Biased Age

I aged another year this week. If I were even a mildly successful musician, I would have celebrated a bit more as I got past year 27. But I have no skills remotely resembling anything musical, so I think I was safe anyway. Shauna asked if I felt any older and I told her I was a bit biased because I played dodgeball for the first time in two weeks the night before and got smoked in the face during the second game.

Both of the teams and many players in that game are fairly new, and therefore had TONS of high throws, so I should know better. I saw three balls coming towards me and one was a bit higher so I'm like "I can totally catch that." As it got closer I realized a little too late how high it was and didn't have time to move my hands up to stop it. So I just took it straight to the right side of my face. My first thought was "ow". My second thought was "man am I glad my glasses didn't shatter." And then I panicked and looked for my glasses cause I was worried they DID break. They didn't, but they were about 6 feet behind me on the floor. I tried to get up to play again, but the GC told me to sit down. Probably good that he did cause I felt a little dazed afterwards. I...probably got a minor concussion cause I was a little nauseous and spaced out for the rest of the evening. Fairly certain I got whiplash too since my neck is killing me.

My body kind of hates me now. Hopefully with rest everything will heal on its own, but I'm hoping my neck isn't really screwed up because whiplash injuries can get worse/not improve over time. Either way, number 28 is off to a good start.

Got Horizon Zero Dawn to try as well as the new Fire Emblem for DS. I'm still not done playing through FE Fates though because I'm an idiot and played on Hard to start and the later levels of Conquest are just brutal. Tried Horizon Zero Dawn last night though and it's a fairly pretty looking game. I still managed to do something silly early on though by seeing if the player character would slide gracefully down the side of a mildly inclined slope. Suffice to say, she did not. I think I will gleefully enjoy the slide-squat for the rest of the game. The collision in this game looks like it will be hilarious. The voice acting quality is a little mixed so far too, which is fine cause either it's good or I get a chuckle out of it.

Still waiting to see what's happening with the Starsworn campaign, but I've got some stuff prepared (or at least partially prepared) just in case.

May try to get another Outlast 2 session in this weekend. It will either be that or FINALLY continuing one of the three D&D campaigns I'm in with Shauna and Nick. I haven't done much in the way of editing video, but I got some RPG stuff done as well as played through a bit more of PoE. I got wrecked by the Master Below. Many times. I tried like 7 times each time to get through the fight but the one ability is absolute bullshit. You can't really spread out because of the adds either. So I'll have to rethink strategy on that one I think. Maybe come back when I have one more level and some more appropriate weapons.

Combat Mechanics

I really need to review some of the combat mechanics in 5e it seems. I didn't understand or forgot that there's an entire action to disengage an enemy in combat as I'm really used to being able to use shift in 4e. I think the opportunity attacks are a little more devastating in this edition as well, since when it happens in 4e it tends to be a basic melee attack. Needless to say, I got my ass handed to me a few times I tried to escape enemies in this past weekend's D&D session. 

Mesk ran one more session for HKS to set up his character and I joined in once more playing as the NPC I did last time. I may be joining the regular campaign, which will be interesting as I'm getting rather attached to Renfis (this always happens with me though). I'm definitely more biased towards HKS' side of the campaign though as I'm more interested in the demon side of Mesk's Apex world. Either way, looking forward to seeing the interaction between all the characters when the time comes.

The session went well, and we started in the afternoon, which was really nice because it meant I wasn't up until 3am and hating myself the next day. I was also more or less awake and not struggling as much to recall details late-game. Though, the lack of sleepiness didn't seem to help me remember a lot of vital combat elements. The fights were larger and more complex as well, which I really enjoy, especially from a strategy point of view. 

I really liked the maps/locations we used this time. Having the environment involved in the overall mechanics and story was also interesting. I tried to not inspect every single thing this time, which I hope Mesk was happy with as I know he was scrambling a little last time to populate the rooms with STUFF to find. Also I noticed there was only one door to open, and it was more of a gate. Poor Renfis. 

Also HKS managed to roll around in more stuff due to some bad investigation checks which was just perfect. He's just going to have to roll around in everything from now on whether or not he actually succeeds a check or not. His character is going to think that's just how you look for things. 

