Game view - WoW: Warlords of Draenor

You can call me the child of Cataclysm, as I started playing World of Warcraft at spring of 2011, soon after add-on was released. Though I was skeptical before, the game grew on me very fast. I liked the atmosphere, the quests (especially reworked ones for low level; story line in the Silverpine Forest still is my favorite). The stories were immersive, the graphic was pretty and instances were interesting and challenging. Overall, game was good despite all the whine and outdated Burning Crusade peace of content. At first my attempts in raiding in 4.0-4.1 weren't very successful, but everything changed in 4.2 when we started killing hardmodes and I was a proud raidleader. Unfortunately, thing didn't go as planned, and Dragon Soul wasn't closed totally in HM, and I had to make a break until Mists of Pandaria, which didn't work for me. However, Siege of Orgrimmar is a decent conclusion for add-on.

A couple of weeks ago me and my friend found out that Warlords are released, and decided to come back into the game after more than a year. We successfully gained the high level, visited instances, and now I'm ready to express my opinion on it.

Sound and vision

I didn't dig Pandaria mostly because of how it looked and how it sounded. All this curves, patterns and other Asian forms are really over complicated, my brain got tired of seeing all this very quickly. Locations was very bland and unsatisfying, I had no desire to explore them in search of beautiful views. The only exception here is the Kun-Lai Summit, somehow giving this sense of wonder and discovery with its magnificent mountains. I'm not that much against eastern music, but it started to annoy me at some point. And don't let me hear again those monkeys screams, just don't.

Luckily, level designers managed to do their job properly this time. The landscapes are so amazing, you will try to climb higher just to admire what you see around. The models of NPCs and buildings are pretty, armor is fitting. The only location that looks bland is, contrary to the Pands, is snowy one, but it compensated with beautiful music you will hear that. Wonderful. Also, there are much more cutscenes of cinematographic quality thought the quests, and even some starring you and your party in instance, making events more intense. I have to add a complaint about to much voice overs in the starting part of content, but closer to the 100 level it almost gone. Don't like when people doing so much reading for me.

I must mention here, that Blizzard made a huge peace of work before releasing the new add-on. It is really impressive what they managed to achieve with engine that more than 10 years old. The game looks very decent for nowadays, with it's own unique style. And renewed character models are looking marvelous, keeping the spirit of the old one I spent so much time with, and this warms my heart.

Quests and leveling

I guess, it was fun. But nothing really special here and there, and I didn't feel enough development in characters we meet. Firstly, there was story with Duratan and his brother, we see them as two orcs with different views on their tribe and how to rule it, but it doesn't go anywhere. Then we meet Laughing Skull orcs, and we hear nothing about them after that and so on. Such legendary characters like Garrosh, Ner'zuhl, Thrall and Garona presented very poorley, if even presented. My favorite boss from Cataclysm, Cho'gall, is just another NPC to kill. Pathetic job here. All joy of meeting familiar faces and places is totally destroyed.

Important feature presented is Garrison, and it has a lot of flaws. My main issue is that it finally kills almost dead interaction between players. There could be no one but you on the server and you wouldn't tell the difference cause everyone is sitting in his garrison! Here he can gain all needed resources, find a party and create needed equipment with zero interaction with other people. It even allows you to have an NPC as a follower in the world, so you can do everything you need, including daily quest, solo. It should've been at least a guild place, to create the feeling of unity. It would've made sense for all this useless monuments they offer you to have: to remind you and your friends and newly members about how great you are. But what we have now is just BLLSHT!

Gameplay and instances

The most important part in my opinion. I can't say that gameplay changed much, but it was simplified. A lot of features either has been erased or became passive. But I still find it very intuitive and the thing which is simple to learn but hard to master. Dungeons are much closer to cataclysmic, but still not that hard (I will never forget the need to tell the tactic on every boss in Grim Batol, while in Warlords everything can be killed without breaking much sweat). But designs are good, there's much variety of instances, every one is unique. Grimrail Depot is my favorite so far, and I would gladly see something like this in the future. However, I'm yet to see raids, and I'm looking for it with excitement.

I won't give any mark to the add-on, because I don't want to. At the moment my opinion is positive, but I can't be sure that I will enjoy it for any long time and even pay for another month. I more willing to try Overwatch, that's for sure.

Movie view - Interstellar (or Interholar?)

I'll just put it up front - 8/10. Not the Inception, not the Kubrick, but it's still Nolan brothers and it is still great movie and you absolutely should watch it. Now let's break it down into it's positive and negative moments.

Nolan is the greatest director alive and at work. Put these words into frame and hang it above your desk or make a screensaver out of it, but don't you dare to forget it or argue with it. There's no other man who can make regular people, nerds and others piss themselves with the same movie. I know that he is not ideal, but who is? I just glad that he is good enough. He bravely opens new movie frontiers like an amateur art house artist but he do it professionally and Hollywood approves his works. His brother, Jonathan, is always supports him in every step, as well as he is the one who must be thanked for creation of Person of Interest series, so bless you both.

