threat – if you choose to tell him.

I thought that’s a pretty fun idea, so I’m going to propose some ideas of my own. As it stands presently in the game, you basically just say that continuing on is pointless, as the Legion can’t handle the logistics of holding the Dam and New Vegas. As pointed out, this is just a Speech check in the game (technically two, but if you can do one you can do the other, and it’s the only option for a peaceful ending here).

  • The easiest option is just to have other checks available. New Vegas already does this a lot – persuasion events are skill checks for all sorts of skills. And not just skill checks, but SPECIAL checks as well. For example, if you had 10 STR you could try to intimidate Lanius with your physical prowess, or perhaps a PER check to let him know you see his limp. It would be best to have to chain these checks, and/or only have certain combinations work. So for the previous example, Lanius wouldn’t be impressed with your 10 STR by itself, but if you point out his limp with the PER check too, he might be convinced that fighting to his own inevitable death isn’t the best option at the present.
  • Perhaps if Lanius could be convinced Caesar isn’t really serious about conquest or the Legion, he might quit the attack in disgust. Maybe you tell him about Caesar’s brain cancer – that Caesar isn’t fit to lead, and this whole action has been the farce of a fool. Or, if you’ve saved Caesar (and yet still fought against him at the end), you could say that Caesar plans to end the conquest here, with Vegas, which would of course annoy a conquerer like Lanius to no end (and what is a warrior without a war?).
  • During the game you learn that the bulk of NCR forces are actually in the south (Baja), especially the Rangers. Perhaps this could be actual intel you could pick up, and you can show Lanius that continuing past the Colorado would be foolishness. Lanius comes of as a musclehead, but he’s actually pretty smart, and he could realize the implications. Especially if Caesar is dead.
  • Actually that brings up a good point: during the whole game Lanius is portrayed as a brutal barbarian. His brains should be brought up too. After all, Caesar effectively made him his heir after getting rid of Joshua Graham), and Caesar wouldn’t give an idiot that position.
  • If you have the DLC’s, any of them, it’d be nice if you could use that knowledge to convince Lanius that going back east would be the better part of valor:
    • Say that Graham is leading a legion of tribals back against the Legion (after giving proof that Graham is still alive), and Lanius would definitely turn back – Graham is the only person that scares Lanius, and removing that ghost would be top priority.
    • Reveal that the Cloud is spilling forth from the Sierra Madre into Legion territory at home, and that you’ll give Lanius a way to combat it (or at least prepare for it) if he leaves.
    • Dazzle him with SCIENCE! from Big MT.
    • Hold that nuke from the Divide over his head (that you totally didn’t launch already, right?).

I’m sure there’s a lot more that can be done here.

By @HellOnEarthIII

Badfan Bad

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Back on Friday Belghast posted the first of the Blaugust prompts:

If you could change anything about one of your core fandoms, what would it be?

(I’m going to be a bit late with some of these, since I have my own things to post too.) Now, like lots of people, I have to wonder just what exactly my core fandoms are. First, to determine what exactly I might qualify as a “core fan” of; and second, to determine where in that fandom I lie.

But let’s skip all that. Because no matter the answer(s) to that question, my problems with fandom are the same. Now, since the prompt implies only one change, but I have a few problem areas, I’ll use this space to perhaps work out which is the worst, that I would change. I mostly participate with fandom on 4chan, which exacerbates the problems, but they are universal.

First, there are the doomers. For them, no matter what happens, the thing in question is always dying. Doesn’t matter how actually successful it is, it’s ending soon, just you wait. This wouldn’t be so bad, if these people weren’t so persistent. They doompost constantly, everywhere. If the thing isn’t the top of the charts, it’s a failure. If sales were low, the game is dying next month. Even if they get BTFO constantly, they just come back again in an hour with something else. My ‘favorites’ are the people that say ESO, one of the big three top MMO’s currently, is in a death spiral because, just for example, a single streamer stops covering the game. Point out that this is nonsense, and they’ll be on to some other thing. Then when that is shot down, they’ll bring up the streamer again. If this was mere trolling, it’d be understandable, but the obsession puts lie to that.