In addition to the campaign, also ended up playing a long session of Outlast 2 on Monday. After playing a bit more, I'd say we're more or less enjoying it aside from the stupid pick-axe lady (which I'm sure someone is going to correct us on her real name about a million times once the video is posted). That said, we forgot our protagonist's name at the start of the session so...

We played about 4-5 hours of the game, which was added onto the original 1 and a half. Shauna looked up how far we had to go and apparently we're only on something like 2 or 3 out of 6 chapters. So uh...there's a lot of game left. I also have no idea how I'm going to handle editing this stuff. Usually when I do LPs with Shauna, there's no audio delay between what we see and what the system records. There is a delay here, which means syncing up the audio is going to be an adventure of epic proportions. 

As for my own projects, I picked up Pillars of Eternity again over the weekend in the hopes to finish the game and get it off my current project list. The only problem is there seems to be DLC as well and I'm not sure if I want to delve into that as an LP or not. It could mean a lot more content and A LOT more videos. I have some other games I'm going to want to finish as well...so we'll see what happens. I think I'm at the end of the main quest though. I still need to fight the Master Below, which Shauna says I HAVE to fight. Meaning if I somehow talk my way out of it, I need to reload and get my ass kicked. 

I also continued some work on the RPG. Really all I did was set up waypoints and some dialogue events. I have one string of dialogue that I would, ideally like to do, but it's going to require some mental gymnastics to determine what the order of operations on that is going to be. I've actually fully mapped the layout of Map 2 (not Map 1 cause I'm a little hung up on assets vs the image I have in my head). But I also need to make pig people for Map 2. I at least know how this map will function mechanically. I'll have two options for getting the main door open, a combat route and a puzzle route, cause I know there are people out there who aren't too keen on one or the other. I mean, I know how much Mesk loves puzzles. 

Anyway this week my focus is finishing PoE, having a character ready in case I join the campaign and trying to figure out what I'm going to do about the first area in the RPG.

8am Parade of Cars

I guess they all start work at 8:30-9am cause every single day there seems to be a coordinated exodus from the houses along the back alleyway. I swear there aren't that many properties along the alley though, so I have no idea where they're all coming from, whether they're taking shortcuts of if there's a secret Stepford-esque society I don't know about lurking somewhere in the maze of houses that is my neighbourhood. I'd believe it too. If you walk down one of the centre walkways in that area it's this eerie line of identically built, but slightly different coloured houses and it's quiet aside from the occasional child or dog in the backyards staring out at you with beady little eyes. Whatever it is, it's unsettling.

Anyway I'm like the antithesis of this orderly manifestation. Aside from the off-chance I'm up in time to witness the Parade of Cars, I'm usually the one who's running out of the house late with their hands full pulling on a jacket and trying to juggle my pack, keys and coffee, leaving laundry on the roof of my car, using the air conditioning/heat to dry my hair and eating week-old cookies from the package I left in my car on the way to work.

And these are on the days where I'm not carrying electronics out to the car, or having birds fly into my vehicle, or carting puppies around, or learning that someone took a dump in one of the cars.

I'm super healthy and organized.

While it's still Calgary's rainy, cool months, the season is fast approaching where I'll need to keep the windows open overnight. It'll be too hot in the house otherwise and we all know what that means: Shit that Happens in the Park is about to begin. It is with mixed feelings that I announce this will be the last summer witnessing the events in the park as I am moving again around September. I'll be taking up residence in my grandparent's old house as they have moved to a senior's assisted living home. The neighbourhood is almost deafening in it's quietness every time I've visited and is on a tiny side-road vs at the end of a major roadway. This means no more nights of people screaming about Pokemon in the sound-dish of a park outside, no more creepy singing swing lady, no more people turning around on a narrow one way street and bursting their tires on the curb, and no more street racers turning the greenspace in front of the house into a crash-test course. There is promise of trolling an overly nosey neighbour on the horizon though. This also may mean the return of the Crows as I think that the new neighbourhood is infested with them. Maybe I'll make friends with them this time and have a legion of birds at my commend.

So what does the rest of the spring and summer look like for me?

Well, I may be officially joining Mesk's Starsworn campaign with a regular character vs playing as an array of NPCs. This depends on the availability of the others joining, but either way, I need to seriously think about a character in any case.

Speaking of D&D, going to try to set up a session every other Sunday with Nick and Shauna to get through our own campaigns and make a bit of progress. I still need to produce the videos for these.

