Massive Chalice

I have a bad habit when it comes to gaming.

I start games but I seldom finish them.

Massive Chalice is the latest game I've got my hands on. It's a game by a company named Double Fine, which is founded by Tim Schafer - who had worked on some of the games that I'd liked in the past - Grim Fandango, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge amongst others.

Anyway long story short, his new company pitched an idea on Kickstarter about a dynastic game spanning ages in which the player guided the populace in pushing back against the Cadence (bad guys). What piqued my interest was the ability to nurture bloodlines in the hope of gathering in that bloodline all the powerful traits/personalities that would help turn the tide of battle in favour of the Massive Chalice that is guiding your kingdom. (yeah the Chalice is huge and it speaks)

Beta codes were recently released for Kickstarter backers and I've finally managed to play the game and I love it!

Traits and personality of each knight

Kingdom map

Tactical map - X-Com anyone?

Choosing your heroes before they jump into the Chalice

You do your planning on the kingdom map, deciding where to place your keep and crucible etc. Combat is resolved in a turn-based style map, akin to X-COM of old.

Because the traits that your champions have is so important, you really feel each loss as they fall in combat. The mobs are well designed too, for example, Lapses (those pale blue thingies in the upper right hand corner of the screen) manipulate time so each hit they land on your knights, they reverse time and your knights lose whatever experience they've gained in that time. Currently it's at -150 XP per hit. That's rough when you consider that you only get roughly half of that for each Lapse you kill.

In each keep, there's also a list of all the champions that have fallen for each House.

From time to time as you're playing the game, you'll be presented with random events - a stranger coming out from the Cadence, a teacher seeking your permission to bring students to your castle even down to unhappiness over the marriages you've arranged.

All in all, it's a great game that's really appealing to me.

Old scars

Out of curiosity on my next visit back to my Dad's place, I went to check out the incident I described in my 13th Oct post. The one where I grazed my Dad's car on this huge block on the roadside.

I've driven past this countless times since then but did not realize that it was still there.

Old scars indeed.

Guess I've at least left my mark on this Earth :)

Passage of time

Had a horrid time while doing invigilation yesterday.

It was my own fault for not sleeping earlier and it made every single minute of invigilation feel like an endless moment. 
On the best of days, invigilation is already a test of endurance so yesterday was bad, really bad.

Over the day, I kept revisiting time ... mainly because I would look up at the clock every once in a while and wince when I realized that only a minute or two had passed.
This was so in contrast though with how the students were feeling.

We were all trapped in the same classroom.
Different reasons no doubt but sharing the same moment.
 

The students work on their papers
They glance at the clock and silently curse at it.
60 revolutions of the second hand
Had never gone so fast.
The teacher watches the students 
He glances at the clock and silently curses at it.
60 revolutions of the second hand
Had never gone so slow.
The sharing of the same moment.

Broaden that a little if you will and think about our shared lives in Singapore.
We have packed so many things to do in our lives, so many things to buy in our lives that life is flashing by. It has been remarked, more often than once that time seems to fly past, the older we get. Personally, I think it resembles a bell curve with the peak arriving at the time you are most economically valuable to Singapore, with a gradual winding down as you approach retirement (and hopefully not a sudden crash).

What would it be like if we could unclutter our lives?
What would it be like if we could uncomplicate our lives?
That one hour you just spent pouring over that unmarked script 
That one hour someone just spent nursing a cup of coffee at the park.

What is your time worth to you and what will you do about it?

My children ...

Indulge me for a moment.

Think back to the moment your child was born, the moment you held that little bundle of life in your arms, the moment you realised that you were a Father or Mother.

What were the thoughts running through your mind?
I remember being very happy and wishing that my little one would grow up to be healthy and happy.

Healthy and Happy.
So simple and yet we sometimes make it so hard. I must constantly remind myself that that's what I want for them.

Somewhere along the line, as our children grow up, we start tagging on labels or things to be - Hardworking, Smart, Successful, Clever, Responsible etc etc ...

I am not saying that those are bad things to be but we  must not lose sight of that feeling we had as we first held them ...

Gaming craze ...

With the school year finally winding down, it's time to indulge one of my hobbies gaming. That's not an easy thing to do because of the holiday season coming up and games publishers pushing out title after title!

Been looking at these few games - Endless Legend (bought), Civilization Beyond Earth, Shadow of Mordor (bought), NBA2K15 (bought), GTA V, FM2015., FIFA15,

Still playing - Guild Wars 2, FM2014, Civ 5, Hawken, Heroes Charge (mobile), Marvel Puzzle Quest (mobile)

I play them every year and I still keep going back for more. It's just small changes here and there but I cannot seem to get enough of Football Manager and NBA games. NBA2K15 is really nice this year, am loving every minute of it so far!

Was hunting for games the other day and realised that there were online 3rd party retailers selling CD keys for cheaper prices than Steam. Had used services like these back in the early days of WoW but had stopped because Steam made buying of games so convenient. Anyway, this was what I used to purchase Endless Legend for a cheaper price than could be found on Steam.

While I was reading about Steam pricing of games, I also came across an article on ST that basically attributed the stubborn refusal of prices to fall despite digital distribution to publishers and retailers in Singapore. Link is here.

Lastly, while I'm on gaming issues. Do wish that more of my friends were gamers. It's lonely at times in MMOs without friends.

I will miss ...

List of foods/stuff that will be missed. (other than family)

1. minced meat, mushroom, kway teow dry with ketchup
2. white carrot cake
3. black carrot cake
4. char siew and roasted meat rice
5. the sound of rain in Singapore
6. chicken rice