Right now, I'm typing this on my phone. So it's really a bit uncomfortable given I'm so used to doing things on the desktop. Currently, I'm waiting for the PC repair guy to reply back. Thanks to his diagnosis, the possibility of my Windows gone deep state looks very real. I tested it. And I won't be surprised if the atomic option is the only way out.
To those in my ESO guilds, please don't be surprised if you see a user name inspired by Cirdan the Shipwright gone MIA. Don't worry, I've yet to follow Bilbo on his final journey.
This post is clearly going to be poorly done. Not that people will pay attention unless some sort divine intervention amounting to a PR crisis worse than Monica Baey gone Michael Bay mode. With that being said, I see the aforementioned incident as not of a woke culture and more of the typical scenario in GTO.
Because I function like an Amish instead of a Singaporean in terms of using technology, this means you'll be seeing multiple blocks of text without formating.
Deep state report 1: Fate Grand Order
Right now, I can't play ESO. If I reinstall Steam, OS will die like a Lancer. If I re-download the updates, OS will die like another Lancer. So I could only afford to play games through my smartphone, a noun of irony considering the fact I'm a tech idiot.
Long story short, I just got started on FGO. It's quite intensive, I have to say. Like dating your pastor's daughter, certain things are easy to understand. Like any process of courtship, it can be a bumpy ride. The issue with Type-Moon's attempt to milk the Fate cash cow (like it or not, I doubt we'd be dealing with Tsukihime or Mahoutsukai no Yoru adapted into anime in the future) was that while I knew how the cards function, getting the sequence right remains another issue. Of course, it'd much easier if I could consistently do a Brave Chain like Cú Chulainn spamming Quick cards against Heracles (Hercules for those confusing the Roman version for the Greek OG version). But when you have three Servants in a row, that's where the thinking part comes.
Unlike Gwent where my analytical skill was tested through the left side of my brain, FGO is a CCG testing my analytical instincts. The challenge lies in making the correct call in the card sequence. Brave chain dealt the highest damage. But chances of doing it would either be 50-50 or lower. At the same time, there's the issue of choosing between using a Noble Phantasm minus a Brave chain for one Servant and a Brave chain for the other. At times, I'd even be forced to ditch a 100% crit due to tactical reasons. There's no way I could guess what the opponent would be doing next, so almost every move was effectively a risk move. The only thing I could rely on is my analytical instinct guiding the card sequence. More often than not, the long cooldown means I needed to get the skill usage right in terms of buffing. In particular, evasion buffs could be a life-saver in boss fights. But that's provided the relevant Servant didn't die. This could be dicey in the scenario where Tristan went down before the boss round due to his group evasion buff.
While it's nice to see me draw a SR Li Shuwen, having a Mr Li didn't mean a free pass in having an easier time. There were times where I used 3 Buster cards from 2-3 Servants. Then there were moments when 3 Art cards or Quick cards were used in the same way. Personally, using 3 Art cards made my life easier because I can stage a final round gambit with at least 1 Noble Phantasm on standby.
Right now, I got 3 Archers and 1 Assassin (i.e. Emiya, Tristan, Emiya Alter, and Li Shuwen) where the SR cards are concerned. There's some kind of sick joke behind the RNG. It's like St RNG saying "Tag, you're Emiya Kiritsugu". In this game, Kiritsugu is clearly an Assassin like King Hassan and Mr Li. However, being a gun user most likely would mean he's qualified to be an Archer.
It's quite interesting messing around with different combinations. For Archers, Emiya is more of a constant fixture with Tristan at second place. Having a high chance of drawing Art cards means I could have an easier time deciding which card to use first in a Brave chain. Normally, it's Buster. Otherwise, it'd be Quick if there's no Buster. If there's any tricky terrain to deal with, it'd be 3 different cards to pull off a Brave chain since I needed to decide whether to place Quick or Art in the middle.
Assassin class was a no- brainer since Mr Li was clearly a 5 star SR.
For Casters, I found Cú Chulainn to be the easiest to use due to Rune Magic. In a reserve slot, I could easily buff and fire once he entered the fray. Unless I get a SR alternative, he's most likely a fixture. Like Emiya, he got a higher draw chance for Art. That made deciding which card to use as a Brave chain starter much easier. More specifically Brave>Art>Art sequence.
Riders, it's possibly Minamoto no Yoshitsune (yes, I know he/she is called Ushiwakamaru instead of Okikurmi in the game). I may be testing out a 3 star Medusa, though. Right now, I don't have a SR.
As for Berserkers, I don't use them much since they die too fast for my liking. So I guess it's going to be a case of waiting out for a SR. They functioned well in a hand with 2 Burst cards, though. One as the starter and the other as the ender. Then again, this is a Brave chain scenario I'm referring to.
Lancers wise, I'm in a 50-50 between Fate/Prototype Cú Chulainn and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. The former has better damage with lower defence (Rune Magic is my personal choice for an alpha strike) while the latter happened to be the other way around. At the end of the day, Lancers functioned more like a glass cannon. This actually made Eye of the Mind a valuable asset for Lancers and that's what Diarmuid has.
Deep state report 2: Gonna finish this here
I'm going to end this on a rambling note. When my PC entered deep state mode, it seemed that Steam was responsible. However, multiple BSOD moments revealed something else which Steam was only guilty of triggering. And that was one of the Windows updates. If I didn't install or run Steam, nothing would happen. Ditto for the updates. Once I did either, it's a BSOD moment that was anything but heroic.
It was also during this time that my curiosity stumbled upon Final Fantasy 14. When I was left wondering whether it's Steam, part of me was tempted to move on. Thankfully, it seemed I didn't have to. And besides, it's not going to make much sense financially speaking.
This comes to mind whether I'd move onto FF 14. I'm a tunnel-focused person, so there's no way I'd do a balancing act. At the same time, unless something massive happens, I'm probably be in the Mundus in the long haul.
It's still quite interesting to see how different both games are in terms of player mechanics. ESO relies on build planning and making the most out of the GCD. The former is about strategy while the latter is about technique. For FF 14, whatever I gleaned so far seemed to indicate a more tactical approach due to the bar.
This made me ask myself whether I'd be more comfortable with ESO or FF 14. If I'm to move onto FF 14, does that mean I have to unlearn certain things? For ESO, I find focusing to be much easier. Once I got the build right, the only major thing left would be mastering the GCD. It's surprisingly simplistic in the fundamental sense. Of course, there's a need to understand the various AI mechanics (i.e. the reason why actual tanks are so important especially in any group content beyond normal dungeons difficulty). This is something which players would need to trial and error plus respawn, something which I've yet to get myself into. In this sense, I wouldn't be surprised if veteran solo arenas are considered end-game level. And I haven't tried them yet. With that being said, it feels surreal trying to imagine how a single mechanic can do a player in.
Well, I guess it's not too late to write this post. Recently, something happened. Miura Kentaro (11 July 1966-6 May 2021) passed away due to acute aortic dissection. If there's a storyteller I'd resonate with, it wouldn't be Kevin Kwan or Jack Neo. If there's a person of creativity close to my heart, it wouldn't be Amanda Gorman or J.K Rowling. Credit to whom it should be due, each of these names is a class act in his/her own right.
There is a dark beauty in Miura-sensei's iconic work. Before I continue, allow me to point out that whatever I know about Berserk came from the series wiki. As a result, I'm in no position to state the details. Ironically, this is proof of Miura-sensei's impact on my life as a storyteller. If your work is good enough to influence a fellow storyteller via the relevant series wiki rather than actual contact, it is a testimony of how epic your creation is. As for why I chose not to deal with the actual media itself, it's due to personal reasons.
Before I start rambling, allow me to up three songs. The first would always play whenever Guts start spilling... well, some guts. Actually, it's plenty of guts. The second is one of the OP songs in the latest rendition of the anime. The third? Basically, the story of Guts' life.
In this post, I'm going to try my best to write what the post title is meant to show. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how well I can pull this off. Ultimately, this is not about me but the impact Miura-sensei had on me.