I'm going to try and make the RPG playable as one of my top priorities. I have a massive backlog of video, so I don't need to worry about not having any videos to release. The problem is a lot of this video is un-edited, so I really need to get working on the backlog. Top priorities for editing/recording right now are Resident Evil 7, Sonic 2006 and Outlast 2. I still have another special video I'm trying to produce, but, I need the Deletion Ceremony for Evil Within to happen first, which requires Shauna and I to finish re-watching the series (there are reasons).

I've made a lot of progress on writing this year, so that will likely continue. I have identified a number of issues with the narrative that I will go back to fix in the coming weeks. Really, what I need to do is get my documents organized because all of the work is spilt into about 10 pieces over a number of files in about 3 places.

As for current releases, Pillars of Eternity and Dishonored 2 should remain pretty regular. RE7 and Sonic 2006 will be the other ones posted as I finish them. Other than that, I have made it this week's project to get the rest of the Riven videos on YouTube with timestamps as I have left that project stagnant for too long.

Middle of August I'm checking out and disappearing for two weeks. Going to keep contact down to a small group of people and actually take some time to relax for once (I'll likely prep videos to release for two weeks and just press the "publish" button periodically...but it's not like I've been super regular with releases lately anyway).

What does right now look like?

Chaos mostly. Sitting back and watching the fallout of some of the events at work, because there's a lot of things I simply can't do anything about at the moment. One is just watching a person who has been cheating/boosting their work get caught and burned...the other is a little more disheartening. The latter is hard because I want to see these project succeed so badly, but things have been difficult, through no real fault of the particular person I'm working with on the client side. Also saying goodbye (hopefully temporarily) to a friend at work as she leaves to have her baby, but, with a company this small, anyone leaving at this point is kind of sad. I'm lucky I work with some great people.

As for what else is going on...dodgeball has a couple weeks left and then I'm joining in the Teddy for a Toonie tournament. I've checked out of my one job for the summer (aside from one final random shift...but meh). I have yet to decide if I will return in September (probably will just for Tuesday nights). Took a first aid and CPR course over this past weekend, which is probably why I have no idea what day it is most of the time this week. Now I have Stayin' Alive perpetually stuck in my head and know what happens when your eyeball falls out and is still attached by the optic nerve (you can totally still see out of it). Uhhhh all caught up on Game of Thrones, much to Shauna's delight. Carlo intends to do a final session playtest for his Fickle RPG, but not this week cause he's sick. Friday might get more recording done, Saturday is fooooood, Sunday is fooooood and also HKS' final session of pre-campaign Starsworn stuff and then Monday going to be playing Outlast 2 with Shauna in afternoon and evening.

So I'm busy and stressed, but still going. Really looking forward to those August weeks out in the boonies.

Side-tracked

Man, I would not trust a 7-9 year old to hold onto me on a motorbike for extended periods of time. I was going to talk about something else, but then I got side-tracked by a dude on a bike and this tiny little girl hanging onto him. Hey, I could be wrong. Maybe her grip is like a vice.

Anyway the purpose if this post was to share a bit about some RPGs a friend of mine has been running. He's been creating and play-testing games for awhile now. In this case, I've been joining in a few test sessions. The most recent ones we've played are a zombie outbreak in Calgary (I played a character named Tiffany who was an insufferable communications major who is kind of a know-it-all...she was constantly being lit on fire one way or another), an alien invasion playing as ourselves (I broke the soul of an old lady and got blasted in the face with a plasma cannon) and most recently, a few sessions loosely based on the Star Wars universe.

The game mechanics themselves are fairly simple, but the story-telling aspects leave a lot open for possibilities and really are only limited by the creativity of the GM and the players. For example, our last session. Here's my description to Mesk after we finished:

