Cav's Place

What everyone knows is that this Tuesday, United States citizens elected their president for the next four years, some 98.5% of those who even bothered to vote completely ignoring any options that might have represented actual solutions and making their choice only between the two major evils, ultimately picking the lesser one by a much larger margin than expected. But, of course, the Democrats are the lesser evil compared to the Republicans only in the sense that losing your hearing would generally be considered less terrible than losing your sight: Neither could ever be desirable or even acceptable choices.
As such, I’ll leave that, as well as the similarly rotten choices for the Senate and House seats that were also up for election, aside and move on to the many other issues that people were asked to weigh in on in various states. Of course, many of those have a strictly local impact or may even be largely technical in nature, yet others are definitely of interest, because they tackle important issues individually and therefore result in a clear message being sent by the voters, which may have a significant impact on a much larger scale. I tried to identify the ones that are particularly significant for those with green and progressive values and present the results as accurately as possible, but if anyone happens to read this and spots any errors or knows of other measures that should be added, let me know.

One issue that was on the ballot in multiple states and received widespread media attention was same-sex marriage, and the results were reassuring. While in Minnesota, where same-sex marriage is not currently permitted, a measure to enforce the ban even further by strictly defining marriage as solely between one man and one woman was rejected, voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington approved legislation explicitly permitting same-sex marriages while at the same time protecting the rights of clergy and religious groups whose beliefs reject homosexuality to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies or offer any other religious marriage-related services to said couples. Interestingly, the Maine vote overturned the voters’ decision from 2009, when an initiative to overturn the existing law which at the time permitted same-sex marriages was approved, so that battle is probably not over yet.

Another hot topic was marijuana legalization, and here the results were mixed. If voters in Oregon rejected a measure which would have permitted regulated recreational use of the herb, those in Colorado and Washington approved similar measures, though how will that work when recreational marijuana use is still illegal at the federal level is still unknown. As for legalizing medical marijuana, voters in Massachusetts were in favor, but the measure was narrowly rejected in Arkansas. In Montana, where medical marijuana use is permitted, voters approved a measure aimed to more strictly regulate the cultivation and distribution of the herb.

And while I’m at smoking, a proposal for an additional tax on tobacco products, aimed to finance programs to reduce and prevent tobacco use in public educational institutions, was rejected in Missouri. On the other hand, voters in North Dakota easily approved banning smoking in indoor public places and most places of employment, including certain outdoor areas. As a personal comment, I find both of these results largely positive, because such programs are pointless and smoking should be a personal choice for all those who also accept responsibility for the consequences, but should certainly be confined to one’s own home.

Back to an issue with mixed results, voters in Florida rejected a measure that would have prohibited the use of public funds for abortions except as required by federal law or to save the mother’s life, but those in Montana overwhelmingly approved one requiring physicians to notify a parent or guardian at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor under 16, with the exception of emergencies or situations where such a requirement is waived by a court or by the parent or guardian in question.

On the matter of assisted suicide, which was on the ballot in Massachusetts, the result was discouraging, as voters narrowly rejected a measure meant to allow people with six months or less left to live to request and be provided with medication allowing them to end their life with dignity, provided that many strict prerequisites are met.

Another profoundly disappointing result was recorded in California, where the tens of millions poured into the campaign by Monsanto and their allies managed to turn public opinion around in mere weeks and persuade voters to reject the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food.

Somewhat related, voters in North Dakota unfortunately approved an amendment guaranteeing the right of farmers and ranchers to employ modern agricultural technology and livestock production and ranching practices. I believe it should be quite clear for everywhere where this is going…

Also very disappointing was that Michigan voters rejected an amendment which would have required 25% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025, even if the proposal strictly limited the increase of the electric utility rates to no more than 1% per year, extending the deadline in case the goal will prove impossible to reach by 2025 with that limitation.

