Return to Gransys [Dragon's Dogma]

It's good to be back, I really missed this magical place...

It has been a few years since I spent hundreds of hours venturing through the great land of Gransys, the setting for this fantastic Action RPG title from Capcom. The game was struggling with some performance issues due to the PS3's limitations and capabilities, so a PC version was only a dream at the time, judging how difficult it is to port games from PS3 to PC, so the news of the January 2016 release last year was explosive to the gaming community especially the die-hard Dogma fans. 

  What a great port it is, it runs smoothly wither I am running it on my gaming PC or my work laptop, both are able to handle the game superbly, with a constant 60fps and resolutions over 1080p, it feels great to replay this magnificent game. 





This game has its flaws, it's not a perfect game, nor are we claiming it is, it is like a pet you had long ago that was messy or smelt bad, yet you loved it and had great memories with, and you smile whenever you look back at the time you had together. 

The combat, character customization, and class progression, these are things that really make the game great, its the kind of game where the game play is much more enjoyable than the story, kind of like Dark souls (and all Souls games for that matter). 

but what really makes this game special to me (and many others) is the sense of adventure... 

Think back to classic D&D style of games and board games, you pick up your party and head out into the wilderness, into the dark mysterious forest, into the windy mountains or dark catacombs. This is the kind of game where preparation for your journey is a must, checking the map, knowing the route the take, how long will this route be? should we risk a shortcut? what supplies should we take with us? Who should I recruit as party members? 

These are the kind of questions you need to ask yourself before heading out of the safe town area, making sure your party rests and that you head out first thing in the morning, as the sun might set while you are still wondering around, and the night can be a scary and dangerous time to be outside. 

You will get lost, you will blink and didn't realize you just spent the last 4 hours going from point A to B to do a simple optional task, and encountered many monsters and obstacles on the way, and that's the beauty of it, you will end up skipping (unintentionally) many of this game's side quests and areas, only to do them next time around in NG+ when you read about the things you have missed during your first play though. 

I don't have much time for games as I used to, and I rarely replay games, this however is one of the few which I do not mind re-visiting, and now that it is on PC, the modding community are hard at work to make this game an even better experience than it used to be, making the replay worth every bit. 




Give it a go if you enjoyed action RPG games such as Dark Souls or Shadow of the Colossus... available on Steam 

Chasing the Clouds... My #Vaping Experience in #Bahrain

It has been almost 20 years since I picked up the disgusting habit of smoking, I have tried to quit many times before but have failed every time, I couldn't last a couple of days before giving up and getting back at it... 

Not sure if it was the recent incident of my brother being diagnosed with cancer that made me re-evaluate my current life style, but it sure was a push towards a better end; eating healthy, not drinking and exercising was already a part of my daily routine, which is natural once you hit 30 and you start to realize that you cannot live the same way you did 10 years ago; smoking however was still a part of me which I couldn't let go of and it was extremely difficult to adapt to it's absence, I was determined to do it this time, so I started to research about something called vaping. 

For those that are unfamiliar, here is a quick explanation of what Vaping is:

[Source: http://www.vapersoul.com/ ]

So basically as explained, there is no burning here, no smoke is being produced, and what you are inhaling and exhaling is vapor, I had to do a lot of research before obviously taking a risk of getting myself involved in another habit which could be worse than cigarettes/shisha, but what I discovered was a real eye opener. 

Over the past few years, the Bahrain Ministry of Health (MoH) has been doing nothing but creating a bad image of vaping and fill everyone's mind on how disastrous this thing is, I was under the impression that vaping will immediately kill you since it is the inhaling of pure chemicals, this ideology of course was growing in my mind due to the propaganda that the MoH was spreading, have these people done any form of research? do they have any laboratory test results to back up all these claims? We needed to go deeper..

So my "quit smoking" mission was still at its preparation phase, I decided to visit a few local tobacco shops and investigate about these e-cigarettes, all of them immediately told me the same thing: It's banned / it's illegal /  we don't want trouble / we will get fined / don't talk about it / leave the shop please. 
They made it sound as if I was asking for crack-cocaine, what was going on? 

