Loss by Ronald Franklin

About a year ago, I read Ronald Franklin's first book Obin (at least, it was the first one I stumbled upon in the iBooks store). As I pointed out in my previous post, I enjoyed that one quite a bit - so it was only natural that I tried a sample of his second book Loss. Finishing the prologue, I immediately bought the ebook and read it from cover to cover the next few days (I'm not a fast reader mind you!).

Quite different from the first science fiction story of this author, Loss takes you (as the title might suggest) on a much more personal and emotional journey. As dramatic and tense as the chapters are, the main characters still manage to utter the occasional catchy phrase that make you smile or at times even laugh.
Especially the antagonist, a somewhat typical 70s or 80s spy movie villain I'd say, is portrayed in a way that you have no choice but to hate him from the very beginning until the exciting end.

After finishing the book, I realised some kind of underlying message that I found to be intricately woven into the story. Unfortunately, I think that people who aren't regularly confronted with loss (like I am due to my occupation) might miss this so very delicate part of the novel. It's a shame, really, for it adds so much depth to the story.

Verdict: in my opinion, Loss is quite an enjoyable little science fiction novel. I'm eagerly awaiting another book from Franklin, hoping there's actually going to be one...

Mass Effect 3 Controversy

I finished Mass Effect 3 last weekend.

*** Spoiler Alert ***

If you haven't played the game yet and plan on doing so

DO NOT READ AHEAD!

At first, like many, many others I was very confused with the ending.

I didn’t get it.

It didn’t make sense.

The entire God Child sequence seemed weird and the given options were unsatisfying at best.

So I turned to the web to see what other players were saying, and came across the Indoctrination Theory. I was baffled to say the least.

Throughout the entire game series (all three titles), I have always taken the Paragon approach. That, of course, resulted in me choosing the (blue) Control Option in the end, simply because it seemed that except for Shepard everyone would live, and after all, why shouldn’t the hero die at the end of a tremendous trilogy?

Well, that was what I thought, listening to the manipulating little SOB (God Child).

BioWare had done it.

Even though again and again I, the player, was reminded what indoctrination meant, what the symptoms were, in what way the effects would be felt, I ignored all (!) the signs.

I remember playing through the numerous dream sequences in ME3 thinking this could quite possibly be the beginning of a Reaper’s takeover of Shepard’s mind - I thought that, but dismissed it and forgot about it afterwards.

When Shepard got up after being hit by Harbinger's death ray, I noticed the unlimited ammo of the gun (which was not the gun my Shepard character had when she ran towards the beam by the way though it was lying right next to her when she awoke). The radio chatter told me there were no survivors though my Shepard character was obviously standing there, slowly but steadily approaching the beam. I noticed I couldn’t hurt the keeper in that strangely un-Citadel-like yet somehow familiar part of the Citadel. Also, Anderson, who miraculously had no injuries what so ever, could not be hurt with the weapon. I noticed it, and dismissed it the next second.

When the God Child told me, the Illusive Man’s way of thinking was the blue path (which translated “right path” in my mind), I accepted it, even though just seconds before I had been thinking how weirdly husk-like the Illusive Man looks and that he must be under Reaper control - that he is the enemy, even more so now that he’s obviously been indoctrinated.

I didn’t listen to what the God Child said, I just heard what I wanted to hear, what I was “programmed” to hear. The seemingly Renegade option (red) had to be the bad choice, the God Child had to mean that choosing this path would result in Shepard’s death as well as the annihilation of the Geth (who I had happily reunited with the Quarians some hours ago the very same day) and even worse the destruction of the mass relays. I now see, that the God Child never said that, he never said Shepard would die as he prominently did with the other two options. But I heard it nonetheless, because I believed it.

The Synthesis option sounded very weird, very interesting on some level, interesting in the sense that I had to see the result just to see it - not to live with it (I actually played through all options just to see the different outcomes).

So BioWare did it.

Over the course of the three games, they had in fact managed to blind the player (me) that much, that I (the player) didn’t realise that I (the player! not Shepard) was the one actually being manipulated, being programmed, being indoctrinated.

Wow!

In shame I bow my head to have let my beloved Shepard character do what through three instalments of the game I always fought to prevent.

For the past few days, I’ve been thinking about that - imagine your thoughts being occupied by the actions you took at the end of a “mere” computer game. That’s incredible in and of itself.

I can only most humbly congratulate BioWare on their ingenious game design.

You got me! You really did!

I thought I did everything right.

Everything!

All the time!

But in the end, my choices led to my Shepard’s demise, because I actively ignored all the many signs.

Always remember that evil can only be fought with and defeated by evil.

Evil will prevail over good each and every time ‘cause there will always be a situation where the good will reach an impasse, a decision they cannot make for the cost to them is to high. Evil doesn’t care.

Thanks for reminding me, BioWare, and thanks for a wonderful experience!

I’m looking forward to the “clarifying” DLC…

Obin by Ronald Franklin

Well, it's been a while since my last post but I've come across something definitely worth mentioning.

A particular science fiction story caught my eye when I was recently browsing Apple's iBooks store on my iPad:

Obin by Ronald Franklin

The unassuming short title of this about 200 pages long ebook and the brief description sparked my interest. As a big Star Trek and Stargate fan I decided to put down the two bucks and purchased it. I didn't regret it.

The yet mostly unknown author manages to hold the reader in suspense at the end of nearly each sub chapter, leaving one continually wanting to read on. The science fiction ideas presented throughout the mysterious story, though some not new, are put together in a very fitting and convincing way with believable characters.

Though admittedly, there are some "slow" chapters in the middle, the last fifty or so pages culminate in an intriguing and dramatic finale comparable to blockbuster science fiction motion pictures.

If you like science fiction like Star Trek, Alien and such, this book is a must read!

Find the ebook at Apple's iBooks, Barnes & Nobles and Lulu.

Game: Torchlight first on Steam for Mac

I like Torchlight very much, I liked it on the PC and I very much like that it was the first "professional" non-Valve game to hit the new Mac-Steam store.

It's very pleasing to the eye, gameplay is straight forward and with all the in-game help (explanations everywhere - in a very positive sense and an unintrusive way) you feel at home (instead of lost) from the first second of playing to the end (haven't been there yet).

If you like dungeon crawlers, try Torchlight - available on Steam for Mac and PC!

Game: Dirt 2 - what a game!

I'm not one for racing games, I'm not a car driver either.
But some weeks ago, I felt the urge to play a racing game again.

So I had a look in the Steam store only to find Dirt 2 selling together with four other racing games for only 16 bucks (some weekend special offer it was).
Long story short, I've been playing this game ever since now.

The visuals are stunning, the steering even with a keyboard is excellent and the fun factor is great.

If you're into racing (well, rally at least), this game is a must buy for you!

Movie: Despereaux

Some days ago, I watched Despereaux, an animated movie released some time last year I think.

Well, graphically and technically this movie is nice, the music is great, but the story lacks…well…everything. There are too many plots (kind of) evolving at once that, in the beginning, seemingliy do not have anything to do with each other…

Well, overall, as I said, the story is bad, the storytelling even worse, but the visuals and the soundtrack are from nice to great. (That's probably why the movie was not shown in theaters in my country.)

And there it is… :)

…finally, I'm looking at the impressing and beautiful 27" screen of my brand new i7-iMac.

And what a monster that machine is: a screen that requires you to turn your head to see from side to side and a quad-core CPU that runs as if it had eight cores - just amazing.

Well, my old "tiny" 19" monitor sitting beside the new iMac appears kind of small now… ;)

Again I have to say: Apple rulez!