#i’d say most of them are actually really fucking solid units with their refines

[sieglinde-freud]

ohhh i j remember i pulled arcane ophelia when she dropped and just never fuckin used her… i ALMOST gave her tome to odin to fix him up, but…. hehewgahehe laurentttttt i have some shiny new toy for youuuuu come home baby girl come HOME!

[crystalelemental]

Oh man.  GamePress apparently updated the offensive tier list to be AR exclusive, and boy have there been some changes.  You know I have opinions on this one.

Okay let’s start with the obvious part: how in the hell is any Legendary hero considered above Tier 2?  Like, are we not factoring in score?  Or are we only accounting for if they score well?  Because realistically, half the time, a legendary hero is an active detriment to the scoring.  Also it turns out this isn’t just offense, but both offense AND defense, since Mirabilis is Tier 1.  So that’s gonna be...honestly, a bit confusing.  I’m sure some people can tell which is which, but I’m willing to bet others aren’t clear.

Let’s start with the biggest changes at the top.  Eliwood and Brave Roy are now Tier 1, likely because Galeforce.  Nothing else is different that I can tell.  Maybe some demotion?  But nothing substantial.  Lysithea is finally recognized as Tier 1, and I’m certain it’s because of her power on AR-D.  Girl is obscene.  Otherwise, Fallen Julia is the only other T1 Red Mage, and damn good on her.  Idunn demoted, but honestly, fair.  AR is not for her.  Armor units are not hard to handle, and are pretty bad on offense.  Especially with Thrasir existing, armor dragons just have a rough go.  Spring Idunn and Tibarn alone are T1.  What I do find interesting is that Dancer Micaiah didn’t maintain.  I guess the Hardy Bearing effect isn’t as impressive anymore.  Also Karla stayed T2, that’s...astonishing, actually.  Duo Byleth is also T2, which kinda makes sense.  Defense can’t make use of her Duo skill, and her bulk is pathetic, so any typical ranged defense unit can handle her.  On offense, it’s going to be tough.  Desperation effect is good, but conditional on having a fast team, not to mention Galeforce sets can require the foe to retaliate, like with Eliwood/Brave Roy.  So I can’t say I’m surprised she’s not on top.

Lance seems to just be B!Lucina, Duo Ephraim, and Trio Palla.  Which is fair.  Blue mages, though?  Damn is this crowded.  L!Azura and Peony, because obscene dancers.  Ophelia, because bitch.  Duo Alphonse, because immortality.  Brunnya, because honestly Fimbulvetr is perfect for this game mode, and she’s got the infantry status and abilities to do whatever she wants.  And L!Julia.  I’m willing to bet she’s more AR-D focused.  Rafiel and L!Chrom are also T1, of course.  I think what really surprises me is that Reinhardt is T2.  Is anyone else surprised about this?  I guess he’s not the most threatening thing in the world anymore, but still.  Actually wait, what’s REALLY neat is that Naga is T3.  So clearly scoring considerations are not paramount.

Axes have V!Duo Alm, Annette, L!Edelgard, and B!Ike.  Because of course.  All of them are ridiculous.  Mages have L!Celica, Thrasir, and Fallen Lyon, with beasts/dragons having Reyson.  Which, again, makes sense.  I’m glad Surtr demoted to T2.  I really don’t think of him as the most threatening aspect of AR anymore, even on dedicated stall, so this feels overdue.  Yune’s also T2, which..okay, fair.  While I think she’s great, she’s a ranged flying unit who plays defense, and her debuff game is crippled severely by Eir’s bonuses.  It’s super weird that F!Kana demoted, though.  She was T1 before, and that was entirely based on AR potential, so...okay.  Guess the meta has shifted hard enough against her.  Also, big shoutouts to Julia for maintaining T2 status.  That’s my girl.

Bows have L!Alm, L!Leif, V!Faye, and Duo Marth.  I can’t speak for Duo Marth, I don’t have him, but I feel like the fact I’ve never faced one means he’s at least not good on AR-D.  I can vouch for V!Faye, though, holy shit.  In fact can we establish Tier 0 for the primordial beings that break the world over their knees?  Anyway, Bernadetta and B!Lyn are T2, and I’m betting that’s for hit-and-run offense teams.  Also Norne’s T2 now, which is super correct.  I’ve felt this for a while, and the forum backs me up pretty hard on it: Norne’s the best common archer by a mile.  But of course, you all know what I’m going to say.  There is no way Faye is T3.  I have played her ranged defense game long enough to know that she is really strong at it.  While some threats like Lysithea can blow past her, and Thrasir isn’t always one-shot with my current supports, she is very capable of performing better than T3.  Also, poor Clarisse.  Finally gets a kickass refine that’s just not particularly great for AR, and instead of climbing the ranks of the offensive tier list, they change the conditions on her.  Girl can’t catch a break.

Dagger/Mage combos have, of course, Bramimond, Leila, Eir, and Duo Micaiah.  Absolutely no surprises here.  What is surprising, maybe just to me, is that Winter Cecilia is down to T3.  She was considered T2 for a long while, and I’d guessed that was based on AR potential.  I guess Duo Micaiah is causing substantial problems for armors across the board?  But man, Larum is T2.  LARUM.  Larum sucks, what could she possibly be doing that’s useful?