Next, there are the people that say everything about [thing] is crap. It’s not that they dislike [thing], but that it’s bad. You know, they put hundreds of hours into [thing], and continue to engage in [thing], which makes them experts into everything that’s bad about [thing]. And [thing] should change. Somehow. They very rarely give any actual criticism, let alone potential improvements. Again, this would be bearable if it was mere trolling, but the persistence of these folks shows that these aren’t trolls. They’re just unhappy with whatever, and letting you know it. Always, constantly. They aren’t doomers though, because they don’t think [thing] is dying. Not yet, anyways – but it will if it doesn’t improve.

The third problem group is the opposite of the above. They are the type that say [thing] is great how it is; sure, there can always be improvements, but [thing] is just fine now. No matter how low-quality [thing] is, they’ll praise it. They’re even worse than shills, because they aren’t even being paid to promote [thing]. But worst of all, these are who creators listen to the most. These people are happy, which means there are probably many more like them, so whatever! Forget the complainers! Ignore the valid criticism! Everything is fine with [thing]! And of course these types are the ones who get the most angry at people that don’t have a similar level of enthusiasm for [thing]. Unlike the types above, they actively try to drive people out of the fandom. All the while they’ll eat any slop that the creatives behind [thing] put out. They’re especially bad when [thing] has changed from something to another quite different [thing], and get quite upset that others don’t support the change.

In the end, I guess I have to say that the last type are the worst, to me. The former two are annoying as hell, but that’s all – they’re merely annoying. They don’t try to reform fandom into something it’s not, or it wasn’t. So yah, if I had to change something about my fandoms, I’d get rid of the slop-eaters.

Most (and Least) Rewatchable Treks

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Lorerunner is putting together his end-of-rumination-series videos for TNG and DS9, and asked his viewers to vote for the most-rewatchable and least-rewatchable episodes for those shows. At least that’s how I interpreted the inquiry. Since I wasn’t watching his stuff back when he was doing Voyager, and he hasn’t done TOS or Enterprise yet, I figure I’ll just make my own list for all of the real Trek series that I’ve seen – so everything besides The Animated Series (which only had one season, so I don’t think it’d be worth it to make such a list anyways).

Again, this is a most (or least) rewatchable list, not a list of the best or my most favorite. Sure, there might be some overlap, but some of those episodes are really heavy, or might be part of two-parters where I don’t necessarily want to watch the other part, stuff like that. My thought process is: if I were going to, say, donate platelets, and was stuck watching something for an hour or so, what episodes would I take with me? And what would I absolutely never bring? I’ll start the list of Most Rewatchable, then make the list of Least Rewatchable:

Most Rewatchable

TOS
  • The Enterprise Incident – A fun heist show, and the Romulan Captain is hot.
  • Whom Gods Destroy – Garth is fun to watch every time.
  • Balance of Terror – This is just a great episode, and the drama never gets old.
  • The City on the Edge of Forever – Besides being one of the best episodes in the franchise, I really like the “fish out of water” aspect; this will come up again and again.
  • Patterns of force – The Nazi episode, great fun.
TNG
  • Tapestry – Picard and Q interactions at their best.
  • The Chase – Good lore, and a fun episode about science, with all the major races participating.
  • First Contact – A look from the other side of things; I like when the format is different (this will come up a lot too).
  • Relics – It’s got Scotty, what more do you want?
  • Face of the Enemy – Troi actually gets to do something major? And it’s good? Sign me up!
DS9
  • Duet – This is my favorite episode, and I can rewatch it so much. Great acting, and important lore.
  • In The Pale Moonlight – Again, doing something different. Very snappy pacing, and great payoff in the end.
  • Trials and Tribbleations – This is just great fun.
  • In The Cards – Right before things get serious, a comedy episode that works.
  • Little Green Men – Another time travel episode, this time with Ferengi. The best stuff.
VOY
  • Distant Origin – A VOY episode not primarily about Voyager and its crew? And Chakotay gets to do stuff? Neat!
  • Non Sequitur – Repeat the above, but with Harry.
  • Message in a Bottle – Repeat the above, but with the Doctor, and another doctor, and another ship.
  • False Profits – More Ferengi means more fun.
  • Dragon’s Teeth – Good to see the Voyager crew get what’s coming to them for once. Also a good lore ep for STO.
ENT
  • Carbon Creek – Not really time travel, but may as well be. Vulcans in 50’s America? Nice.
  • First Flight – Again, doing something different and fun, and good lore.
  • The Andorian Incident – Shran is the man, and Vulcans get wrekt.
  • The Catwalk – Different settings like this can be quite fun.
  • Terra Prime – Great episode all around, and one of those rare two-parters where the second part is better than the first (and mostly can stand alone, which is why it’s here).

