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Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Drinks Are On Me

Unfortunately, I need to start with the sad news: my mother passed away last week. We knew from the beginning that her diagnosis/prognosis was among the worst you can get, but even her doctors were surprised this happened so quickly. Obviously, the global pandemic didn't help matters any, but we're trying to find some solace in knowing we all did the best we could with what we had, and I don't think anyone could have done anything differently at any point. We were lucky she was able to be moved to hospice for her last two weeks, and hospice care is everything people say it is. Despite all the difficulties of the situation, the staff there took care of all of us as best we can.

We're all devastated, of course, especially since there's not much else to do right now other than what we've been doing for the past weeks/months while stuck at home. It's hard, but I'm trying to find some positive, happy things wherever I can. (Even when it seems like an impossible task.) The next part of this post may seem like an advertisement, but 1) I promise it's not, and I am getting no compensation from it, and 2) literally everyone I've told about this has responded with, "Why didn't I know about this? I want one!" So here's my attempt to put some joy and fun back into the world right now.

When we were first at the beginning of the end with my mother, my Facebook ads were actually relevant for once, and I learned that Keurig, the company behind the single-serve coffee makers, has come out with an appliance that makes...wait for it...chilled cocktails. As a bonus, they were running a Mother's Day promo for $100 off. My mother and I loved online shopping, our Keurigs, and fun cocktails, and she would have loved the hell out of this. In different circumstances, I totally would have ordered two of them and given her one.

"Chilling." Like we've been doing anything else at home recently.
The alcohol is already in the pods. (And if you think FedEx actually cared about having someone 21+ sign for them when my pods were delivered, like they're supposed to...LULZ.) I was a little wary at the beginning, but I am here to tell you they are not skimping on the alcohol content here. At all. For what they are, I would say the pods are reasonably priced; more expensive than if you had all the ingredients at home already, but quite a bit cheaper than getting the same thing out at a bar.

The selection is pretty good! In addition to this peach sangria, I've also had a vodka lemonade, "lemon bubbly," and a Mai Tai. The other adult in this house had a strawberry margarita last night while half-assedly paying attention to a webinar for work that was even more of an advertisement than this post.
I actually had some issues setting everything up, which I won't bore you with here, but I will tell you that their customer service is excellent and I'm very happy with everything. Will this be as long-lasting as the coffee makers have been? Who knows. But with everything going on now, I just needed something that was fun and silly, and now that we're past the initial hurdles, I'm very happy with it. Regardless of what you're drinking "in these uncertain times" (take a shot!), have one for my mother and me. And as she was saying for the past couple weeks, make it a double for her.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Video Games, Part Whatever - Fire Emblem: Three Houses

My go-to answer for anyone who asks how lockdown in NY is going is "we're hanging in there." We've had our ups and downs, and I'm really not up for discussing the downs right now. I started playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses on the Switch...last week? Two weeks ago? Time has no meaning right now. Either way, the game is about the only thing keeping me even partially sane right now, so even though I'm only halfway through it, I figured I might as well sing its praises in a blog post.

I've never played a Fire Emblem game before, nor did I know anything about the series going in, other than some general awareness of its existence. But once I acquired a Switch (hidden in a dark corner of Costco; there were only two left, so I'm kind of proud of myself for finding one), gaming/creative buddy Boobulon recommended Three Houses, assuring me I'd either like it or love it. We've never steered each other wrong before when it comes to gaming recommendations, so I got the game. As I mentioned, I just passed the halfway point, but so far, so good!

In no particular order:

Characters: Probably what's impressed me the most about this game is the character development. The cast is HUGE—we're talking at least 30 individual characters, and while of course some are more significant than others, there really aren't a whole lot of what I would consider "minor" characters. Naturally, the game does rely on some tropes; it would be impossibly not to. But while it would be easy to have some characters be reduced to nothing but one-dimensional tropes or stereotypes, everyone's got different traits and backstories to fully flesh them out. And while I have my favorites, there isn't even anyone I really dislike, which is also impressive.

Setting: Since I haven't played any other games in the series, I'm sure there's a ton of lore I'm missing out on. Even without all that context, though, it was easy enough to learn about the fictional world in its state as of the time of the game. It's pretty basic medieval-ish fantasy—all humans, fighting with weapons like swords and axes, but some characters can use magic, and there's mystical creatures/monsters like dragons and wyverns and such. There's a definite class system, with nobility vs. commoners being A Thing, and there's also a centralized religious institution playing a role in all the political drama. Again, I'm sure there's stuff I'm glossing over since I don't have the context of the past games, but it all makes enough sense to me.

Plot: As always, I try to remain as spoiler-free as possible before playing. However, I'm pretty sure it's even in the game's description (the blurb, if you will) that close to the beginning, you have to choose one of the titular three houses to align yourself with. That right there increases the replayability factor, since while you can build relationships with people in other houses, it's more challenging. I also knew going in that the game is clearly split into two halves, with a time jump in the middle. I know there's a lot of differing opinions out there about time jumps, but personally, I don't mind it. I don't consider it lazy writing, and I think it allows for a lot of character growth. (Probably one of the reasons Dragon Age II is my favorite of that series, since I think it has the strongest companion characters, and the time jumps allow for that level of development.) Aside from the house selection at the beginning, there are also some places where the plot branches out in different directions, so I know I'll need to go back and replay for those choices, too.

Aside from the structure, everything else seems well-organized and planned out. Some big plot events were heavily foreshadowed, so I wasn't surprised at all when they happened. On the other hand, there was a big twist I didn't see coming AT ALL, to the point where I was shouting profanity at my TV screen and was PISSED for the rest of the night (but in a good, entertained way!). And then once I got over my surprise, I realized that looking back, there were quite a few hints dropped leading up to it, which just makes it even better.

Gameplay: I'm playing on the easiest mode, so I won't go into a whole lot of detail here. It's turn-based combat, which I know some people don't love, but I like the logic and thought and planning that goes into it. Then there are little side things, like gardening and fishing, and leveling your character up, and choosing how to develop the skills of the rest of your team, etc. Some parts of it I think are as easy or as complex as you make them, but I haven't gotten frustrated with anything yet.

So there we are, a little past the halfway point, and about 60 hours in, according to my main save file. If you need a distraction to get your mind off of everything else that's going on right now, either on a global level or a more personal one, I highly recommend the game. (I'm assuming nothing's going to happen to change my opinion to a negative one by the end, but I suppose you never know....)