It's not an Eve (This War of Mine Review) - Wednesday's Child

GREETINGS Y'ALL!

Welcome to my first post of 2015. What a year. I can see this year is going to be filled with new beginnings, laughter, love, smiles and funtimes. 

Just kidding. It's going to be another stress filled nightmare. Enjoy yourselves, because I know I will be. 

I was originally planning to start one of my regular segments, but I've been sidetracked over the past week. I finally got my Steam account working, and managed to download the two games I've wanted from it for ages; This War of Mine and Papers, Please. 

Now lemme tell you a thing about This War of Mine. It rocks. It's awesome, and I love it. Not a game filled with laughter, love and smiles it is a game that will most likely haunt you and make you question all your moral choices. 

The game was recommended to me by a friend months ago, and after finally downloading it I found it was a much simpler format than I'd first assumed. It's a platform point and click style game, and at first I had my doubts, but within the first few minutes I was hooked, (and it may have become my new addiction). 

Set during a civil war in a fictionalized Eastern European country, you play as a group of civilians with (with the exception of one character) no military training. With snipers positioned throughout the city during the daytime your characters have no option but to work around the house, crafting tools and objects to help them survive, while during the night they have the option to sleep (on the floor or on a bed if you've crafted one), guard your home from possible looters or go out and scavenge. 

Each of your survivors brings a unique skill to the group - one is trained in combat, another is a fast runner, and another is good at brokering deals. They each have a limited amount of backpack space, so you have to choose carefully and prioritize what your group needs that evening. There are one or two locations that are safe to scavenge without any interruption, but most places are guarded or have people living in them, so stealing is needed. If you're caught stealing, you'll be attacked, and depending on how combat-efficient the victims are, your character may be killed, and the supplies gathered will be lost. There are also many options to trade - a character will regularly appear at your house during the day to barter, there is a priest often found at the church willing to trade, and sometimes soldiers will be willing to exchange items for cigarettes and booze. If you're lucky, you'll open the game in the version of the city with the trading center, which is filled with bartering opportunities.

Your characters are affected directly by events in the game. Obviously, they will grow hungry after a day without food, and then three days later will become very hungry. Two days after that they will become starving, and after that they'll die of malnutrition. The death or injury of a character will affect the mood of the other characters, as will stealing, killing civilians, or not completing some actions (such as helping neighbors or saving the women in the brothel.) Being raided and having supplies stolen or characters injured will also affect the morale of the group, so building defenses is advised. 

The game is tricky to complete (it took me countless tries and some consulting of the online wiki and it's unofficial counterpart to get to the ceasefire, and even then one of my group members died). But it's worth the ten pounds and half hour download time from Steam. I'd rate it a 9/10 as there are some patches that need to be made (but are more annoying than hindering, and I'm only picking up on them to be nit-picky). 

It's gritty, it's difficult, and it makes you question your moral compass. And as it's based on the war diary of a survivor of the horrific events of the Siege of Sarajevo from '92-'96, it becomes more hard hitting and more gritty. Despite this, as an uncomplicated and plotless game, it is excellent, and my top videogame recommendation.

Happy gaming, and as always, 

I'm with you 'till the end of the line, folks ♥ 

It's Christmas Eve Oh God (Hobbit spoilers ahead) - Wednesday's Child

Greetings Y'all!

And I should probably also say Merry Christmas Eve too. What are you guys exited for? Personally I'm exited for my eight season box set of House MD, which I've been waiting patiently for for about two months now. I'm also getting converse, but when it's a toss up between shoes and watching eight seasons of this, I'm totally picking the TV show. (There's also a super cute Australian doctor but we'll move past that.)

So, what have you been up to in the past week? Get up to anything interesting? Why am I asking questions? This isn't a conversation this is a blog post??

Anyway, I'm gonna tell you what I've gotten up to in the past week. And lemme tell you something, friend... It's been heartbreaking. 

Let's do a timeskip from my Wednesday post to Friday, shall we? Let's do a timeskip all the way to when I watched the line of Durin literally get wiped out in the Battle of the Five Armies. Let's talk about the fact that they all deserved so much better dammit. 

