The Tree of Life; Knowledge

The leaves
Of knowledge
Fall from the tree
Of Life

I gather
Them up
And recreate
The impossible

Fallen
Discarded
Knowledge
The basis

Purest thought
In a form
So mundane
Yet found

The misuse
Of great
Knowledge
The downfall

And yet
We seek
For more
Expansion

But in all
There it lies
Barely known
Knowledge

Video Game Idea: The Legend of Zombies

Alright. Here's a video game idea that would never work on the modern market but is fun to think about. The Legend of (Zelda crossed out in blood, replaced by blood-written words under) Zombies. This takes place directly after the events of Ocarina of Time. What would happen is you choose from four different races: Kokiri, Goron, Zora, and Gerudo. Each would have a storyline.

What happens is that everyone is going to witness a big ceremony and the placing of the Master Sword in the Pedestal of Time. For some reason you cannot attend the ceremony (lucky for you, as you will see.) Many others couldn't attend, either, for their own reasons. At the ceremony, right when the Master Sword is being placed in the Pedestal of Time, the Master Sword breaks, releasing a deadly virus that transforms all animals into zombies. Luckily, this can only be spread within a certain time after being released in a small vicinity. Unluckily, a lot of the population of Hyrule was in the vicinity at the time.

So, depending on your race, you will have to seek out different objectives. You will travel to the defeated dungeons in search of your objective. These dungeons will have new puzzles due to things you would expect (cave ins, broken machinery, hidden paths revealed, etc.) All the while seemingly endless hoards of zombies are attacking. There will be "safe houses" (a place inhabited by no zombies, usually with a survivor) every now and then.

The plots would intermingle, so when you defeat one storyline you should go back to another race to explore that storyline. You may find something out you never knew. Each race would have different traits as well as items you could use to solve puzzles and pulverize zombies. In the end, after you beat all of the races, you unlock a special storyline which jumps between characters. In the end you would, obviously, fight an epic boss (probably the infected Link with all of his items) and come to the ultimate end where, predictably, you find a cure to all of this and life returns to as it was. The Master Sword gets fixed and the ceremony is finished, with each of your characters being honored as heroes.

This is a pretty short idea, but then again, how do you elaborate on this?

I would prefer to be critiqued on this idea that clearly states that I am a Zelda: OoT fan. Please leave it as a comment, thank you.

One last idea: perhaps at one of the safe houses a slightly crazy person would tell you "Today is a great day for a zombie apocalypse, isn't it?"

Conformity

NEWSFLASH! Mathematician Breaks Laws of Motion!

This just in, a mathematician was reportedly seen outside his house jumping and not coming down. The neighbors across the street reported this after "sensing that objects weren't following Newton's rules." They reported to the police immediately. When they came they quickly took cover as the man was sliding around, ignoring friction and air resistance. After capturing him using scientific proofs involving Newton's works as well as other scientists' works they were finally able to cause a vacuum bubble long enough to get handcuffs on him. After taking him to court he was sentenced to five years in a physics classroom and a stack of experiments that he needs to complete proving the Laws of Physics. Failure to complete this will result in an additional year in the classroom as well as writing on a chalkboard "I will not disobey the laws of physics" one thousand times. "It was a hard punishment," the chief of police says. "But no man should break what science has proven."

Newspaper Puns

HEADLINER! UNI-BROWS SUDDENLY POPULAR!

NEWSFLASH! NEWSPAPERS FINALLY BECOMING LIT!

BREAKING NEWS! NEWSPAPERS REPORTEDLY BEING RIPPED TO SHREDS!

EXTRA! WORDS REPORTEDLY GETTING EXTRA LETTERS ADDED!

TOP STORY! BOOK SALES AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH!

HOT TOPIC! NEWSPAPERS REPORTEDLY SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTING!

Philosophy

If dark be the absence of light,
Then also wrong be the absence of right.

Government cannot be perfect,
for all government is governed by laws,
laws are governed by right and wrong,
right and wrong are opinion,
and true opinion is in the eyes of the beholder.

Some forms of government are like sweet fruits, delicious and pleasing to taste,
Others are like an okay fruit, just okay, but not bad or good,
Still more are like unripened fruit, sour and horrid,
But one thing rings true,
The amount of tastiness and sourness you taste in your government is your opinion alone.

