Agon Review and Local News

 France and Spain are currently suffering through terrible fires, and though they are on a smaller scale than the ones in North America, because of Europe's much greater population density a large number of people are being affected.  Thus it appears in the news quite prominently.  The fires in northern Canada, by contrast, though ten times larger and worse, only affect very small communities, often of Native people.  Not so newsworthy, I'm guessing.  My point?  I suppose even if acts of war, terrorism, murder and other forms of hatred were outgrown and no longer practiced, we'd still have our hands full dealing with Nature.  Here is a map of wildfires burning in North America on Sunday.  See and weep.

 

Orange flames indicate present fires.  Red dots indicate above average temperatures.

We are literally burning our own home planet. 

 

In gaming news, we are not only playing a lot of PC games, but for the past several Sundays we have revived our board game passion, along with MECCG.  For the past two Sundays we have been playing Teotihuacan: City of Gods.  It's a complicated game to learn, but once it is in hand it proves to be one of the best games we own.  It also has the most beautiful game board I have ever seen, with lots of tiny details that don't have anything to do except make the board look better.  Some photos amidst a recent game:

 

Overview of the entire large board.  The board consists of 8 smaller game boards around the edges, a central temple that must be built piece by piece and decorated, smaller temples at which to worship left of the central temple, and the avenue of the dead to the right of the main temple.  Interspersed in between the 8 game boards and temples are very small works of art that enhance the look of the board, illustrating what is actually happening in that specific area.  Wealth is represented in the game by cocoa, gold, stone and wood.  The dice represent the players' workers.

 

Tiny detail of a non-playble section of the board.

 

Detail of mini-gameboard #4, where gold can be acquired.  Note the tiny unusable details, above.

 

More details of the Teotihuacan playing board. 

 

Now on to PC gaming.  We just finished all 4 available chapters of  Agon: The Mysterious Codex.  The first three chapters were released as a unit back in 2006, while Chapter 4 came out in 2008.

 

Chapter 1--London:  This takes place late on a rainy night in the offices and storage rooms of the British Museum.  It is the early 1900s.  The game features 360 degree motion, and the graphics are actually pretty decent.  We played the game on Steam.  Players must use books, maps, telephone, typewriter and make a guard fall asleep.  Though short, this was a good opening segment and teaches the player how to move and handle objects.  There is an inventory and it will grow quite large by the end.

 

Two views of the director's fancy office.  We play as a snoopy old professor who is attempting to uncover a great secret regarding board games.

 

At the end of Chapter 1 we are led into the new chapter by a map and several items to read.  There is an awful lot of reading to do in this game, and it can get bogged down (see Chapter 4). 

 

Chapter 2--Lapland:  This chapter takes place in an arctic winter environment.  I recommend playing it in the summer!  We first arrive at a very small and very lonely railroad station in the middle of nowhere.  The stationmaster is passed out drunk in bed.  We must get the stove going and solve some major puzzles, a few of which are impossible without walkthru help.  The puzzles tend to become quite nasty very quickly.  Solving a Morse Code puzzle (make no spelling mistakes!) playing an organ to call a reindeer taxi, and reading more letters all take time.  Overall, I liked the atmosphere in this section, but was glad to finally move on to the small nearby village.

 

There are 3 points of interest in the village, the main one being the tavern.  We must get the village girl on our side, so it's time to cure her sick dog.  She will eventually lead us to another reindeer taxi, and we are off into the cold and snowy wilderness.  The final part of the game again becomes a bit nasty, but problems were solvable without a walkthru.  Often here the most difficult part was locating things, so hunt carefully for inventory.  The very final puzzle in all chapters 2-4 is playing a different board game against an opponent.  I had to lose about a dozen times here before I finally won, triggering the next chapter.  All in all this was a fun segment, much longer than the first chapter. 

 

In chapter 2 we are deposited at a lonely arctic station.

 

It may be small, but this station holds a lot of mysterious puzzles to solve.

 

I really liked the winter setting! 

 

Now in the village, we are about to enter the tavern.

 

The unfriendly owner, his daughter (part of her), and her sick doggie. Cure the dog and get the girl on your side.