How it all began
Having the memory of an elephant can be a blessing, curse, or both. I still remember the day I first knew about Berserk. As a secondary school student, I was hated without reason and persecuted without cause. It might have been my facial features which look weirdly Japanese (the jawlineand eyesclearly don't look...well, Singaporean). This resulted in what I now call an existential crisis only to be mitigated by mental numbness. After all, there's only this much I could do when the educational system decided to sentence me to death. And all for what? Because I'm not good enough unlike one university studentor the other. There was a period of time where I developed the habit of heading to Tiong Bahru Plaza. Be it in the video games arcade or Popular bookstore, I'd definitely be drifting about like a useless bum. Comics Connection happened to be one of them. I remember noticing the manga figurines being displayed. That was when and where I noticed the title below.
At first, I thought nothing of it. After all, my state of curiosity was at where the national standard wanted it to be: Six feet underground. My years at ITE didn't fare much better. In fact, I can still remember the name of that one person whom I hated most in ITE Dover back then. It's not because he's the worst person in my life dictated by schoolyard democracy. Rather, something snapped. There's only this much emotional abuse one can endurebefore Buck went from dog to wolf.
It was also during this period of time when a classmate actually sat down and chatted with me at the staircase. Clearly, I forgot how that particular small talk session happened. But I do remember some things being talked about. Two of them were Dogma and South Park, titles understandably banned (seriously, just because people are capable of being unreasonable doesn't make me unreasonable). Then there's Berserk.
Fast forward to the day I started writing fiction and I realised it was more of the same existential crisis stuff. I thought I knew what I wanted, but my father said I was doing something that has no future for me. I hated that. I really did. Not that I hated my father but I hated what he said. But I bottled it. So much so that not only did I lose the normal human being's ability to socialise, I also lost the emotional capacity to trust people.
Miura Kentaro: An accidental foreign interference Singapore couldn't do a thing about
It's weird when I look back at it. When I decided to write A Requiem From Winter Past (back then, it was entitled A Ranger's Tale until I realised someone took that title), the inspiration was from Saiyuki by Minekura Kazuya. Originally, I intended to create Aeravor (i.e. Aeranath back then until I realised J.R.R Tolkien arrived at that name far earlier than I did) as another Genjo Sanzou.
As time progressed, I noticed a scary fact: The work had gone from the typical high epic fantasy I intended to something closer to the pre-flood era of Enoch and Noah. This was the very same life I had to endure, the very same social Darwinism condemning me to the gallows. It was also during that period I discovered two things:
1. I was being lied to. Originally, I had no problem calling myself a Singaporean. Now, it's just apathy towards my nation with an emotional trigger towards my nation's educational system.
2. The plot and characters of Berserk.
Because society failed to cremate my curiosity, it became a weapon of vengeance. The impact of Berserk floored me, the genius of Miura-sensei spoke to me. When I came into contact with the plot, the storyteller in me said, "There is a connection and you know it. It is an accident, but the connection is nevertheless real. You know it".
As for the character of Guts, he was the first of the numerous. Before I read up on him, I never associated myself with fictional characters. Guts came in and used his Dragonslayer to destroy the walls erected by the standards of society. An actual fortress built and fortified for many years only for something fictional to smash it to smithereens. Believe it or not, part of me hopes for the day my life would make a mockery out of what is seen as useful. I don't care about hatred, I only desire justice. As a result, I learnt the value of seeing myself in fictional characters. Names like Emiya Kiritsugu (Fate/Zero), Thorfinn (Vinland Saga). and Goblin Slayer (Goblin Slayer). They are not real, but they nevertheless spoke to me. If they are humane, that's because the ones creating them are human beings.
As Guts... he's truly and clearly humane.
In him, I saw a struggler. That struggler is me.
In him, I saw a man betrayed. That victim of betrayal happened to be me as well.
In him, I saw a human being living out his dignity because the world only sees him as a person with the dignity of an animal. I retained the dignity of a human being because I know to survive only is the dignity of a mere animal.
Miura-sensei would never see the day he realised an accidental act of good was done by him. Even if he was to be still alive, I guess he wouldn't notice it. Today, I now have the ability to laugh. To laugh at the darkness of reality and the fact that there's something Shakespearean about the world we're in, be things like The Merchant of Venice or King Lear. My Christian faith gave me the understanding of the eternal, but from whence did the mirth hail? I don't know. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Berserk managed to trigger something in me, a feat not even the likes of Crazy Rich Asians and Ah Boys To Men could do.
Interestingly, Guts having his own companions after the trauma caused by the Eclipse ended up telling me something: No matter how far you ventured forward alone, one cannot keep on going by himself. This is the reason why I namedropped people like Pastor T and Mr Lee. They're actual human beings in my church. The same goes for Ryan, Ah-Hean, Frontline Bro, Ms Tang, and Claudia.
If I cannot process the importance of friendship through emotions, I will do it via cold hard logic.
Legacy: The Man Who Created A Monstrous Sword
Miura-sensei's legacy cannot and should not be understated. Recently, Isayama Hajime finished the story of Attack on Titan. At the same time, I discovered that Ishida Sui had finished Tokyo Ghoul. While I can understand why the ending of the former was unable to satisfy the entire fanbase (apparently, the final volume isn't going to do just that), I was left wondering whether this would have been how Berserk may end if Miura-sensei never passed away. Berserk as a story isn't too dissimilar from Attack on Titan in the sense of the world the characters were in (i.e. the characters do make sense, just that the world they're in was the polar opposite). Personally, while I find it understandable for part of the fanbase to see a bittersweet ending as unsatisfactory, it also reflected the world we're dealing with. Would Casca be able to relive her life at the cost of Guts' life? If not, would it end up in the scenario where the Moonlight Boy has to sacrifice himself? That's assuming he's actually Guts' and Casca's kid. What if Casca was able to live a decent life at the expense of her memories despite Guts prevailing and surviving?
My point is this: Would there be works like Attack on Titan if there's no Berserk?
The incompletion of Berserk is regrettable. But I also find it fitting to allow other works of Japanese dark fantasy to be seen as an extension of what Miura-sensei had done all the while. This comes to mind a vital question: How many potential mangakas would be inspired in a way which they can prove Miura Kentaro wasn't just about Berserk?
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the titular genius ended up creating a monster he couldn't tame. Interviews with Miura-sensei actually hinted at what I'd call the Frankenstein dilemma. On one hand, the monster created was proof of individual genius. On the other, the inability to tame it is twisted evidence of ingenuity. This can be another way for us to appreciate him.
As for me, A Requiem From Winter Past first began as an accident so as to speak. As I progressed, I started to attempt incorporating certain elements of Berserk. The latest chapterwas proof of what I said. I used to joke I ended up creating another Berserk. Now, I doubt I can go back to this statement of jest. I used to see Aeravor as my own version of Guts to a certain extent. It's a horribly dumb mistake. While I'm currently stuck due to MMO gaming biting off a large chunk of my focus and time, I don't think I can forget the influence of Miura-sensei himself, no matter whether the procrastination would last for good.
Neil Gaiman spoke the truth, I am evidence of the truth, and Miura Kentaro proved the truth.
Okay, it's not that bad. The problem was a matter of wonky resolution. The issue with my monitor was that it didn't seem to be that compatible with my current PC unit. For the previous one, there's no problem when it came to visuals. But the current situation degenerated from the black aspect of the RGB/HDMI gone too dark to grainy and splotchy graphics. At the same time, the change was long overdue. Thankfully, there seemed to be an upside of ESO cursed with optimisation issues. If graphics engine played a major part, that'd explain why the grains and splotches weren't that bad. Loading screen graphics surprisingly retained the game's standard. But in-game character close-ups remained visibly sub-par Street Fighter 4. Or Okami if I want to sound a geek with the knowledge of a Greek intellectual.