Dragons/Beasts have Fallen Female Corrin, Leanne, Mila, and Velouria.  I love everything about this.  Leanne makes sense for Defense teams, Velouria is a great Galeforcer, Mila is probably the best Light mythic for supertank strategies, and Fallen Female Corrin makes me happy because Fallen Male Corrin is only T2.  Get fucked, loser.  Your higher BST does nothing for your shit ass.  I do think there’s an argument for Caineghis in T1 for an offensive supertank, but honestly, he struggles.  To a degree I’d say he’s worse than Faye.  We don’t have any beast Mythics, and the only offensive dragon is Mila.  His DC is conditional on transforming, and he’s an armor unit.  He can’t run Null C-Disrupt, or Null Follow-Up like she can, so there are defense teams that can beat him by exploiting this.  I feel like Faye’s a lot better, but hey, what do I know.

And finally, staves.  Bridal Fjorm is the only one in T1.  Brave Veronica actually dropped, which is funny because she was T1 before solely on AR.  She doesn’t place in Arena.  I guess the meta has shifted away from Brave Veronica lately.  I haven’t been scared of one in a long time.  And hey, Maribelle is T2 as well, and Forrest got pushed up to T3!  Unfortunately, Brave Camilla was reduced to T3, so she’s still below B!Veronica.  Which in this game mode I guess is fair.

Now for the opposite end of the spectrum.  There are now 6 tiers, which I like.  I feel the subdivisions are appropriate, we have enough units that categorization was tough.  T4 for lances and swords was like 60 units before, I’m glad it got cleaned up a bit.  For red stuff, Alfonse remains at the bottom, but is no longer alone.  NY!Camilla, Chrom, V!Conrad, Beach Fiora, Hinata, and NY!Hrid are also down there.  Haha, Hrid, get fucked you loser.  That’s for January 2019, you fuck.  Mages here include Canas, Julius (ouch), Leo, Beach Leo, Raigh, and Beach Lorenz.  No surprises.  There are no dragons, daggers, or bows for red down here, the lowest they go is T4.  Hysterically, every form of red Tiki is in T4.  Also, maybe this is me not understanding something, but NY!Anna and NY!Eir in T4 surprises me.  I thought their weapons were considered great team support.  Are their stats just not optimized for it? 

T6 lances are many.  Too many, I’m not listing all of that.  What I will say is, tell my Forma Finn running on the double cav Galeforce defense team that he’s T6.  Considering I only lost two matches at all last season, and only 38 Lift, I’d say he’s doing alright.  But there are probably better options out there, I’m just working with what I have.  Mages are just Oliver and M!Robin.  Man, I hope M!Robin goes up with the resplendent.  Leave Oliver to die.  No dragons, bows, or daggers, they’re all up in T4 where...where...no.  No, there’s no way.  Lilith has warp abilities from anywhere.  NAESALA is considered T4, despite being paired with Tibarn for some of the nastiest offensive AR-D strategies out there.  Mordecai has the Smite thing.  I don’t agree with this at all.  And Ninian is T3?  Even though she’s one of the top picks for Infantry Pulse AR-D dancers?  I know Nils exists and is better in every way pretty much, but that’s a bit much to me.  I think the blue dragon/beast section is the most ridiculous by far.

There are also a lot of axes down in T6, but I agree with all of them.  The green mages make me sad, though.  Picnic Leo, Cecilia, and Female Robin.  I do think F!Robin has a lot of utility within the game, but...honestly they’re super right, she cannot possibly compete in AR.  Defense teams have no use for her, and offensive teams using her as a support are a bad idea with Panic Manor around.  Mostly Cecilia makes my heart hurt.  Come on, IS.  Null C-Disrupt Raven Tome when?  As with the other tiers, all dragons, bows, and daggers of this color are higher ranked.  That said, L!Lyn in T5.  Get fucked.  There’s also...absolutely nothing controversial about their T4 picks.  Green’s pretty well sorted, good job team.

The only colorless option with units in T6 are healers, where we have Azama, Mist, Wrys, Sakura, and Lissa.  Nothing controversial here.  In fact, nothing controversial in T5, either.  What is sad but super true, is that F!Grima’s here.  All the other colorless beasts and dragons are clustered in T1 and T2, but she’s down in T5.  Expiration refine when?  Felicia and Jaffar are the lowest ranked daggers, to no one’s surprise.  None of the bows are shocking either, except I’m kinda surprised Niles isn’t at least a little higher.  I feel like his massive Res must account for something when attempting to tank out the many ranged magic threats on AR-D, right?

Overall, I...actually agree with the majority of this.  It’s a solid tierlist for Aether Raids.  There are some things I don’t entirely agree with, but would have trouble arguing in their favor in the current meta.  Like Micaiah.  As we move entirely away from armor units, Micaiah becomes less and less significant.  I do think the blue dragon/beast section could take some revisiting, given that goddamn Naesala is down in T4, but one area that seems off isn’t bad when you have so much to organize.  I like it.  Definitely a lot better than the previous list, because at least now we’re specialized.  Before, there was always an argument that a certain unit was better or worse based on performance in a specific area.  But here, it’s more stable.  I’m not sure if there’s intent to make an Arena one, or if that’s even necessary since scoring is a lot more specific for Arena, but we’ll see.

[deadspaceaus]

Deadspace - Interview with Chris  - Afterlife Zine

https://www.facebook.com/afterlifezine/

DEADSPACE INTERVIEW

By Ricardo Rengifo

"THE WAY I VIEW THE WORLD IS LIKE A MASSIVE CANVAS"

What's the meaning of a Deadspace? A place where you find solace or a place where chaos rules supreme but you still feel that tranquility to come back over and over again to that "place", the first time I heard this band it was spellbinding and epic at the same time, layers and layers of sounds painting the perfect picture, envisioning this band is like looking into a glass mirror and you will see the beast of what Deadspace is made of, Afterlife caught up with Chris Gebauer to find out what's inside his mind and how much Deadspace means for him.