Song of the Week 35: 'Mark of the Beatsmith' by Hy Bound

Song the Week is back, which means that I myself am back. Truthfully, it's about time posting started up again at RPS; I've missed posting at least once or twice a week. After a two month break, it's time I start writing again. I may have been away from my reviews, but I've been looking into OCR more than ever now. My undeniable love for music has never stopped (thank goodness). Alright, this song is actually one that I chose myself. It's title: 'Mark of the Beatsmith'. It's a pretty epic title. We got ourselves another Final Fantasy VII mix again! It's featured on the album 'Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream'. Oh, and the remixer for this track is Tyler Carson (a.k.a. Hy Bound). Anyway, I'm glad to be back, so now let's get to the details...

The first couple seconds start out with the piano lightly playing. A very light cymbal hit can be heard as well, playing on the downbeat of each measure. At 0:09 and maybe a second before that there's a small buildup which mainly includes some bass drum. Starting at 0:10 the strings come in, as well as a hint of choir, to really set the atmospheric mood that will be continuously heard throughout the song. It merely plays stretched chords every other measure, but the section is drawn out to sound very calm and angelic. At about 0:25 is when the strings/choir change a little bit in volume by gradually getting louder; the entire song, in fact, builds up into what is now currently being heard. The choir drops here, and the strings are now what keep this calm mood flowing. There's a minor buildup at 0:38, but when the song reaches 0:41 a beat starts to play. The strings speed up too, for instead of playing every other measure they now play on the first beat of all measures. At 0:56 the current melody from the strings plays in almost perfect unison. It's great that about three octaves of strings are being used for this. This pattern will continue for about ten more seconds until the sound gets sucked away and a buildup occurs at 1:11. After the buildup a new section starts playing. Even though the basic rhythms are the same, the beat changes and becomes a little more fast-paced. Because of that, the section is therefore different than what was heard previously. This section actually continues for quite some time, although the melody never weakens or gets too repetitive. The higher octaves as the section continues will create a harmony for the lower melody. The percussion here is pretty solid also; it hits hard on every other beat while keeping the song going. The changes that occur after the section start at 1:42. There's a short buildup, but the real action happens when the chimes bust out a solid, five-note introduction at 1:44. The strings run up the scale, and then burst forth into an explosion of sound. The melody during this section is now controlled by the piano, which really does stand out amongst the percussion and string sections. This is awesome stuff right here, plus the strings aren't there to just create more atmosphere (it's playing a rhythm of its own). Every part of this piece, primarily the major three (strings, piano, and percussion), are all doing something different. At 2:00, the song continues, but the melody gets played by a new instrument. It's probably some sort of string instrument, although I can't really tell since the sound of it is so unique. At about 2:15 the strings exit and take a break for a while, while the string melody continues to do its thing. There are many short buildups here, and what's cool is that the sound is completely sucked out after each one. The percussion, after a short break as well, plays its previous beat again at 2:27. There's a ton of cymbal action here as well. The chimes will come in again to transition the song into a new section at 2:33. This section mainly consists of the cymbal crashing from before, the percussive beat that constantly is driving, and the strings slowing making an entrance (starting at 2:37). There's also some pretty cool synths used here before the strings come in. The string melody will come in again at 2:41 while the strings/synth will continuously build up, suddenly stop, and repeat the process. At 2:48 there's a pretty sweet bass drum solo for a couple seconds. After this solo, the sounds of everything in the song start to become distorted and even cut out in the middle of the rhythm. That was done on purpose though, and it actually sound pretty cool. At 2:58 everything starts to calm back down again, and the strings will play their angelic notes. At 3:05 the piano will start to play a little rhythm as well. Note the very quiet pattern of notes heard in the background, for it's foreshadowing what could possibly be the next main melody. It, and also the piano, will go away at about 3:08, so listen carefully for it. The next ten seconds are very string-focused. At 3:20 the piano will jump in to play a little ditty within all the atmosphere. Some bass will start to develop into a single note beat at about 3:31, and a high octave of strings are going to start playing with the lower strings at 3:38. This will continue to play, with the piano coming in occasionally (especially at 4:02). At 4:10 the bass and the strings start to play twice as fast. The melody that was played silently at around 3:02 will play again, this time a little louder. The beat picks up, and the volume increases. At 4:25, everything gets chopped up, and the new section begins. So basically, the last fifteen seconds were one massive and awesome buildup. The melody foreshadowed now starts to be played by everything except for the higher strings that play a counter-melody. This section has the amount of pure intensity equivalent to the section at 1:44. Awesome. The chimes will even play a part as well by hitting an F every four measures. Did I mention that there's choir here too? Yeah, they come in at about 4:37. At about 4:56, after a lot of the same stuff heard, the sound gets completely sucked up and then spat out again at 5:00. The only real change here is the uniting of the high and low strings to play the counter-melody. Plus, the bass is emphasized much more. At 5:28 there's an awesome drum solo, which then completely changes the melody back to what it was at 1:44. It took less than a second to change, yet in the end it turned out great. It's almost like the section at 1:44, except with more cymbal crashes and less strings. The string instrument from before will take over the melody again at 5:50, although this time the piano will join with it simultaneously. At 6:04 another section similar to 2:00 is played again, except the percussion will join in shortly at 6:10. At 6:15 there's quite a large ritardando which slows down the song immensely. I remember that the first time I listened to this, my fingers were tapping on my desk but then messed up the beat during this section. Even the chimes come in at 6:20 and play that rhythm at an incredibly slow pace. After that's played though, the song speeds up slightly (although it's no where near as fast as it was back a minute ago). This entire section has every sound being sucked up constantly, while the string melody (which does have a lower octave of the same sound play with it now) continues to endure the slow tempo. It's not until 6:51 when the section changes again. The percussion now drops, creating that atmospheric feeling back in the beginning of the song. At 6:57 the piano comes in to play one last little tune (which is actually one of the themes from the game, I believe), and the strings will play in the background. Starting at 7:07 there's some sort of buildup that gets louder and louder. I wish I could describe it, but it's a pretty strange sound. It almost sounds like applause. Then, just when everything's built up again, a hit from the chimes will ring, getting cut off repeatedly even, until the song comes to a close.