Thankfully, a new monitor would have been up and running by the time this is up and it's a Samsung. Yes, I like the Japanese style of storytelling, but that's not a reason to reject anything Korean. With that being said, I'm reminded of a Sting-John Constantine stuntinvolving Park Shin-Hye and Irelia Eliaden.
In other news, living a deprived life means having the mental steel to forge contentment into a sword instead of a vital virtue. That plus I consider myself a utilitarian gamer whose brain functions more like Emiya Kiritsugu. This was the reason why I wasn't even tempted to flip the table before the Korean monitor arrived.
Oh my... Stendarr?
Before I progress, please note that this portion involves plenty of rambling. If you don't want to tolerate the words of an abnormal human being, please skip to the next part.
I'm going to quote my friend Ryan here: "Pastor asks you to go downstairs for a cup of tea later on". The reason why is that within 24 hours of upping the previous part of ESOtivity, all Oblivion from Coldharbour and Deadlands to the Coloured Rooms broke loose. While my manner of self-expressing is bombastic, I have to admit this moment of a funny aneurysm was anything but funny. With that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if the Alessian Order was actually a hypothetical case of Constantine I becoming Nero II. Trust me, I know the follies of politics hijacking religion.
Anyway, I stumbled upon two very good videos involving Nirn and a FudgeMuppet (clearly NOT a muppet) made a compelling argument on the workings of a dark fantasy world more deistic than you'd like to believe otherwise.
Like how Isayama "Hametsu no Hajime" Hajime managed to troll an audience wearing a pair of Hollywood heroic shades when Eren out-infinitised Thanos, Lorkhan was an expert in antagonising the Aedra. It's a variation of the 404 God Not Found narrative found in works like Berserk, Hellsing, Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, and Psycho-Pass. Objectively, the Japanese are clearly capable of offending both ends of the Western socio-political ideology (i.e. from oppai to destroying the romanticising of atheism and showing the West how to properly channel the mind of Friedrich Nietzsche).
Also, I accidentally stated Eren would die a messianic death two years ago. Of course, one could argue that ending the curse of Ymir Fritz (i.e. the protagonistic device of AoT in the sense Titans were the mirror reflecting humanity aka two sides of the same coin) was the by-product of some suicidal idiot's insanity. After all, how insanely suicidal can you get if you decided the only way to save your own people and breaking the vicious cycle of hatred was killing off 80% of the global population plus yourself?
On that, I've got nothing to argue against beyond the question of whether a better solution could be found instead of just waiting for an apple to drop. Seriously, the great Titan reversal should be seen as nothing less than Isayama's vision of a messianic death. Real but nonetheless warped beyond the boundaries of a normal human being. Equally seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if 死に急ぎ野郎 happened to be Isayama's idea of a joke.
Japan has never been short of mad geniuses. The day I watched Jin-Roh made sure of that. End of Evangelion through the hands of Anno "The Original Gainax" Hideaki only made things worse. During my father's funeral (he passed away on the third day of Chinese New Year 2020), I told Pastor T how I functioned like a hedgehog. The analogy was taken from what Katsuragi Misato famously said about Ikari Shinji and Asuka Langley Soryu.
Thankfully, Tokyo Ghoul got the humane ending it deserved. At the risk of sounding harsh, Kaneki Ken deserved someone like Kirishima Touka instead of Kamishiro Rize.
Note 1: I need to apologise to my friend Claudia for mentioning her dad. While Ryan was indeed the source of the quote, I remained nevertheless the one who exploited his words. With that being said, I still don't know what I said concerning playing the harp that angered her. Anyway, that's in the past. Like seven years ago or so?
Note 2: I believe good music helps a lot in soothing my nerves. Either that or I'm someone of mental steel who happened to have the stereotypical November person's good taste in music. The keyword being stereotypical.
DISCLAIMER: No one paid me for this part of the post. Unlike Xiaxue, I got nothing to profit from my words. Like the ones spending their time doing the addons, my blog is non-profit. Therefore, my words should NOT be seen as an endorsement. As an ESO gamer, I consider myself way beneath Alcast and the dude actually uses LUI Extended.
Addon 1-Azurah
Okay, this add-on is very simplistic. If you're one to enjoy the original UI while given the freedom to drag and align, then this addon may be the one for you. I know that chances are that fewer players use Azurah. It really depends on how comfortable you are with other UI add-on options. I wouldn't be surprised if Azurah is the most lightweight of the three. I know it sounds bad, but ESO is a game known for optimisation issues. Even Alcast acknowledged this much and this actually got a major hand in the CP system revamp for Update 29. Seriously, my present UI addon actually died on me in a normal Cloudrest raid during Z'Maja's dying moments. Thankfully, the addon managed to self-resuscitate, but only after Z'Maja went beyond resuscitation. A pity considering every raid member was having a great game. Best Cloudrest run so far.
Addon 2-LUI Extended
This is clearly Alcast's choice. And I can see why. By itself, LUI Extended is the kind of addon you'd expect from Kondo "she's making Marikons out of the world" Marie if she's a programmer instead. The look was truly minimalistic and thus comfortable to the eye. However, LUI Extended requires other addons to maximise its efficiency. Stuff like S'rendarr and Raid Notifier would be a must especially if you're more into raiding especially trials. Mr Chin once said no one does math, but what is the answer to 4+4? () I'm referring to whether the number of addons would impact the performance. My PC is a gaming one, but it's not exactly the expensive type. In fact, I opted for the cheapest one possible from Aftershock.
If there's a major drawback, I'd say it's the addon's inability to customise the UI placement, unlike Azurah. You can do that for the raid members window, but you definitely can't drag and place your bars or the target's health bar. This can be a major issue depending on how your focus work.
Addon 3-Bandits UI
Now this one is my choice and the reason is very simple: I have tunnel focus. If you think it sounds abnormal, chances are that I've been abnormal since the day certain people in the classroom declared war on me. That actually explained my conversation with Pastor T and I don't mind identifying myself with Shinji. Seriously, I don't.
My issue with LUI Extended was the bar placement (i.e. Health, Stamina, and Magicka) situated in two places instead of one. Being someone used to the bars bunched in the middle caused a massive displacement inside my head. I was struggling to get used to the radical changes and there's a reason why I get motion sickness easily at times regardless of how pro the driver is with his/her driving license. It's never a good thing when nausea is telling you a major adjustment is currently in progress. Granted I didn't reach the point of throwing up like a Merlion drunk on vodka, but the giddiness was bad enough. Focus wise, I function better if I can process the entire screen. With two sets of bars placed at two sides, I was left wondering what I was doing. To make things worse, I enabled the damage count and I ended up bombarded by numbers. It's like dealing with Count von Count while he's on LSD. It's really that bad.
The same went for Azurah. The fact that I switched to the most simplistic addon only readjusted my focus. But nausea albeit significantly weakened remained and this was when I realised my problem: Multiple distractions amounting to accumulated disruption instead of just the placement.
I found that out when my brain couldn't clear the final hurdle. Namely, the presence of text within each bar.
Again, let me point out that my experiences should NOT be seen as a deterrent statement intended to cancel LUI Extended and Azurah. The problem lies with me and not those spending time on things of lower monetary value but higher worth in passion.
Note 1: I actually suspected Mr Chin was joking since he's an educator and it didn't help that I thought he joked no one does meth.
Note 2: There were definitely moments where I asked whether my life would change for the better if the likes of Mr Chin, Mr Kok, and Mr Soh were to be my teachers. And it has got nothing to do with them supporting Liverpool, Everton, and Tottenham Hotspurs respectively. It's understandable for people to conform, but it takes courage for some to fight against the standard. This is why I enjoy playing ESO so much. It allows me to make choices rebelling against the Daedric darkness of Nirn.
Total Recall: From Breton to Dunmer
I have to admit it: The establishment is right. Not in a partisan sense but a factual way. Bretons are better off being healers. Does this mean you shouldn't be using Bretons for DPS? It really depends. Breton racial passives are heavy on Magicka management but obviously low on raw power. While this most likely means your Breton healer can afford to burn more spell abilities, the same logic should also apply to DPS. Of course, everyone should know it by then instead of now.
