Ink

This is something I wrote on the 17th. Due to no intrnet access I am posting now 

Ink in your pen

Gives your lines life

Smoke in your lungs

Sets you on fire

From pillar to post you run

And with each breath you take

You feel more and more

Alive

Standing on the roof of your friend’s house

Passively smoking and listening

To a blues song

Or driving down the road

With no traffic for miles

Above you blue skies

Doesn't it make you wanna smile?

And aren’t tears of joy better

Than grieving ones?

The Bilge Master

Toy Land

In a corner of my room,

Tucked underneath my four poster bed,

Sits a dilapidated chest that grandmother used

To keep her bedsheets in,

When I came along, singing a song,

(And mind you I started and ended with a yawp)

I was given toys, and they were kept in that chest,

Then, I grew up and I forgot about grandmother’s chest,

But, the toys didn’t forget me,

I’m scared of my toys,

They’re alive...

The Bilge Master

Broken Wings

“It’s hard to forget,

I wish there was a solution,

Don’t spend your time in confusion

I’ll turn back now and spread

My broken wings”

I always found this song, which is the soundtrack of the anime series “Trinity Blood” to be interesting. Its appeal lay in it’s simplicity and it’s theme of moving on in spite of bad memories and mistakes.

We all make mistakes. Some mistakes are fun. Some not so much.  Some mistakes haunt us and keep haunting us as we grow up. This last category of mistakes tends to fester within us and give rise to anger. I speak from experience and from taking a few antidepressants.

The entire thing is summed up in a quote from M.A.S.H. “Anger turned inwards is depression.” I found that to be apt too.

Followers of my blog know about my dropping out and the trouble I had with a serious yet not critical depression last year and one day, I remember sitting myself down and asking myself if I was truly done with things. I mean to say at 19, was I so self satisfied that I had no loose ends to tie up or no new things to see, video games to play?

Were my parents that bad? Didn’t they teach me to read? Didn’t they introduce me to music?

It soon dawned on me that I was a fool. I was a fool to let something like a minor yet serious depression bog me down for so long.

And so, I fought back.

This post isn’t about me though. It’s about those with broken wings like mine. The people out there who have, through no fault of their own been haunted by the mistakes they made or circumstances that weren’t in their control.

Don’t worry, and don’t give up.

As Hawkeye said, (and to follow are two MASH quotes)

“Don’t let that bastard win”

And as Sherman Potter said, “The part of you that wants to hold on is stronger than the part that just wants to end it all”

The Bilge Master

Because it's a New Year!

“For last year's words belong to last year's language 
And next year's words await another voice”

T.S. Elliot

Thursday morning, 8:33 am. A blank Word document slowly filling up with these words, while a sparrow chirps in the background and a cycle bell tinkles outside.

This morning is the same as all the mornings before it. Our household help arrived at the same time, Baba shaved at the same time and hollered for breakfast at the same time.

Yet, in spite of it all; today is different. Because today is new.

Think of a ledger or a copy. When one page is finished, and even the tiny spaces between the margins are cramped up with assorted scribbles and vague song lyrics; you need to turn the page. Then you proceed to fill up the rear of that page, while some of the words are visible as marks and scars on it.

All that vanishes when you move to the right.

On the right, it’s a blank page. It’s a page that greets you without a mistake, a cross out or even a teeny tiny mark on it.

And what do you do with a blank page?

You write on it.

Happy New Year, readers.

The Bilge Master

Torrents

Rain

Fell from the sky

In torrents

While little boys and girls hid

Because a grown up with a gun

Wanted to kill them all

His children saw him come home

Drenched, not with water

But with red, and

They shunned him, and the life he led

But, went on to kill grown ups instead

And somewhere, an old man

Got out his guitar and asked

Yet again

“How many deaths will it take, till he knows;

That too many people have died?”

The Bilge Master

Soul Mate

“Look into my eyes now/Tell me what you see/It is no surprise now/What you see is me”- The Beatles

It’s always been a fantasy

Of humans in general, but especially those in science

To unravel the mysteries of Time

And see what lies beyond the horizon

Of those stars up in the velvet sky

Isn’t it fun, to wonder where We are,

And who is out there, in the vastness

Of the Universe?

I’m curious to know, am I the only one?

Or is there someone out there, just like me?

And if so, what makes Her so different, or so alike?

Will She take my hand?

Will She walk with me, hand in hand?

Will She stand on a mountain top and look up

At a sky full of stars?

And when I look into her eyes, what will I see?

I wonder, what will I see?

The Bilge Master

The Degeneration of Assassin's Creed

In 2007, something novel happened. The studio Ubisoft, known for games such as Driver, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and Prince of Persia:The Two Thrones, decided to start experimenting with history and brought out a game called Assassin’s Creed.

Assassin’s Creed was unique. It allowed you to delve into the genes of Desmond Miles and replay the life of his ancestor; Altair. Altair was an Assassin, based in Masyaf and he spent the entirety of the game jumping off rooftops, climbing up insanely high towers and assassinating people with a hidden blade in his wrist. As a concept, the game was remarkable. The plot was good, with enough twists and turns to keep a history buff interested, but what really took the cake was the gameplay and the environment details.