 

Wilderness scene in Lapland.

 

Dashing through the snow...

 

The final part of segment 2 is a board game that the player must eventually win. 

 

Again I liked the segment, though some of the train station puzzles were simply too hard to work out logically.

 

Chapter 3--Madagascar:  On to the tropics and time to get warm again!  We arrive (after a lot of reading) on a tropical beach in the morning, later returning near sunset.  In between we visit a hostile native village and two sites withing the jungle: a cemetery and a tree house homestead.  Here there is one inhabitant, an old sailor.  His companion lies in the cemetery.  The story is quite rich and it takes a while to get all of it.  Again some puzzles can be solved through logic, though some cannot.  We got through the cemetery one okay, but the telescope puzzle was simply too bizarre to even try to solve.  At the end of it all (there is a tidal cave which is pretty cool) comes another board game, again taking me about a dozen times before I finally won.  That ended the original game, with more chapters being promised.  There should have been thirteen altogether, but alas only 4 were ever made.

 

Final score for the first 3 chapters: 80% 

 

Our voyage to Madagascar is told through letters sent and received along the way, and the map.

 

We arrive on a beautiful tropical beach. 

 

The tree house has several levels and several puzzles.  First we must feed the dying old sailor. That puzzle was okay and logical.  Not so much for the telescope puzzle.  It's like two different teams worked on these puzzles, one group who understood that people might like to be able to solve them, and another group that thought nobody should solve them.  Ever.

 

Once fed and feeling stronger, the old sailor tells us his sad story.  By the end we are able to help him live out a more comfortable life.

 

We arrive back at the beach near sunset.  We are close to the finish.
 

The second board game, not easily won I can assure you. 

 

Chapter Four--The Lost Sword of Toledo:  After a hiatus of two years, chapter 4 came out.  This is a full game unto itself, about as long as the first three chapter combined.  It should have been shorter, but it really gets bogged down at the start with reading and hearing the background story.  Hardly anything happens that the player can control for a really really long time.  This undoubtedly contributed to its bad reviews, which put the kibosh on any further chapters.  Thus the game ends here, after 4 chapters.  While the story is worthy of an entire film, it is simply too complex for what should have been one chapter of a bigger game.  I see on Steam that some players have put in 100 hours on playing chapter 4!!  If one doesn't use a walkthru in this game, one is doomed to a life of frustration and being stuck in Toledo (Spain).

 

The puzzles are usually way too complicated.  Even the first big one, the music box puzzle, had me scratching my head and using a walkthru (I am a musician).  There are three parts to opening the music box, and all of the solutions are pretty much ridiculous.  There is also a maze in the sewers.  No one likes a maze, yet here it is.  As for the photo puzzle (taking, developing and printing the photo), hours and hours and hours could be spent here experimenting.  This is not fun.  Then comes the big headache, the kaleidoscope puzzle.  It can be skipped over.  Use a walkthru instead.  It's still complicated.  

 

Though seriously flawed, Chapter 4 will provide amusement with a good walkthru.  I liked the graphics and the use of comic book art to fill in transitional passages in the story.  The story was good, too, though it is a long one.  And of course the old professor is one of the better adventure game characters out there.  With reservations (have a walkthru handy) I do recommend the Agon series.  It's an old game, but parts of it are quite good.  I actually won the final board game on my first attempt!  It's unfortunate that the remaining chapters never came out.  However, the professor's great grandson arrived in 2019 with two adventures.  We will eventually give those a try, though being from the same studio I don't hold up too much hope for fair and doable puzzles.

 

Chapter 4 final score:  74%.

 

On our way to Toledo.  The game's intro seems endless, and nearly is. 

 

Players spend a lot of time wandering around central Toledo.

 

Whenever the professor passes in front of a mirror, there he is!  Cool. 

 

A lovely and cool courtyard garden.

 

The pond in a different courtyard garden. 

 

A small parish church.  The bell tower holds a major puzzle.

 

The bedroom of Senor Diaz, with the dreaded music box on the side table near the lamp.  We are aiding his unhappy daughter after his death. 

 

A very beautifully rendered kaleidoscope. 

