Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Friday, May 5, 2023

Video Game Review: Star Wars: Fallen Order

 


Fallen Order is a first-person combat game set five years after the fall of the Jedi (Revenge of the Sith). You play as Cal Kestis (voiced by Shameless and Gotham actor Cameron Monaghan), who was a padawan at the time the Jedi order fell. The game does not start out with Order 66, but it is not a major spoiler to say that you do see Order 66 from Cal's perspective during the video game. The game starts out as Cal is working in a scrapyard on the planet Bracca where he has to use The Force to save himself and a co-worker, which brought the main antagonist of the game, the inquisitor Second Sister to Bracca. Once Cal is outed as a Jedi he has to escape the Empire he is helped by Greez Dritus and former Jedi Cere Junda who has cut herself off from The Force. Cal joins the crew of their ship and embarks on a mission to find a Holocron that holds the names of a bunch of force-sensitive children, with designs to keep the names out of the hands of the Empire and to rebuild the Jedi order.

Throughout the game, you travel to a bunch of different planets, some of which are recognizable from the movies (e.g., the Wookie planet Kasyyyk) and others that you would only recognize if you have read the novels or seen some of the television series such as Rebels and Bad Batch. There are four different levels of difficulty you can play the game on, Padawan, Jedi Knight, Jedi Master, and Jedi Grandmaster. In the Padawan mode, Cal can more easily block enemies, and the enemies are not as aggressive (e.g., when there are groups of stormtroopers they attack in an "evil ninja" like fashion, mostly one at a time), but in the harder modes Cal is more vulnerable and the enemies attack you more aggressively. Basically, the Padawan mode allows you to finish the story/game easier, and the harder modes make the gameplay more challenging. But, even in the Padawan mode, you can be killed by a low-level stormtrooper. 

Overall, the game is a good blend of a puzzle or strategy game in which you have to find different things, figure out how to navigate past obstacles, and the like, and a combat game in which you have to battle stormtroopers and/or creatures. It is a lot like the Batman Arkham series of games for people who are familiar with those games. Cal is aided mostly by a droid named BD-1 who follows him throughout the game and can help him along the way and is aided by some of the other human and alien characters he encounters. There are a few different "boss fights" throughout the game that get progressively more challenging, and the game tells a very entertaining story, which is a part of the overall Star Wars canon. If you are a Star Wars fan and like playing video games, it is definitely worth checking out. 

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