Alright, to begin my rant, let's talk about this little angel. Fili was the first of Durin's line to die, as he was killed by Azgog. Now this is the first little thing I have a problem with. Personally, as someone who is yet to read the book (it's on my New Years list, don't worry) Fili's death wasn't too bad. Used as an example by Azgog and a way of enraging both Thorin and Kili to fight hand to hand, Fili's death was heartbreaking. But after a little bit of thought on it, if Fili wasn't going to be given more than five minutes screentime before this point, he should have at least been given a more prominent role in his death. 

When Azgog tosses him down in front of Kili to see, there's no mourning. Kili just draws his sword and rushes up the stairs like the adorable Dwarf/puppy he is, before promptly slashing his way through Orcs and meeting his own demise (more on that later.)

Does Fili not deserve any mourning? As the older brother, and the heir to the throne should Thorin die, should he not have had some form of mourning? I would have expected Kili to be shocked, maybe go to his brother and... Gee, I don't know, cry perhaps?? Instead he charged off to fight, and ended up getting stabbed in the chest. 

Now, next we move on to my adorable Dwarf/puppy. I literally thought I was going to cry at his death, except I have a little problem with it. Tauriel. 

Now don't get me wrong. Tauriel (who I'm going to name my awesome Elven princess) kicks ass. I love her by default as I've been a fan of Evangeline Lilly's for a long time, but I think the romance between her and Kili was a little overplayed. Kili entered his final fight against the Orcs fighting to avenge his brother, but he ended it by rushing to Tauriel's (a woman he'd known for less than a week by now) defense. The way I saw it, he died for Tauriel, and not for Fili. Now for me, that was wrong. Fili was his brother, and as much as he might have thought he loved Tauriel, he'd spoken to her maybe twice (one time she made a dick joke and the second time she saved his life so I think they're basically even). And up until this point, I had been so on board with the Kili/Tauriel romance. Just... In the midst of it I felt like the scene lost the point of why Kili had rushed into that fight to begin with. 

I will now redirect you to this little angel his brother.

Okay, long rant short, the Hobbit actually broke my soul. The line of Durin deserved so much better.

So that's me done for this week (BOTFA has basically been the only thing on my mind since Friday), and I'll see you next week. Stay safe this holiday, Merry Christmas, and remember:

I'm with you 'till the end of the line, folks ♥

Writing Tips - Tuesdays with Ash

Heya guys! =D

As I promised last week, this post is going to be about writing tips. Blimey this week has flown by!

I suppose that most of these tips are focusing on fiction stories, but that doesn't mean that they can't be applied to other genres as well!

1) Read, read, READ!

This is probably the most common tip you will ever hear about writing, but it is completely vital. Reading regularly will help to widen your vocabulary range and may also help improve your writing style. It is also a lot of fun! However, if you wish to extend your vocabulary even further then don't just read the same genre over and over again. Have a stab at reading something different for a change! Always hoarding up on fantasy books about superheroes or mythical creatures? Try reading books about a modern day teenager or about police forces solving crimes. I have to tell you that I'm a sucker for fantasy books *cough* Harry Potter *cough* but recently I've been giving crime books a whirl, mainly books by a guy called Clive Cussler. It isn't something that I would usually read but I am really enjoying his books! I'm reading Cyclops at the moment and I just cannot put it down!

This rule doesn't just apply to novels either, it can also apply to magazines or newspapers or whatever takes your fancy. However, if you are happy with the genre you are reading at the moment then stick with it! There are some types of genres which people can't agree with and I understand that. Just read whatever you like to read and I sure that you'll be coming up with story ideas in no time! Here's a very true (but quite blunt) quote from a famous author:

'If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time — or the tools — to write. Simple as that.' Stephen King

2) Keep a notebook for your story ideas

Having a notebook for any ideas that suddenly pop into your head I think is extremely important. This means that you have plenty of space to develop your idea which will lead into making up characters and devising plots. I find this period of story writing is the most fun as you have complete control over this story and you have the power to make as many plot twists as you like. Cool huh? Also, if you are someone like me who is forever coming up with new ideas (I really need to think up a new word for 'idea') then a notebook is the perfect place to jot them down where you come back to them later.

3) Don't let writer's block get you down!