Least Rewatchable

TOS
  • Miri – Kids in Trek is almost always bad.
  • Assignment: Earth – As a kid I loved this, but it’s just not Trek (almost literally, if you know the background).
  • And the Children Shall Lead – Again, kids.
  • The Galileo Seven – Eh, just hard to watch, and not good.
  • The Omega Glory – Pure cringe.
TNG
  • Sub Rosa – Ghost sex, in my Star Trek? More likely than you might think!
  • Shades of Grey – Hate clip shows.
  • Devil’s Due – Fake supernatural stuff is the worst.
  • Code of Honor – Season 1 is weird and bad, and this is the worst of it.
  • The Outrageous Okona – Intentional comedy rarely works in Trek, and this is the worst.
DS9
  • Meridian – Boring as hell.
  • The Muse – Same
  • Accession – Same
  • Distant Voices – I really don’t like this sort of mind trip episode.
  • Whispers – Worst of the Torture O’Brien episodes.
Voy
  • The Chute – Don’t like the “We’re in jail” episodes, where the point is they’re in jail (as opposed to constant flashbacks as to why they’re in jail).
  • 11:59 – One of those “out of time” episodes that doesn’t work in any way, AND is boring as hell.
  • Tsunkatse – WWF crossover in my Star Trek?
  • Spirit Folk – Boring holodeck bs with boring holodeck malfunction bs. Gross.
  • Shattered – Just don’t care.
ENT
  • A Night in Sickbay – Just absolutely terrible.
  • These Are the Voyages… – Same
  • Cogenitor – Character-breaking propaganda episode, even more cringe than The Omega Glory.
  • Dear Doctor – Prime Directive episodes are usually skips, and this is the worst of them.
  • Observer Effect – I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, and this ep is pure nightmare fuel. Also, not good to make up for that.

July and August

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July was pretty simple. Pretty much did the same thing as usual: ESO, Dragalia Lost, a bit of STO, Granblue Fantasy, Pokemon Masters, and so on. That’s the thing: when you have so many games that are every-day-games, you don’t get much chance to play other games. But, I did manage to fit a couple more in.

First, V4. It’s Nexon’s new (to the West anyways) mobile MMO. Yes, you can play on PC, but it’s obviously built for mobile. I won’t be giving a whole review in a post, because it doesn’t deserve one. It’s terribly boring, especially on mobile. Basically just auto and press buttons when they show up. Not terribly deep, nor engaging. I dropped it after three days. The story is nothing at all. Extremely generic. And the mobile aspect limits one of the few good things these Korean grinders have: character customization. It’s relatively limited here, though compared to some other games it’s still decent enough. But you still end up with some soulless character, no matter what you do. Oh well, it’s free to try out if you want.

Next, I got Destroy All Humans. I loved this game on PS2, and was quite excited for the remake. And the excitement actually was justified. I am going to do a full post review, once I finish it. It’s not a perfect remake, but nothing ever is, and the good well outweighs the disappointments. From the sales figures we can estimate, it looks like this sold even better than originally, so there’s a decent chance the superior sequel will also get a remake (and I’ll finally be able to finish it – a game-breaking bug/scratch prevented finishing the PS2 game).

