I've been playing the main plot of Skyrim for once, instead of getting sidetracked, which is kind of the main appeal of any mainline Bethesda game. But the main plot of Skyrim has Max von Sydow so it's generally worth a revisit. If only Skyrim had better writing. I got to imagining, what if Ingmar Bergman wrote Skyrim? I watched Through a Glass Darkly again last night and mulled it over.
Of course, there's no question about the existence of gods in Skyrim, though what a pantheon means in that world is different to what God means in Bergman's. The Elder Scrolls video game pantheon is basically a set of powerful administrators or, in the case of Daedra, gangsters. The underlying problems of Through a Glass Darkly are the human capacity to perceive God's existence and the absence of consequence for amoral thoughts and actions. The movie concludes with the proposition that love may be proof of God's existence, or God literally is love.
How does that square with Minus and Karin, brother and sister, sleeping with each other? They clearly love each other but in the visual and moral chaos of that literal shipwreck (unless the crew received divine punishment) their impulsive coitus is the kind of act that could ultimately undermine their love in the long term.
I saw a bit of Russell Brand this morning talking about Trump's verdict. He brought in the issue of whether or not you could have true justice in a world in which people don't believe in a loving God. Now that I think Brand is taking money from Russia, I look at everything he says in a different light. Obviously he's getting at the increasing disparity between how reality is perceived by two factions of the American public, a division that may not have been so bad if we had a unifying morality. The question implies the problem; perception of the problem may exacerbate it and thereby be in Putin's interest?
I don't see belief in a loving God as necessary for a moral system. A legal system or a set of moral guidelines within personal relationships can be governed by the imperative to prevent the maximum amount of physical and mental suffering possible, influenced by the recognition that when people suffer they're more likely to inflict suffering on others. This may produce a workable system but is it satisfying? And what if God is a spider, as Karin discovers to her horror? After all, the satisfaction of many is founded on the suffering of others.
Perhaps God, like Karin's father, is both compassionate and predatory.
This is one of my latest Skyrim characters, Rahv'ael. She's an orc werewolf. Using the Skyrim Unbound mod, which allows you create many of your character's starting conditions, I had her start in the forest with a bounty of 2000 gold on her head. I'm also using Survival Mode which requires your character to eat and sleep or suffer penalties from hunger and fatigue. So Rahv'ael lives by raiding small settlements and bandit camps in wolf form, knocking people down and devouring their hearts for sustenance. It's so much fun playing as a werewolf in Skyrim. You're fast and very deadly. The trade-off is that you can't access inventory items and you can't heal except by eating more hearts. Though, since Rahv'ael can't go into town anyway, there's not much point looting for items to sell. I have a prison mod installed called Raven's Beak in which your character, if caught with a very high bounty, is sent to mining camp and forced to mine ore in order to get a reduced sentence. It's a really buggy mod but it was fun for a while massacring the guards and inmates. When I tried to actually escape, though, the game crashed.
It's actually really difficult playing as Rahv'ael most of the time. If I go into a major city, as deadly as she is in wolf form, she tends to get overwhelmed by the number of guards. I've tried other, similar "rebels against all civilisation" characters and it's always a satisfyingly desperate existence. The backstory I imagined for Rahv'ael is that she's known throughout the region, hated and feared. She was born as a werewolf in an orc stronghold and cast out, left to die, but somehow survived on insects, rats, and pure malevolent will.
When not in wolf form, Rahv'ael is a sneaking character who uses two daggers. I have another mod that requires your character to be of a certain weight and strength to use heavier weapons and armour so she uses smaller weapons by necessity. So with one character I have two extremes of gameplay.
Now I feel somewhat free to watch old movies since I finished my Best Of/Worst Of lists. And TV shows. I want to keep watching Fringe but Amazon gives me an error whenever I try to watch the next one. No clue why and by the time I settle down with my dinner to watch something I don't have the patience to wrestle with the technical problems. My internet is shit, especially when it comes to websites owned by Google. My provider is Softbank, a company with a good reputation in Japan but that doesn't stop them from being shady as hell. That's why it takes six hours for me to upload a three minute YouTube video (by the way, video versions of my Best Of/Worst Of lists are up on YouTube).
I've been dozing off at 12:30 or so with some old favourites on the screen. Chinatown, Videodrome, Wild at Heart, The 39 Steps. None of these movies should be comforting but they are. I guess The 39 Steps is kind of cosy. I love when Robert Donat checks into the hotel and orders whisky for himself and milk for the girl.