A few years later, the sequel to Assassin’s Creed- Assassin’s Creed 2 was released and this game blew us all out of the water. It was an amazing improvement over the original. It’s protagonist was Ezio Auditore, and he was handsome, charismatic and deadly rolled into one. We took Ezio in and around 15^th century Italy, at the height of the Renaissance period and climbed up certain iconic landmarks such as the Bascillica in Florence and the canal bridges in Venice. Ezio also had Leonardo da Vinci at his side and the thieves of Venice to rely on for help in situations. As before, the parkour and the free running was simply divine and it was truly spectacular to leap off one roof onto another and take down five guards before jumping out of a hay stack to kill the assassination target and walk off in the chaos that ensued. Ezio packed not one but two hidden wrist blades, was proficient in fist fighting and swordplay and an absolute charmer of the ladies. The player fell in love with him.

Realizing that they had something good going Ubisoft gave us two more games with Ezio in them- Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, which was in my opinion one of the best games in the series and Assassin’s Creed Revelations in which the connection between Ezio and Altair is fully explained. At the end of Revelations, Ezio  (now fifty) hangs up his blades. In all respects, this was the ideal time to finish the series. However, it would have ended on a cliffhanger, because Desmond Miles’ fate was as yet undecided.

Throughout these games, the presence of the Knights Templar and the mystical “Pieces of Eden” were rampant. In the game, the Assassin’s Altair and Ezio both went after such a Piece, while in the present time, Desmond used this information to track the Piece in the present. I found this concept to be a good one. As Desmond became more and more attuned to Ezio and Altair, he started to learn their skills. He also started to have weird visions, which was expected seeing as he was living a double life per se.

Ezio’s retirement was a turning point for the saga.   It put focus back on Desmond. In the next game; Assassin’s Creed 3, we stepped into the 1700’s and a new Assassin- Connor Kenway made himself known. We also visited the then French colony of New Orleans in the shoes of Aveline de Grandpere who was the only female Assassin introduced in the series thus far. Assassin’s Creed 3 and it’s DLC featured animals- alligators and wolves which were as deadly as humans. Fighting them was a series of quick time events. The climbing also changed as both Connor and Aveline spent an equal amount of time in trees and in bushes as well as in cities. The game engine altered slightly, allowing for better graphics. It was truly spectacular to see light particles being refracted in the water or the moon being reflected in ponds. Swimming became a major feature in these games, perhaps to compensate for the low density of urban environments.

However, while these games were also quite decent; they didn’t have Ezio’s panache and they seemed to lack the historic charm that the previous games had. Somehow, Ubisoft seemed to have focused on gameplay more than actual execution of the plot, which is very important. Ergo, my personal reception of Assassin’s Creed 3 was lukewarm. It was fun to skulk in the trees and drop down on unsuspecting tribal warchiefs but it lacked an X factor.

Desmond died in Assassin’s Creed 3. He died to save the world. Arguably, this was the peak of the series and it should have ended here. Unfortunately, Ubisoft wasn’t done with Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag went into the Caribbean and let us play as the notorious pirate Edward Kenway, who was Connor’s grandfather.

Assassin’s Creed IV was something straight out of an RL Stevenson novel. Sea shanties, blunderbusses, naval warfare and ships to loot took precedence over assassinations. Whaling was also a major part of the game and swimming became a major asset to possess. Edward Kenway was also charismatic, with an edge of “don’t mess with me” thrown in. He was the next best thing to Ezio that the player (me) encountered.  I’m in the process of playing Assassin’s Creed IV at the moment and looks wise and gameplay wise it’s stellar.

However, it’s also sending a message. It’s time to stop this series. Granted, there is still eons of history left for Ubisoft to play around with, but too much of a good thing is bad as we all know.

A lot of people seemed to share my opinion about Assassin’s Creed becoming a super saturated series. Everyone apart from Ubisoft that is.  Their latest instalment Assassin’s Creed Unity takes place in France during the French Revolution.

To call Unity an Assassin’s Creed game would be like comparing a Ferrari to your father’s 20 year old sedan. The entire gameplay mechanic has changed. There are no more dialogues with your assassination targets. Gameplay is repetitive and boring, not to mention dull. It’s usually go here, kill him. Repeat.

While in previous installments open combat was a viable option, here it’s suicide. The ability to counter your foe’s strikes is gone. The ability to counter kill is also absent as is the chain kill feature- introduced in Assassin’s Creed 3. Chain Kill allowed you to lock on to targets in a certain sequence and kill them in that sequence.

There is a marked difference between Assassin’s Creed Unity and any other stealth game. The stealth mechanics are a tad too challenging for someone casual to play with. It demands patience to execute a certain sneak attack which I lack.

The reverse parkour option, which allows you to run down a building is however a welcome addition. But, it’s too little too late.

Therefore, it is my humble request to Ubisoft and it’s associated studios to stop making any further Assassin’s Creed games. The series was an amazing concept and upto Edward, it was executed brilliantly. However, there’s no need for Assassin’s Creed anymore, because it’s gone past it’s peak. A better idea is to work on a sequel for Watch_Dogs which was again a very good concept, but with poor optimization for PC’s. There’s plenty of potential in Watch_Dogs if utilized properly.

In closing, I would like to thank Ubisoft for creating and developing a series as vibrant as Assassin’s Creed. Not only was it engrossing- it was a journey into the past that a person like me could never know. However, it’s time to move on to other projects Ubisoft.

The Bilge Master