Through the bleak moments and the madness that goes in between or viceversa, how deep you get involved within yourself to make Deadspace an entity upon others?

Deadspace for me has always been deeply personal. An emotional, almost spiritual beast in which I have allowed myself to absolutely lose control as a human being. For me it is the child within. Angry, tortured, disobedient but pure. Then the other members came into the picture. I think it’s ridiculous to say that they draw the exact same purpose from the energy that is Deadspace. In saying that, I don’t believe anyone will every understand it like I do because the inner workings reflect differently to people closely involved. But I can certainly say I 100% feel like the energy burns infinitely harder when we’re together as a unit. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why… but it is a feeling I live for every day.

This is what we offer to our fans and loved one. This is a haven where you will not be judged or cast away for your lunacy. We consider it so that every Deadspace show is a surreal experience for all involved.

Can you describe the first time you fell in love with music?

Well that depends on what aspect of music we’re talking about. But here is a theory I have previously held value to, encompassing the idea of growth.

From a very young age I was always fascinated with how a good song would reflect on an entire room of people and fuel an ambience. This was the first step for me, falling in love with how music could make you feel.

Then as a more dissociative being, I became obsessed with the ability to disappear into music and to feel nothing. It was like a drug. I could put on a record and just disappear for as long as I needed. This is most likely where my love for post rock and severely heroin influenced stuff NIN stemmed from.

Then I hit my teens and I got angry. I wanted to see people willing to destroy themselves for art. For some obscure reason I really put emphasis on this (and still do). I wanted to see Manson kick in speakers, I wanted to see Reznor fuck his keyboard and smash shit with hammers and the idea of people like Kvarforth and Carlsson covering stages in blood was neurotically exciting.

You take these 3 moods and then you apply them to a day of Melbourne weather. All 3 feelings, about 5 times a day. It’s a mess, music has become the only thing that drives me insane and keeps me together at the same time.

In your formative years as a musician can you name a record or records that shaped your musical direction and why?

First of all, I’d encourage the idea of perhaps the ‘formative’ years still being in progress. Some albums that have seriously influences me as an artist are:

Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals: This record blue me out because it had an overwhelming sadness to it while still being heavy and the vocal delivery feels very honest.

Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile: This record just speaks for itself.

Placebo - Without You I’m Nothing: I just don’t know another vocalist doing anything even close to Molko in so many aspects. I love the version of the title track on this with Bowie also. Beautiful. Anything Placebo is in my favourites.

Jeff Buckley - Grace: My all time favourite favourite record. Jeff was, in my opinion, one of the greatest souls that ever lived and his voice will forever be untouchable.

That’s just me, the other guys have their own tastes but this is my personal standpoint.

As an artist and performer how important it is for you to give your audience an endless memory by them saying "that was intense"?

Absolutely imperative although it’s not a challenge at all, it’s a given. Majority of shows we play, it takes me about 15 minutes to remember how to breathe after. Everyone gives it everything they’ve got and I think that’s the beauty about being on stage. We’re all 100% emotionally invested in each others crafts and we could be on a stage we’ve never been on before and it feels like home.

I was blown away by the violent way you can crate music but at the same time there is beautiful moments in there, how important is to have band members that share your same point of views in a musical way?

I think not as such same points of view, but members with eclectic and unique points of view, working together towards the same idea. The light and dark shades are reflective to life in general and I’d say these things being clear in our music is a reflexion of honesty. Honesty with ourselves, each other and our music/audience.

What is your thought in the current music business, how much effort a band have to put into to be heard and to have some sort of success?

Well you’re not going to put together anything like what we’re doing and earn a living off it in this country. The business side of things has always taken a backseat with us. In saying that, it’s important to a certain extent but we’re definitely (at this point anyway) travelling around, making friends and building up a strong/loyal community in which we would like to share this experience with.

With anything, success if all conjecture. It’s a self established goal and the idea of succeeding in regards to your personal values. So in my opinion, we are successful. This is enough for me right now.

Your last release "Gravity" in my opinion is an opus, it feels like a life journey, how much input did everyone contributed to make this record a master of it's own?

Gravity was really just a little concept I was playing with at the time. I really wanted to get something strong out as a unit with our solid lineup. The concept is really quite observational and brutal in nature. Basically summing up the idea of birth, life, death and rebirth as transitional inevitabilities. The character takes form of a narrator, living inside a soul that is enduring and learning such fate. All members came together to create the piece. Whether it be shared duties recording piano parts or just handling their own instruments parts. Finally, Nish mixed and mastered the fucker, which was a massive learning curve for everybody I’d say. We’re all growing into the strongest versions of ourselves.

Chris your lyrics are just something that a lot of people can relate too, what makes you write such as strong and dark but at the same time meaningful, what sort of message are you trying to deliver?

I’ve always been a person that values truth and honesty over diplomacy. I just say it how it is and try not to fabricate complexity by adding superfluous vocabulary. The idea of my lyrics is to stimulate the senses. Either in a visual way or a nostalgic feeling that makes you feel alive. That’s for this record anyway. Truth be told, It all gets spat out on a piece of paper without any thought. Then when I wake up in a different mind state, I refine it so it still makes sense. Sometimes you’re feeling something so passionately that the actual words hold no meaning and need a second look.