 

Part of the kaleidoscope puzzle.  Good luck with it, even with a walkthru. 

  

We get to not only light a fire, but make a key.  Yet another very complex puzzle, with which this game chapter is severely overloaded. 

  

The final board game.  I won it first try!! 

 

Mapman Mike 

 
 

 

 

 

 

3 Films and Some Musing

I have returned afresh to writing blogs for my astronomy page.  It seems to be a popular blog, into the 90,000s for hits.  I have written 153 entries so far and have plans for about a hundred more.  When I'm out a lot with the telescope I don't have much time to blog about it.  But so far this year I've only had six outings, a very disappointing count.  Usually by now I have had twenty or more.  The weather has been cloudier than usual during my monthly window of opportunity, when the moon is not that bright.  So I'm done now until August with the telescope.

 

Speaking of weather, the heat has vanished for now, but we still have crappy air and tons of humidity.  Our 60 hours of heavy smoke was a challenge to get through.  Even though the smoke has been blown away from here, the distant fires continue to grow.  In Ontario alone there are over 150 fires currently burning, a few of them super fires.  These are large fires that have joined up to make a much larger one.  Most people, including most Canadians, have no idea how much wilderness forest Canada, and especially Ontario, has.  Imagine a continuous boreal forest the size of Europe, with virtually no roads and hardly any population.  How do you manage something that size?  Answer: you don't.  It's impossible.  Fire has always been a useful tool to Nature, and so it is today.  It's just that things get so dry so quickly.  Along comes a lightning storm, and while some rain may fall, other places just get the lightning.  Then come the rapidly growing fires.

 

Spain is currently fighting its largest wildfire ever.  So far nearly 400,000 hectares have burned this year.  So far in Ontario that is doubled, and the season is still young and the fires still burning.  Many of the fires cannot even be fought as they are so remote.  Americans get a few days of smoke and instantly hold Canada responsible.  I guess if we were the 51st state there wouldn't be any more fires.  Problem solved.  Or not.

 

My cousin Rick is in the hospital.  He got out of bed one morning and instantly fell.  He could not stand up.  He was on the floor for three hours before he managed to crawl to where his phone was.  Richard is my eldest cousin on my mother's side.  I have more cousins than I have hairs on my head, but Rick and I were close for a long time when we were young.  I'm hoping they soon discover what is wrong.  So far all medical tests have been less than informative.  Thinking of you, Rick!

 

In movie news, there are three to report.  Two are well worth reporting, while one not so much.  Most recently we watched Dying To Know: Ram Dass and Timothy Leary.  It's a well produced, directed and edited documentary from 2014 (Leary died in 1996, Ram Dass in 2019) about their search for truth and happiness, largely through the use of LSD.  Dass studied with a guru in India and it also changed him profoundly.  There are some really good reasons to watch this film, especially if you are concerned about death and dying.  I know that Leary's life cannot be suitably covered in one documentary, but there is enough here to lead the curious on to further reading and explorations.   Their unique friendship had some rocky periods, but they did get back together for this film and seemed happy about doing so.  Recommended for those curious about the drug-fuelled sixties and how they got their start.

 

Streaming on Kino. 

 

Before that came a real corker of a film.  O Brother, Where Art Thou is a 2000 comedy from the Coen brothers.  The depression area south (Mississippi) has never been shown better.  Very loosely connected to Homer's Odyssey, the film owes at least as much hommage to Preston Sturges, The Three Stooges and Looney Tunes.  Starring George Clooney, John Turturo and Tim Blake Nelson as a kind of Three Amigos, the film opens as they attempt to escape from a chain gang breaking rocks.  I am not a fan of most film scores, but the music in this film is outstanding for purpose.  The directors used an actual song sung by a real chain gang from the 1930s at the start, and things just improve from there.  While the tie ins to Homer are often slight, there are some unforgettable scenes in this film.  Several of them.  Also, it contains some of the funniest moments ever put to film.