And still on the extremely disappointing note, voters in Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska and Wyoming overwhelmingly approved measures meant to guarantee their rights to hunt and fish, whether for food or sport. Worse, with the possible exception of Wyoming, the measures in question also specified that hunting and fishing will be seen as the preferred methods of controlling wildlife. Voters in Oregon also unfortunately rejected banning commercial salmon fishing using gillnets by non-tribal persons.

While I’m on the topic of animals, voters in North Dakota rejected an initiative which would have made it a felony to harm any living dog, cat or horse in a series of ways. The measure, which made exceptions for production agriculture, hunting, licensed veterinarians, scientific research and self-defense, was challenged due to not covering more species or all forms of serious abuse. Still, the law could have been improved later, so I’m leaning towards considering this another disappointment.

And since I mentioned hunting earlier, and that usually involves guns, a measure aimed to strengthen gun rights was easily approved in Louisiana. Unlike most others with green and progressive values, I consider this to be a good thing, because it has to do with people’s right to defend themselves. I’d certainly like any such measures to state that guns should be owned for self-defense purposes and not for hunting, however.

Back to California, an initiative to eliminate the death penalty, replacing it with a life sentence without the possibility of parole, was unfortunately defeated. On the other hand, voters easily approved modifying the state’s “Three Strikes” law to reduce the number of crimes for which the third conviction will automatically result in a life sentence.

On the matter of separation of church and state, a slippery amendment, stating that nobody should be discriminated against or barred from receiving funding on the basis of religious belief but also, and perhaps much more notably, removing the existing ban on using state funds to directly or indirectly aid religious organizations, was defeated in Florida.

Still on the issue of funds, though this time not state funds, voters in California unfortunately rejected a proposition which would have banned corporate and union contributions to state and local candidates, contributions by government contractors to the politicians who control contracts awarded to them, as well as using any automatic wage deductions or union dues for political purposes without explicit authorization from members.

And speaking of corporations, Montana voters thankfully easily approved an initiative stating that corporations are not human beings and therefore are not entitled to constitutional rights, and also charging state delegates with offering an amendment to the United States Constitution to establish this fact. The initiative also aims to prohibit corporate campaign contributions and limit political campaign spending.

While I’m at elections, voters in Minnesota rejected an amendment requiring all voters in the state to show photo identification before being allowed to vote… And I’m still wondering why is this such an issue, just like I’m also baffled by the whole mess related to identification in the United Kingdom. I’ll say that I’m ambivalent on this one, but it’s possibly another issue on which my stance differs from that of other progressives, as I think that people should generally have a clear way to prove who they are whenever a person’s identity may be relevant.

And speaking of issues where my stance clashes with that of most others with green and progressive values, I’m rather pleased that Oklahoma voters approved banning affirmative action in the areas of government employment, contracting and education. Discrimination is discrimination, regardless of which way it goes.

As for another issue that I’m quite ambivalent on but gather that others with similar values were bothered by, Michigan voters repealed an existing law allowing the state to appoint emergency managers to take over local municipalities and school districts experiencing serious financial difficulties.

Last but definitely not least, the issue of immigrants also saw mixed results, with voters in Maryland in favor of allowing undocumented immigrants who meet a certain set of criteria to pay the same in-state or in-county tuition fees for Maryland colleges as legal residents, but those in Montana overwhelmingly backing a proposal requiring a person to provide proof of citizenship before receiving state services.

Since this is already long enough and I spent way too long writing it already, I won’t try to draw many conclusions, but merely say that, if I counted correctly, I agreed with 16 of the results presented above, was ambivalent about two and disagreed with 17. As such, even if the media’s focus on gay marriage and the legalization of recreational marijuana aims to make progressives believe that the results were very positive, from my perspective the overall numbers are at best mediocre. Worse, if you focus on the measures that had to do with green values, you’ll see that the results were in fact abysmal, with not as much as a single positive outcome on any of the nine measures that had to do with the environment or animal rights… But when the people who currently have the legal right to decide in such cases, be they politicians or the masses, are allowed to do so, that’s generally a given.