The film starts with Nolan's favorite flash-forward scene. In this case, it's a fragment of documentary... and if you saw at least one trailer, you momentarily know how film will ends. Yeah, like starving people in the future have time, reason and possibility to make a documentary of how humanity have been extincting for all these years. It's kinda minors a tension, you know. As a matter of fact, the whole first part of a movie is a little off for me. There are quite dull dialogs, like the one McConaighey has with his father-in-law on the porch, as they don't even seem to be talking about the same thing, there are just epic speeches by both of them. It's more of monologs. Some of scenes are just comedic, and the others are lacking of purpose. For example, the cornfield chase, which I remembered only after looking into the OST and finding there a track of the same name. And surprisingly, no one seem to remember it at first, as this one is so unnecessary. You can easily cut it off and lose nothing, as all ideas of it are expressed better in other scenes.

You can get really bored by the time the heroes leave Earth, but it is worth the waiting. As soon as spaceship lifts off, shit get's real. I got so immerse, I actually lost a count of time, and it really could have been 23 years and I could've perceive them as one hour. Visuals are great, science is presented interestingly, story goes in right pace, all plot turns are smartly innuended and perfectly performed later. However, some aspects still provoke certain questions. Like, what was the purpose of the beard guy? He just died on this waves planet, and they seem to neglect the fact that he was onboard in the first place. Also, mad Matt Damon character is kinda badly presented, as he doesn't seem to be this mad and irrational as he should've be to perform such actions and still he does. Also my personal complaint, as a Kerbal Space Program player, is lacking of time-space coordinates throughout this section, as we never clearly get how planets are placed respectively to each other and the black hole, as well as it never mentioned how long exactly did it take for them to move between them.

And here we go into the last part as film goes into the black hole. Though I felt like movie is acting like I'm a kindergarten kid who can't add two and two, I must say that it was very clever making and explaining of timeloop. And I can't express my nerdgasm by viewing the projection of 5-dimensional space into our regular 4-dimensions, it was just incredible. Real satisfaction. And I completely don't mind, as I find it called in the internet, the 'Doctor Who' ending, cause this film and it's heroes totally deserved one.

So, that what I think about it. As I said, movie is great, and all holywars are proving it further, as no insegnificant thing can cause it. If you are willing, I can join a "physics death battle" in the comments in case there will be one, as there are a lot to discuss in very angry manner. But make sure you saw the film first.

P.S. If you didn't get it, I called the movie 'Interholar' because they not travel from star to star but from wormHOLE to blackHOLE (HA!)

Beware the Russian: Почему я не считаю троллирование искусством

It's only the second post (discount the introduction) and I already have to use Russian instead of Engrish. I'm a big supporter of globalisation and I propose unity between all the people on this damned planet. Also I hoped to cover bigger audience, and since I'm aiming to write about not-very-popular things, it is reasonable to do it in some widely used language (which is English, if you didn't figured it yet). However, I'm Russian and living in this Magnificent Land of Eternal Greatness, Home to Glorious Putin, may his reign be at least entertaining, and I encounter some events in media, which I can discuss only in my native, as I'm mostly addressing the author and other Russian audience. And I'm too lazy to translate all this shit, so use Google or something.

Glory to the Russian Federation! Da!

Итак, сегодня в рубрике BtR (клево звучит) я буду обсуждать эту статью. Для начала, прочитайте её, не спеша, вдумчиво. После первого прочтения вы можете почувствовать ЯРОСТЬ, однако успокойте свои чувства и прочитайте её еще раз.

Я не мог обойти эту тему, потому что вопрос о том, являются ли видеоигры искусством, волновал меня довольно давно. Какого же было мое удивление, когда я обнаружил, что статья-то в общем совсем не об этом. Она скорее описывает игровое сообщество (комьюнити).

Говоря «видеоигры — это искусство», геймеры просто самоутверждаются. Для них это маркер «свой — чужой»: важно не то, чтобы видеоигры действительно стали искусством, а чтобы общество восприняло хобби геймеров всерьез.

 Ну, я даже не знаю с чего начать.

Давайте опустим тонкие моменты того, что же является искусством, а что нет. Вот вам утверждение: "Ничто не портит артиста так, как его фанаты". Я не берусь утверждать авторство и точность цитаты, но мысль вы должны были понять.  И с большой долей уверенности я утверждаю, что какой бы вид искусства вы не взяли, будь то музыка, фильмы, или картины, но вам удастся найти такую прослойку поклонников какого-то артиста (художника, режиссера), которая будет с пеной у рта и угрожая вашим жизням на грани религиозного фанатизма доказывать, что вы ОЧЕНЬ сильно заблуждаетесь. Однако, означает ли это, что такие искусства следует перестать признавать как таковые? Или надо выкинуть из этой категории только те, чьи культисты наиболее агрессивны?

Не следует забывать, что видеоигры - это относительно молодое явление. Оно полно экспериментов, полно открытий, которые были сделаны и еще предстоит сделать. Я не буду давать какую-то объективную оценку творениям Д. Кейджа (хотя, в свое время, мне понравился Fahrenheit, хотя концовочка, откровенно, так себе), но называть то, что он делает, пограничным творением? Это все еще процесс, включающий в себя взаимодействие пользователя с интерфейсом и получение результата этого взаимодействия на видеоустройстве, то есть видеоигра. Да, она с уклоном в кинематографичность, но это всего лишь очередной эксперимент.