If there's a lesson I should have noticed a long time ago had I not been in a trial-and-error mode until Update 29, it'd be I can't do Breton DPS Sorcerers with a full Molag Kena. While a combination of damage increase of 500+ and Magicka Mastery does read like a good DPS deal, Molag Kena is actually meant for builds relying on prolonged light attacks instead of a high ability cast frequency. In short, what's the point of having Molag Kena if you can't maintain the Overkill proc? Conversely, however, this means Molag Kena can go well with High Elves and Dark Elves when it comes to Sorcerers. The reason being Sorcerers don't have good options in spammable class abilities. So what caused me to realise what needed to be realised a long time ago? A combination of messing around like a nihilist and a fellow Asian. Coincidentally, said fellow Asian happened to be a fellow Dunmer user. Equally coincidentally, I find the Tribunal to be quite similar to the Shinto trio of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo. While Douglas MacArthur was as white as a Nord, please don't confuse the Koreans for Argonians.
Back to the topic of light attack spamming, I wouldn't be surprised if Zaan happened to be a better choice for Magicka DPS Nightblades running on Merciless Resolve. Dreugh King Slayer and Noble Duelist's Silks with a full medium/heavy Zaan setup is quite possibly proof that you don't necessarily need trial gear to excel in group PVE. Below is my idea of a front bar:
DISCLAIMER: There's a possibility of what I wrote down already done by someone else on the internet. If so, it means two things:
Abilities: Degenerate (remember to max rank your Might of the Guild passive), Dark Cloak (unless you can afford to risk it with Shadowy Disguise instead), Merciless Resolve, Inner Light, Camouflage Hunter
Ultimate: Veil of Blades
Mundus stone effect: Thief (or Shadow if you opt for Shadowy Disguise instead of Dark Cloak)
Ideal race: Khajiit. You can call him Baanzai-dar or name her Baanzai-daro if you want to. I blame Baan Dar for this lame pun of a joke.
Right now, I'm in a position to decide between Molag Kena and Domihaus (I may talk about it more than a wee bit in a future post). While my gear sticker album only has heavy Molag Kena pauldrons and a light Molag Kena hat, Domihaus is officially filled up 100%. This means I only need 50 Transmute Crystals if I want to experiment with an optimised Dom-nom-nom.
The good thing about Domihaus is the difficult thing about Molag Kena. Namely, it's definitely easier for me to fully utilise the effect. Domihaus is very straightforward: Either you proc the weapon damage buff by being a Stamina DPS dealing physical damage or you proc the spell damage version via being a Magicka DPS dealing magic damage. At the same time, the circle is big enough for you to move about without losing the bonus. The downside would be what Molag Kena can do. Namely, the possibility of maintaining the effect for as long as possible without cooldown.
At this point, I won't be surprised if plenty of Magicka DPS Sorcerers still prefer either Ilambris or a clearly nerfed Maw of the Infernal with Zaan possibly favoured by those adopting a mid to close range firing build. Initially, I opted for a combination of Degenerate and Flame Reach with Crystal Fragment for a high damage rotation ender. Turned out I had mixed results.
I tried messing around with Mage's Fury. It's a terribly touch-and-go since I have difficulty reading how fast the damage is going. Quite likely I'll test it for PVP though once I decide I'm emotionally stable enough to go full Imperial since there's a reason why I quitted Gwent despite it being the perfect PVP game for me.
Right now, there seem to be many more fake tanks and equally fake healers queuing for random normal dungeons. However, I actually have positive experiences with them so far unlike a 50-50 scenario pre-Update 29. My auto-matchmake group would often involve a tank running on a 900+ to a 1000+ CP only to realise I was being out-DPS'ed for a reason since I clearly don't have an IQ of a goldfish. Then there were moments where the healer was a DPS running on the same CP range. The current CP system is now more role-restrictive due to the slotted passives, so certain things are clearly more evident than ever. And before you believe fake tanks can't aggro-pull, let me point out they can and the best ones I've run a random dungeon raid with happened to be the ones who can either consistently do pull-free nuking or those able to pull two to three mobs with a shield strapped on an arm. I consider a particular fake tank Nightblade a pro in the latter case (I forgot the name because it's a random normal queue). I got nothing but respect for that person especially considering the fact the Nightblade was a CP 700+. You can counter-argue it's an offensive tank, but I truly doubt that's how ESO function in Update 29, that this type of character build should be called heavy armoured DPS instead. On the flip side, though, this also means no one is in the condition to attempt this kind of thing in random veteran dungeon queues. At least that's how I see it.
This means only one option left for me to take: Either Force Pulse or Crushing Shock. Because I decide to use Boundless Storm as the DPS conduit for my Molag Kena (i.e. Cast+light attack spam), Force Pulse is clearly the better choice. That plus what someone said about the stage 7 boss in veteran Maelstrom Arena being as angry as an angry American if you decide to use Crushing Shock (or possibly any other means of cast interruption) to push its buttons. I'll pass the one-shot cancel option, thank you very much.
I did a trial-and-error run last night with Boundless Storm, Degenerate, and Force Pulse via a random normal dungeon raid. I was a bit apprehensive at the loading screen because I was allocated to Depths of Malatar. I don't have enough experience running any specific dungeon or trial, so a lot of raiding hinges heavily on how I read the fight. There were times when I could do something decent and other moments where my focus just switched off. If anything, it's always good to run any group instance after either eating or drinking. Especially if you happened to be a provisioner since you'd never be short on the supply chain. The Nord version of the Ainu salmon soup is a must-have for my Dunmer Sorcerer especially since that son of a Telvanni is running a no-pet build without Ilambris. Really, I find Sorcerers to function insanely well with food buffs instead of drink buffs.
So I was doing Depths of Malatar after a hearty meal of Nord cuisine. Words like crazy, insane, and abnormal would be how I'd describe the run. This was a group of four DPS amigos and I happened to be the kohai to the three other hyungs. The DPS hyung was at 917 CP. The other two hyungs were at 1000+. One of them was a necromancer (unless I happened to be wrong, I'm convinced necros are certified DPS barking mad). The other was a Sorcerer with the Eye of the Storm ultimate. Yet, the DPS race was fluctuating between 20+% to 50+% with 30-40+% being the median value by my guess. It's insane because I knew I was doing this with 3 other players clearly better. Clearing a normal Depths of Malatar with a pure DPS group is no laughing matter. The Dark Orb boss can be particularly unnatural if no one is the tank. I had to shuttle between firing at the main orb, going after the spawned orbs, and using Time Freeze on the adds so that things wouldn't come unstuck (at least from my perspective). It's not surprising my DPS for that fight was a lowly 27% and definitely not a surprise to see the entire group able to get past what I'd call one of the trickier bosses in the game. In case you think I'm bragging, please understand that without three other players clearly better than me, there's no way I'd do this part since blind DPS isn't everything.
At the end of the day, one thing which got me doubting my previous approach was whether spamming light attacks for half of any group boss fight should be seen as a good idea unless you're a Werewolf or a Grim Focus-centric Nightblade. A combination of Degenerate, Flame Reach, and Crystal Fragments made a Marikon out of me since the intuitive approach happened to be maximum light spamming and minimum light-weaving. Once I ditched the intuitive and attempted the counter-intuitive, interesting results followed. While it's still too early to make assumptions and conjectures, I'll be currently using my pseudo-melee Dunmer as offensively aggro as the classic jerk from Owari.
Needless to say, my counter-intuitive strategy would result in the risk of Magicka burn in any group boss fight. Thankfully, I got a full Infallible Mage, a Flame Staff on my front bar, and the relevant passives.
Possibly up next: How my High Elf does her Dom-nom-nom like a Bosmerand counting the beans.
Okay, this post is one where different parts of different dates are cobbled to together. Despite the date, 100% of the stuff were done before I upped it. So yeah, it's a case of Frankensteiner doing stuff more than Frankenstein doing... well, stuff.