Despite the generally negative reviews, I rather enjoyed the first game, though that may be in large part thanks to the fact that I only played it fully patched and stayed well away from the broken mess I heard it was on release. Unfortunately, not even the latest patches can hide the fact that its successor not only failed to improve upon the original recipe but actually represents a step back in most aspects.

Finding redeeming qualities is difficult and none of the few that can be found have much to do with gameplay, but I’ll probably start by saying that the writing has some good moments, if you look for them. This applies mainly to the books and messages you find, which can occasionally be funny or witty, make some good points or even provide interesting information that’s not necessarily restricted to the game world. There are also a few twists in some tales and some references in quests that may bring a small smile to some faces, perhaps the most notable such case being Last Crusade. And there’s something to be said about the general idea and feel of chapter three.
Otherwise, it is of course nice that there are still no class restrictions and you can develop your character as you wish, the equipment crafting system is all right, and better than in the first game, the spell crafting is actually very cool, even if the vast majority of the available options will likely be no more than curiosities, and the final battle is a nice change. I’ll also add that the gear comparison comes in very handy and, since I’m really trying to find some more positives, that it’s a nice touch to see different coins according to their value, all the way up to those worth 10000.

And now that I did my best to be nice, let me move on and say that its predecessor’s strongest point, namely exploration, is probably the worst element of Two Worlds II. The areas are significantly less diverse, there are far fewer enemy types, there’s little to no reason to even visit many parts of the game world, especially considering the annoying chapter one respawns, and a significant area is actually inaccessible. Perhaps worse, go through a few dungeons and you’ll see perfectly identical center rooms, or perfectly identical large chambers, with perfectly identical little paths that go nowhere off to the side, and in a fair number of those dungeons there’s nothing to make it worth your while. Sometimes you may find locations clearly meant for quests that don’t exist or apparently secret areas with difficult to reach locations inside them, but not as much as a single chest, item or any other element of interest. And, of course, with the content, and also the locks, of chests always adapting to your level, there’s no reason to pick one particular place over another even if you do find something.
And yet somebody craving to explore a large, open world badly enough might find a way to put up with all of that… If only the world would be open. However, if the first game did a wonderful job of allowing you to go wherever you wanted, whenever you wanted, in fact encouraging exploration before quests, now you’ll find yourself held back every step of the way. Need to “open” locations when the game wants you to, impassable mountains and cliffs block access to large areas, and half the doors and even some chests are barred until you get a quest sending you there. And don’t think that you can still find a way through anyway, like in the first game, because the character can barely jump, will take fall damage even if climbing off corpses or running down slopes or stairs, and is next to impossible to control precisely, largely due to carrying far too much momentum with every action. Plus that riding, which worked so beautifully in the first game, is now only available in chapter one and has been turned into a chore that you’re far better off staying well away from.

If you’re still struggling along, you’ll find yourself plagued by many area loading times, frequently having the game freeze for seconds at a time while you’re running along, or perhaps even in the middle of fights if you happen to move out of the currently loaded little piece of the map. And in between those, you’ll notice terrible animations, including some unnecessarily long ones for common actions, and uncountable graphical and placing anomalies, such as the character’s hair vanishing when putting on even head gear that shouldn’t be able to hide it, NPCs sitting on invisible chairs, plants and even at least one chest inside rocks, a fair number of broken textures, and enemies floating in the air, stuck in the ground or the ceiling.
When you do get to combat, I imagine that the control issues make it a real pain for warrior characters, but I had a mage and what I clearly noticed myself, on top of the bad enemy AI, was inconsistent targeting for spray or ricochet spells, some issues with spell effects, and the fact that my character kept insisting on moving towards the enemy on his own when one was nearby, even though I was trying to go the other way to be able to cast.
As for non-hostile NPCs, you’ll quickly notice that, while everybody seems to hear you even if you’re sneaking and even sleeping NPCs or fellow thieves will notice and stop you if you’re trying to pick a lock in what should be their line of sight, there is an obvious lack of reaction to your character otherwise. This is particularly obvious if you’re a mage and still, for example, get warned that mage opponents are “something else” when fighting them in the Arena, or more notably can wander around without a care in the world, wearing your robe and hat and wielding your staff, even calmly stopping to listen to the town criers announcing that, by order of the emperor, all mages or possible magical activity must be reported and stamped out.