"so how do I describe this last session of Carlo’s fickle RPG…okay we got an old dude to decipher a map while some crazy robed cult dudes shot lasers at us in a hut while worms and preying mantis creatures fought each other. Alex missed when he tried to bomb them with his ship, Jon missed trying to shoot them, Oliver failed his grenade throw by forgetting to activate the grenade before throwing it, I missed hitting a mantis leg with a bar stool and Rob missed shooting the robed guys with a turret. The old dude finished the map, we all got on Alex’s ship and then Rob blew up the shack. The old dude fell into a coma for some reason and the map led us to an empty bit of space where a “ghost ship” jumped in

we decided to get on the ship to investigate, and every euphemism you could think of involving spaceships and fleshy things was made as oliver shot a worm thing, the fleshy bits screamed, we all started hallucinating and fleshy meat copies of ourselves came out to fight us. The party was split, our half was attacked by meat puppies while Alex and Oliver ran to try and kill the thing at the helm of the ship. I lost all my hp to the puppies, Rob lost his steel girder weapon to a flesh wall and then Alex flipped the exploit coin to blow up the constructs and flame thrower the flesh walls where the phrase “what would robo fett do” was uttered. Then a flesh construct of Alex’s character’s father manifested and broke his spirit so he was a weeping wreck on the floor

I got torn apart by flesh puppies, freaked out, rolled really well to launch myself forwards like a torpedo and threw a barstool at the father’s head

oh and I forgot that the flesh construct copy of myself whacked Alex in the face with a meaty barstool

a meat stool if you will

so now we have an old dude who is trying to convince Rob’s character than he can like make flesh constructs of his dead wife and son"

Long story short, Carlo hasn't finished play-testing all the elements, but Fickle RPG and his other games (mostly table-top and RPG) can be found here:
https://horizongamesblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/fickle-rpg-v0-5-and-remaining-playtestbrainstorm-ideas/

Touch ALL the Things

Had another session of 5e D&D with Mesk, this time playing with hks. I think this was hks' introduction to Mesk's Starsworn campaign in general, and like me, he hasn't really done too much of this before in the past. Both of us were a little unprepared for the session as we were a little busy during the week. I personally ended up putting all my character details together at the last second, but my liberal arts degree in BS came in handy as I pulled actions and dialogue out of my ass.

This session went way better for me in terms of engaging with the story and the events and taking more of a leading role in terms of exploration and interaction. One of my theories was just it was easier to work with a smaller group of people (i.e. what I'm more used to playing with just Shauna and Nick) and I didn't feel like I was interrupting other people's stories/dialogue. Another idea was that I was just more comfortable in general because I know Mesk and hks and have played other games with them in the past, vs the other group who are all essentially strangers to me. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't play with the other group in the future (cause that was fun too). I just don't know them as well.

Anyway, the campaign took longer than expected because hks and I pretty much went everywhere and touched all the things. We also did it in an order that didn't railroad the plot as much as Mesk anticipated. I became the official door opener somehow and kept exploring and investigating EVERYTHING. Poor Mesk had to make up some things as he went because of it.

I actually got to test out the combat which was fun as well. It's a lot more simplified from 4e D&D in that the abilities and skills are much more limited. In 4e you get a wide array of powers and feats to mix and match for combat. My other D&D campaigns have been mostly focused on the combat vs the storytelling, which is fair considering one group really loves fighting and loot, and the other group was brand new to D&D and hadn't had as much of the experience with the roleplaying aspect. That said, both groups had enough of it to balance. There is definitely more roleplaying in Mesk's campaigns vs combat, which I think is fine when you have that level of content to go through and flesh out. If we spent hours on combat, these sessions would never end (or would need to be paced much differently). An example would be a major fight Nick set up for Shauna and I which took about 4 hours to complete, and included ballistae, giant crocodile god monsters, a group of NPCS (who all uh...died heh) and about 3 or 4 types of lizardmen. In game time was likely about 10-15minutes. Nick gives out a crap ton of experience for these though, which gets us levelling up faster. We're between levels 10 and 12 in the three campaigns we cycle through.

(Nothing was as great as the time we recruited a bunch of giant purple vagina rocks to fight a succubus on a mountain and stop it from opening some sort of portal. We got the dude down to like 5hp left and he tried to escape by shape-shifting into a bat. One of the rocks got an attack of opportunity as he left and it miraculously hit, essentially back-handing the bat and killing the succubus. Nick placed a tiny little blood smear on the rock for our amusement. What made it even better was Nick tried to make him act all cool and dramatic and he got killed for his efforts.)

Mesk's other action that made it take a lot longer was that he made the session a kind of mystery and I'm kind of a sucker for mysteries and problem solving. I play too much Fire Emblem too, so I like the high-level planning and strategy, while trying to think of creative ways to accomplish goals or fights. This is part appealing to my interests and part experience as Nick often rewards us for thinking out situations or battles creatively.

