Cav's Place

This is a difficult one to review. Or maybe I should more exactly say it’s a difficult one to review as a game, because I find it rather hard to call it one, and in fact it is listed in the Notgames group on MobyGames, even though I don’t see it in the releases list on the Notgames site. Still, it is a way to use the medium and definitely interactive, in fact containing no cinematics and, according to the developer commentary, one single scripted event, so can’t call it a movie in software form either.

I guess I’ll simply use the name instead of trying to categorize it, so I’ll say Gone Home takes place entirely in one house, but at least the house in question is a sizable mansion with secrets of its own to discover. Also, you can’t deny the attention to detail, including in some little ways which other games pretty much ignore as a rule, though there are of course other things that are implemented in ways which can’t be called as realistic, or even some that are completely missing. You probably won’t notice those though, being used to the approach other games take.
You’ll also be able to interact with just about everything you expect and also plenty of things you wouldn’t typically expect to be able to interact with, even if most of the time it’s merely a matter of being able to pick up items and examine them on all sides. At the very least, that means many objects created well enough to stand such scrutiny even if they don’t actually serve any other purpose than making the house seem like an actual home that people live in, or used to until shortly before your return. Plus, a little bonus point for the “put back” mechanic allowing you to set things back the way they were instead of leaving the place as if a tornado came in your wake.
As for the actual point of Gone Home, the story you uncover, it is an interesting one, albeit at a very mundane level, and the same may go for the largely optional side stories about the other family members. Now, I aim for escapism and fantasy worlds and events, so I wouldn’t normally have too good of an opinion about something which is very realistic and certain to have happened, in various variants and to a lesser or greater extent, many, many times all over the world, yet… This was all right. More than all right, I’d say, and it will definitely move some people deeply. Sure, will also annoy plenty and leave many entirely cold, but it is what it is.

I also want to make a note about the developer commentary, which you can turn on and then access in relevant spots throughout the game. That’s what I did and I definitely recommend it, since I feel that it really adds to the experience. After all, this is not exactly a game, and having that small team of developers behind it explain what you’re seeing and why they chose to do things that way, and perhaps pointing out things you may have missed, adds a more direct method of communication between them and you and, if anything, I’d say that makes the experience even more immersive.

Still, they could have made it more immersive in itself by allowing you to actually do more while interacting with all the objects that may be interacted with. Maybe writing or doodling a little with one of the many writing implements, maybe playing at painting for a moment with the brush, maybe washing hands in a sink, maybe taking a tissue out of one of the many boxes, possibly to wipe something, maybe opening some book or magazine, even if only to a title or dedication page or something of the sort, maybe trying to make a call, even if nobody’d have answered… Sure, that’d have added to the development time and costs, but it doesn’t stop me from saying it would have been a noticeable improvement for something that relies on realism and attention to mundane details.
Also on this note, they could have had a little more content on the TV and more songs on the few tapes you can find and play, especially since they either worked with the artists or used public domain works, so it may have simply been a matter of adding some more sound files and maybe an option to change sides or fast forward or rewind, which would simply result in playing the file from a certain different point. Again, not something one’d typically notice in a game, but it would have made a difference here… Plus, there is something called Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines released almost a decade earlier which I’d say still sets some standards with the included radio and TV broadcasts.
Otherwise, I may have appreciated more if finding the pieces that form the stories wouldn’t be so optional, or at least if you’d be told you missed something and given a chance to go back to find it after reaching the end. As it is, it simply ends, with no other information or chance to go back. Sure, I guess it’s another bit that says this isn’t exactly a game, but it makes for an uncomfortable feeling and I’d think that if the entire point is to uncover the story, or all the stories, the developers should have done more to increase the odds that you actually will.

In the end… It’s very short even with the developer commentary, there are no choices, no actual rewards and no loss states, and the few keys, combinations and secret places to find, some of which not even being mandatory, can’t make this a game. So maybe I could call Gone Home something like independent theater in software form, where the audience doesn’t get to actually influence the play but may leave and come back whenever they want and may pay closer attention or tune out at any moment, and where the actors may explain what they’re doing and why.
Again, there’s a lot of attention to realistic detail and the story is quite all right and some will deeply relate to it, or in some cases to the more general ideas presented. It also definitely makes points that unfortunately still desperately need to be made in this rotten society of ours. Overall, it is a way to use the medium which I’d actually encourage as an alternative for those interested. At the same time, it’s not something I’d personally pay for, so good thing I grabbed it while it was offered for free. You may entirely disagree with this, however… In either direction.

