DUST 514 Review from the eyes of a Khanid Capsuleer

Update
Monday, May 20, 2013
I still stick by my F-This-Game, Play EvE statement.  But, it is unfortunately growing on me.  Sniping is actually pretty easy, when you get the hang of it, although the hitbox setup makes leading targets a bit problematic.  Saw CEOPyrex's MCC Sniping video and immediately put that on my list of things to try, as I already trained dropships in order to get to the top of buildings easier.  The climbing is clunky(holding the square to climb a ladder makes me think that my character has to take the time to weigh the advantages of higher ground when it comes to sniping in the middle of a furious battle), and it never gets you where you really want to go.  The lack of the ability to prostrate in order to reduce your silhouette sorta stinks, but it's limited usefulness in the DUST 514 battle scenarios, limited mobility generally meaning quick death, makes it a non-issue.
My earlier furor over moving like a whale, it seems, was caused by the lag produced by having the PS3 on too long, my PS3 rarely has a moment of peace, though it's neighbor, the 360, well...  It's either that or I am an idiot who didn't get the fact that stamina had to recharge a bit before jumping.  Still hitting the sticky/rubber-banding areas around obstacles.  That needs to stop.

Now that the game is going, when are we going to get other maps?  Forests, swamps, deserts... No way any of those places could contain valuable resources worth commandeering/defending.  

For a free to play fps, DUST 514 isn't that bad, though my heart is still nestled deep inside an Apocalypse or Hulk.

Update
Friday, May 17, 2013
Not really bitching this time, as I have figured out the semi-organic movements I have faced:  the frickin Sony Move thing.  Don't have it, but it is on the list of things to get.  Almost got it, but, in a purely democratic decision, my GF decided that the Kinect was the way to go.  Meh.
So, I have found a small niche to play in the game, not at all in keeping with the Assault direction of my character:  sort of a drop-lav-blitzkrieg, pushing into an area that is completely unguarded 90% of the time and capturing whatever I can while merc-ing the idiots who use the blaster and rail turrets.  Not many kills, but a ton of war points that way.  Still haven't had the opportunity to magically summon the orbital bombardment-been killed by three so far- but I am inching closer to getting one.  Just gotta find the right squad, I guess.
One bone to pick is how you can't sell your salvage.  Can't even use most of the crap I salvage, on account of my noobness in my new character, but I can't sell it either.  It's like a guy having a vibrator.  Unless...  Eww, perish the thought.  You get my drift though.  CCP, I WANTS TO SELL STUFFS!

I can has finger of gawd?

Why do I keep playing? Why do I really keep playing EVE?  I love the punishment, I guess.

--------------------------------------------

Update
Thursday, May 16, 2013

I guess this is going to continue, sort of a bitch page, until they change the game.  I am whining about the movement of the Character now.   You are running around, and you sprint like an 800-pound fat man being forced to do calisthenics.  It's terrible.  I exercise fairly regularly, and I can run for more than twenty seconds at a time.  Now, to remind you, you are doing this running in an advanced power suit that should be enhancing your abilities.  So, I guess that, not only did the mercenary corporations not hire experienced personnel, they used fatties for the clone reserves.  Nice.

This is what CCP is trying to pass off as the "Futuristic Super-Soldier"

---------------------------------

Where to start?  How bout the beginning.

I am an avid participant in EVE Online, and a fan of Halo and Borderlands, Doom... all the way back to Wolfenstein 3d, lets be real.  I'm old.  Been playing shooters since they were first conceived, I believe.  I was ecstatic about the idea of a shooter taking place in New Eden, and when I received access to the beta, I was thrown.  Awesome.  All except for the game.

I'm not going to go into the beta, because, after all, it was a beta, an unfinished product.  I am,however,  going to start with a new-player slant, since I was generally so disappointed that CCP would attach their name to this thing, even during the beta, that I never took it seriously, and my main, like my EVE main, is all over the place as far as skills are concerned.  So, he sucks.  Basically.