Pros: The percussion was strong all the way through (when it was playing though). The atmosphere was just wonderful, and I'm glad that the strings had such a great harmony with the rest of the song. The piano would always appear at the right times. I just love the buildup from 4:10 to 4:25. It was completely epic during the best two sections: the sections at 1:44 and 4:25. This is one cool song, and listening to it is worth all 7 minutes and 20 seconds.

Cons: Cons...um...there hardly is any to be found. The only con I could think of is something based off of my own opinion, which is that string instrument that will occasionally come in to play the melody. It's not that it was bad, but the sound of it sort of bothered me. The repetitiveness wasn't much of a problem though, although sometimes it took a little too long to transition into something else.

Overall: Hy Bound did a great job in making repetitiveness sound good. The melody is catchy, cool, and something enjoyable to listen to. I loved the amount of piano used, even if it was used merely to chime in during certain parts. Speaking of chimes, those were pretty awesome as well. This song is overall epic in a ton of ways. Oh, and I forgot to mention this: I've only had this song for a couple days, and yet as you can see I like this song already. This song is highly recommended. I love it, I love it, I love it!

Rating: 9.7/10

Video Games: What I Want to see in Mass Effect 3

I've been playing the Mass Effect series after I purchased Mass Effect and Mas Effect 2 in the 2010-2011 Steam Holiday Sale. So far I have not downloaded any content beyond the original game and have not played any difficulty other than normal. I've played through Mass Effect twice with a soldier and an infiltrator and I'm currently in the process of a second playthrough with the soldier. I've taken the same two characters through Mass Effect 2. It's tempting to review the first two games, but since I'm probably going to get Mass Effect 3 I'm hoping that EA and Bioware will find the perfect balance.

Gameplay:

Combat
So a lot of this stuff has been revealed already (seeing as the game is due for release in less than a year) and there's not too much for me to say here. I've read on IGN that they would appreciate being able to fly the Normandy. Honestly I think the Normandy is best left in Joker's capable hands, but it would be cool to experience futuristic dog fights in atmospheric fighter craft (although the Normandy is hardly big enough to carry more than a few such craft).

Exploration
I'll be honest, the Mako was a little irritating, but overall I loved the exploration on the first Mass Effect way more than the second. Being able to drive through valleys, plains, and mountains with the Mako made each world seem so much larger. I also thought the inclusion of thresher maw nests was a great element and it always scared me pretty good when they popped up (before I began to recognize the warning signs). Overall, I'd just appreciate it if they found some way to make each world seem like an actual planet instead of one barren wasteland or one tiny mining camp. Perhaps the ability to jump to locations of significance on a single planet would work. I just miss the feel of Mass Effect 1; it made each world seem so much more expansive.

Story Mechanics
Bottom line: Don't screw it up. Mass Effect 3's story will literally make or break the franchise for me so it better be good. At least 20 different sorts of endings would be awesome, as long as there's some difference for the player to analyze. I was very glad to hear that Mass Effect 3 will feature team members and characters from both games as well as at least one new team member. There's really not much to say here that hasn't already been said.