A better approach?
We all live in a fast-food mentality culture. And I'm not just referring to my own country. For quite some time, I've been toying with the serialisation approach. So what is the serialisation approach, you may ask. Basically, it's all about emulating Miura "ドラゴンころし太郎" Kentaro.
So long story short, I'm going to adopt the serialisation approach. Thankfully, playing video games does play a massive role in adjusting my focus so that people don't have to suffer just because I've suffered much for nearly 20 years. However, this merely means that not everyone has my level of mental fortitude. In fact, it's a miracle that I've developed the mental strength of Guts despite having the physical strength of Isidro.
Progress so far... (Warning: Outdated info! Please skip if you value your sanity)
Due to reasons related to gear, I decided to hold off finishing the Orsinium main storyline until this weekend where hopefully I can buy a medium Domihaus head armour from the Golden Vendor. If not, then any other Monsters set medium helm would do. After all, the Bretons do thrive on Magicka and Health more than Stamina. This is proof that I'm less sane both a human being and Singaporean. Right now, I've got one main and two alts. Because I have the tendency to function like Pep Guardiola and Roberto Martinez minus the Catalan ethnicity and genius, it means experimenting like Frankensteiner gunning for his PhD instead of the guy who created a monster.
I don't know whether using a Nord Nightblade is a good idea. Dude doesn't seem to move fast enough. A High Elf Templar is clearly a better character than a Breton using two knives instead of the same kind of stick she's using. I've already done a crazy thing no sane Singaporean would ever do. I'm not talking about breaking the law,but doing a Breton Sorcerer running with two knives, medium armour, and zero Daedra (i.e. Storm Atronach is not counted because my definition of Daedra pet is classified under permanent ones).
At the same time, I realised it's always good to maximised 3 gear sets bonus-wise until I get the correct weapon set together with Arms of Relequen, Domihaus (or Sellistrix), and Agility sets for the jewellery (Willpower instead of Agility if the Monster set happens to be Sellistrix). 4 sets if I can't get my ideal Monster set (i.e. 1 piece bonus each for shoulders and head). Right now, I've got heavy Domihaus pauldrons for the shoulders slot. The result was remarkably amazing. Survival value shot up like a rocket made in Israel. People like Sacha "The-Baron-Who-Trolls-Like-This" Baron Cohen would understand this is me playing the racial stereotype joke, but the actual spike in survivability is real. Currently, the jewellery slots are occupied by the Witch-Knight set. The bonus in weapon damage is clearly good, but very likely I'd be doing some replacements once my Breton Stormknife (yes, that's how I classify his build) is able to craft the Innate Axiom jewellery set. I believe I need the full set bonus more than a 3-piece Witch Knight bonus. Again, it's because I'm running an anti-establishment Breton instead of the typical Redguard. Won't be surprised if the other guy would be more efficient, though.
Either way, once I can get a full Mechanical Acuity running with a full Innate Axiom plus either two different Monsters set gear or a full 2-piece bonus, my anti-establishment Breton would be raring to continue his Orsinium journey now that he managed to save a chief called Bazrag gro-Fharun. I should be able to craft Innate Axiom rings and necklace by this weekend due to the XP scroll.
[Update 7/12/20: Thanks to the new gear sticker book system in the Markarth DLC, I was able to craft a Helm of the Trainee for 56 transmutation crystals and upped it to epic. And no, that cat sold shoulder slot gear last weekend instead. At the same time, I managed to craft a full 3-set Innate Axiom jewellery set all at blue rank. With that being said, an alternative to the Arms of Relequen approach would be full Mechanical Acuity with full Yandir's Might. That'd mean I have to forgo weapon set considering the correct full Monster set is definitely more important.]
[Update 13/12/20: Finished the entire Orsinium map apart from Old Orsinium and Maelstrom Arena. Kurog was right even without the help of his mother. King Bazrag made sure of thateven beyond his death. Also, the cat sold a medium Sellistrix helmet to my Breton son-of-an-artillery for a reason. And that was two Undaunted Keys for two Gilirion coffers resulting in one of the drops being heavy Sellistrix pauldrons. I'm still keeping the Domihaus pauldrons though since a full Domihaus set may result in higher raw damage output even with a 15% weapon damage bonus upon stun coming from the Ruffian passive where the Sellistrix set bonus is concerned.]
[Update 3/1/21: Credit goes to a guildmate for waking me up. There's clearly no way a Breton can go stamina DPS, let alone wielding two knives. As a result, I have to go back doing the orthodox approach.]
Welcome home... wait, that came out wrong
There's something beautiful about Orsinium. To put it specifically, the beauty of Wrothgar has always been defined by the presence of Orsinium. This is not to say other cities and regions are less beautiful aesthetics wise. In fact, places like Auridon and Alinor are clearly the most beautiful cities, unsurprisingly all Altmer settlements.
Orsinium is clearly majestic. The devs did a thorough job in displaying the pride of Orsimer via how the vision of King Kurog panned out. The Orcs are a proud race in Tamriel, no matter how you look at them. While the influence of Tolkiendoes play a part, the Orsimer are not a race of mindless butchers out to slaughter everyone else who is not a part of the so-called us. This is a race much maligned as barbaric where in fact they're clearly not. Remember people calling you a barbarian not because you're a Christian but because you're an Ainu? It's actually the same thing. And it doesn't help to know that the Orsimer are as pro-ursineas the Ainu. This was also the reason why Emeric is an unpopular figure in certain parts of the High Rock. Not because he looks weirdly like a Breton Jew instead of a Korean Jew but because he's Emeric the Maverick. So how does a maverick do things?
1. By setting people off.
2. By setting the same bunch of people off by forging an alliance with the Orcs.
In fact, the Betnikh storyline actually culminated to a standoff between Khaleen and Lambur. It's not some kind of racial catfight but rather a poignant reminder of the history between the Orcs and pretty much the rest of Tamriel. Of course, you don't need to be an idealist to side with Lambur. You can be pragmatic by convincing yourself something powerful enough to protect Covenant lands from Daggerfall to Sentinel is clearly dangerous enough to destroy either half of the continent or at least one-third of it (Spoiler: The Ayleids did research magic nukes). At the same time, you'd realise the Orcs are not a race of, to quote the Major Montana Max from Hellsing, irredeemable monsters. Yes, they worship Malacath. But the Ayleids were worse and that's why Laloriaran Dynar rage-quitted his own people. Sadly, the Alessian Order chose to corrupt themselves in the name of the greater good. Seriously, werewolves and a possible Reachman called Faolchu? To quote a forum user: Oh my Stendarr.
[Note 1: Faolchu clearly doesn't sound Nord. Coupled with the fact that Faolchu is the Irish term for wolfhound and the likelihood of the Reachfolk strongly inspired by the Proto-Celtic culture compared to the Celto-Roman influences seen in the Bretons, it's actually possible this was the case.]
There's such a thing called honour. For the Orsimer, honour got nothing to do with morality. To use a terribly bad analogy, comparing the Breton code of honour with that of the Orsimer is like comparing Arthurian chivalry with Japanese bushido. The Orcs are a surprisingly honest race to be fair. Honour is honour, no falsehood or fake news. One of the greatest problems plaguing humanity is moralism. Now morality is good. To deify morality, however, results in hypocrisy and hubris. To put it in Varen Aquilarios' own words, Oblivion did not make him into a monster, it just confirmed his own worst fears about himself. And this guy was clearly one of the noblest characters in the game, a statement not easily given considering not even the living gods which were the Tribunal actually qualified as... well, morally upstanding. Vivec is humane enough, but Almalexia is clearly a dictator cursed with emotional security issues while Sotha-Sil is Mechanical Dystopia Incarnate.
[Note 2: I must point out morality is relevant. Without morality, people would just commit rape, arson, and murder plus looting without any fear of the law since there'd be no such thing.]
[Note 3: As further proof that morality remains relevant in an era of moral non-relevance, I'm going to show and tell what makes a dark fantasy character truly noble.