For the next month, I’ll continue on my present course. I have a new character in ESO that I’m leveling, a High Elf healer, so that will take some effort. I’m getting better at Bang Dream, though I might have hit a skill plateau. Granblue Fantasy has daily missions for the next little bit, as part of their summer celebration. STO will have its summer Risa event starting next week, so I’ll be participating in that (the ship isn’t the one I wanted, but what’re you gonna do?). I of course need to finish Destroy All Humans. Pokemon Masters got a major update, which actually significantly changes how you interact with the game, so I’ll be keeping up with that too.

I think I’ll also make a list of the games I’m keeping up with for the near future, what I’m planning on playing, what I’ve dropped, and so on. That seems like something that might help me keep focused.

Daily Games:

  • ESO
  • Dragalia Lost
  • Granblue Fantasy
  • STO
  • Pokemon Masters
  • Bang Dream

Games playing until finished:

  • Destroy All Humans

Games to play when I feel like it:

  • Cities Skylines
  • Stellaris

Dropped games this month:

  • V4

Games I should look at again:

  • Blue Reflection
  • Atelier Ayesha
  • Splatoon
  • FF12
  • Tales of Zestiria

Spending, with Games-As-Service

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Today over at Massively there’s an article regarding MMO end-of-service issues, as regards to player spending for virtual items. It’s particularly about STO, which got my attention, with the person who wrote in talking about how they’ve spent a lot of money for a rare ship, which ship will of course go away once the game shuts down.

This is of course a thorny issue. All games will eventually end. But, traditionally, you buy the game itself. In a lot of MMO’s, among other games, you can buy in-game items for real money. Sometimes a lot of money. But still, the game will go away someday. In a game you actually own, you can at least look at the item in your inventory, or on your character. But if a MMO, or gacha game, or any other sort of game where those items are stored on an exterior server, dies, that’s it, poof goes the item.

The article was more talking about emulators and stuff, so the person who bought whatever could potentially continue enjoying their purchase. That’s not what I’m going to go on about, though. I’m more talking about the very idea of in-game purchases, and my philosophy on these.

The way I see it, it’s not “is this item worth the money?”. It’s not. It’s just a part of a game. It’s not real. No, the real question is “will I enjoy the game enough in the future to justify spending the money?”. Of course, I take the actual whatever into consideration when making that purchase, since being without can potentially change the answer. But I look at the game itself as the product. Will I get $X of enjoyment in the future from this game? Does the publisher deserve $Y for providing this game for however many hours I’ve played it? Will I play for Z hours in the future?

Let’s look at a couple examples. First, ESO. That is a buy-to-play game. However, there are also in-game purchases, as well as a subscription. I have no problem buying games themselves – I do it all the time (even ones I have no intention of playing any time in the near future!). But paying extra, when I can play just fine for free? This, however, is one of those times where not making the purchase would have made me not have nearly the enjoyment I’ve had otherwise. I got a sub, which includes an infinite craft bag among other perks. But without this craft bag doubt I’d still be playing the game – crafting and gathering is a big part of how I play. It’d be a serious pain without it. In fact, even at the beginning it was, which is why I subbed very soon after I started. I haven’t bought any in-game items otherwise, though. (I did buy both expansions, but that’s different.)

For a negative example, let’s look at STO again. At the anniversary this year, there was a big ship pack being sold. Very big. All the hero ships from the shows, with new end-game versions. Some of these were lock-box-only before. But being such a big ship pack, it was expensive. Years ago, I would have bought it, no question. But this year? I decided against it. I didn’t think that I would enjoy the game in the future to the tune of $150+. Or maybe not even $30. With the way the game’s going, I thought it’d be best to stick to f2p for now.

Purchasing in-game items as in-game items is a losing move, I think. You absolutely will lose them. I guess it’s alright if you think of said items as perishables, like food: the food will go away, but the immediate benefits are worth the cash. I mix this approach with what I said above when it comes to gacha. No, buying these rolls isn’t worth it, in-and-of-themselves, even if I get exactly what I want the first time. But the act of rolling is fun, in a sense (I imagine it’s kinda like what gambling feels like, though I’ve never done that), and I do generally figure that I’ll get further enjoyment of the game worth that amount, even if I don’t.