Logistics
Bring back the elevator sequences. For me, it was entertaining enough to watch stuff go on out the window while listening to your two squadmates talk about something. The news reports were less interesting and the scenery in Mass Effect could've been better, but I'm really counting on Mass Effect 3 to step it up in this department. I would also support getting rid of the planet mining system in Mass Effect 2 and simply reverting to the way gathering resources in Mass Effect worked. I also was a little irritated at having to fly the Normandy over the galaxy map instead of just mousing over each location although I don't see this is a big issue, just a matter of personal preference.

RPG vs. Combat Orientation
I would've put this under logistics, but there's too much here. While I enjoyed the combat in Mass Effect 2 to an extent (I thought it was better than Mass Effect), it certainly lacked the RPG element that made Mass Effect so addicting. Personally, I really don't mind flipping through inventory and selecting upgrades for each weapon. I admit the method for doing this in Mass Effect 1 is cumbersome in a lot of ways, but I liked it otherwise and I think making the RPG menu in Mass Effect 3 easier to navigate, but with the complexity of Mass Effect would go a long way. To summarize: the RPG genre is addictive, keep it complex, just make it easier to navigate and select.

Other:

Music
I like Clint Mansell, but I'm really hoping he carries over a lot of the themes established in the first two games by Jack Wall. I own the soundtracks for Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and the additional atmospheric and combat albums for Mass Effect 2 and I'm pretty happy with how it sounds. Mansell should throw out some very epic music, but I'm hoping he'll continue to use a lot of electronic sounds, especially in combat. The track Legion in the Mass Effect 2 soundtrack was probably one of my favorites for combat and the mission aboard the dormant reaper was really enhanced because of it. Overall, I'm sure Mansell will deliver and I'm excited for the soundtrack's release.

Overall:
I'm looking forward to this a lot. Any additional suggestions that I approve of will be added here.

Video Games: Prologue

Before I begin putting up a lot of posts revolving around video games, I'd like to go through some background stuff. I've been playing video games for a while, but I'm busy enough that having games on my GameCube, GameBoy Advance, iPod Touch, Cell Phone, and PC is enough for me. Beyond the games that I actively play, I've watched several walkthroughs of games I do not own. Overall, I'm hoping that my thoughts on the matter aren't completely useless. Eventually I might refine this such as I did to Song of the Week, but for now we'll be going through a variety of potential ideas and concepts that we have about video games as well as reviewing games we've played.

Death of a Composer

The Composer found his seat as the audience quieted. No one knew he was here. They all thought he was still waiting in the hospital. After all, that's where the only hope was.
The Composer knew better. Hope died with the metastasis that even now stole his senses. He had lost sight an hour ago, he could hardly feel the polished wood beneath his hands, and a distinct taste of copper filled his mouth. His reason, he supposed, was gone already if he had come here.
But he could hear. As the tuning began, he could see a picture in his mind of every instrument - where it was and how it was being played.
A spasm wracked his body for at least a minute. The longest yet. When the pain lessened enough that he could think again, all was silence.
A lone flute sounded out a pure note, like a violet crystal hanging in the darkness. An icy eternity stretched out forever until the oboes and clarinets joined. The music slowly swelled, adding instruments into a quiet crest.
The Composer raised a finger.
The music burst forth in a golden wave. It rose up and swept the Composer from his chair. He was enveloped in it as it ferried him safely through the walls and up, up past the farthest reaches of existence. It didn't dissipate until he was well and truly alone.
The wave was gone. But a Music was still there. The Composer smiled, and when it caused him no pain to do so, he laughed. Pythagoras had been right. The cosmos made the greatest song to ever be played. It spread before the Composer, all creation laid open to him.
The Music of the Spheres sang to him. And he could improve it.

May(hem)

May(hem) is my version of March Madness. Basic idea: post every day of May, continue it into June, and give Arkive his long awaited debut. Here's what you can expect to start seeing:

Song of the Week: Both Marim and I have plans to get one up every Wednesday and every Saturday (.5).

Behind Closed Doors: I'm just about done with chapter 8 which will definitely appear in May. As for the rest of it... I'm in the middle of a plot crisis

Puns: Arkive's got a lot of these.

Random Thoughts: Arkive will probably go a long way toward reviving this obscure series.
Newspapers: Fictional news with a point... Arkive.

Video Game Reviews, Ideas, Discussion: At RPS we've always maintained that video games are a complex form of art resulting in anything from simple entertainment to a comprehensive experience. Arkive has ideas to make games, I have ideas to review games and talk about what I'm looking forward to *coughmasseffect3cough*.

Thursday Thoughts: It's easy and fairly well liked (in my experience), so why not?

Reogan?: Haven't even talked to him about this site in almost a month. Let's see if we can bring him back.

Overall:
This is going to be hard to maintain. Any and all help would be much appreciated.