Being handcuffed to Madeleine Carroll seems like it would be nice.
I have been playing video games. Lately Metroid II, Kirby's Dreamland, Final Fantasy Legend II, and, of course, Skyrim. Here's my current character, Gwen:
I named her that because I have a mod that expands the dialogue of an NPC character, Serana, to be able to say certain names--there's a list of well over a hundred. This free mod has a professional voice actress and was covered in Forbes magazine. I'm taking my expanded Serana through another mod about rebuilding Helgen, a fort town that was destroyed at the beginning of the vanilla game. This mod is also fully voiced and totally free.
Since the last time I talked about the remarkable phenomenon of Skyrim mods, Bethesda has introduced new purchasable mods, which are causing controversy in the gaming community. I'd advise people not to worry, I think we all know nothing will come of them. It's funny, I believe in capitalism as a motivator for human achievement, except when it comes to art. More often than not, the profit motive has inhibited art rather than advanced it. The evidence is everywhere. Lousy movies make lots of money while hundreds of better achievements have to fight for funding and then end up losing money. Exceptions exist but are extremely rare--rarer than they might seem because they take up a lot of media space. And a lot of the best Skyrim mods are better than what people were paid to create for the vanilla game. Of course, this leaves the problem of the most creative people barely being able to afford basic necessities.
I heard recently that Miyazaki Hayao doesn't like video games, that he feels they're taking up too much space in children's lives. I've addressed the topic before of whether or not video games can be art and my position was always that they're not art but they can contain art. For example, the NPC mod I mentioned features lots of written and recorded dialogue. I consider that to be art but the interface for encountering that art, I'd still call a game. This comes from my definition of art as something created by a human mind to transmit an idea or feeling. For a game to achieve this, it has to utilise assets in a way that a communicated idea or feeling clearly comes through only because of player input, only because of an achievement or failure. Often, dialogue scenes in games feel detrimental to the gaming experience because the game really stops and becomes a movie. So when we're talking about art there, we're really talking about short films. I have yet to experience any kind of game dialogue that approaches the immersive experience of a movie. By and large, although I obviously like and play video games, it's always a shallower experience than a movie.
But on that note, I recommend watching video game designer Kojima Hideo's recent visit to the Criterion closet:
What he's saying about young people in Japan being unaware of Japan's great history of cinema is, unfortunately, quite accurate. Many of the teachers I work with, let alone the students, have never heard of Mizoguchi or Naruse and, though they may have heard of Kurosawa or Ozu, have never seen any of their movies. I was thinking of putting together a presentation on old Japanese films to show students but I knew if I didn't use a Japanese source some of the students wouldn't give credence to what I said. So I went to the bookstore to see if I could find a book about Japanese cinema. What I found were two walls of books about Hollywood, written in or translated into Japanese. They had a really lovely copy of Lulu Goes to Hollywood even, Louise Brooks' book of criticism. Then there were half a dozen books on Kurosawa, a couple on Ozu, all on the bottom shelf. Nothing comprehensive like what I wanted. I guess I wasn't surprised. Even Kurosawa complained in his lifetime about the lack of interest in Japan for the giants of '50s Japanese cinema, which is of course why he had to get funding from Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas for his '80s movies.
Would could change? There could be a whole bunch of mods, though it'd have to be some pretty drastic ones to overcome the basic lack of joy players seem to have found in the game's principal features. Bethesda games are famous for allowing the player to freely explore vast territory and it seems Starfield's vast territory is dull as dirt. Much of it, indeed, seems literally to be dirt as exploring often involves crossing vast reaches of barren landscape. That sounds like more of a punishment than a game, if you ask me.
It's not so unlike the Fallout games. Fallout 4 may be much more complex, with more character creation options and various forms of dynamic gameplay, but it still all boils down to running around in a junkyard. In Skyrim, you have forests, snowy peaks, and ancient Nordic tombs. Even the worst places have an attractive aesthetic in one way or another.