A Year Of This Blog

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Looks like it’s been a year since I’ve opened this blog. The actual anniversary was a few days ago, but I missed it. Oops. I actually wanted to post something on that day, but I had the day off and forgot.

I originally made the blog to participate in Blaugust. It’s almost that time of year again (as you’d expect), but I’m not truly participating in the strictest sense. Because Blaugust has changed, man. Sure, I can follow along, but why would I do that? Just because we just did the whole “post for 30 days” thing back in April, doesn’t mean I can’t do it again.

So I think I will do just that. There are a lot of things I want to write about. I just didn’t have the drive to actually write them. Because I’m lazy. Hell, I was going to write something yesterday. Since I’m so lazy, and have the ADD, I won’t do things unless there’s a specific goal I’m working towards. I know that’s basic motivational psychology, but there you go. So, I will write. Every day of August. I didn’t quite make it last year, I think I missed a day or two, but I did it in April, so I know it’s possible. I just have to do it.

And, since making prompts seems to be the thing to do, here’s a list of things I will probably write about:

  • A series on Bang Dream Girls’ Band Party (something like MoeGamer does with games, though not good like him)
  • Finally write out my potential historical timeline for Deus Ex
  • Give my review of the first season of Picard, which I’ve been promising since that ended
  • Do an impressions post on the Greymore expansion of ESO
  • Review the Destroy All Humans remaster
  • Review the Princess Connect anime (and thus actually watch it)
  • Reflect on the various summer events and stories in the games I play
  • Complain (?) about the heat
  • Complain some more about grinds
  • Talk about food
  • Solve world hunger
  • Bring peace on Earth
  • Talk about Stellaris

Pokemon Masters: Just What Does This Game Want to Be?

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Pokemon Masters is a game with an identity problem. Is it for kids? But how can you justify a gacha game for children? Is it for adults (like all gachas)? Then why is it so basic and childish? Does it want to welcome lots of new players? Then why is the difficulty curve so steep? Is it appealing to veterans? Then why is the difficulty cap so low? Let’s explore some of this.

Pokemon Masters should be a no-brainer game. Pokemon has long had appealing human characters; while the game obviously focuses on the monsters, they didn’t skimp on the npc’s, either. Why not make a game where the focus is more on said npc’s? In the age of gacha mobile games, this makes even more sense, as gambling addicts and horndogs flock to pretty ladies (and men), basically printing money. Pokemon is already a franchise about collecting all the things, so why not add the npc’s to the list? Pair a trainer with a pokemon, and you can basically print money.

Somehow the oldest protagonist is also the shortest.

At least, you’d think so. Trouble with gacha is that it’s aimed at adults, by design. Even disregarding the gambling part of it, gacha is designed for people with money. Lots more money than you’d expect a young kid to have access to. There’s an image out there, describing the different levels of paying customers in mobile games. They classify people that pay about $75/mo as “killer whales”; in gacha land, that’s minnow money. So, you need a game here that would appeal to working adults. (In Japan, the typical gacha-game player is a man in his 30’s or 40’s – the stereotypical Salary Man.)

Thing is, Pokemon Masters doesn’t do that. The gacha focuses exclusively on the gym leaders and protagonists/rivals. This means that all the characters the older playerbase might be nostalgic for (since the early games’ non-gymleader npc’s are quite basic, compared to those of later games) are likely low-rarity – meaning they’re easy to acquire. Some are of course top-rarity (particularly the protagonists and rivals), but many aren’t, at least of the ones included at the start of the game (gachas rarely add much to the lower-rarity pools – the gacha filler – after the first few months of the game).

That’s why they wait until you’re in their line of sight.