So you create a character, watch a movie, listen to the usual "you will be a great space-warrior" spiel so familiar to EVE pilots...  Movies and trailers, all stunning, in standard CCP fashion. They do know how to put on a good show.
Character: Sif'vey Kor'Tanil.  "...jump into a galaxy..."  Decent explanation, letting you know the "use it and lose it" aspect of the game.  And here begins my biggest pet-peeve with the game:  You, a mercenary, start out not knowing how to use ANY equipment necessary for battlefield excellence.  Assuming, from the info provided by the trailers, the only really new development in the game-world is the implant necessary for instant -cloning after death, what is the reasoning behind a mercenary literally knowing nothing required to survive under fire?  Not to mention, even though you do start with a cool(re:measly) five-hundred thousand xp, and a couple hundred grand in ISK, that is equivalent to giving a ten-year-old raised by ravenous yuppies a Glock and telling him to survive in Detroit. 0 rating.  For what, who the [expletive deleted] knows, the game has pissed me off so much, it gets a 0 to start out with.

OK, off on a tangent:  I was in the Navy, I served aboard a submarine, and had the opportunity to converse with more than a few SEALs during war games and the like.  They, in no way, give the impression of being so untrained that they needed to go to academy drops in order to learn how to fight.  And their skill set is immense, even though they generally stuck to certain roles within their unit.  I know more than a few who actually went to work for "private security firms" after they were finished with their enlistments and commissions.  One I still sort of know( a rather scary individual you wouldn't be able to pick out of a crowd if you tried) let on that, unless you are hot shit, and REAL good at your job, you're not going to be a mercenary.  And thus my dreams were crushed.  Even I know how to use just about every crewed(heavy) and non-crewed(light), and even a few bigger, weapon in the standard US Military arsenal, was in the best shape of my life, and had no real chance.

These guys swam home after killing everyone's DUST 514 character IN New Eden.

So, imagine my surprise when I started playing the game, and you are little better than that nub who just got his/her head shaved at the beginning of bootcamp.  I mean, literally, you are given what amounts to a cap-gun and a hospital gown and are expected to survive against whom I assume to be rather hardened Battlefield and CoD players who were in the beta.  Yeah.
Enough of that.  Now, to the technical aspects of the game, graphics and controls.  The controls are awful, from a PS3-player perspective.  They are standard for any shooter, and you get a few options to choose from, in order to get you to a more comfortable control scheme, but you are not allowed to fully map out the controls as you wish.  They are generally a bit sluggish, which has a bit to do with your internet connection, I know, but still.0 rating.
[expletive deleted] don't even get me started on the vehicle controls.  It's like they just threw something together at the last minute to appease the yutzes who have nothing better to do than run people over in LAV's, and even they have rather obvious trouble doing that.  There are three different vehicle settings, default, a default for leftys, and "reverse/drive".  None of them are even close to the ease of driving found in another shooter, one that uses Unreal also...cough...Borderlands 2...cough... Flight controls are terrible also, reminding me of the GRAND old time spent flying banshees in Halo: Reach.All-in-all(-1 rating, though 0 really).  Too much time playing Grand Turismo 1-5 has given me a taste for more intuitive driving control, whether by d-pad or steering wheel.  DUST isn't GT5, but come on, at least make an effort.
Graphics, on the other hand, are pretty awesome for a shooter.  The maps, repetitive and boring just like any other shooter, are thoroughly fleshed out, even though most areas make me feel like I am going to have to undermine the walls of York to gain entry.  The enemy players have a tendency to get lost in the morass of blinking red lights found in some areas, the minimalist red chevron floating above their heads might as well not even be there, since, if your internet access is a millisecond slower than your enemy's, you will be dead before you have identified them as an enemy.  +1 rating, though it could use tweaking.