Starfield, even if it weren't dull and ugly, would still have to compete with the wealth of user made mods that have accrued over more than a decade. Of the 110 mods I use with my copy of Skyrim, several are graphics and and sound mods. You can't honestly call it a purely 12 year old game. In many ways, a modded Skyrim is as up to date as recent releases. And the mods, conceivably, may only improve as years pass. What might this suggest about the future of video games as a whole? For years, people have already been complaining that games are being released unfinished. That doesn't generally include Bethesda games, but many of the mods for Bethesda games are devoted to fixing bugs or streamlining code in the vanilla releases. Could we get to the point where game studios just release bare frameworks, or starter kits of animation and graphics, and then expect online communities to generate free content on their own?
Just look at all the free labour that's gone into the Beyond Skyrim mod that's been in construction for several years. A mod endeavouring to fill out the entire fantasy world in which the country of Skyrim is located, Beyond Skyrim features not only custom graphics, items, coding, gameplay, and writing but even composers of original music, teams of musicians, as well as professional quality voice acting. Are studios asking themselves what is the bare minimum of product they can put out to trigger a volunteer labour force as massive as Skyrim's?
This is my latest character, Grushenka, named after a character I had in Morrrowind over twenty years ago who was originally named after the character in The Brothers Karamazov. Her dress is based on a 1660 gown and comes from a mod. Her sword is a silver rapier which comes from a weapons mod that also includes custom animations. Her hair comes from a mod that includes hair that utilises modded physics and, thanks to another mod, is blown naturally by the wind across the tundra. I'm using a modded combat system as well as a modded survival mode that adds detrimental effects from cold weather, hunger, and lack of sleep. This particular mod was an official Bethesda release but the hunger portion of it was ridiculous. Only a few items of the game's vast collection of foods were actually able to sate the player character's hunger. A helpful user mod revamped the whole system based on a the real world calorie content of Bethesda's assortment of in game foods including bread, fruit, meat, pastries, etc. This, of course, adds a whole new dimension to the game, another thing that keeps it feeling fresh.
X Sonnet #1790
It starts with dust and ghosts of blasted cars.
The restless heath explodes with howling blooms.
But autumn crashed across the tracks of bars.
Another drink at three before her looms.
The plan was never red and blue apart.
Again the arms combine to make a pact.
Where larger feet would tread's a bigger heart.
Where angels like to walk we seldom act.
It's rolling snow that stills the mind.
Collapsing crusts of diamond blanks abide.
The mental world adheres to freezing rind.
In storage, melons broke before the bride.
In scattered clouds, the viewer sees some dots.
The cluttered points reveal confusing spots.
This is my latest Skyrim character, Usagi. Yeah, I'm still playing Skyrim, even though the modern gaming world is talking about Bethesda's new game Starfield. Call me a dog with a bone. Actually, a whole lot of bones, thanks to the "Ordinator Perks of Skyrim" mod. This completely revamps the Skyrim skill perks. Every skill has all kinds of interesting new abilities that add a lot of life to the game.
The Restoration skills, which used to all be healing or Turn Undead related, now have bona fide offensive spells sectioned in one branch. With these, you can make a true Necromancer character, especially when combined with skills in Conjuration related to reanimating the dead. The Bone Collector branch of perks enables you to build a small gang of skeleton warriors and mages on special altars located in various places.
A higher level perk allows you to summon an altar anywhere. The game still feels pretty balanced, too, because, since I concentrated so much on Conjuration and Restoration, my character is taken down pretty easily if someone manages to get past her bodyguards. But that's pretty rare. And I did allocate some perk points to Heavy Armour and One Handed. This mod has a skill for One Handed called "Rogue's Parry" that guarantees a critical if you attack an opponent while they're in the middle of an attack. I imagined this character as a sort of an ominous edifice, wielding a sword one handed like Darth Vader, surrounded by aggressive corpses.
I make a lot of characters I don't play through with but this one's almost to level forty. And I still haven't started the main quest. I joined the Imperial Legion and crushed the Stormcloaks, though. Many of those passionate Sons of Skyrim have been forced to serve the Empire in a grotesque afterlife at my bidding. Skyrim belongs to the dead! Huahahaha! I'm looking forward to Halloween this year, by the way.
X Sonnet #1737
Wherever chips were sold to fish she waits.
Where spiral drinks were plunked beneath the nose.
The people knew the donkey's eyes were baits.
But only tigers know where Jasmine grows.
Abscond with scones absorbing paste for blood.
Amorphous beans could never sprout a page.
But coffee ships were burning bricks of mud.
A fragile weight has tipped the lens to rage.