Очень странным выглядит упоминание Wargame. При всем желании их выставить как безотвественных разработчиков, получилось скорее наоборот, что добавляет только путанницы. Достаточно всего один раз запустить игру, чтобы увидеть, что никакой политики там и в помине нет, а от Второй Мировой Войны - только боевые машины и антураж карт, на которых проходят бои. Да и сами машины и карты не несут никаких скрытых намеков, честно представляя все стороны конфликта. А бонусы к 70-летия снятия блокады - ну, а вы давно пытались выяснить у школьников конкретную дату данного события? Или вообще, знают ли они о таком событии? Тут скорее следует благодарность выписывать за просвещение.

Под конец автор заявляет следующее:

Геймеры же изо всех сил пытаются увести игры как от либерального дискурса (в видеоиграх слишком много сексизма), так и от консервативного (в видеоиграх слишком много насилия), что как раз и нивелирует их как искусство, вырывает из общего культурного контекста, в который они так долго стремились попасть.

На дворе 2014 год. И игры давно являются частью этого контекста. Даже не 10 лет, а намного больше. И обилие насилия и сексизма скорее заталкивает их в этот контекст еще сильнее. В том же кинематографе полно насилия, в музыке полно сексизма, и всегда найдутся индивидуумы, которые назовут вас кем угодно, если вы будете совать свой нос в эти вопросы. Проблема с играми еще и в том, что, в то время как феминистки и консерваторы борются против этих явлений, они не предлагают ничего взамен. Прелесть же виртуального мира и заключается в почти неограниченной вседозволенности в пределах конкретно взятой песочницы. А если вы боитесь за нежную психику маленьких детей из 7 класса, то для того и существуют возрастные рейтинги, на которые следует смотреть родителям, в конце концов, это их отвественность.

Под конец, я, пожалуй, предложу вам еще раз внимательно прочитать статью. А потом посмотреть на заголовок поста. Да, если подумать о всем выше сказанном еще раз, то автор статьи - всего лишь тролль. Он говорит о том, что игровое сообщество неадекватно реагирует на критику в свой адрес, в результате чего игровое сообщество неадекватно среагировало на критику в свой адрес. Он отказывается признавать игры искусством из-за того, что игроки бесятся от того, что игры не признают искусством. Браво, маэстро. Особенно весело это смотрится на фоне недавнего видео из "Вечернего Урганта". Почему-то чувства обиженных феминисток и консерваторов есть кому защитить, а над откровенным унижением "гиков" на собственном КомикКоне и Игромире принято смеяться. Неудивительно, что они считают, что их не воспринимают всерьез, а школьники так вообще на угрозы переходят.

Таким образом, единственный плюс всей этой статьи заключется в том, что она подняла правильную тему, хоть и неправильным образом. В заключении хочу напомнить всем вам, что объективная реальность существует в независимости от того, считаем ли мы её таковой, или нет. Ну, и не забывайте не кормить троллей.

Music view: "KILL" by Electric Six - the oddest album

Over the certain amount of posts you will notice one obvious thing, so I'm gonna just give it out now: I FCKNG LOVE Electric Six. Since the moment I heard their most famous song "Gay bar" I instantly was hooked and couldn't let go by this day. Hell, I'm not even sure that I will ever let go this obsession. I adore the most of the songs and every album (yeah, "Heartbeats and Brainwaves", even you), as any of them has its own character and personality. And all of them are very joyful and dancing, except for one...

You see, after their début with simple but catchy "Fire" Electric Six started adding more lyrical songs, but still every album has a handful of exciting tracks. And the "KILL" stands out of this rule as actually very dark and depressive. Even if you try hard there would be maximum 3 "party" songs, and the others are just rock tunes with heavy lyrics and grim synthesizer. But is the album getting worse this way?

You may be surprised, but I found  "Fire" and "KILL" very similar in some aspects. For example, one was named so because the word "fire" was used a lot in songs from the album, and so was the other. They give you mood appropriate to its name, and songs from each album are written in similar tone on both of them. "KILL" just opens another point of view for Valentine and his crew's creative genius, but this side is not bad. And, like "Fire", it's a great creation of Electric Six.

I strongly recommend it as a reminder, that everything isn't all fun and games, and so is my favourite band.

Welcome to Perks of Being Mayzlah!

Welcome to Perks of Being Mayzlah!

In modern uncertain era everyone has a right and an ability to express one's opinion in the Internet! Music, movies, videogames or even view on reviews on music, movies or videogames. Today I decided that it's my turn to join this vicious world  of subjectivity and close to religious fanatism.

In this marvelous blog (if I won't give it up after a while) you, dear reader, will learn about my general opinion on things that I encounter in the Internet and real life through my life path. You may find them boring, lame or straight offensive, but I hope it will mostly be entartaining.

Let the journey begin!