Apparently MoH was raiding these shops, confiscating any e-cigarette related products, as well as fining the shops for BD1000 and threaten of closure, the Bahraini shop owner of one of these tobacco shops didn't mind explaining this to me, unlike the other shops, and told me how illegal this thing is, and he mentioned "I don't know you, you could be an undercover investigator for all I know, so I will not provide you with any information on wither I was selling these, or will be selling in the future", talk about paranoia.  
Since he was nice enough to chat, I decided to ask him what he personally thought of vaping, and according to his understanding, he truly believed it was a very dangerous habit which he did not wish upon his worst enemy, "As if this is the healthy option?" I replied as I pointed at the cases of tobacco and shisha products that were on display at his shop, he did not reply. 

moving on, it seamed like I stumbled upon a dead end here, when I remembered a friend mentioning that they sell e-cigerretes in Kuwait, I spoke to him and luckily he was heading to Kuwait in a few days time, I decided to go ahead with it and get my first e-cigarette.   

A little more research was done while I was waiting for my goods to arrive from Kuwait, with a more focus on the e-liquid or E-Juice, what is it? what goes in it? 

The main components of E-juice are Vegetable glycerine (VG) or propylene glycol (PG). VG is a natural produce extracted from types of vegetable, while PG is a chemical used in cosmetics and food products, it has been FDA approved to be generally safe for consumption, and inhaling tests have been made on lab rats with no side effects.  

All the studies that you can dig up will tell you that there are effects from vaping as far, and they will all state that no long term effects can be determined for sure, which is a fair statement since vaping is still considered relevantly new, but people have been vaping on daily bases for the past 5 years at least, some users in forums claim they are still vaping since they quit and are in top health.

It's has been 3 months now since my last cigarette... And I couldn't be happier...
That awkward pain in chest... Gone
That disgusting bad smell... Gone
My blocked sinuses... Gone
My heavy breathing during sleep... Gone
I can smell things, I can taste things, my facial features are getting better and skin lighter, I can exercise better without getting out of breath, my teeth are cleaner...

Sad, truly is...

People are not stupid, anyone with a phone can look up the information and researches and can come up with their own conclusion, spreading lies is not going to go that far, let's look at the bigger picture here, if MoH is truly concerned about the public's health, why aren't shishas and cigarettes banned? The effects of shisha smoking is even far worse than is of a cigarette, is this truly the reason? Are the MoH of Bahrain more concerned about their citizens health than the UK MoH?

My last visit to the UK about a month ago was a true eye opener, vape supplies EVERYWHERE! They sell them at grocery stores right next to the cigarette packs behind the counters, they are encouraging people to quit smoking and use vaping devices. and the amount of people vaping in the streets, if 3 out of 5 people are smokers, 1 out if the 3 was vaping! It was so refreshing a thrilling to see how people have moved to a less fatal habit. 

I was standing outside "vaping" when I was approached by an elderly English gentleman, he was curious about the device and had questions, although I was new to the scene myself, but I was happy to answer his questions, and how the transition between smoking and vaping was, hoping that he would consider quieting his 40 year old habit, it's never too late. 

Back to Bahrain, I managed to get some supplies from the UK while I was there, but I was curious on how the vaping community was growing, I decided to look up Bahraini vapers on Instagram and was surprised at the increasing number of people selling products each day, where are these people getting all these products from? 

Out of curiosity's sake I did try ordering through Aramex, I made 2 separate orders as a "test", one for a bottle of e-juice, another for a tank (no battery just a spare tank), both were declined and were labeled as unaccepted material. 

The vaping community on Instagram were selling products at at least twice the price, in some cases 3 times as much, a starter kit by Kangetech which cost me around BD27 in the UK is being sold here for BD70.. But hey, that's the black market for you. 

And if that was not bad enough, a new "crack-down" was going on these Instagram accounts, fining them for as much as BD3000 for promoting and selling e-products!  This is getting really ridiculous and out of hand. 

I wonder what's next? Arresting anyone who is actually using them? I wouldn't be so surprised. 

Studies have also claimed that number of cigarette smokers are declining yearly in the US and Europe, over 10% per year and rising, this is not a small percentage when you are talking about 45 million smokers in the US alone, think about the loss that the tobacco industry is suffering from yearly from this, which brings us to the realization that the ban in Bahrain is nothing more than economical. 

All this nonsense about not being able to regulate the e-products as the MoH claims, didn't they regulate it in the UK? If you are worried about control, allow only licensed sellers to sell the products, same case as tobacco, and if you are worried about minors, then make sure that sellers are selling them to 18 years and older, again, same case as tobacco. But spreading lies? Come on, what are you going to do when you suddenly realize that there is good money to make from this? Tell the people to "forget everything we ever said about e-products!". 

Its all about the money, its all about the dum dum duh dee dum dum 

I wonder if anyone in Bahrain went all Walter White and started making homemade e-juice... because I'M RUNNING OUT OF JUICE AND I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO SMOKING!

The OSN Killer?