The insect brothers three would play for shit.
A marble game sufficed to break their thumbs.
Some rotting dogs would chew the bony bit.
But mem'ry fails the slack and toothless gums.
Reworking grins have lengthened teeth to spears.
Deserted castles rot beyond our years.
I spotted this muscular mouser by a haystack yesterday.
To-day is Coming of Age Day in Japan (成人の日). Outside my apartment just now, I saw a young lady in a beautiful kimono with a white fur shawl. She looked scrumptious though maybe it's too warm for that shawl. It's been unseasonably warm lately, I haven't even been wearing my overcoat.
No movie for me last night, I've been playing Beyond Skyrim: Bruma, an amazingly big Skyrim mod.
It adds a massive new land area with custom voice acting, a new musical score, new monsters and animals, and lots of new quests. It's part of an even larger modding project called Beyond Skyrim that aims to fill out the entire continent of Tamriel with complete content--the original Skyrim game is set on approximately 1/8th of this continent. They started working on this thing more than ten years ago and the Bruma mod was their first release, about five years ago. But they've definitely been working. The content is on par with an officially released expansion.
Some of the soundtrack albums--yes, plural, by multiple artists--are being sold on Amazon. I wonder if this is why it's taken so long for an official Skyrim sequel to come out. At this point, I don't see why Bethesda doesn't try to work out some way of making Beyond Skyrim commercially available.
Twitter Sonnet #1658
The kings of death were gathered late in cold.
Arresting frost detained the waiting bloom.
In dreams, the team were sep'rate mighty bold.
But chill the hollow sound endows a doom.
Beneath the wooden house there lies a pig.
But silence chokes the face with mouldy straw.
To scare the teeth from wolves they quickly dig.
But worlds await beyond the hungry maw.
A brick facade could not forestall the wind.
As by the serpent's path a wolf approached.
A lively song was hastened fast to end.
A brittle note recounts a banshee coach.
In grey and white, the ocean surface froze.
A hollow hour stole her magic clothes.
I've been remembering some of my dreams again lately. A few nights ago, I dreamt I was in a mall back in San Diego and I was being chased by a short, bald man wearing a bright red polo. I think it's because I hate polos so much.
I suspect I'm getting more troubled dreams because I've been playing video games before bed, something I realised long ago I shouldn't do for this very reason. But somehow I've gotten sucked into Skyrim again, twelve years after the game's initial release. It's a good game on its own but it still seems to have a very active modding community so the Skyrim I'm playing now is vastly different from the one I first played over a decade ago. It has improved graphics and a better interface. I'm able to have more than one follower and I'm able to give them specialised combat roles.
Oh, yeah, and they're all dressed as Playboy bunnies. What do you expect? I'm a big old pervert. My character is the vampire in yellow with the knives, Junko. One of the mods I'm using creates a more complex perk tree which makes duel wielding daggers much more useful and interesting. Those bunny clothes don't count as armour, I've been levelling my character without building any armour skill. In Skyrim, it's actually beneficial to avoid levelling some skills because the enemies level up with you. This is an assassin character so she's good at sneaking and backstabbing. When I sneak up on someone and get them from behind with a dagger, I do 24 times the normal damage. The only trouble is this character is shit when fighting against dragons, particularly since I installed a "Deadly Dragons" mod because I always thought the vanilla dragons were too easy. This mod also makes the dragons use cool special abilities and spells. I especially like the "Storm Dragon" which summons a rain storm when it appears. It's nice atmosphere and it's easier for me to sneak in a storm. Not that I've managed to successfully backstab a dragon yet.
You can raise the difficulty level in vanilla Skyrim but that just seems to give everyone more hitpoints, which results in tedious sessions of me hacking repeatedly at someone. These mods are much more interesting.
Twitter Sonnet #1645
Obtaining plushy dreams promotes the group.
Dividing chores, the festive rodents run.
Observing rock, musicians slowly roll.
Successful dough imbues the butter bun.
Absurd as rolling bellies burn a sweet.
Revolving games align for lover dreams.
However, bats asleep alone were beat.
Forgotten cars concealing naught, it seems.
With proper balance, bowls can hold a soup.
Embarrassed bats could never dance again.
Without a wrap, the lady pawned a dupe.
Embargoes stopped the flow of cash to bin.
Dissolving snakes desired food to stay.
Devoured night deposits sunken day.