"Great Akatosh, Dragon God of Time, forgive me for my hubris. Grant your divine power to the Vestige and restore your protection to Tamriel, that my sacrifice might not be in vain."
-Most famous last words in the game aka Varen Aquilarios
As for the Orcs, there's only honesty in their honour. As for morality, that's for other races like the Bretons and Altmer. Not that every race is thatpretentious considering we have kleptos like the Khajiit and Bosmer while the Redguards are surprisingly correct about honour since true honour needs no name. As for the Imperials, they're just Graeco-Romans.
Then we have Razum-dar and Divayth Fyr. One is a Tony Stark, the other is... well, insufferable.
[Spoiler: I clicked yes in the final Sotha-Sil dialogue because I was able to perceive the nature of things after the events dealing with Gascone's betrayal and The Astronomer's Apprentice sidequest. Doing the Everwound Spring sidequest merely affirmed what I saw since I finished the storyline quest first. The Tribunal are effectively a case of Shakespearean tragedy where the perpetrators being victims of their actions and duplicity is mirrored by plays like Macbeth and Hamlet.]
[Note 4: Seriously though, who was the one who thought a Yamato name like Gaiden Shinji was a good idea for a Redguard since the name isn't even Akaviri?]
Or was that supposed to be Hayabusa Ryu tribute?
#NinjaGaidenTamriel
The Tower of Ravenwatch
I'm going to be brutally honest with you: If you're a man and you need Verandis Ravenwatch to be a role model, it means something is clearly wrong somewhere instead of just somehow or somewhat. Unlike Cuties, ESO is rated M and hence not for kids, tweens, and immature teens. There's nothing to be learnt by playing this game apart from exercising the right of creativity in the correct manner (something which educators and more importantly parents/guardians need to do since human beings can be terribly sadistic under the wrong conditions). Granted female NPCs tend to dress like conservatives than liberals (albeit not all of them due to the Dunmer), but that's not a license for your kid to play a game involving damned-either-way moral choices, thievery, and psychopathy. But if you're mature enough to understand the term Seigi no Mikata beyond the translation, kanji, and hiragana, it means you're mature enough to play this game (i.e. being morally mature instead of merely educationally mature). The same goes if you're mature enough to differentiate between voyeurism and playing Metal Gear. Or your Kopi-O and the GTA hot coffee.
I've yet to go through the entirety of all three Alliance storylines, but I did complete the Daggerfall Covenant side of the story. Playing Cadwell's Almanac can be very time-consuming. Better not to play it unless either you have nothing better to do in solo content or you happened to run only a single toon. Meridia clearly enjoys trolling people like an alternative Sheogorath. Don't believe me, just ask Darien. One thing which blew me away was how well-crafted the plot is. If there's one thing I've learnt in playing MMOs, it'd be storytelling being possibly a greater challenge than in the single-player genre. It's all about content and effective storytelling involving the restraint of real-life chronological order. In single-player games like the Witcher 3, Final Fantasy VII, and The Last Story (the last one NOT being Sakaguchi "ownself fire ownself to boss ownself" Hironobu's last story), the real-time limitation is 100% doable. For MMOs, it's a case of being inspired by Daggerfall.
As a result, there's no point beating yourself over the head due to issues beyond control. Life is already hard enough because of the sins and mistakes of our own doing, just that not everyone knows this half well as one should. My advice would be adopting a piecemeal mindset where appreciation is more about enjoying the dialogue and story as the individual quest unfolds. If you want to play it by sequence, it's 100% okay. Just don't dig a hole for yourself if you end up finishing the Planemeld storyline before completing either the Glenumbra or Rivenspire storyline. Pretty sure the only pity was Skordo the Knife gone MIA.
Speaking of Rivenspire, I have to say the best storytelling of the Daggerfall Covenant storyline would be this. Just a statement of warning here: The Rivenspire storyline can be depressing half of the time with Crestshade questline being the archetypical Rivenspire story. At the same time, it's recommended that you start doing the sidequest Under Siege only after you meet Verandis Ravenwatch at Ravenwatch Castle. The reason why being the difference between necessary cruelty and merciful wisdom lies in a prior understanding of the situation. I'm not saying accountability isn't important because I've seen this problem in both myself and those who enjoyed persecuting me during my schooling years (talk about Nietzsche's most controversial quote even by today's standard). I'm just saying it's better to know more before making your call since not every irreversible decision would give you some sort of moral luxury. Summerset, anyone?
One striking aspect of the Rivenspire story was how much influence Dungeons And Dragons had on it. By that, I mean the Ravenloft campaign. I still remember playing the Ravenloft mod in Neverwinter and that's possibly the best mod I've played in the game. Not that it's saying that much considering there were other well-done modules like Underdark and The Cloaked Ascendancy. However, I still do feel the lore journal entry did massive injustice to the character of Strahd von Zarovich. In the entry, Strahd was portrayed as a petty villain with the false grandeur of a tragic hero. Yes, Strahd was the villain. But he's also a tragic villain whose status as an evil character was caused by a greater evil. Namely, the Dark Powers governing the entire realm of Barovia and beyond. His actions did play a major role, but would things have turned out differently in other realms like say Faerûn? If characters like Elaith Craulnoberand Artemis Entreri could be given a decent shot at redemption just because they happened to be born in the right world, that tells us plenty about how much damage a terribly wrong world can do. And to think a proven despot is already bad enough.
It felt weird then to see a fellow player in the MMO industry doing what Cryptic should have done in the first place (just don't ask me why this mistake was made in the first place because I don't know). Of course, ESO does have its own problems yet to be fixed. Most notably a weirdly buggy dungeon queue system when it comes to the auto-matchmake. Getting into an instance can take anywhere from less than 5 minutes to... more than half an hour? Considering the fact this game got a whopping 16 million active player population (and that's not to mention having a localised Japanese version unlike many other non-Japanese MMOs), you can't be blamed wondering what's going on. Less than 5 minutes is perfectly natural. But more than half an hour? Well, at least they fixed the infamous Garron crash in Wayrest Sewers II.
There are two characters possibly influenced by Ravenloft: Verandis Ravenwatch and Wylon Montclair. If Verandis is to be the vampire version of Sergei, then Wylon would be Strahd in ways more than one. One interesting question surrounding Wylon's ambition to outdo Ranser is this: Ambition and revenge, which one comes first?
If it's the former, why did it take a series of tragic events to make Wylon plot his moves? But if it's the latter, why did Wylon mention the history between his clan and Ranser in one of the journal entries found in Rivenspire? Of course, it could be counterargued the journal entry was written after something made by the Ayleids messed things up beyond cure (Moral of the story: Don't ever let the Ayleids run your nation. They'll ruin it). Theoretically, it's possible. But that didn't explain the relationship between one thing and the other. That's the major pity I found in an otherwise masterfully-crafted storyline.
Verandis, on the other hand, was clearly no saint. Why I said that is because people tend to associate heroes with selflessness and altruism. Was Verandis a hero? Yes because he's the one who resolved the civil war in Rivenspire. No one could have done what Verandis did. Not because of any lack in courage but because only Verandis was in the condition to pull it off. It's an irony to see a servant of Molag Bal doing something his boss would disapprove of. That's actually a mild way of saying someone did a reverse-Mannimarco. But it must be pointed out that Verandis' actions in Rivenspire were the result of seeking redemption more than anything else. Effectively, I'd call this the selfish heroism trope. In fact, his positive role in the world of Tamriel seems to stem from the failure to prevent tragedies. First, Wylon. Then Rada al-Saran. Seriously, I don't know who's next. Actually, I've yet to start the Reach storyline. Please, I've yet to start Western Skyrim for Thu'umming out loud.
The Relevance of Rage and Guile
Clearly, this would be the perfect title for a work of socio-political commentary sans the intellectual dishonesty. Thankfully, I can't talk like an activist, politician, or lawyer (let alone an intellectual). Hence, I might as well talk about Hunding's Rage and Assassin's Guile.