Like I did when I reviewed the first game as well, I must make a special note about the voice acting, which generally ranges between poor and atrocious, not to mention that Cassara’s lines are almost always cut short, so you’ll often have to read the subtitles very quickly if you want to know what she says. But by this point it must be obvious that there are so many other things wrong that this can already fall under miscellaneous annoyances, along with the stupid prologue, the segments of the questing system that’d be more at home in a generic free-to-play MMO, the messy map, some interface issues, and the problems with the archpriests quest, which could have been really nice but seems removed from the rest of the game, plus that the tombs were the only places where I experienced crashes, and many of them at that.

In the end, the save timer said that, not counting reloads, I took some 45 hours to complete the game, still exploring just about as much as I could and completing all but a few quests. That’s not much when you compare to the over 100 hours recorded by the last save for the first game, but they sure felt longer this time around. Two Worlds II feels like a game released well before it was completed, but also one determined to “fix” almost everything that wasn’t broken in its predecessor, while doing little to nothing about what was.

Writing something’s even harder when I seem to be struggling with panic attacks again, but I can at least try to write about these, seeing as they started last night. It probably was just after midnight when I suddenly got very dizzy for a moment, there was the obvious adrenaline rush, which caused a momentary feeling of panic, and then the usual vicious circle of getting scared that something was wrong, feeling worse because I was scared, getting more scared because I was feeling worse and so on. That only subsided shortly before I went to bed, but then the panic came back some hours ago, and I’m not even sure if this time it was preceded by a moment of dizziness or it caused it, because it was far less noticeable and not exactly unusual for how dizzy I normally get during such attacks.
Rather long time since this last happened and at least the intensity is relatively low this time, in the sense that I’m not convinced that I’m just about to have a heart attack or a stroke, but it lasts a long time and trying to keep it somewhat under control is using up even what little energy I still have, so if it was next to impossible to get anything done before…

The thing is that I should be getting stuff done now, seeing as I’m trying not to do much on the computer to avoid putting any more stress than I have to on this old HDD, since I don’t have a backup anymore. I definitely should be writing that review for Two Worlds II now, while I’m waiting for a replacement and not even thinking of playing anything else, and the fact that I have a pretty thorough list of what I want to say in it means that it shouldn’t be that hard once I manage to get started, but getting started is always the worst part.
Meant to finally continue reading Tongues of Serpents too, thinking I’ll get through it in a few days now that I’m not doing much else, but then I gave up again after only a couple more chapters and I really can’t say why. It’s definitely not the book’s fault in any way, and I definitely like to read and want to read, but… I can’t get myself to do anything at all anymore. That’s all there is to it and you can see that in what happened to my MobyGames submissions as well, where I had managed to somehow claw my way back and end up being only a month behind the “schedule” I had set for myself at the end of September, but then hardly submitted anything at all during October, so now I’m a good two months behind with only two months left until the end of the year.

But let’s see if I’ll manage something over the weekend. I mean, I certainly need to post one more thing, so maybe I’ll somehow manage to make it something non-personal… And possibly submit at least a few more things on MobyGames as well, like I somehow managed to do today, though it took me significantly longer than it normally should have.

Even if these news pieces are about a week old now, I just noticed them yesterday, when I checked my e-mail and saw them linked to in the Access newsletter, and they’re definitely worth drawing more attention to. If such things are allowed to slip past, we’re not even talking about trading privacy for security anymore, but about giving both of them away, with the authorities clearly having the potential to become a much greater direct and immediate threat than the criminals they claim to want to stop through these measures.