Gameplay is meh.  Like most shooters, if the hill is above three feet in elevation, you won't be able to climb it, and will probably die as you get stuck on the invisible sticky tape that seems to surround any object a one-armed two-year-old can summit.  The Amarr god forbid you want to jump on a box!  Who would think that advanced power suits would be able to jump?  Not me! But those aren't the best parts about EVE gameplay.  Try aiming.  Now, it may just be me, but I have a really easy time aiming using any type of gun sight.  I've been shooting since I was twelve.  Not since I was fifteen or so have I experienced sway anywhere near as bad as this game.  And that is with super-advanced power suits helping you.  The gameplay is [expletive deleted] terrible. You have an easier time winning a carnival stuffed animal than you have of shooting someone twenty meters ahead of you in this game.  Driving the vehicles?  It is easier to flip the LAV than it is to drive it in a straight line, and then, well, bullet to the head.  This is made somewhat easier by the fact that you start out doing instant academy battles against people who are supposed to be around the same skill range as you.  Great.  It allows you to at least prepare to get schooled by the beta-survivors later on.  Good luck.  Gameplay-0 rating
For a non-rated section, I am going to go into the skills.  The fact that you go into the game knowing only how to use militia-level equipment(let's be realistic, in EVE, at least CCP had the courtesy to call modules of a similar level civilian) and are hired by a mercenary outfit is insulting, I would assume, to modern mercenaries... er, "private security personnel".  I mean, crap, SWAT teams would be the modern equivalent of militia personnel, and I have a hard time believing their skillset is as tiny or restricted as the beginning DUST 514 player.  [expletive deleted], they are retired marines and sometimes spec ops of some sort for crying out loud.  You have to learn how to use a shotgun in this game.  A shotgun.  At least one of the newer merc recruits had to be a space red-neck before being hired, grew up using shotguns and hunting(ie, sniper) rifles, and he can't even use a shotgun until he can buy the skill.  Come the [expletive deleted] on, CCP.  You could have done better than this.  I give DUST 514 1 out of 5 points.

  Click Here, nubs, and be forever changed. Capsuleers, you already know the drill.

I play video games because they are fun.  EVE is very fun for me.  This game is not, and I love first person shooters.  Fuck DUST 514.  Play EVE.  Sorry CCP.
(nub- n. U.S. Navy slang,: Non-useful Body)

Is Ray Kurzweil an out-of-date Elitist?

 I don't want to be someone I am not.  I am very pragmatic, especially in that if I were one of the elite, I wouldn't be writing this post.  I freely admit it.  I am a power hungry individual who simply has not found his niche yet.
  That being said, the fact that the majority of Americans do not seem to care that the elite classes in our country, as firmly separated from the rest of the detritus as a Kshatriya from a Sudra, treat us with disdain and contempt mystifies me.  At every turn, the elite further separate themselves from the rest of us, and we don't care.
  Someone brought this concern to Mr. Ray Kurzweil, a very respected man among the Futurist, Transhumanist, and Anti-Aging communities, specifically regarding elitist views and behavior in relation to the Singularity.  The letter and Mr. Kurzweil's reply may be found here: http://bit.ly/17JeOEg
  As I am wont to do, I left a rather snarky comment in the comment section.  While the comment itself is somewhat tame compared to some of the things I have said elsewhere, in the case of it possibly not being posted on the referenced site, I have it here for your reading pleasure:
"I enjoy people’s ability to push reality under the rug and pretend to walk all over it, something Mr. Kurzweil has done in his rather unintelligent, backhanded answer to a very valid question. More and more, it seems that Kurzweil and his ilk are beholden to the very entities that wish to control progress and make it only available for the elite. His answer, which is essentially, “Oh, don’t worry, buddy, it will be OK, dontchaknow,” is canned, apparently uninformed at best, and disingenuous at worst. Much respect lost for Mr. Kurzweil in his blatant dodging of a very important question."
  For such a respected individual to so casually remark that "People say, 'Oh, only the rich are going to have these technologies you speak of.' And I say, 'Yeah, like cellphones.' " Is disgusting to me.(quote from the Wall Street Journal,http://on.wsj.com/154j9oD)