Who were your main inspirations to write and put lyrics together?

I’ve always written, even as a child. I guess it’s always been something that nobody could ever take away from me and thusly has been a gift I’ve held dear for some time. To be frank, as many inspirational people as their are out there. My writing is on its own journey. I don’t want to say things other people have already said, no matter how amazing the sentiment may be. I’m very good at disturbing people’s beliefs and thoughts, not deliberately, but I love the idea of everything I’ve ever ‘known’ to be turned upside down. I’m also very bad at being certain about things. I’m not a logical person and the idea of certainty/stability bore me beyond belief.

The last song on Gravity has that spoken word at the end of the song and the part that strike me the most was when the narrator said "if you have any possessions, give it all away" what is the message you are trying to send across?

Well the whole idea of Rebirth was to throw a curveball. Birth, Life, Death - these things are certain. Rebirth is a concept dreamed up by humans, for humans. This is the shit that keeps life interesting. A lot of people don’t recognise this either that it’s actually the uncertainty that keeps their minds and souls alive. So who better than Alan Watts and his own words of wisdom to add the element of conjecture and ‘certainty in uncertainty’.

“Don’t cling to things”, don’t hold on to what you know or what you think you have, it’s going to change and one day go away.

But please note: with Gravity is was never intended to be a solid message for people. It’s just food for thought. It’s a personal reflection and I’m not by any means saying ‘live your life like this’. It’s just insight into where I was at that point in time.

Let's deviate a bit from the music side and let's talk about your views about society in general, is this a better world to live in?

Better than what? It’s the only world we have. It’s full of pain, suffering, joy, love, loss…

The way I view the world is like a massive canvas. There’s paint everywhere but not all aspects of the peace are going to be the colours or shapes that you can relate to. I’m not entirely sure whether I see it like this because I’m a coward and need to take a back seat or if it’s just my place in society to think like this. As far as I can tell I’m not hurting anybody and hopefully actually bringing a few people up (lets not kid ourselves though).

This being said, everybody has their own struggles. A lot of mine are internal and health based. I have a good family, a house I’m welcome in, I’ve travelled extensively. These inner issues provide me with some challenges but they also make me get up every day and want to do something with it. I think for someone with a different genetic make up, the challenges would be elsewhere, inviting them to see the world in a different light.

Also apart from creating music you love photography, how much inner peace you found when you see something that you want to capture and show it to the world?

It just depends where I am at a certain point in time. Sometimes the beauty is just too fucking beautiful to capture in any generic forms of art. If I didn’t have to work I would definitely live behind my camera by day and in a studio writing music at night. This would be incredible but for now I view the day job as earning my keep so I can continue to explore.

Would you "compromise" and make your music more accessible so it can be heard by a bigger audience or this is something that has never crossed your mind?

Not deliberately. But I don’t really see us as a severely underground or inaccessible band. Most of the inspiration comes from melody and the rhythmic aspects are not necessarily difficult to digest. We build our audience by emotionally connecting with them. And that’s what we’ll continue to do through our music and lives in general. The sounds will only change to facilitate getting out how we feel within the foundation of our musical integrity.

The balance between all your records are very different but still keeping the Deadspace sound, would it be major changes for the next record?

Exactly what I was saying before. Nish has grown as a producer, we’ve all grown as musicians. My voice is more of a reflection of where I am right now. We have new ideas on tones, new ideas on what is ‘us’ in general. The production on our split is a lot cleaner, the low end has been handled in a much more experienced way. I also tracked my vocals in a studio with a producer, mainly as a confidence boost as they are very defined compared to beforehand.

Thanks Chris for your answers, final question, what do you expect from 2017 and onwards?

I expect the world to keep orbiting the sun. I expect people to be people. Some will be born, some will die. One man will drink alone every night until he shoots himself, another with start a multi million dollar company and live on materialistic happiness until he loses a house in a divorce.

For us, I expect that we keep doing what we’re doing. Making noise, meeting amazing people, playing amazing shows and expanding our handprint on the world bit by bit.

Gravity is out now on Deadspace bandcamp

www.deadspacecollective.bandcamp.com www.deadspace.com.au

[beardcore-blog]

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus Review

This review will have all the spoilers. You’ve been warned.

It was either late 2013 or early 2014. Good times. I was messing around on Youtube one day looking at videos of the latest Batman game. Then in the recommended videos I saw something that both confused and intrigued me. The thumbnail was the iconic image of Niel Armstrong saluting the American flag he just planted on the moon. Except there were a couple differences. Twisted, terrifying differences. The American flag was replaced with the banner of Nazi Germany. And Niel was Seig Heil’ing to it. I’m pretty sure I let out an audible "what the fuck?" apon seeing this. This was the E3 trailer for Wolfenstein: The New Order. For those who don’t know, Wolfenstein is one of the oldest franchises in gaming, and put FPS games on the map. A goofy game about shooting Nazis in WWII that gave 90s gamers the chance to shoot the hell out of Mecha-Hitler. Think of it as a prototype to the more infamous Doom series that would launch shorty after. The New Order was a modern-day reboot with some ambitious questions. The biggest one being "what if they won instead?" The New Order takes you to an alternate 1960 where the Nazis beat the allied forces to the nuke (among other advanced tech) and thus took over the world. It was grim. It was campy. It was subtle. It was loud. It was dumb. And it was also much smarter and more engaging than anyone would’ve thought. So it went on to be a smash hit in 2014, and one of my favorite games ever. A few months ago to the day this is being posted, Bethesda stopped by E3 and showed the world it was sequel time, showing off Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus (Actually like the 3rd or 5th in the series) to the world. The next day I preordered the hell out of it. Was it worth it? Well after 10 days of tearing through it, lemme tell you.