The first piece has to do with the United Nations calling for an international framework for Internet surveillance, requiring ISPs and also messaging and VoIP providers everywhere to store information in case the authorities want to review it later, but also calling for mandatory registration in order to use any public Wi-Fi networks and more cell phone tracking… Plus, of course, some mention about acts of terrorism depicted in video games, which includes video games that may be created by terrorist organizations for the purposes of attracting or training members, but extends to any depiction of a violent terrorist act in a game, particularly if the player is allowed to play the part of the terrorist as well.
Of course, the European Union already passed, and required all member states to adopt, a data retention law that requires information regarding on-line and phone communications, though not also their actual content, to be kept for a certain amount of time, while in the United States most providers seem quite happy to voluntarily practice such surveillance, whether they claim to do it in order to look for possible terrorism or for copyright infringement, even before the laws making such practices mandatory are properly adopted. Yet even in these parts of the world, which certain individuals in positions of authority still try to convince us are “free” despite all the evidence that says otherwise, the measures are obviously not enough for the United Nations, which wants everybody treated as a criminal almost from the moment they enter this world.

But the worse part is actually in this second piece of news, which is coming from the Netherlands. Apparently a proposed law would give the Dutch police the right to conduct remote searches, install malware and delete “illegal” files on computers, regardless of location. If the target computer is in another country, it is “preferred” to request assistance from that country’s authorities, but if the computer’s location can’t be determined or if the local authorities refuse to comply with a request for assistance, it will be perfectly acceptable to break into it directly.
As that article points out, such a law gives Dutch police the right to enforce their laws on any computer user in the world, and also to attack cloud storage services or infrastructure meant to protect privacy. It’s an absolutely appalling proposal, obviously made worse by the fact that it comes from yet another supposedly “free” country, and it therefore must be struck down by any means necessary. If they’ll be allowed to get away with this, imagine what they or others like them will think of next!

One of my HDDs is quite clearly about to bite the dust, making very worrying sounds and twice freezing my system intermittently while it sounded like it was trying to get unstuck. It’s possible that it’s the old one, which I only put in for backup purposes, meaning that I won’t need to go through any hassle or reinstall anything but will be left with no backup in case this one will bite the dust as well, which is a prospect I’m not keen on, considering how frequently these seem to fail. There also seems to be something with the month of October, because the previous failure, in 2009, was also during this month. And the one before that, in 2007, was in November…
Now, of course, I have learned my lesson and have a script that backs everything up daily, with the important stuff copied manually once per month in a third place as well, so I won’t be losing anything unless they both fail at the same time and be able to get back the vast majority of the important stuff even if they do, but reinstalling everything will be quite a hassle, plus that I’ll be waiting for a while before getting a replacement. Actually, I’m quite sure that they’re both still under warranty, even the old one having some weeks left, but that was bought from a shop that went bankrupt since, so that’s no use and only the “active” one may get replaced like this. However, if I won’t be able to “revive” it long enough to wipe it clean afterwards, I’d rather not send it and just get a new one instead, which will solve the matter faster but be limited by the available funds.

Oh, it’s just freezing up again. All right, I need to get this posted quickly, because I want to run more tests on both of them and see what happens. If it’s the main one and it’ll fail, I’ll leave this as it is. If not, I’ll get back and edit this with some more details and what my original plan for getting a new HDD was.

Edit: Well, it is the main one and booting off it isn’t exactly an option anymore, but the other partitions are still holding just fine and I can access most of the boot one too, as long as I’m not trying to run things from it and don’t touch the portions that make it struggle and eventually hang. So I’ve been spending the past several hours installing things on the backup HDD and seeing how that holds. Will probably send the main one to be replaced next week and then decide what else to do… Sure hope I won’t end up with this failing as well till then, because it is five years old and has some issues of its own.