  Our lives, if I am not being too nonsensical, are not cellphones.  We are not computers.  We do communicate, yes, and we do perform complex computations, however, we are not simply machines to be thrown away or recycled when our usefulness is no longer up to par.  Yet, this respected individual seems to have the opinion that our value, in a Transhuman/Singularity sense, is equivalent to just such a device.  He even defends this by attempting to force us to view advancement from his regressive perspective:"A kid in Africa with a smartphone is walking around with a trillion dollars of computation circa 1970."   Last time I checked, this was 2013, not 1970, and that kid in Africa is desperately behind the rest of the developed and developing world.  He lives in poverty, but HEY, HE HAS A CELL PHONE!  HE MUST BE DOING JUST GREAT!
  Even the interviewer in the WSJ article seems to be intent on forcing humans into a predefined mold, "Humans are wired to expect "linear" change from their world. They have a hard time grasping the "accelerating, exponential" change that is the nature of information technology."  Personally, I don't have a hard time grasping the serpentine nature of technological advancement, slow moving and sinuous one moment and striking forward with blinding speed the next.  But, I must conform to that rather uninformed and blind view of humanity since, after all, I am a Human, and that's what the elite think of us.
  Ray Kurzweil has outlived his usefulness to the rest of humanity.  He is increasingly becoming a technological and Transhumanist snob, and his view of humanity is the clearest evidence of that.  Just read his books.  Watch and read his interviews.  His increasing detachment from the rest of us encourages him to view himself as separate from the rest of us, a sort of elitist techno-hermit.  We need a new model of a Kurzweil, and I am not referring to a synthesizer.

My views on Mashable's Nov 2011 "Next 40 years of Technology" comment/essay winner.

I realize it is a bit late, but this popped up on my twitter feed the other day, so I had to read it.  I was dumbfounded, which is not really that hard since I am of mean intelligence at best.  However, the winner's(and I cannot fathom how this was chosen as winner) comment was all tech-kittens and rainbows.  I hate kittens and rainbows.  It's true, I hated my cat for the first 14 months of its life, and I live in New Mexico, where it never rains, so the possibility of a rainbow is dismally, and thankfully, low.


http://mashable.com/2011/11/15/next-40-years-in-tech-winner/


My reply to the whole Mashable thing, and his comment, is as below, just in case they decide not to allow it:

 While Kyle's vision of the future is filled with hope and good will, one cannot deny the unfortunate fact his comment is somewhat... Rose colored.  Yes, to remain on par with what will inevitably become known as the "top line" of humanity, one will need to upgrade one's self both mentally and physically, taking evolution by the hand and gently guiding it.  However, where does he get the idea that this advancement will in any way, shape, or form "enable us to overcome worldwide problems"?  We must first define worldwide problem, and  in order to even begin addressing any definition of the term worldwide problem, one must consider the perspective from which the term is viewed: common human, or the wealthy power-base.  Worldwide problems: (a-common man) hunger, poverty, inequality, violence based on color, creed or ethnicity, abuses at the hands of the powerful; (b-powerful) common man, disturbance of the balance of power, uncontrolled change.

From the perspective of the common human, technology will not help in any way to alleviate worldwide problems.  It may well serve to exacerbate a large number of current issues, ending in even worse living conditions for many.  Unless, of course, the people who control the flow of technology to and among the populace display some previously hidden reservoir of kindness.  How likely do you, the reader of this comment, think that will be?

So, when considering the solving of worldwide problems, in order for emerging technologies to overcome those problems, one is forced to consider the term from the perspective of the powerful.  Let's not mince words or continue under proven false pretenses: the majority of powerful people in the world have shown, in the past decade, the tendency to view the common human as a herd of cattle at worst, chattel property at best.  The advancing technologies will be previewed by those in power first, then more modest versions will be fed to the populace as though these were the creme' de la creme'.  The world will continue much the way it has, with a shrinking middle class, and growing poverty covered in the patina of human advancement.  Those whom wish to remain in the increasingly privileged middle-class will be forced to concede to the regulations of  whichever powerful figure they are working for, be that figure CEO, Imam, Pastor, or Politician, while maintaining proscribed enhancement levels and acquiescing to what I can only imagine will be mandatory monitoring of those who can afford enhancements.  