Was thinking that this week’s second post will be another one in the “New Finds” series, since Stonelight had actually caught my attention and they just released their album yesterday, so I meant to start with that. However, after going through the other recent finds this evening I found that I just couldn’t get myself to put any of them in such a post, whether because they didn’t sound interesting enough at another quick listen now, because the genre is somewhat different and suitable for a certain mood I’m not in at the moment, or because they only have two or even a single song posted, either giving me no choice or making it impossible to do what I usually do and link to two songs per band. Not that I didn’t include bands with very little material in such posts before, but didn’t feel like doing it now, and then also quickly gave up on the attempt to go through older additions to the list and see if I could find something else I’d care to write about now. What’s more, I then also actually listened to Stonelight’s album and found nothing interesting other than what had already caught my attention out of what they had put up earlier and rather lost interest in one of those as well.

That leaves me trying to quickly post something here before midnight to have a second post this week and also avoid a Sunday update, though I had hoped I’ll do without a personal update this week and in fact there’s not that much to say. The one thing I may mention may be that I noticed that the left side of my headphones is coming apart again and meant to glue it back together today but didn’t, so hoping it won’t fall apart completely before I actually will get around to it. Also hoping I’ll manage to fix them well enough again, since there’s likely no way for me to get anything for quite some time to come, having to give up even on the hope for another order of books by the end of the year and now discarding the idea of even getting another cheap game during the current GOG.com sale.
Other than that, this time when the month’s Windows updates came I manually installed the security-only bundle, no longer risking the full one available through Windows Update as I did last month, and things seem fine even if I saw audit failures logged for two of the files when they were unpacked, though the fact that there were no other such notifications when they were actually installed leads me to believe it for some reason rushed to check them before registering the new information and therefore checked the new versions against the old ones. May also mention that Thursday Emsisoft decided to update the delayed branch, which I’m on, but that it didn’t require a reboot even if it was a major update and I’m not noticing any new problems, though the logging issues haven’t been fixed either.

As for running, ran twice this week. Monday I managed 34:56, with sector times of 4:34, 5:22, 6:00, 4:39, 5:18, 6:10 and 2:53, making for lap times of 15:56 and 16:07. Yesterday was slightly better, 34:44, with sector times of 4:32, 5:16, 6:07, 4:37, 5:08, 6:07 and 2:57, making for lap times of 15:55 and 15:52. Like how times under 35 minutes are normal now, and also found it interesting that Monday’s run was the third out of what at the time were the last seven with the exact same time, but that may not last as the conditions will worsen, my concern about that also being the reason why I wanted to add to the buffer now, which should be at three at the moment unless I forgot something. There will be weeks when I won’t run over the winter, so I need to be able to “afford” it.

I’ll just say it right away: Great book, constantly growing alongside its protagonist and narrator, who’s quite a character himself and whose “voice” and style fit almost perfectly and significantly add to the experience. The perhaps simple and humble beginnings are followed by ever more captivating and impactful stages, each relevant, each with a purpose, each leading into the next until the reader may find it difficult to contain the effects of what they see and experience. I know I did, at least, and you may think you know what I mean once you reach the Night of Dragonsong & Fire… But you may wish to take that as a warning to prepare for what’s to come, because it merely marks the beginning of a series of truly powerful scenes.
I once again find myself wishing for half-star ratings, because I may have wanted to add one here. Then again, considering the very end, maybe not, as it didn’t need to go where it did and shouldn’t have done so. Other than that, it may need a little more editing, as there are a handful of things that slipped through, perhaps including the fact that the hundred keeps being added to and yet remains a hundred. Much more notably, the world of sticks and the few sticks that appear as characters may be said to be more of a sketch, or stick figures if you will, but the fact that it’s all presented from the point of view of a dragon helps with that, as it’s understandable that he neither knows nor cares much about such matters unless they directly affect him and it’d be quite out of character if he did. The fact that this also applies to the notable other dragons is somewhat more troubling, however.