 

In Preston Sturges' classic comedy Sullivan's Travels, the lead actor is researching a film he wants to make by dressing like a hobo and going out to experience a different kind of life.  The film he wants to make is to be called O Brother, Where Art Thou.  He wants to make a serious drama, but after learning what comedy can do to people who are in a depression, he changes his mind.  So the Coens made the film for him.  The three lead actors are priceless in their roles, no moreso than when they become a singing trio, the Soggy Bottom Boys, and an instant radio and record sensation, unbeknownst to them.  No less so when they become enraptured and seduced by the three southern sirens, one of the most powerfully sexual mythological scenes ever filmed.  Again, that music.  There are so many funny scenes, but there are some very scary ones, too.  The cyclops encounter is painful to watch, and I don't much like the film's Penelope, but the movie has far more hits than misses.  It is unlikely that viewers will ever forget the Ku Klux Klan gathering, with military style marching and a haunting southern folk song for accompaniment.  Altogether a priceless film, worth many viewings, and one of the best things we've seen in while.  Highly recommended.  The more one watches the performance of Tim Blake Nelson, the more one realizes his great comedic talent.

 

Now streaming on Criterion. 

 

Finally comes the big disappointment.  We both loved The Martian, from the novel by Andy Weir, and we were greatly looking forward to the filming of his novel Project Hail Mary (2026).  I couldn't have been more disappointed.  Another Spielberg look-a-like film.  Big budget and big tropes.  Nearly every SF film cliche is here, and our heartstrings are manipulated to the max.  There is a weird but somehow cute alien, one with snappy dialogue and one who manages to be on exactly the same wavelength as humans, despite a momentary language barrier.   Then there is the behind the scenes very hastily put-together star ship, ready to launch in no time.  Where did that come from?  How did it get built?  Who paid for it?  We can't launch a big rocket today without it blowing up several times before it finally works.  How does it go so fast, near the speed of light?  I may never read the novel now, so I won't know if Weir accounts for this.

 

But the biggest trope is one I dread more and more in films, especially SF ones.  First, there is a disaster that is going to destroy the Earth.  From outside.  Not inside.  We are not dealing with solving any Earth problems in this film.  No sir.  Those are too easy.  Climate change.  Wars.  Starvation.  Dictators.  Piddly stuff.  Instead of using a big budget to maybe present some real problems threatening our planet and trying to deal with them in super creative ways, we have a phage that is eating stars, including old Sol.  Dear me.  Now that is a real problem.  And it could actually happen at any time.  So let's get busy here and solve this problem.  With international scientists, no less.  However, when it's time to cut to the chase, only a white American male can really be up for the challenge, even though he doesn't think so.  Yup.  White.  Male.  American.  He is not a pilot, has no training, but he figures out quite easily how to drive that spaceship, even making U-turns when necessary.  Roll eyes.  I won't get started on the soundtrack, either.  I think I've beaten this film up enough for now.

 

I did like the very ending, the last shot as our hero (really just a school science teacher, though extra brilliant) is faced with a class of hyperactive alien children in his new classroom.  Good luck with that.  Not recommended, and I could not see a reason for watching this film twice.

 

Now streaming on Prime. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

PC Gaming Update, and The Heat

Heat and humidity returned Tuesday with a vengeance.  At 4:30 pm we peaked at 98 F, but the humidity level made it feel like 111 F.  I followed it all from morning till night.  Here are some screen shots from today, though I missed out on the 4:30 one as I was practicing piano.  To add insult to injury, our skies are smoky again this summer from large fires in Northern Ontario and elsewhere.  More of the same is on tap for Wednesday and on.  Yay.

At 10:35 it was already warm and very humid.  The air is sluggish with little to no breeze.

 

 

 

By noon it was getting ridiculous.

 

 

 

3:30 pm was my final reading, as I went to practice at this point.  But it hit 98 F/111F.  Yowsa. 

 

 

I was out this morning for a haircut and it was getting uncomfortable.  We went out at 7:30 pm for groceries and it was downright hard to breathe.  I was going to show Albuquerque to illustrate how humidity affects how temperatures feel, but London UK this afternoon worked just.  It was warm in London at 4:40 pm London time, but the humidity wasn't bad at all.

 

London UK has had some bad heat so far this year, as has Europe.  But as long as the humidity gets burned off during the day it makes it a little better.  Nice breeze there, too.