Solar energy, or any more efficient energy source, will be no less expensive for the common man.  Period.  It will, however, be significantly less expensive for the powerful, leading to increased profit margin per watt produced, making it easier for utilities to control what they charge for their product.  Our ability to pay will only come into consideration when considering the maximum amount they can charge while maintaining the largest number of customers in order to maintain the highest level of income.  Pretty much how they do it now, Wall St. speculators aside.  This same formula will be applied to food production, fresh-water supply, home-building materials, anything considered essential for survival.  Since monetary value is inevitably pegged to these things, and the prices for these needs rise every year, average inflation will remain near the same levels it has seen for the last hundred years or so, not counting wartime or recessions, which tend to create anomalous changes in inflation rates.  Technology will change none of that.

To deny that this is the most probable outcome for the future forty years from now is to deny the last ten, no, two hundred... Let's be realistic, the entirety of human history.  Cynicism aside, human nature will lead the powerful to do anything to remain in power, and the oppressed to suffer under that power until a boiling point is reached, and the newly minted "rebels" achieve a momentary equality that is essentially the foundation for the next ruling class that will inevitably repeat the actions of past powerful people.  From the ashes, beside the newer powers, the powerful families of the past will rise to pretend the climb to their former lofty position, and the cycle will once again repeat.  Technology or not.

Now, to say what I was too polite to say in Mashable's comments:

Where do we, as a society, get our friggin opinions of the future? 

 I can understand the Conservative Right's "The world is flat and a magical white guy with a beard created everything so the left can go suck it.  Oh, the Easter bunny... Well the Easter bunny is fake..." point of view.  What it boils down to is the years of inbreeding and hatred of the written word have led to an irrational fear of even the smallest changes in human understanding.  

Now, those who have an understanding of science, and use, or claim to use, logic and responsibility in living their daily lives, where do we get the gall to "believe" that the future will be beautiful and clean, where people are ageless and our brains are soooooo powerful?  That is almost as irresponsible as being religious.

The best that humanity at large can hope for should technology advance as fast and powerfully as people like Ray Kurzweill, Aubrey DeGrey, and even the people responsible for the gritty Deus Ex video game series, would like is an Adam Jensen who will throw a wrench into the gears of the powerful.  But, sorry, it'll never happen.

SO, I guess I am just miffed that people are so blind to their current reality that they think the future is just as blind to that reality.  Just because someone who actually knows what they are talking about says we will be able to do something does not mean that we will be allowed to do that thing.  Do you honestly think the powers that be will allow us to be as strong, beautiful, and long-lived as we wish unless there is something substantial to be gained?  Forty years aside, it will be at least a century before technologies dealing with the foundations of humanity will be allowed to circulate freely in society, be they centered on age, our intellectual power, or exo-terrestrial colonization.  But that's if the CEO's and religious leaders of the world have their way.  So, let's compromise and say that within seventy years, we will be able to advance ourselves in great ways, because wrenches tend to jam the best protected gears.  Until then, no matter how many future-tech-rainbows some leftist hippy-dreamer feeds you, and despite how many eternities in a swimming pool filled with bullets and burning coals some child-molesting, right-wing, preacher threatens you with, invest in some asstroglyde and get ready for what's coming.  The CEO of your favorite food company is going to sell you more unbelievable bullshit then that hippy can imagine and then fuck you harder than every-single super-natural being dreamed up by some old man with psychological problems who ate some middle-eastern peyote, even if every single "god" is actually standing in line with a number for the universe's most forgiving gang-bang.

Fly Smart.

My Point of View: Women

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3m3t_PxiUI  Lupe Fiasco says it very well.