Rating: 4/5

I was saying I was still sort of considering going to a second concert as well, but at that time I hadn’t yet realized it’s scheduled at the same time as the national team’s match against Poland. Terrible choice for the band, I’d say, but at least it makes things simple for me. Also means I’m left with those 10 RON as available cash, on top of the 0.51 RON I had otherwise on top of the vouchers I won and hadn’t yet used for anything, so I won’t need to calculate any purchases so exactly and there will be no need to ask dad even for loose change until next month.
If he will leave me anything without me asking, though, I’m thinking I’ll at least order one book after all, if only to use the small discount I have available without using those codes I had gathered, and which would otherwise expire in either February or March, by which time I’m really hoping I’ll be able to make a bigger order and actually use one of those vouchers and you can’t have two discounts applied this way at once. On the other hand, if he’ll leave something just these days I may end up getting another Paysafecard code and see if there’s something to grab on the current GOG.com sale. Then again, if it’s calculated in such a way that you’ll be able to get Expeditions: Conquistador without purchasing anything, I most probably won’t do that.

Speaking of games, was just thinking these days that I should consider Might and Magic I as abandoned, since the fact that you can only save at inns makes me doubt I’ll get back to it and actually somehow struggle through all the way to the end only to be able to import the characters in the second. Not that I know that I’ll give that one much of a chance either, my interest in them being mainly the result of being curious about what a good RPG meant in the late ’80s, without seriously meaning to play through those older than World of Xeen at first. That rather changed when I found good maps, but after poking around a little I was too afraid to go far from an inn again and I see the save file was last modified in March last year, and even that was probably just after wandering around a little.

As for books, had decided some time ago that I’ll delay getting to The Riftwar Saga for yet another year, since I did buy books three and four back in the spring of 2014 but the first two are from those I took when I got thrown back here and hadn’t read before Andra went back to England after getting married, so still really don’t want to “use them up” by reading them. If I want to stick at least to this crappy average of one book per month, I’ll need to do that at some point, maybe even next year, but for the rest of this year I’ll stick to free ebooks, even if it sucks to read books on the computer. Grabbed a few more of those recently, at least, including one that actually seems quite interesting just before starting to write this post, and I plan to read it next week.

Otherwise, at least the cold wasn’t too bad and I seem to be getting over it. As soon as I woke up yesterday I realized I was in “stage three” of it, which pretty much means I need to be careful to keep blowing and spitting all the crap out so it won’t end up gathering in my chest, but it’s clearing and the other symptoms are rather going away, so it should be fine soon enough, I hope.

Last Thursday I went to have a look at a book fair, even if it was just to say that I did. Wouldn’t normally have anything to get from there anyway, and couldn’t have afforded it even if I’d have somehow found something, but usually have a look, so I did. Plus, wanted to go out one of those days to get that 50 RON bill I had set aside split into smaller ones to be able to buy a 30 RON ticket for Sunday at the charity festival organized to help the many injured in the Colectiv Club fire who still require treatment. After all, considering the dentist bills, there was no chance of being able to set aside money for a decent order of books by the end of the year, so that looked like a worthy way to spend a part of what I already had aside.
Since I had the metro card too, after leaving the fair I went to a hypermarket and bought just a few things, leaving myself with the money for the ticket and a little more for another I was, and perhaps to some extent still am, considering. And then I actually bought that 30 RON ticket from a machine, as that’s an option for one of the sites selling them, though if you use that method the tickets don’t seem to be added to your account even if you are required to put in e-mail and telephone number. Also, the machine doesn’t seem to be able to have multiple dates for an event, and since it was a three-day festival, starting Friday, and I got a one-day ticket, the receipt listed October 28 as the date. But I received an e-mail with a ticket to print which listed October 28-30, so I assumed it could be used for any one day and that proved to be the case.