So which one should you vote for? Hunding's Rage or Mechanical Acuity? The consensus is that Hunding's Rage is generally BiS along with Law of Julianos as its Magicka DPS counterpart even though only 6 traits researched are needed instead of 8 or 9. I've tested both and it's true that Hunding's Rage commands more raw DPS. This comes to mind how relevant is Mechanical Acuity. After all, it's clear that this set doesn't have good damage beyond 5 seconds of auto-crit. I'd say stand-and-nuke for Magicka DPS is an option with the only issue being... well, what to do with the stamina (i.e. I guess it's a L2P issue involving Bound Aegis). In particular, Mages Guild abilities seem to command better raw damage than Sorcerer abilities. Seriously, Degeneration and Might of the Guild with Crystal Fragments as the final cast? Not even Kim Jong-Un could imagine a nuke like that. Wait, that clearly came out wrong.
If you're running for a hybrid DPS (i.e. you enjoy showing off by proving it's possible to use spells and weapons at the same time), it'd be interesting to note that Hunding's Rage doesn't give you extra Magicka (that'd be the territory of sets like Daedric Trickery and Shacklebreaker). However, DPS is both a game of racking up the damage and making sure you don't run out of gas. At the same time, MA is more about damage sustainability since you can't expect 5 seconds' worth of auto-crit to do the job in lieu of actual skill. This makes it a decent to good foil for Innate Axiom (a surprisingly good set for hybrid DPS builds since it only requires 2 researched traits to craft). This is something for you to think about unless you prefer going orthodox. In this case, it's actually understandable since ESO is a game where the community is surprisingly mature (i.e. zone chat tends to be boring because no one is interested in doing a flat earth debate unlike the situation in Neverwinter Online). Being blunt and being juvenile are as different as being a straight-talking Nebraskan and a vulgarity-spewing social influencer.
Assassin's Guile is clearly for builds using weapons, magic, and potions. If you're a hybrid Nightblade (believe it or not, you can make a tank out of an assassin of Persian descent in this game and I ran with one during my first Ruins of Mazzatun normal run), this would be an interesting option. Even more so if one of your characters is a certified level 50 alchemist in ways more than one due to having more options than whatever you can buy from vendors. Even if you're not a fan of poisoning people, it merely means this set is solid enough on a 4 piece bonus due to high enough DPS value. If you want a budget hybrid DPS build, a full Innate Axiom with a 4-set Assassin's Guile can be an option. Since equipment slots total up to 12 (two-handed weapon/staff takes up 2 slots), it means you still have 3 more slots. Ashlander dailies are easy to do and each mission gives a random rare/epic jewellery (Warrior Poet for tanking/heavy armour healer builds, War Maiden for Magicka DPS builds, and Defiler for Stamina DPS builds). At the same time, dolmen runs do yield uncommon jewellery. In particular, Alik'r has an insane number of players doing dolmen runs. I suspect it has got something to do with the flat terrain since galloping from wayshrine to dolmen is something any player can do with both eyes closed, unlike other zone maps. Say for example Greenshade. There are times where I hate that.
Next up: How I did my Ahnuld plus an addon triple threat involving LUI Extended, Bandits, and Azurah. Also, credit to c_lout for waking me up. Intelligent or not, a donkey is never a horse.
This post is purely a result of personal tinkering and whatnot. Unless it's proven I have the intelligence of Thomas Edison, please think more than twice before nodding your head. Twice if, for some funny reason, it's been proven I'm a genius. Also, the foreign languages used in the post title are due to Google translate.
Weirdest November thus far?
A month later and we'll be greeting the month made famous by the Celts. In one single month, we're going to see a few things happening.
1. The final month of Ciri's journey mode story. It should have been October, but it seems that CD Projekt Red was more interested in the Tokyo Olympics instead of Oktoberfest 2020. The reason why I said that was the final unlockable featuring Ciri wearing a kimono and wielding a katana. If we're talking about the German version of October, that'd be dirndl plus a foaming tankard of Saxon brew. Every 친일 Japanophile has the devil Gaunter O'Dimm himself to thank.
2. The last day of the Olympic torch display in the Tokyo Olympic Museum is to be 1st of November. Don't ask me why not later than sooner since the Japanese decided to run March next year instead.
3. Thomas Bach decides to say hi to Reiwa-jisan and possibly Mindo-jisan as well. That'd be mid-November. Wonder if he'll take a trip to Biratori afterwards since the Ainu do see the Olympics as a way to create actual awareness. Sadly, things did happen.
4. 3rd of November is arguably the most important day in the international calendar. I don't have to tell you why unless something happens to Donald Trump. In this case, every angry progressive's dream come true would mean Mike Pence doing a Gerald Ford. Not the best way to celebrate victory if you're to ask me.
5. November is also where the tag-team bros of Nasu Kinoko and Urobutcher Gen made official the birth month of Emiya Kiritsugu (i.e. November). It really felt weird seeing my birthday associated with the Grand Fakerhimself. Speaking of fakers...
How to impress the Japanese without resorting to cleavage
One thing I observed in the world of secular arts and creativity is the fact that you're effectively dealing with people. Writers write because they're human beings. The most important difference between fiction and non-fiction actually boils down how the story is told. Within this context, there's no difference between the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew and C.S Lewis. And besides, one was as intelligent as the other.
Since this is about dealing with people, it means you're dealing with fallible beings via a proxy. As such, it's only right to expect certain parts going against your views, opinions, or whatever you want to call that. So how should we go about dealing with this? I'd say with an open mind. Not to compromise but understanding what it means to respect a fellow human being. Of course, there are exceptions like denying the Holocaust, university lecturers having sex with their students, and the flat Earth theory. In such cases, there's no need for insults. But you really need to be a stubborn donkey instead of a flexible human being.
Dealing with Japanese creativity is a very interesting thing. On one hand, the Japanese are capable of exceptional brilliance rivalling or even besting the stuff we're used to seeing from the West. For every Wonder Woman, there's a Ryougi Shiki. For every Captain Marvel, there's an Arcueid Brunestud. Works like Hellsing and Berserk are clearly rated NSFW (i.e. my PC way of saying they're actually rated M), but the plot and characters can be so thought-provoking, you couldn't be blamed for wondering whether the likes of Miura Kentaro, Hirano Kouta, and Isayama Hajime are actually as insane as Guts, Alucard, or Eren Yeager. Unfortunately, things happened every now and then resulting in the work left in permanent limbo. There's a reason why mangakas like Togashi Yoshihiro and Miura Kentaro are known for the title King of Hiatus. In more extreme circumstances, the author died. Trinity Blood remains a prominent tragedy in the world of Japanese art and creativity due to Yoshida Sunao's untimely death.
However, there's a dark side to how the Japanese get things done. The uproar caused by Rising of the Shield Hero anime had got nothing to do with whether issues like false accusations of rape, the Asian brand of slavery apologetics, or even whether a tanuki girl looked weirdly like your pastor's daughter are wrong. It's about the fact that the Japanese never cared a single heck about what they perceived as gaijin politics. In the West, the standoff between the moral majority called the conservatives and the righteous majority called the progressives have hit an all-time high for the past few years. But because Japan is culturally insular where many things go out and very little come in, socio-political tone-deafness became the reason why progressive voices savaged the respective parts. Would the Japanese care? I doubt so. This is a dual-edged sword instead of a single-edged katana. On one hand, you can be very sure no absurdity coming from the West would be entertained. On the other hand, this means plenty of oppai (NOT to be confused with oppa due to two obvious reasons) and other twisted stuff crawling out from the artistic equivalent of Izanami's home. There's a reason why Saya no Uta is proof that Urobutcher Gen has the ability to outdo Stephen King.