So I’ll start off with things I didn’t like, get the negativity out of the way. It’s not a big list but I think what on it is valid. In The New Order, which I shall now abbreviate as TNO, in nearly all sections you could either go in fast and loud, putting holes in everything that moves with dual automatic shotguns and a big laser cannon. Or you could be a bit more stealthy about things, sneaking through vents and corridors putting knives in throats and taking care of problematic enemies from afar with a suppressed pistol (which might I mention was one of the things I loved about the TNO; keeping the pistol relevant and not just a forgettable starter weapon like most shooters). It was all about personal play style, but both options were viable. In The New Colossus, which I shall now abbreviate as TNC, going in loud was the way I always went because it seemed more viable. And I always went stealth in TNO. I probably just need to learn the areas, but there was some problems I ran into. Like this game being dark. Not story wise (even though it is) but literally. I remember alot of areas meant to be stealth-able lacking in the lighting department, and I set my brightness at the recommended settings, too. Anytime I’d get caught it’d be from and enemy that I couldn’t see. And that leads to another problem. In TNO, enemies stuck out in the maps. Even if they were dully-colored humaniods coming in plentiful shades of gray you’d still spot them from across the area. It was probably due to both TNO being brighter and the enemies having a wide design variety. Not so much in the TNC. There’s less design variety here and they all seem to just blend into the background alot. Even the brightly-colored HAZMAT and Venus space troopers don’t pop in anything less than Glamour Magazine photo booth. On top of that those two previously mentioned troopers, while being obvious separate models apon inspection, honestly just look like classic Mortal Kombat-esque palette swaps. Again, TNO had alot of variety in their designs. Which is why it was a shame there was no proper model viewer in TNO, and why it’s straight-up bullshit their isn’t one in TNC. One of my favorite bits of last year’s DOOM (another Id games classic updated for the modern world) was a model viewer that let you get an up-close look at the game’s monsters and weapons. The Batman: Arkham games have had it for years. Hell, I remember having them back in 2005 with Jak III. Why can’t Wolfenstein, with their toybox of greatly-designed characters, weapons and assets have it? Or a photo mode, too? I’m not insane about graphics in games, but I still appreciate them with how incredible they are today, and TNC is no exception. It’s a beautiful game. Let me appreciate it to the fullest extent possible. Honestly these days model viewers and photo modes are something all games should have with how far graphics have gone. If only bosses got the same advancement. TNO had a few that aren’t Psycho Mantis or Big Baby Bowser levels, but they were fun nonetheless. DOOM’s bosses were one of the highlights for me. TNC has none of those. Here and then there’s an enemy that can act as a sort-of miniboss, but their’s nothing big and climactic like TNO’s showdown with the towering London Monitor, or the final showdown with the main antagonist, General Deathshead. The "final boss" of TNC is more of a gauntlet than anything. 3 pairs of Supersoldiers, a higher-powered but still common enemy assisted by a shitload of standard infantry, finished off by 2 "Zerstörers", which are basically super versions of the Supersoldiers (I call them "Super-duper Soliders"). The main antagonist of the game, General Engel, goes down with one melee attack, only vainly defending herself with a pistol. An outdated pistol by both the game’s and IRL standards. In a game where mechs, actual Avengers Helicarriers and boimechanically-enhanced mutants are possible, you’d expect so much more. Especially with Hitler himself making an appearance. I was really looking forward to a modern-day Mecha-Hitler. Not sure if I’d want bosses to worry about though since something as simple as getting your weapons out can be a pain. In TNO you could dual wield nearly every weapon in the game, but you could only dual wield two of the same gun. In TNC dual wield returns, for every weapon you can carry, and you can interchange between them. And while it has it’s uses for sure, it feels kinda clunky, not to mention slow. TNC takes it’s sweet time letting you change your weapons which can be fatal, especially since this game carries over a problem TNO had in that you’re not exactly warned when your current ammo’s about to run dry and you’re gonna get lit up while changing a clip.