So we opened all the doors, investigated all the things, and touched EVERYTHING. Then I misunderstood some of the backstory and confused both of them by constantly trying to blow up the station when I thought it was compromised. Oops. I'll just write it off as a quirk of the character I was playing.

Anyway, I tried a little harder at the roleplay aspect this time and Mesk seems to think it went well, so hopefully that's a good sign for future sessions. I unfortunately had to quiet down at the end of the session because my voice was starting to go again and it was like...4am when we finished, so the video again will be of varying quality. If Mesk wants me to revoice some things later, I'm totally fine with that.

Again, if I get permission, I will share links to the videos on the blog when they are complete.

Sunday at the Calgary Entertainment Expo 2017

I did not get many pictures today unfortunately. I intended to head down to the con early, but a situation came up at work. It ended up being a bit of a catalyst for a lot of things this week, but that's a story for another time. I'll likely do an update on all that after Dungeons and Dragons tomorrow night (writing this on Friday the week AFTER con). Anyhow, I ventured out one last time for Calgary Entertainment Expo 2017.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't super busy that day. My main goal was to find Kathleen and hang out with her for awhile. Didn't end up meeting up, but I was able to see what the con looked like on the Sunday. I searched around for people I knew, the LEGO display and just last minute deals in general, but like the people I hoped to run into, they were no where to be found.

Fun story I heard from the con (I haven't confirmed this myself, so feel free to correct me) that Todd Mcfarlane got Stan Lee to come to the Expo despite Stan Lee deciding last year that he didn't want to do comic cons anymore. The stipulation was that since Todd got Stan Lee for the con, he could call the shots at his autograph booth. He mandated that all of his autographs would be free for the fans. So, as far as I am aware, for the whole weekend, fans got free autographs. His line-up was huge every single time I walked by while he was there. Seems like a decent thing to do to let fans see Stan Lee and at the same time give the man a break (especially since he agreed to come).

This is an awful picture of me, but I was trying to subtly take a picture of a mysterious gathering of cosplayers all standing in a circle. Occasionally a couple would be in the centre of the circle, but they weren't dancing or anything just...standing there or fixing costume elements. It was a HUGE circle too, so you wouldn't be able to talk to someone on the other side. I'm just going to assume it was a cosplay cult ritual to banish furries to the shadow realm (there was a furry in the centre of the circle at one point). 

Wandered around a bit more afterwards. I ended up getting stuck in a mass of about 100 people in one hall where one guy decided that a stressful, claustrophobic situation was the best time to hit on me and try to strike up a conversation. Like...good job trying to start a conversation I guess, but what about my stressed and strung-out face in the middle of a bunch of sweaty, smelly people screamed "hi I'm interested"? I pretended not to hear him with the excuse that he couldn't possibly be talking to me and escaped to pet a cute pit bull at one of the animal rescue booths. I was also an animal that needed rescuing so it was fitting.

I went outside to get some air and to avoid having a panic attack and ended up sitting next to a group of kids whipping tiny Pokeballs at each other as hard as they could. I watched a Batman cosplayer climb onto a statue and pose as a Joker cosplayer screamed at him until a group of people started smoking next to me.

Lessons learned for next year at this con. A lot more planning is required beyond the Thursday night, I need a person to distract me from the chaos, and I apparently can click and drag photos to wrap text around them. Why haven't I thought of this before...

Overall, mixed feelings about the con this year. Was super fun initially, but it definitely lost traction for me as the weekend carried on. I don't know if it was my attitude or just me getting old, but it was...different for me this year. The Expo volunteers and staff were excellent. They finally have a lot of the processes down to a science and the crowds are a lot better managed. I will be returning in future years, but hopefully they have more media guests I'm interested in seeing next year.

Saturday at the Calgary Entertainment Expo 2017

My main goal for Saturday at comic con was to see Mara Wilson's panel and to enjoy some of the amazing cosplay at the con. The weirdest thing is this was a couple days ago and I completely forget a few of the reasons I went to the con and what I did after Mara's panel, but I'm hoping it comes back to me as I write. It's there...I just need to find it in my head again...

Thank god for pictures.

I took the train down to comic con on Saturday as I didn't have to haul any goods back home and I didn't want to try to find a parking space down at the grounds. I ended up sitting across from a couple dressed as Rey from Star Wars and Black Canary, whom I would by chance be sitting behind during Mara's panel. Even at the entrance to the grounds, I could see there was a lot more people milling about. Also it wasn't freezing cold and raining.