Another factor complicating this is how safe and simple everything is kept. That Elesa up there is the sexiest outfit in the game (besides the Swimmer npc, who is not in the gacha, ever). This is an age where bikini alts and all sorts of other sexy outfits are standard for gacha games; say what you will about how appropriate that is, but that’s where the money is. Then add on the simple and short plots in the game, which make the anime seem Shakespere in comparison. And the simple combat system, even compared to the main games, is almost insulting to the intellect. So it’s hard to tell if this is for adults or kids.

Next, we look at how this handles newbs vs. veteran players. As mentioned at the start, the difficulty curve is rather steep. Even old main story fights can become real slogs for a newer player, or one who doesn’t focus on building up just a few pokemon. Even story events – which are typically how games entice new players – can have steep performance requirements for advancing their story (good thing there isn’t much there to miss…) A lot of resources for improving performance are held behind the harder missions, so giting gud requires being good to begin with. It’s very frustrating until you’ve been playing for a while – not at all friendly to new players, or retaining them…

Until you do finally git gud, at which point you’re set. Just max out your best monsters, and do what you want. Stick with the meta, and you’re even better. Lately they’ve been working on this, where you need to have a modicum of strategy besides “hit it with your biggest stat stick,” But it’s still quite easy for those already on the top – just look up the meta strategy and plug it in. It’s not like there’s any pvp at all (or even guilds) to apply your brain power – or your money.

So, there’s a problem with identity with this game. I don’t know who it’s for, or what it’s aiming to do. I don’t know if the devs do, either. It was clearly originally intended to be a low-effort cash-grab, but that didn’t work out. So there is some effort put in, now. But to what end?

June/July Update

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Whelp, things didn’t go as planned.

Didn’t even touch my Switch after I put it back. Haven’t gotten any new games in the past month, or played any of the ol’ backlog. Just kinda coasting on what I have.

Did get some of the DLC for Stellaris when it was on sale. These are things that really change the base game. Actually take it from boring nothing to something almost good. Almost, not quite there – that’s just a flaw in the basic game, I think. Even ran a game as techno hivemind zombies. Didn’t turn out well for me – turns out zombies don’t need to trade, which really kills the energy production for some reason. No energy means no research, which means no good ships, which means enemies have an easy time beating you up. And techno zombies don’t do diplomacy either, so you just take, or give up, territory. And wars last until one side or another is destroyed. Whoops. And building tall still isn’t fun, either, since AI’s always spread like a plague, which takes the fun out of exploring, or doing anything really. Like I said, just short of being a good game. Still compelling for a run or two, though.

Spent a lot of time on my mobile games. Bandori scratches the “anime game” itch quite well by itself. I’m still not good at it, but I’m almost good enough, and am getting better. Dragalia Lost is still going, and enjoyable for now (no June Bride banner…I’m not mad, I swear). Pokemon Masters…well, it’s compelling, if nothing else. There’s a post in that, which I might actually get around to writing.

I did do one thing that I am sort of proud of (in a game). One of my Cities Skylines games from like a year ago went kinda poorly. I had tried to be clever, but that didn’t turn out well – I had done basically the worst things possible. Some months ago I tried various tricks I’d learned to try to fix the situation (I find fixing problems in this game is almost the most fun to be had). They worked, a bit, but ultimately weren’t enough. The other night I was looking at it again, and decided that, as sometimes happens, I just needed to rip off the bandage and have a fresh go at the main issue. Fortunately that didn’t involve too much destruction, but it was a more involved than I anticipated. But it worked! (I’d go into more detail, but without screenshots, there’s not much point.)

As for the current Steam Sale…I don’t think I’ll get anything. Like the past several big sales, there aren’t any great sales, compared to the random normal sales throughout the rest of the year. Why buy now? Especially since I’ve bought some more expensive Japanese shelf plastic…being a weeb can get expensive.

I played a bit of ESO this month. The Greymore expansion came out in May, but I didn’t get much time to play then. The main draw for me was the Antiquities system. It took quite a while for me to really get how that worked – while the systems themselves are pretty easy to understand, accessing said systems is unclear. The big breakthrough for me was finally grocking that I could do the same antiquity multiple times – and indeed have to, for it’s a grind in itself. It’s a compelling loop, and mostly enjoyable (it takes a bit too long to find the dig spots once you’ve narrowed down the general area, as the glow effect isn’t obvious until you’re almost on top of it).