Now to the good, which I assure you outweighs the bad. Lemme start by saying that the gunplay feels as fantastic as before. Every gun has kick and you feel it whenever you see a Nazi get turned to mush by your triple-barreled automatic rotary shotgun. Yes, that’s a thing in this game. As is a pistol-sized grenade launcher. And sticky-bomb launcher. And an OP-as hell laser cannon that atomizes people and metal covers/doors alike. And all of these can be powered-up through upgrades. The Shotgun can be upgraded to have ricochet rounds to deal even more damage. The pistol can have a suppressor so it stays useful like it did in TNO. The Assault Rifle can have both a scope and armor piercing rounds making it able to down mechanical enemies in one shot. And the laser cannon. Oh god the Laser cannon. Called the LaserkraftWerk in the game, it’s by far the best weapon you’ll get, even before upgrades. One shot will destroy even more armored infantry, but when you upgrade it so the blast can be charged, ooooooohhh. One charged blast will down Super soldiers with ease, and even on higher difficulties the powerful Zerstörer units I mentioned earlier will fall with a few good shots. Combo this with an extended battery doubling your already-decent ammo pool, And you’re unstoppable. I guess that leads to another issue. While every gun has their uses and you’ll likely use every one at one point, like DOOM before it you’ll probably cruise along primary’ing 2 guns. For me it was the Shotgun and Laserkraftwerk. But even then they weren’t the weapons I used the most. It was the heavy weapons. In TNO there was a Heavy MG you’d find here and there. It was powerful, sure, but could only be picked up and not carried in your inventory, and slowed you down considerably. You couldn’t sprint and crouching reduced you to a snail’s pace, and interacting with anything would make you drop it. In TNC there’s 4 types of heavy weapons and they’re awesome. They still slow you down but nowhere near the TNO’s. You CAN interact with stuff and you can even sprint with them. Doesn’t sound like much but believe me, that makes a world of difference. Another thing that gives you an edge in combat is the contraptions. There’s 3 in total; The Ram Shackles, which allow you to bash through both weak walls and enemies alike, the Constrictor Harness, which allows you to sneak around in tight spaces, and the Battle Walker, my favorite, which is just some goddamn stilts. They let you get to higher places so its not anywhere as useless as it sounds, but also has perks, like the other contraptions. You’ll be able to tank explosions without falling over, make enemies freeze n terror at the sight of you, and even keep your overcharged health from going down, my favorite. Speaking of health, one thing that makes the newer Wolfenstein and Doom games is the lack of regenerating health. You have to find health and armor in the levels, and this returns in TNC. One addition though is instead of having to pick up stuff manually, walking over health and armor pieces will make you pick it up automatically, though manually picking them up like before is still an option. It admitting needs refinement but it works well enough. It’s nice after a firefight were I took a beating, I remember where a health pack or some armor was, I run to that location, and I already have some extra heath/armor on me when I get there from the bits that was lying around. While I did say that their isn’t much variety in the enemie’s designs, the designs that are there are good, and carry over that retrofuturistic asthetic I loved so much about TNO. My favorites are either the Ubersoldat, with is basically a Nazi T-800, or the previously-mentioned Zerstörer. Enemy behavior is much better in this game too. In TNO during a stealth section if an enemy ran into a dead body, they’d just move along like something happened. In TNC, enemies are much more sharp. Anything louder and light sniffle they’re hear and investigate, and if they find a dead body they go into high alert and start hunting for you. The levels are incredible too, truly feeling and looking like a 1960s America under Nazi control. The level layouts in this game are kinda funny. In TNO a new level was an entirely new location. In TNC, multiple levels are across one location. This is due to the levels being so much more vast than TNO if anything. My favorite level is either the Nazi base on Venus (the actual planet), or Manhattan, which was directly hit by a Nazi nuke in WWII and is now a desolate, irradiated wasteland. You could feel how thick and cancerous the air is, and the devastated buildings have their upper skeletons eerily bent and curled from the blast. Fallout fans will have a bit of deja vu going through it. All these locales help guide the story along, which like TNO before it is a standout part of the game. TNC takes place right after TNO more or less, after the main character, BJ Blazcowiz, is mortally injured in his big battle with General Deathshead. You’re saved by your resistance buddies before they nuke the place, but you’re still messed up. After 5 months in a coma, the game finally starts. With you shooting Nazis on a U-boat you captured previously in a wheelchair. For half the game the only reason you’re able fight again is thanks to a power suit wired to BJ’s brain. Even while you’re fighting BJ’s injuries are taking their toll. By his own estimate, he has weeks. Which is tragic to think about since in TNO, he met Anya Oliwa, a nurse who took care of him during a prior comatose, and eventual lover. By the time TNC rolls around, she’s heavily pregnant with BJ’s twins. Not being their for his kids is something BJ laments a few times, and you feel for him. Especially when you learn about his awful childhood at the beginning of the game. He deserves a good family, and it sucks he’ll never get that. And for a bit it really seemed like that he wouldn’t since midway through the game, BJ’s betrayed by his abusive, racist, Nazi-loving father who make his childhood such a shitshow, and is captured by Nazi forces. After a few weeks of parading "Terror Billy" The most horrible terrorist the world has ever seen according to the Nazi propaganda machine, BJ is executed in front of the Nazified Lincoln memorial to an audience of millions. Beheaded, it really seems like the game took a grim turn. Luckily due to the quick work of his aforementioned buddies in the resistance and some advanced tech, BJ is saved, if head slapped onto a new super soldier body. This brings up something that some reviewers had an issue with. TNC goes through a tone shift in story midway through the game. It starts out very grim and foreboding. Your base was attacked, the leader of the resistance is murdered right in front of you, America seems like it’s perfectly fine living under the Nazi’s boot, BJ is crippled and basically expecting death, and his unborn kids seem like they won’t have a dad. Even in gameplay things feel grim at first. Even with the power suit giving double armor you can’t escaped the halved health. You really feel like you’re playing a crippled character. BJ himself puts it out there pretty good. "I take it off, I’m afraid I’ll fall apart and all the pieces won’t fit back together again." Then he loses that body and gains one that can actually move on it’s own power and then some. BJ is basically reborn. stronger than ever. It makes sense that the game would kick up to a more upbeat tone. You’re a new man, more powerful than ever before. This can be done. You can save the world. This upbeat attitude peaks at the birthday party scene. Just before the final assault, it turns out it’s BJs birthday, so what do you and your resistance buddies do? Party like theirs no tomorrow, because for all they know there might not be. If their’s one thing I like in a story it’s reminding me that the character I’m playing and the characters around them are people, and not by just showing me their trauma and flaws. Every character in Wolfenstein already has those in spades. I’m more for seeing them having fun. Being happy. Enjoying eachother’s company. Take me out of the misery for once and remind me that their’s something good in the world. Not to say seeing smiles on their faces is what made them good characters. Every major character is pretty good in this game. Grace Walker, The new resistance leader and black revolutionary front member is pretty much a female Samuel L. Jackson. General Engel, The game’s antagonist, is the perfect villain in that you want nothing more but to see her get what’s coming to her. Super Spesh, Grace’s husband and crackpot alien conspiracy theorist, gives some good comic relief for the time he’s around. And Anya. Fucking Anya. Loyal, smart, and considering the crazy shit she does while carrying twins in her, may be more badass than BJ himself. And even with the grim beginnings don’t think this game takes itself too seriously. In one level, right after BJ monologues to himself about his imminent mortality, he (and us) get a first glimpse at the Nazi’s rocket-powered train system. Something he immediately responds to with basically "what the fuck?". After nuking the Nazi high command in fucking Roswell, BJ escapes on what’s pretty much the monocycle from Men In Black. Before BJ’s head is slapped onto his new body, it’s dropped in a jar like Futurama. That Venus level I mentioned earlier? You get there on a Nazi flying saucer. And again, stilts. One of your upgrades is big, stompy stilts.