I hurried to try and get to the panel, worried that I'd miss it as I had about 5 minutes to spare. I had to stop and get a picture of the only person I have ever encountered cosplaying as Red.

So that was super exciting. I ran up to the empty line where a volunteer told me to check with the volunteers at the next door to see if they'd let me in. They mentioned the Boyce Theatre might already be full (it was not), but that I might be lucky. I ran over to the door where I waited behind a couple trying to get inside the building for a panel. They were arguing with the dude for a bit until the volunteer finally got fed up and just told them to go over to the Corral entrance to try their luck there, and then walk inside to sneak over to the Boyce Theatre. Being the creeper I am, I just acted casual and followed them inside.

Though I kept thinking that I would be accidentally walking into some random panel by accident as I never ACTUALLY heard the couple say they were seeking out the Mara Wilson panel. I just guessed.

The theatre was about 3/4 full, so the volunteer was probably just saying it might be full in case they wouldn't let me in. The couple I saw on the train ended up sitting in front of me (that's one of them in the lower right there), but I'm antisocial so I just played Fire Emblem for 2 minutes until Mara was introduced.

And she was introduced with the wrong pronunciation of Mara. I initially felt like an idiot as I had asked a few people outside about where the panel line was for Mara Wilson and thought I had been saying it wrong the whole time. Turns out I was right (yay). It ended up being what I hope was a running joke as the moderator kept saying her name wrong, but Mara was really good about it.

The panel was excellent and Mara was really easy to listen to as she talked about some of her experiences as a child actor, her book and her real love of storytelling. She interacted really well with the audience as well, but to be fair, this has to be one of the only panels I've been in where there wasn't a REALLY awkward question of some sort. I think the most borderline question was something to do with Doug Walker (Nostalgia Critic) and a past feud between them.

My pictures are the blurriest pictures. The spotlights were really bright though.

One of the key things I was glad to go and hear about was her experiences with anxiety and how she deals with panic attacks and feeling uncomfortable. She recommended a lot of books (both about that topic and a bunch of her other current/favourite reads) and a few of her videos (one of which I used that night as I was really struggling with anxiety over the weekend). She gave a lot of advice about interacting with people online and how you don't need to take everything personally, or read things when their sole purpose is to upset you.

Overall, a fantastic panel and while it was the only one I went to, it was definitely worth attending.

And then I lost all the change out of my jacket pocket in the mass exodus from the theatre. I heard a little jingling noise and looked back to see a quarter. Had I stopped to retrieve it, I would have been trampled or tripped over so I just...left my $3.50 on the ground. Guess someone had a lucky find.

I wandered the con and picked up the Cyanide and Happiness game for Oliver while I was wandering around. I meant to get a picture of how busy the hall was, but this picture didn't really do it justice.

THIS ONE, however, gives a little bit better of an idea. I think this was the crowd that really threw me over the edge for that day as it was a little difficult to navigate anywhere. I went back for the "I Was Groot" coaster because it was so morbidly amusing, then I tried to search for the LEGO display, which I regret to say either does not exist this year, or I did not find it.

I ran into a few people I knew and chatted for awhile. They spent most of their day attending panels and autograph sessions (they were getting the Popfigure versions of all the media guests signed 'cause that's their thing). I should have stuck with them at that point as the crowd really got to me without any other people to distract me. I did, however, see some great cosplay.

I am so sad this picture ended up blurry (maybe I put my thumb on the lens or something), but his Pyramid Head was the best. He was wandering around the con with the Pyramid head gait, slowly limping and dragging the weapon. Everyone was hilariously freaked out except this tiny little 8-10 year old who walked up to him with a huge grin and asked for a picture with him. Pyramid Head held her head with one hand as a pose.

After that I saw about 5 different Pyramid Heads around the con that were good, but weren't at that level.

This in general was just amazing. The picture really doesn't do it justice as a volunteer was trying to break up the improvised photo session. It was a little ironic because there was absolutely no blockage here and had these cosplayers ventured past the autograph area they would have been trapped in a sweaty sea of people.

Have to admit this was one of my more favourite Wonder Woman costumes that I've seen. Loved the boots.