  So, what is going on with women today?  What about you TG women?  TG women are actually safer, as  many women still see you as men, though are too two-faced and shallow to admit it.  The equality of women in the USA is being eroded in such a profound manner I even find it sickening.  In many states, you don’t even have say over what you can do with your body.  Okay, yeah, sure, this mainly has to do with abortion or contraception, so relatively few women are truly effected, meh-meh-mehhh. 
  For you ladies who espouse this point of view, as you sit in the pews Sunday morning or Wednesday night, open up to 1Corinthians or 1Timothy, check it out, then shut up like a good wife.  Or, better yet, read some Genesis.  Yeahhh!!!  The Beginning!!!  The foundation of your entire belief system!  Howsabout Lot and the two angels?  Ask your husband or your preacher to explain why allowing the town to rape your two daughters is preferable to allowing them to take advantage of two incredibly mighty, supernaturally gifted strangers who have the power to scrape the two largest cities in the world off of the planet?  Oh, yeah, so Lot could save his own ass.  Get ready for a stunned moment of silence, followed by a stutter, then a well rehearsed message, that is, once you think about it, an avalanche of bullshit.  Tell me, would you let a man rape your daughter in order to save the asshole of some guy you don’t even know?  What if he was the President?  

  The rest of you women, pay any attention to politics lately?  Do you realize you are supporting people who believe “People don’t die from cancer anymore”(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/chris-collins-cancer_n_1647196.html) to create or approve legislation that dictates the level of healthcare you are allowed to receive? (Remember that word, “allow.”  Say it once or twice, get a feel for it.  It will come in handy when the Church-run GOP takes over the government.)  Do you also realize that you are supporting  people and agreeing to let them have control over a child growing in your womb, people who believe that having a disembodied voice tell them to take their child into the middle of the desert, kill said child, and burn the remains is an acceptable trait in a leader?  

  I sort of blame myself.  Well, my gender, more specifically.  At the risk of exposing myself for what I am, (that is, a terrible person) I love what women have done with the whole “sexual revolution”, and the second-rate kind of equality that men of the fifties, sixties, and seventies gave them.  Predictably, they used those freedoms to… act in a similar fashion to men: they party, drink, and do all the nifty stuff unscrupulous males did, while chauvinists like me bask in the heat of your… freedoms.  And every time a feminist takes charge of women everywhere, and manages to get a crow-bar into the door-jamb of true equality, a Kim K. or Paris H. runs her over with a Bentley. 
  Unfortunately, men do control the world, or it seems that way since every time someone points out how women aren’t getting a fair shake, women in the ‘States seem not to give a damn.  You don’t even stand up for yourselves anymore.  Women have been shoehorned into this image thing by us, and you love it?  Have you become so jaded by how much worse women in the majority of the rest of the world have it that you are willing to let douche bags like me (albeit, tall, dark, and handsome douche bags), limit and control who you can be?
  I think it’s because at least sixty percent of women in the good ole US of A buy into male superiority, if not by thought, than by deed.  They walk through those church/mosque/temple doors every week.  For five thousand years, men have been using  religion to hold you down, keeping you firmly in the place of a second-class citizen, no matter how you perceive yourself or your lot in life, and you still voluntarily give us that power.  
 Fifty years ago, we men allowed you to taste true freedom.  We allowed you to have true equality.  We are allowing you to hold positions in parliament and congress today.  And yet, speaking in business terms, you are still only worth 75% of what a man is.  “Hello, McFly” comes to mind.
  I guess that’s why I am an atheist, as well as a transhumanist.  As an atheist, I don’t have some all-powerful male super-hero that protects me from evil things like equality and a woman on top.  As a transhumanist, I am not interested in restoring equality to everyone as much as I am trying to destroy this concept that inequality is normal, and everyone is unequal to a male WASP.  
 This whole superiority thing men, especially white men, hold in their hearts is eminently dangerous to our advancement as a society.  We are so focused on our imagined superiority as a gender, we are forgetting our superiority as a species.  Yet, to be superior as a species, we need to act as a cohesive unit.
 Women, you need to wake the fuck up.  I am only one man, am not a feminist by any means, and considering the track record of guys in regard to how women are perceived, do you really want us fighting for you?

P.S. Hey, If anyone knows of a random image of a crowd of women or something, hook me up with it.  I need an intro pic for this.