For the next month? I’m sure things will continue on as they have been. I don’t see gaming things going much differently. My patience with Pokemon Masters is wearing thin, though. I’ll stick it out until the anniversary in August, though, as if there’s any improvements coming, that’s the time. Summer events in various games are starting, which is exciting.

Alex Kurtzman Says Something Correct, For Once

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I was reading an article about how Star Trek Picard is no good, very bad, and awful (which is true), and something towards the beginning really stuck out. It quotes Alex Kurtzman, destroyer of franchises, currently showrunning (into the ground) the Star Trek franchise. And, to my great shock, the words quoted actually were true! Just about had a heart attack, I did. So, what did he say? For those of you who didn’t click through and read the article:

If you really want Star Trek to reach people, then you’ve got to start young.

This is 110% true. Star Trek is a dying franchise. Almost literally: the bulk of the fanbase – or at least those willing to spend money – are 50+. There’s a reason the conventions are so expensive. There’s a reason there’s Star Trek: The Cruise. It’s all old folks. I figure I’m at the lower end – and I’m in my 30’s! To avoid the inevitable end of the fanbase, it needs to be replenished. You do have to start young.

Most of those old guys still going to conventions? They started young. Many with syndicated reruns of OG Trek, or with the old movies. People of my generation probably started with TNG. I’ve been watching since I was a baby: my parents were both into it, and were watching TNG as it started. My dad even had (almost) the complete collection of the TOS VHS collection, back when that was really expensive (buying physical copies of Trek shows has always been quite expensive for some reason). I still have some of those Micro Machines ship toys.

HOWEVER, that’s not what Kurtzman is actually doing. When he talks about young, he’s not talking about kids. He’s talking about folks in their 20’s. Adults. You can’t build a strong fanbase out of adults, not for something like Trek. It almost requires starting from very young. That was the thing with old Trek: it was for the whole family. Kids could watch and enjoy. So could their parents, older siblings, and everyone. Modern Trek is for people in their 20’s and older. It’s the exact opposite of family friendly. You can’t get small kids watching and enjoying this. (And really, most adults wouldn’t enjoy it either.)

That’s a big problem with Trek right now: it’s looking for a new fanbase, when what it needs to do is grow its fanbase. Current Trek is not for kids, and it’s not for old fans. The creators actively spit in the faces of old fans, yet don’t create a quality product that will actually get them that new fanbase they’re desperately hoping to get.

And even then, they’re chasing the wrong demo. Trek, like many franchises, lives on its merchandise sales. Have you seen any real STD or Picard merch? Or heck, even the stuff from the most recent movies? No, not really. Certainly not in stores, not even the specialty stuff. I remember being in university, going to Wal Mart, and seeing Trek stuff. No longer. Any merch still being sold is of the older Treks. Companies now won’t even license stuff, since it won’t sell. The old guys with money don’t want it, and the new audience – such as it is – isn’t the sort to buy that kind of stuff. Kids of course don’t want it, since they don’t even know the franchise exists.

So, Kurtzman said the right words, but he didn’t mean them in the right way. Indeed, his idea, as usual, was completely wrong and backward.

May That Was, June That Will Be

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I’ve been a bit lazy. OK, really lazy. I didn’t mean for the blog to completely die once Blapril was over. It’s not like I have haven’t had things to write about. Matter of fact, I have a blog post almost ready, that is written out on-paper (literally), that I’ve had sitting around since before I wrote this post (and indeed, was inspired by the same thing). I even took it on vacation with me, so I would have something easy to post while I was away from home.

But no, just too lazy. Been too ‘busy’ reloading twitter and watching youtube. It wasn’t that long ago when I could go 30+ minutes sometimes with nobody posting anything on twitter. Now, with only a few more people I follow, that’s gone up significantly. And not just because of current events: I swear these folks just post constantly. I just don’t understand that. Maybe it’s those kids with their cellular tele smart thingymajigs that they constantly use. I just can’t stand phoneposting. Makes my teeth itch.