Another thing the con had everywhere this year was a bunch of life-sized Daleks. I spotted about 4 of them scattered around the con at different booths. There were also large cut-outs of bears everywhere, but I forgot to snap a picture of those.

Wandered back outside to get some fresh air and return to the Big Four and artist's alley. I snapped a few pictures outside to share an idea of how many people were on the grounds on Saturday.

A lot of the cosplayers, especially with the larger costumes, were wandering around outside to cool off and get pictures with people. My favourite is when cosplayers are taking a break as you just see someone like the Wolverine sitting around eating over-priced perogies on a sidewalk curb.

Speaking of Wolverine, I had a Wolverine cough in my face when I was in the main exhibition hall. So that was nice. I blame the mild cold I have now on him.

I found Justin at the tabletop gaming area (as I mentioned on Thursday, he teaches people how to play the games and helps run the tournaments on Sunday). I missed him on the not busy night, so I made sure to seek him out on Saturday.

Afterwards I headed upstairs to buy some soap and a bath bomb from Wednesday and ended up getting a really adorable Eevee hat that I'm not sure if I want to keep or donate to Extra Life (it's REALLY SOFT). Once I wandered upstairs a bit and (unsuccessfully) searched for the LEGO display, I decided I had enough of the con for Saturday.

I would return for awhile on Sunday...which was a little less fun than anticipated.

STAY TUNED.

Friday Not at the Calgary Entertainment Expo 2017

A shorter post, since for the first time in many years, I didn't head down to the Expo at all on the Friday. It was a mix of not really being interested in any of the programming and already being done my shopping on the Thursday.

Instead I went to play Outlast 2 with Shauna. We played about an hour and a half of the game, which really, is only the beginning because we got stuck on a part early-in and I got exceptionally mad. Then Shauna made the executive decision to just play on the easiest difficulty so we get more of the story and experience and less of the frustration.

So what do I think so far? Well, starting with a few positive points, the atmosphere and story so far seems to be pretty good. I am curious about what's going on and like the set up for the game. Seems like they've added some new functionality and more gameplay elements for stealth and survival...however...

It's not scary. Not yet at least. I don't know if I'm de-sensitized or if it's the subject matter, or a setting I don't find frightening. It just isn't terrifying. It's disturbing and kind of scary in a "man there's something very wrong with everything here," but if I'm completely honest, I laughed way more than I felt any ounce of tension in that first couple of hours. I think having a segment where an enemy comes out of no where in a bottleneck and instantly kills you despite your efforts to hide or run away really ruined any atmosphere or tension that had built up. Aside from the camera element and some of the control feels, it does not seem like an Outlast game yet to me.

I already know what the problem for me is, and that doesn't make it a bad game. The original Outlast scared the crap out of me because it was in a setting I already find uncomfortable (mental asylums and medical environments) and had characters and inhabitants that just weren't "right". It was unsettling. You didn't know what these people's motivations were, you didn't know what was going on in their heads, they had been tortured and experimented on, half of them were violent, and the rest of them were hysterical or messed up in one way or another. You had patients staring blankly at television screens, banging their heads against the walls, standing in corners, wandering aimlessly stuck in their own delusions, or some that were still there, but had simply seen too much and wanted it all to end. Then, you were stuck in a box with them all. Isolated, trapped and forced to be a witness. Even as an outsider, you end up being a part of the horrors happening. The pacing was good, incremental and tension was built naturally.

Outlast 2 so far is a different kind of unsettling that just isn't...terrifying, because even though you get dragged into it unwilling, you still aren't PART of what's going on. Maybe by the end this will change with some sort of revelation or element that ties everything together, but for now this is a united religious fervor or "effort" rather that takes a bunch of normal looking and acting white dudes and gives them the singular trait of religious fanaticism. The other parties seem to equally be driven by religious reasons (albeit opposite) and are more annoying than frightening. You still feel like even though you can't fight back physically, you can fight back mentally. You can deny that fervor when in Outlast 1, as much as you try to stay "sane," it's impossible to separate yourself from what you're seeing and experiencing.

So no, I'm not scared. I think I'm going to enjoy the atmosphere and be disturbed by the imagery, but I'm not going to experience the terror of Outlast 1 that included the unsettling patients and the Groom and the utter hopelessness and horror of the situation. Perhaps it's just the theme or maybe the game will surprise me by the end, but I feel like I'm going to laugh a lot more than cry in this one.