 

This is perfect weather for indoor gaming, with the AC handling things as best as it can, assisted by fans.  We have spent many thousands of dollars insulating our home, since one can't simply just stick AC in a house and turn it on.  We did it mainly for winter temps, but it helps a lot in summer, too.  All new windows, doors and all kinds of insulation.  Well over $50,000 Can. spent altogether. 

 

So, the gaming update.  The big news is that I now have not only a powerful gaming PC, but a brand new gaming monitor!  It is curved, large and gives incredible colour and image quality.  I will be posting screenshots of recent games that look so fantastic on my monitor, so I hope they look halfway decent on yours.  I continue to hammer away at a game called TR 49.  This one does not need a big computer or a good monitor.  It is a type of research game with essentially one screen, a very old computer with letters and numbers to input.  There are also paper lists to read of names and authors.  The goal is to find 50 books and 50 authors.  The machine is somewhat messed up and keeps spewing garbled messages.  Once the correct book and author are matched then the words become unscrambled.  I really don't have a clue as to what I am doing, but I enjoy searching through dozens of program inputs trying to find the correct ones.  I don't know what the end game is, or what might happen.  I just do my research and carry on.

We've been playing Agon together now for awhile, and it will get a full review here upon completion.  We are currently in the 4th of 4 chapters.  There were supposed to be 13 chapters altogether, and while the first 3v chapters were pretty good, chapter 4 is dragging us down with way too much dialogue and story.  Had they kept this one a bit more streamlined it likely would have been a success.  But the professor is getting sidelined by other problems, and it's taking its toll on the game.  Chapter 4 takes place in sunny Toledo, Spain, with the professor in search of a famous old sword.  It was recently stolen and a young blacksmith is being blamed.  the professor promises the boy's sweetheart and his mother that he will help.  And so the story bogs down.  Decent graphics, like in the first three chapters, but intricate puzzles far too complicated to solve.

 

Inside a parish church in Toledo, Spain.  The local priest is aiding the professor in his investigations.  From Agon Chapter 4. 

   

Of course I continue to drive trains using Train Sim World 6, and the new monitor seems to have solved some stuttering and rendering problems that the old one had.  One of the best things about this game (there are many great things) is how many angles you can observe your train from while still driving it.  Besides the obvious one of sitting in the cab, views from above, the sides, and even the rear of the train are possible.  Players can also watch their train pass by, as if standing on sidelines.  It's a rush to see your train pass at 100 mph as you watch from a crossing, a station, or anywhere along the route.  New routes come out every month (I have about 50 different routes now, each route with its own catalogue of engines, each of those with its own timetable.  Endless fun!

 

I recently drove my first train across the Alps from Switzerland to Italy.  Real time, real route.  Stunning! 

 

I have also resumed my affair with Tomb Raider.  In the original series I made it about halfway through TR 4 before finally giving up.  Now, however, TR 1-6 have recently been totally overhauled.  Same game, better graphics.  I completed my first major chapter, divided into 4 parts, deep within the Inca mountains.  Next I think I will be off to high adventure in Greece.  My skills are slowly coming back to me.

 

2 screenshots from TR 1, with much improved graphics over the original.

 

I've only had the monitor for less than a week now, so I had to decide.  Which Myst game should I load?  I chose realMyst!  I am currently busy trying to open up all of the worlds.  I am not even stopping to pick up red and blue sheets yet.  I'm just looking around and waiting for the day/night cycle, watching what happens.  However, if I wish to eventually get to the arctic world, I will have to run around and get all of the sheets.  The monitor gives Myst a rich and detailed view I have never quite experienced before.  I will have to replay more of the games, especially the latest versions of Myst (with a much better Arctic world) and Riven.  For now, I am in awe.

 

Two night views from realMyst.  These scenes looks so amazing on my new gaming monitor. 

 

Next time I will give a piano repertoire update.  I've been gifted with two (very warm) nights of astronomical observing lately, and am still trying to catch up on my sleep.

 

Mapman Mike

 

Here is a bonus screen capture from realMyst, a most iconic view for players.