Anyways, that’s enough for the self-flagellation. Now, what did I do last month? Well, I got a new game, surprise surprise. Mentioned I went on vacation. I was going to stay with my grandparents for a couple of nights (since, unlike my parents, they actually have spare bedrooms), but they didn’t have good wifi, so I couldn’t just rely on my tablet games. So, for the first time ever, I decided to detach my Switch from the TV, and use it like a portable. But what game? I’d finished (or ‘finished’) the games I had for it.

What I really wanted to get was Rune Factory 4. But I wanted physical (I don’t like the idea of putting full games on the SD card if I can help it), and Wal Marts in the area didn’t have it (Wal Mart having Switch games for $10 off in general). I didn’t want to get a game that would be way better on TV, either, so no Astral Chain and what-not. So I got Final Fantasy XII. I’ve been waiting to get that on Steam for under $20, but that looks like it won’t happen; and the Switch version is apparently the definitive version anyways.

So I’ve played it for a few hours now, and it’s just as good as I remembered. I don’t know what’s improved so far, it feels mostly the same to me, but I’m still in the beginning (he says, after playing eight hours). Haven’t even gotten Asche yet. (Technically only Basche is with Vaan right now, and we’re “on our way” to get Balthier and Fran.)

So that’s my one new game (which I’ve already played before). Got some DLC for Cities Skylines on the Humble Bundle, but it turns out I already had the bulk of it, only getting some music packs and Campus expansion (I mistook Mass Transit for Sunset Harbor, which wasn’t part of the bundle apparently). I don’t think I got anything else…

Otherwise, I’ve mostly been playing New Vegas. Playing it back-to-back with my last character probably wasn’t the wisest choice, but I’m sticking to it. Don’t know if I mentioned this, but this new build is meele exclusively. I’ve put some points into unarmed, but not many, and I don’t plan on using it. Chainsaw is an awesome weapon, and it’s not bad to use with the jury rigging perk (“why yes, I do repair a chainsaw with a baseball bat; don’t you?”). I’m also going NCR this time, and will probably do at least Dead Money dlc in addition to the Old World Blues that I’ve already done. But I am getting tired of it, I must admit.

In mobage news, I started playing BangDream Girls’ Party (Bandori for short), on a lark. It’s a rhythm game, which predisposes me to not like it. I just can’t keep a beat worth a damn. And even on my chromebook it stutters quite a bit; I don’t know how people play this – and play it well! – on their phones. But it’s cute, even if it’s legitimately the dumbest cast of girls in any anime game ever (I swear, I legit don’t know how Kokoro even functions). But I’m getting better, and the gacha is just for fun.

Also, I got a new tablet. I guess this fits in more with June, because I got it on the 1st, but I got a new, and good (Galaxy Tab s5e), tablet. Turns out that Dragalia Lost is requiring an upgrade; Android devices need 4gb of memory to even run anymore – or rather, in August. I figured that, I had the money now, who knows what the future will bring (might need to move), so just future-proof myself. And man, what a difference it makes. It actually downloads at a human pace, even in my wifi-eating bedroom. Also, it actually runs Pokemon Masters, which is a good bonus too.

Now, plans for June? I don’k know. Finish this playthrough of New Vegas, for sure. Figure I’ll continue on with FFXII, even though I won’t be doing any more vacations or travelling for a long time (drove almost 1900 miles on this trip; also got a ticket, which sucks). I’m thinking of getting back into Stellaris, maybe get a couple of the DLC’s. I also want to play another anime rpg, but the games I’ve started (Tales of Zestiria, Atellier Dusk, Blue Reflection, …) aren’t really speaking to me. One of the SAO games, perhaps? Maybe the one that doesn’t have Kirito as MC (the shooter one, I think?). Honkai Impact 3rd, now that I have a good tablet? Or maybe I’ll just be lazy and treat twitter as entertainment. We’ll see.