It was quite a surprise for me last night with the sudden launch of Netflix in the middle east region, I couldn't believe it was finally happening as I entered the site and was NOT greeted by the "We're sorry but this service is not available in your region" message I got so familiar with. 

I'm not Tech-oblivious, I try to keep up with technology and upgrade my tech when my pocket allows it - after taking care of the house and family of course - but I did not use Netflix as many users in Bahrain were already doing by using it through VPN, I just want my tech services HASSLE FREE, yes; I am that type, I don't want to go through the hassle of getting a US-based credit card through one service and paying for a VPN through another service only to downgrade an already pathetic excuse of an internet speed we have to make my subscribed content un-watchable, not to mention the chance of your account being banned if VPN use was detected.  
NO, I want to be able to pay with my own credit card and get the content I subscribed to directly. 

What we have been stuck with basically is OSN, I got their services a few years back and the main reason for that is so the wife can catch up with her trash TV, I honestly don't remember the last time I gathered the family around the TV to watch something amazing that OSN was showing, or just flipping through the channels when I am alone at home, their content seemed to be catered mostly for tweens and Egyptian house wives, nothing seemed to be attractive for me to watch. 

then they launched their "on demand" services where you can basically download movies and series you want to watch, nice idea but: It took FOREVER to download anything! You have a lonely night and want to watch a movie? Well tough luck! you need to download that shit overnight!   
And if that wasn't the only issue, the newer content you needed to pay for individually, as if my $88/month subscription fee wasn't enough to cover that! 

Don't even get me started on the crappy customer service they provide, they are really fast when it comes to taking money, they only call if they want to force new packages on you, and the only messages you will get from them is when they suddenly decide to increase your current monthly charges! 

And what amazing PR they have! 
A lot of companies now reach out to their customers directly through social media, why wouldn't they? They can easily reach out to direct complaints and inquiries, while customers can publicly show their complaints to all their followers - and I know kids with a lot of followers are abusing such power, but that's a topic for another day - But take someone like; me with a handful of followers, what damage can I cause? I mean yes, I may have complained about their prices and content a couple of times, but seriously, did I really need to be blocked from following your account? I sometimes wonder if their account is managed by an actual PR personnel, or a 13 year old girl. 

The transition from OSN to Netflix I can see happening in the near future, although most homes will not be able to let go of OSN completely, but perhaps they will change their subscription to the minimum package to have it along side their Netflix subscription. 
Ease of use is also a factor to keep in mind, with OSN it's mainly a remote click away from watching your content, so the first thing I did when I created my Netflix account was to show my wife how easy it was to simply turn on the Playstation 4 and access Netflix, she was happy and I can see her using it on her own when I'm not around. getting your family members acquainted with new services and tech is what makes such transitions much easier at your home. 

What's next? Well, to start with, I really hope OSN begin reviewing their current packages and prices, because they have some serious competition now, and as for Netflix, its only been a day, but I hope the content we receive is contestant with what is being provided for the US. 

Guess we can finally "Netflix and chill" like these white kids been talking about....     

Undertale... 1st experience..

So I decided to try out #Undertale last night for the very first time, the bearded fat people made me buy it, I really don't get it..

Yet...

I mean, I know I'm just starting out the game here, I got past the "prologue" part of the game (oooooooooo dude but that's like the shocking feels part and ... - No, just stop), the only info I have of the game is from the trailer, everything else is just "dude play Undertale.. bro did you play undertale? man did..." JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!

Well... you get the picture... moving on...




Back to the trailer, from what I understood is that this is an RPG where fights don't really matter, where you don't have to fight.. so basically when you encounter a fight you have an option to flee? How is that different than every other RPG out there? If I decided to "spare" the enemy or just flee, which according to the tag line, every enemy could be spared, I get no Exp! and eventually I run into a boss where I cant flee from and am forced to fight, no talking doesn't work on these bosses as they just kick your ass while you are messing with the "flirt" command... Why should I bother to spare these creatures? shouldn't I be rewarded for doing so?

Oh look! Some frog! Please show mercy! 
Ok frog dude you can go now...
Oh you let him go? Well tough shit! because now you get 0 Exp and 0 Gold!

Seriously? and if I kick the frogs ass I get everything? HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT?

"but dude, you can play through the whole game without killing anyone.." - Yes, I am aware of that, but why am I not being rewarded for such a thing?

Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the game so far as it does remind me of simpler times and I grew up with this shit, but I feel like I have been cheated with false advertisement, how can you tell me that battles don't really matter when IT REALLY DOES!?

Did I fall into another neckbeard false hype trap? Or does this game have more for me than meets the eye?

Guess I'll have to wait and see...