Moving on to Sunday, I first attended the march organized to mark a year since the Colectiv Club fire. In fact three separate ones were announced, at first with somewhat different plans and start times, but eventually the times were settled to 1 PM to start gathering and 2 PM to start marching and the route was clarified since one of the organizers had obtained an approval to have traffic stopped so people will be able to march on the road with no problems. Another organizer continued to insist that those who’re there strictly to commemorate in a silent march should gather at the University Square fountain instead of the statues and wear white armbands, but only a small number of people tried to gather at the fountain and eventually at least most of them moved to the statues as well, before the march actually started at 2:10 PM.
Felt that it’d be rather inappropriate to look for good opportunities for pictures, but did take some, both on the way and after we gathered in front of the old factory where the club used to be, before leaving around 3:30 PM, to head to that concert, which was one of the three taking place that evening. A second one was also a charity event, but a single concert and with tickets costing as much as the three-day ones for that other one, so more than I had saved, plus that it was in a location that’d have been harder for me to get back from at a late hour, while the third was free and not meant to be a charity event in any way, but mainly to remember the dead and offer moral support to their loved ones and the injured survivors, so I didn’t think I’d belong there in any way, plus that I had no interest in any of the announced bands.

Before getting to the concert location though, I stopped at Unirii to go to the toilet, the problem being that there are just two toilets in that entire shopping center, and at least for men each one includes only one stall, two urinals and a single sink, which tends to lead to queues. But the matter was quite pressing, so I ended up using a urinal and then rushing to wash my hands without properly buttoning back my pants, so I won’t make the next person wait too long. As such, and since these old pants are somewhat hard to button properly, since at least one of the buttons tends to immediately get unbuttoned if not done last and carefully, I then moved over to the side of that area, faced a wall and struggled with it… Which must have looked somewhat suspicious to others who were there, possibly as if I was trying to pee there on the wall, as someone asked what the hell was I doing. Actually asked in English, so guess they were foreigners, but either way I just ended up turning towards them and showing my undone pants before finally managing to fix the issue while still facing them and walking out.

With that behind me, I reached the concert location just when it was listed that the doors will open and was one of the first few inside, so even if I had one of the cheaper tickets, for a seat to the side and not in front of the stage, and hadn’t made a reservation for a table, I was seated in a very good spot, having a barrel “table” all for myself on the first row to the side, so right next to the path to one of the doors, and at just the right distance from the front to get a good angle to see the stage without being too far. Or, to make it clearer, I can say that, while I did wander around a little for some, many of the pictures I took were right from my seat.
Quite sure that a couple of waiters frowned at me a few times as they were passing by though, because I didn’t order anything, but after one asked for my order a few minutes after I took my seat and I told him I have nothing to order, none asked again, nor did they stand around expectantly, and I wasn’t put in any situation requiring me to interact otherwise. So overall it was all right, and the music wasn’t bad either, though the sound left something to be desired, mainly because the vocals were below the instruments and the lyrics ended up sounding more like mumbling, most notably for the first two bands, who also asked more than once for the issue to be fixed, but not only for them. Ovidiu Anton either wasn’t affected by it or had a powerful enough voice to make it irrelevant though, and he got a standing ovation at the end, while the vocalist from Awake impressed despite the issues. Sadly, while I got 50 usable seconds of him, my attempts to film a bit of Awake and Gray Matters, just to record the sound issues and compare, failed due to the videos ending up corrupted after just a few seconds.
Unfortunately, while I did initially plan to stay to the end and then was hoping to catch a night bus back, at about 10:30 PM, so after the moment of silence for the victims and before Altar took the stage, I just got too scared of the prospect of having to walk for some two kilometers at night in an area I’m not exactly familiar with to reach the bus stop I needed and left to catch the metro, missing them and Trooper, and apparently also Statuar, who I see just took the stage at the end even though they weren’t on the schedule. Worse, I rather ran to the metro station and then ended up needing to wait seven minutes for the train, so I probably could have stayed to at least hear the short speech that the guys from Altar made before starting to sing, which I saw a post say was great but couldn’t actually find anywhere. In fact, so far found hardly anything posted from there at all, though I’m sure a fair amount was filmed.