The dark side is what I'm addressing here. One feat which ESO managed to do that many other MMO titles can't was securinga Japanese language server deal. Now, the JP server isn't the Asian server. Even if ZeniMax decided to do an Asian server, that'd likely be called Oceania server. But what makes the American gaming version of BoA attempting to enter the U.S music industry possible? We're not talking about the typical global market because there's nothing global about insularism first made famous by the Edo era. Throughout 7 years of playing MMOs from Marvel Heroes to ESO, I don't remember seeing a system notification written in Japanese apart from... well, ESO.
Was it the gameplay? Possible, but the Japanese already got names like Sakaguchi Hironobu and Kojima Hideo. For every Dragon Age, they have The Last Story. For every Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, they got MGS (i.e. NOT Methodist Girls School).
Was it due to the aesthetics? The graphics are top-notch, but not enough cleavage. And besides, Japan already got Tifa Lockheart.
One interesting aspect of the Elder Scrolls lore lies in a strong nihilistic theme. Unlike atheism, there's nothing positive about nihilism apart from the human free will to make actual sense out of the senseless (i.e. concept of sense=concept of meaning). That'd be existentialism, a positive form of nihilism. One thing I noticed about Japanese artistic creativity is that philosophy trumps politics. And nihilism is a form of philosophy. That's how we got Friedrich Nietzsche and that's why we got Berserk.
So how nihilistic was the world of Nirn and beyond? Unlike titles like Neverwinter where the greater good is the greatest goal, adventuring in ESO means your character is in a world which doesn't make much sense. In fact, the concept of the greater good as the greatest goal was effectively debunked by Varen Aquilarios aka the Prophet when he said evil will never go away entirely, that battling it would only mean a second time, third time, fourth time, etc. So why fight a battle where kanzen-shouri is as unattainable as Emiya Kiritsugu's dream of a righteous paradise where every tear shall be wiped away? The choice is very simple: Either you fight to live another day or the world can just roll over and die. At the same time, forget about positive heroism where your deeds would be remembered. Abnur Tharn summed it up best when he said no one would remember the deeds of the Five Companions regardless of whose soul would be sacrificed to save the world from Molag Bal's tyranny. And if you think that's depressing, trust me when I say questing in Rivenspire isn't the best antidote for depression.
In the game, there would be books and scrolls scattered here and there. Those that glow purple would increase your Mages Guild mastery. Those that glow yellow belonged to the so-called rest. Each of them tells an interesting story from Dunmer bedtime stories for kids (i.e. not the type you'd like to read to your kids unless you want to torture them with kwarma dreams) to the creation of all things being nothing more than a con job thanks to a con god called Lorkhan.
It didn't take me long to acknowledge the sheer class of storytelling displayed, that this was way beyond what I can do. Ask me to choose between the lore of Mundus and Crazy Rich Asians and I'd definitely choose Tales of Nirn Lost And Known.
This comes to the question of whether the lore and story are the actual Japanese draw. Journeying through the Mundus actually felt like being in a Japanese dark fantasy world more than anything else while ZeniMax did a splendid job of not involving socio-political vitriol in the process, something which the Japanese might have noticed or not.
Five sorcerers and a wamasu
Was that months ago? When I first started on this post, it's like a week or two after the weirdest (and only) world boss fight. If there's anything I should have done, it'd be choosing the Intimidate option. But because I decided not to break character (i.e. something which I always fail to do consistently), I decided to help that Redguard Shaq. That resulted in the need to take down a mega wamasu world boss. Thankfully, I didn't have to cancel and redo the quest. The reason why being four fellow players present as well. And that's how the fight began. But there's a problem: 404 Tank Not Found. The fight wasn't really that hard, though. We got flying ground lightning, wamasu rush, and tail swiping. Interestingly, a team of five sorcerers (i.e. very likely it's a team of four plus me) never hit a wipe. Yes, respawn was a reality. But not a wipe. In fact, I remembered only one moment where the mega wamasu targeted me. Or maybe it's just the tail. That's already deadly enough. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a battle of scattered positioning where it's a player here and another there. Me? I just stabbed the boss from behind because my sorcerer is Breton, medium armoured, and dual-wielding. And no, I decided not to have a familiar due to strategic considerations involving six ability slots instead of sixty.
How to fake it like a faker
I need to point out one thing first: My decision to create a dual-wielding stamina sorcerer clad in medium armour (yes, that's actually as mouthful as a royally imperial title) was due to my natural impulse possibly exacerbated by schoolyard democracyand social Darwinism among educators. Since my future is already ruined unless divine intervention would be involved, it means I have nothing to lose by exploring the seemingly improbable. Before I continue, however, I need to up this song.
When I decided to do a total recall (i.e. my Breton sorcerer used to be the orthodox light armoured destruction staff-wielding magicka build), one thing I knew straight away was the need to balance the spell and weapon damage. The skill advisor interface happened to be the only reason why I decided to a Seigi no Mikata style was possible. To be honest, however, the skill advisor window actually suggested a two-handed weapon skill line instead of wielding two daggers like a Thorfinn. I guess there's really a Fool of Owari in myself.
The one reference I took from the skill advisor panel was Lightning Form. From there, I had to choose between Boundless Storm and Hurricane. Because my intention was to strike a balance between magicka and stamina, this means Hurricane wasn't an option since it uses stamina instead of magicka. The AoE aspect was as tempting as Nohime, though. Boundless Storm was my choice for three reasons:
1. Major Expedition gives 30% speed boost for 4 seconds. I need that to close in unless I opted for a kite-and-strike approach. Even with a kite-and-strike strategy, increased speed is always good for mobility.
2. This one deals shock damage. Together with the fact that it's a constant damage-dealing effect running for at least 20 seconds (i.e. NOT damage over time) and chances of triggering concussed status would clearly increase greatly. Having the opponent deal 12% less damage is always a nice thing.
3. Damage synergy between passives involving Energized, Amplitude, and Expert Mage. It's not Sotha Sil's clockwork science, I can assure you.
With Boundless Storm done and decided, it means I needed another spell called Surge. It's not so much about the heal-per-crit effect (although running with a full Mechanical Acuity set means you don't have to be my engineering friend Derek to understand how a constant heal-per-crit looks like). Rather, it's the 20% bonus in weapon and spell damage. That one lasts for at least 30 seconds. For some funny reason, Boundless Storm and Surge now have 3 seconds more to the duration on my character. Must be some ability mechanics tweaking from the devs.
Originally, my build was all about one weapon damage ability and five spells. Then I decided to respec just to see how the Fighters Guild's equivalent of Inner Light would work. The nice thing about Fighters Guild abilities is that the skill line XP bar levels up very easily. In fact, you should unlock that one before doing the main quest since there are clearly plenty of Daedra mobs waiting to be killed. The sole reason why I attempted the change was due to the Slayer passive giving 1% weapon damage bonus per rank with 3 ranks in total. I really need that since stamina isn't a stat my character is naturally high on. This resulted in a shakeup involving Expert Hunter and Rapid Strikes. While I didn't replace either (i.e. I need Expert Hunter for the crit and Slayer passive bonus while Rapid Strikes is the only spammable in the Dual Wield line plus my only source of weapon ability direct damage), it means one spell has to go. Between Boundless Storm, Surge, and Hardened Ward, it's the third one. Replacement skill? Silver Bolts morphed into Silver Shards. Good for kite-and-strike and also good for making the Slayer passive more efficient. One Fighters Guild ability is never good enough because it's not as if I'm doing a nightblade or dragonknight. 6% damage bonus is definitely better than half of it.
How this thing works...
There were two ways to make the damage-dealing game tick. Either one-shot damage or constant damage. The latter was the rationale behind using my current build since it actually involves maximising the magicka usage without compromising on the stamina end (i.e. I need to invest the attribute points there for the weapon damage to function properly). It's what I'd call attrition damage compared to the more orthodox bombing damage. This comes to the question of which set am I now running with?
Next up: Hunding's Rage versus Mechanical Acuity, Innate Axiom and Assassin's Guile, plus why Verandis Ravenwatch is the perfect role model for kids even though no responsible parent should ever let their children play a game rated M by ESRB.