Ah, yes. A writer's worst nightmare. This phase happens to every single writer and unfortunately it will happen more than once. This can strike at any moment and can carry on days, weeks and even months. However, just because you get a writer's block doesn't mean that it's the end of your story! There are quite simple ways to get around this obstacle. One of the main ones is to leave that story and write something completely different. Doing this will help to get your creative juices flowing and hopefully you'll be back to finishing your story in no time!

However, if this doesn't work for you then just skip that section of the story and concentrate on another bit. For example, if you cannot work out how to get a particle scene going then just skip over it or write the very ending of it. Once you've done this then you should hopefully be able to fill in the missing pieces! One way or another you will get over your writer's block as there is nothing but your lack of imagination stopping you. Seriously though, don't give up on one story if you can't figure out how to continue it. Who knows, maybe one day that story will appear on bookshelves in W. H. Smiths and you'll become world-famous just like J. K. Rowling.

4) Don't overuse 'fancy' words

This tip might sound strange but I find it to be entirely true. I have this one friend who I won't name (they are not one of my fellow bloggers by the way) who does this frequently but refuses to drop the habit. Of course, it's good to use a few long words in your story as it helps to add flavour to it but don't go over the top. For example:

I hasted through the morose woods, my feet were pulverising the bifoliate floor and my heart felt like it was going to extravasate out of my chest.

If I'm honest I would have no idea what some of those 'fancy' words mean if it wasn't for my trusty thesaurus. If you don't know what those words mean exactly then how do you expect some of your readers to know? Anywho, here's another version:

I ran through the dark woods, my feet were hitting the forest floor heavily and my heart felt like it was going to break out of my chest.

Even though it is now kinda plain it is an improvement as now you can understand what is going on. Here's the finished piece:

I scurried through the sinister woods, my feet pounding against the moss-coated ground and my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.

There are still a couple of 'fancy' words in this finished piece but this time they are more understandable and now they also make sense in this context. Once you get this under wraps your story will be a lot more enjoyable to read. Just make sure that if you do use 'fancy' words that you know exactly what context and tense they go into and most importantly, what they actually mean!

5) Get someone else to read your work

Once you have finished a chapter, a section of your story or indeed the whole entire book let a friend read it. When editing your work or rewriting sections it is very hard to do on your own. Getting another person's point of view can be a tremendous help as it can help you to see your story from another angle. For example, when I finished a chapter of a recent story I let a friend read it and they noticed a part of a paragraph which I hadn't noticed that didn't really fit in so I deleted it, which made the paragraph a hell of a lot smoother to read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope these tips will help you in your story writing and good luck with it! Just remember: don't give up as one day you might see your book in a book store one day =D

On a side note, I hope you guys have an absolutely wonderful Christmas and that Santa got you what you wanted! I'm not sure what I'm going to post next week topic wise so that'll be a surprise for you =P Also, sorry that this post was quite long as I might have gotten a bit carried away with examples or explanation XD Leave me any questions in the comments and I would love to know if these tips have helped you in any way in your creative writing =D

See you guys next week and have a very Merry Christmas! <3

Ash xx

Getting to know your Saturday blogger -Payton

Hey!

I'm Payton and I will be your Saturday blogger, which I think is pretty sweet if you ask me as I think that Saturday is the best day of the week! Especially this Saturdays as it is the first official full day of the school holidays! I am your usual teenage girl into makeup, hair and fashion although what will surprise you is the other things that you wouldn't expect me to be interested in which I will tell you later on.

So let's get into a little bit about me, I won't tell you too much as you can learn about me more through my upcoming posts. So you know my name, Payton and thats pretty much it, so let's fill you in on my vital statistics. I am 17 years old and I live in the best place in the world, England! along with the other Sweethearts of this blog. I am an only child which has its benefits and drawbacks but I think that its pretty cool because I have a pretty sweet mum and dad. Your probably thinking that I live in a super cute little house, well your kind of wrong with that, I don't just share the house with my mum and dad but i share it with 6 cats, you are probably thinking wow that's a lot, and I know it is especially when we are all crowded in the same room!
On with more about me, let me get the boring part of my life out of the way, school, I am currently doing my first year of my A Levels and I am taking 3 subjects, ICT, Psychology and Maths. They seem like a weird combination of subjects to many but strangely i enjoy them all, although they can be tough.