Overall out of all the recent iD software games to hit the scene lately, I’d say DOOM is my favorite. But I’ll give it to The New Colossus. With a few bumps here and their it’s just as fun to play as it’s predecessor, and improves in most areas. Overall, yes, it’s a step up from The New Order, and if you want a fun, absurd shooter with a good story to tell, look no further,

Posted by SHARPSPEED on 2017-11-08 21:23:49

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The post Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus Review appeared first on Good Info.

[deadspaceaus]

Interview with Chris

Through the bleak moments and the madness that goes in between or viceversa, how deep you get involved within yourself to make Deadspace an entity upon others?

Deadspace for me has always been deeply personal. An emotional, almost spiritual beast in which I have allowed myself to absolutely lose control as a human being. For me it is the child within. Angry, tortured, disobedient but pure. Then the other members came into the picture. I think it’s ridiculous to say that they draw the exact same purpose from the energy that is Deadspace. In saying that, I don’t believe anyone will every understand it like I do because the inner workings reflect differently to people closely involved. But I can certainly say I 100% feel like the energy burns infinitely harder when we’re together as a unit. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why… but it is a feeling I live for every day. This is what we offer to our fans and loved one. This is a haven where you will not be judged or cast away for your lunacy. We consider it so that every Deadspace show is a surreal experience for all involved.

Can you describe the first time you fell in love with music?

Well that depends on what aspect of music we’re talking about. But here is a theory I have previously held value to, encompassing the idea of growth. From a very young age I was always fascinated with how a good song would reflect on an entire room of people and fuel an ambience. This was the first step for me, falling in love with how music could make you feel. Then as a more dissociative being, I became obsessed with the ability to disappear into music and to feel nothing. It was like a drug. I could put on a record and just disappear for as long as I needed. This is most likely where my love for post rock and severely heroin influenced stuff NIN stemmed from.Then I hit my teens and I got angry. I wanted to see people willing to destroy themselves for art. For some obscure reason I really put emphasis on this (and still do). I wanted to see Manson kick in speakers, I wanted to see Reznor fuck his keyboard and smash shit with hammers and the idea of people like Kvarforth and Carlsson covering stages in blood was neurotically exciting.You take these 3 moods and then you apply them to a day of Melbourne weather. All 3 feelings, about 5 times a day. It’s a mess, music has become the only thing that drives me insane and keeps me together at the same time.

In your formative years as a musician can you name a record or records that shaped your musical direction and why?

First of all, I’d encourage the idea of perhaps the ‘formative’ years still being in progress. Some albums that have seriously influences me as an artist are: Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals: This record blue me out because it had an overwhelming sadness to it while still being heavy and the vocal delivery feels very honest. Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile: This record just speaks for itself. Placebo - Without You I’m Nothing: I just don’t know another vocalist doing anything even close to Molko in so many aspects. I love the version of the title track on this with Bowie also. Beautiful. Anything Placebo is in my favourites. Jeff Buckley - Grace: My all time favourite favourite record. Jeff was, in my opinion, one of the greatest souls that ever lived and his voice will forever be untouchable. That’s just me, the other guys have their own tastes but this is my personal standpoint.

As an artist and performer how important it is for you to give your audience an endless memory by them saying "that was intense"? 

Absolutely imperative although it’s not a challenge at all, it’s a given. Majority of shows we play, it takes me about 15 minutes to remember how to breathe after. Everyone gives it everything they’ve got and I think that’s the beauty about being on stage. We’re all 100% emotionally invested in each others crafts and we could be on a stage we’ve never been on before and it feels like home.

I was blown away by the violent way you can crate music but at the same time there is beautiful moments in there, how important is to have band members that share your same point of views in a musical way?

I think not as such same points of view, but members with eclectic and unique points of view, working together towards the same idea. The light and dark shades are reflective to life in general and I’d say these things being clear in our music is a reflexion of honesty. Honesty with ourselves, each other and our music/audience.

What is your thought in the current music business, how much effort a band have to put into to be heard and to have some sort of success?

Well you’re not going to put together anything like what we’re doing and earn a living off it in this country. The business side of things has always taken a backseat with us. In saying that, it’s important to a certain extent but we’re definitely (at this point anyway) travelling around, making friends and building up a strong/loyal community in which we would like to share this experience with. With anything, success if all conjecture. It’s a self established goal and the idea of succeeding in regards to your personal values. So in my opinion, we are successful. This is enough for me right now.