What was rather unpleasant was that my throat was sore that day. Had started the day before, in a way that clearly indicated it wasn’t going to just pass quickly, and I actually took something for it Sunday even if I’d normally avoid doing so. Did that just that day, but have been taking some vitamin C that I found while looking through that drawer since, even if it says it expired in February of 2015, so not sure what that will do. At least the throat is much better now, had been since yesterday, but when I woke up yesterday I got a feeling that the cold may move on to a second stage and it sure did exactly that, as there’s just a nasty overall feeling now and my nose is runny and inflamed and there’s crap going down my throat. Admittedly, running yesterday definitely didn’t help my nose, and may in fact be partially to blame for this, but the weather seemed good enough and thought I was going to feel worse later this week, so had to take the opportunity.

Speaking of that run, I can probably say it was the most controlled one yet, even if it wasn’t exactly meant that way from the start. Did sort of think that maybe I should try to start slower and see what that will mean for the end, but at the same time the main goal was simply a pretty regular run, hoping just to not go over 35:30. But the actual time was 34:47, so the fifth best so far on this route, with sector times of 4:33, 5:27, 6:09, 4:34, 5:16, 5:57 and 2:51, making for lap times of 16:09 and 15:47. That makes this the first run since July with a second lap faster than the first and, even more notably, marks new sector records for the last two sectors. Beat the previous ones by a mere second in each case, but it counts, even if the overall time means it wasn’t exactly worth it.

Moving on to today, we finally have gas again. It had been cut Saturday, first with a note saying it’ll be off until 4 PM before it was announced that a leak was found in an apartment and the gas company came, turned off the gas for the whole building and simply instructed the administrator to choose a firm out of those they work with and contact them to come fix the issue on Monday. However, that wasn’t all, since an old law that had never been enforced and nobody exactly cared about until after the Colectiv Club fire was activated as a result of that and as of this year people are actually required to have gas detectors and electronic valves that automatically turn off gas if a leak is detected. According to some clarifications, buildings built before the law was originally passed and which do not have problems do not need this, even though there are reports of checks being made and people being fined large amounts anyway, but our building now had a problem, so the gas company could clearly state that they will not turn the gas back on not only until that one problem will be fixed, which did happen Monday, but until everyone in the building will sign that they agree to a check and to install detectors, the cost being split over a six-month period. And apparently that only happened this afternoon.

As for the first issue listed in this post’s title, went to that other dentist I was sent to on Monday and, while he initially said it may all be done that day, so including the reconstruction which he was also asked to do in the note I was sent there with, after being told it had already been worked on twice he said it may require two sessions, and then that wasn’t the case either, as he ended up doing only part of the job, and obviously not even getting to the reconstruction, and sending me back to this dentist here for the rest, because that root that is curved has apparently been pierced through and he can’t work on it that way. Said she should decide what to do about it, since there may be a way to try to fix something but it’s probably a matter of extracting just that, though I don’t quite see how, and letting the other two hold the tooth, which he said should work.
Needless to say, I’m unhappy with the fact that I went to have something fixed and apparently it was made worse, assuming this dentist here broke through that root before realizing she can’t handle it and sending me to this other one. Was somewhat under the impression that he was rather bothered by it as well, ending up with spoiled work which he was supposed to fix without even being told that was the case, but just passing me back to have her deal with it doesn’t exactly reflect well on him either in that case.
And one other thing that rather bothers me is how they insist on anesthetics, her with a regular shot the first time and now him with some serious stuff, like what’s used when extracting teeth, numbing that whole side for some three hours. Admittedly, he thought he’ll have much more to do at first, but since there’s no nerve there I don’t know what good it does, but I do know it hurts when I get the shots and then those spots in my gums keep hurting for the whole day after, and this time at least one of the spots, since he shot me in five different places, actually remained somewhat inflamed even yesterday.
Now I’m not sure what’s next, since I was supposed to get another appointment here to continue, or I guess first to decide what to do about that root and then to see how it can be continued, but dad was supposed to make it and he didn’t say anything yet. Also don’t know what this complication means for the costs, but I’m pretty sure it means it’ll be quite a bit more unpleasant for me if somebody’ll have to somehow extract a part of that tooth or something. Not sure who’ll do that though, if it’ll take even longer, since this dentist is heavily pregnant… Which of course means I’m in full mental attack mode while there and it’s a good thing she can’t hear my thoughts, but more relevant now is that she may go on maternity leave soon and in fact scolded the nurse for scheduling me with her when I first went there after the tooth broke and told her to not put any other long-term issues on her schedule.