Your last release "Gravity" in my opinion is an opus, it feels like a life journey, how much input did everyone contributed to make this record a master of it's own?

Gravity was really just a little concept I was playing with at the time. I really wanted to get something strong out as a unit with our solid lineup. The concept is really quite observational and brutal in nature. Basically summing up the idea of birth, life, death and rebirth as transitional inevitabilities. The character takes form of a narrator, living inside a soul that is enduring and learning such fate. All members came together to create the piece. Whether it be shared duties recording piano parts or just handling their own instruments parts. Finally, Nish mixed and mastered the fucker, which was a massive learning curve for everybody I’d say. We’re all growing into the strongest versions of ourselves.

Chris your lyrics are just something that a lot of people can relate too, what makes you write such as strong and dark but at the same time meaningful, what sort of message are you trying to deliver?

I’ve always been a person that values truth and honesty over diplomacy. I just say it how it is and try not to fabricate complexity by adding superfluous vocabulary. The idea of my lyrics is to stimulate the senses. Either in a visual way or a nostalgic feeling that makes you feel alive. That’s for this record anyway. Truth be told, It all gets spat out on a piece of paper without any thought. Then when I wake up in a different mind state, I refine it so it still makes sense. Sometimes you’re feeling something so passionately that the actual words hold no meaning and need a second look.

Who were your main inspirations to write and put lyrics together?

I’ve always written, even as a child. I guess it’s always been something that nobody could ever take away from me and thusly has been a gift I’ve held dear for some time. To be frank, as many inspirational people as their are out there. My writing is on its own journey. I don’t want to say things other people have already said, no matter how amazing the sentiment may be. I’m very good at disturbing people’s beliefs and thoughts, not deliberately, but I love the idea of everything I’ve ever ‘known’ to be turned upside down. I’m also very bad at being certain about things. I’m not a logical person and the idea of certainty/stability bore me beyond belief.

The last song on Gravity has that spoken word at the end of the song and the part that strike me the most was when the narrator said "if you have any possessions, give it all away" what is the message you are trying to send across? 

Well the whole idea of Rebirth was to throw a curveball. Birth, Life, Death - these things are certain. Rebirth is a concept dreamed up by humans, for humans. This is the shit that keeps life interesting. A lot of people don’t recognise this either that it’s actually the uncertainty that keeps their minds and souls alive. So who better than Alan Watts and his own words of wisdom to add the element of conjecture and ‘certainty in uncertainty’. “Don’t cling to things”, don’t hold on to what you know or what you think you have, it’s going to change and one day go away. But please note: with Gravity is was never intended to be a solid message for people. It’s just food for thought. It’s a personal reflection and I’m not by any means saying ‘live your life like this’. It’s just insight into where I was at that point in time.

Let's deviate a bit from the music side and let's talk about your views about society in general, is this a better world to live in?

Better than what? It’s the only world we have. It’s full of pain, suffering, joy, love, loss… The way I view the world is like a massive canvas. There’s paint everywhere but not all aspects of the peace are going to be the colours or shapes that you can relate to. I’m not entirely sure whether I see it like this because I’m a coward and need to take a back seat or if it’s just my place in society to think like this. As far as I can tell I’m not hurting anybody and hopefully actually bringing a few people up (lets not kid ourselves though). This being said, everybody has their own struggles. A lot of mine are internal and health based. I have a good family, a house I’m welcome in, I’ve travelled extensively. These inner issues provide me with some challenges but they also make me get up every day and want to do something with it. I think for someone with a different genetic make up, the challenges would be elsewhere, inviting them to see the world in a different light.

Also apart from creating music you love photography, how much inner peace you found when you see something that you want to capture and show it to the world?

It just depends where I am at a certain point in time. Sometimes the beauty is just too fucking beautiful to capture in any generic forms of art. If I didn’t have to work I would definitely live behind my camera by day and in a studio writing music at night. This would be incredible but for now I view the day job as earning my keep so I can continue to explore.

Would you "compromise" and make your music more accessible so it can be heard by a bigger audience or this is something that has never crossed your mind?

Not deliberately. But I don’t really see us as a severely underground or inaccessible band. Most of the inspiration comes from melody and the rhythmic aspects are not necessarily difficult to digest. We build our audience by emotionally connecting with them. And that’s what we’ll continue to do through our music and lives in general. The sounds will only change to facilitate getting out how we feel within the foundation of our musical integrity.

The balance between all your records are very different but still keeping the Deadspace sound, would it be major changes for the next record?

Exactly what I was saying before. Nish has grown as a producer, we’ve all grown as musicians. My voice is more of a reflection of where I am right now. We have new ideas on tones, new ideas on what is ‘us’ in general. The production on our split is a lot cleaner, the low end has been handled in a much more experienced way. I also tracked my vocals in a studio with a producer, mainly as a confidence boost as they are very defined compared to beforehand.

Thanks Chris for your answers, final question, what do you expect from 2017 and onwards?

I expect the world to keep orbiting the sun. I expect people to be people. Some will be born, some will die. One man will drink alone every night until he shoots himself, another with start a multi million dollar company and live on materialistic happiness until he loses a house in a divorce.

For us, I expect that we keep doing what we’re doing. Making noise, meeting amazing people, playing amazing shows and expanding our handprint on the world bit by bit.