Now onto the exciting stuff! I am a complete fangirl like many of the other Sweethearts, I enjoy some of the same things that they fangirl over but some other things that I like they look at me confused when i start talking about them! I absolutely love all things American! (some of these things will probably be topics for some of my other posts) I am in love with many reality TV shows, Dance Moms, Cake Boss, Rich Kids just to name a few. Also I am addicted to YouTube, and there are so many people on there that I watch.

Okay my favorite color is Pink, my favorite bands would be either The Saturdays, Fifth Harmony or We The Kings to name a few and my newest obsession would have to be with Carrie Underwood; my favorite TV shows would either be Dr Who, some reality TV show like Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders or any TV show that just suits my personality really.

You may think that I have so much going on in my life. with all of my interests but, this is just the start of getting to know me, I mean you will learn that I am a huge procrastinator so anything that I do on a daily basis is a huge accomplishment for me!
Every Saturday expect anything from me from random vents about life to reviews to tips and advice and much more!

See you next Saturday!

Payton <3

Greetings from your Wednesday blogger

Greetings Y'all!

I'm Bri, and I'll be your regular Wednesday blogger. I'm a 100% certifiable unsociable nerd, and so I'll be taking you through things that catch my interest and things that I'm getting annoyed about recently. As a typical hippy-liberal leftist teenager that topic is probably going to be quite large, so stop me if I ramble. I've already decided a couple of segments I'll probably do regularly, which are (in no particular order)

- Let's Get Angry About... (My hippy liberal posts)

- TV Shows you Should Watch Before you Die (Self explanatory)

- Woman Crush Wednesday (Only Fitting)

- Writing Tips

These will probably be added to in due course as it's a pretty short list. Anyway, you'll probably want some form of introduction. So here, a brief overview of anything anyone would ever want to know about me.

Name: I have many (Satan is one of them) but let's just call me Bri. 

Age: 2 years older than Moses

Looks Like: Vladmir Putin

Studying: English Literature, Philosophy, History and Spanish

Enjoying: Approximately none of them

Favourite Colour: Green

Favourite Food: Tacos (I'm having them tonight)

Favourite Show: The West Wing 

Favourite Film: A toss up between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Help

Favourite Book: To Kill a Mockingbird

Favourite Music: Rock

Likes: Nothing and No-one (Except Bucky Barnes)

Hates: Everything and Everyone (Except Bucky Barnes)

As a Wednesday blogger I will be guiding you through the heartache of mid-week crises and occasionally adding to my list of Woman Crush Wednesdays (I have a lot). 

Besides that, all you need to know is that I'm posting on Christmas eve next week, and that:

I'm with you 'till the end of the line, folks ♥

Facts about your Tuesday blogger -- Ash

Hey guys! =D

The name's Ash and welcome to my contribution of The Seven Sweetheart's blog! I'll be posting every Tuesday and keeping you all up to date with what's going on in my life. Which isn't very much as my life mainly consists of stressing over coursework for my A Levels.

School:

While we're on the topic of school, I do French, English Literature, Applied Science and Psychology in Sixth Form. If you don't know what Applied Science is then it's a BTEC and it's basically all three sciences combined (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) along with Forensic Science which I will be covering in Year 13. Cannot wait to do that nitty gritty stuff =D The other good thing about this is that it is 100% coursework so no exam for me! However it does mean that I can oh so easily fall behind on coursework which means that I will get no breaks. Yay. -_-

Hobbies:

My hobbies include reading, writing stories, procrastinating, sleeping, eating, fangirling over certain celebrities *cough* Daniel Radcliffe *cough* and listening to music almost 24/7. I am a total nerd over Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings (including The Hobbit), Sherlock, Supernatural, Teen Wolf and countless numbers of anime which if I listed them all on here then this post would go on forever. However I must add Naruto to this as this is my favourite anime. "Dattebayo!" to all my fellow Narutards out there!

Facts about my life:

I turned 17 not too long ago and I am waiting for my provisional driving license to arrive. I cannot wait to drive even though I'm a bit worried as on Mario Kart Wii I have road rage. Hopefully though it won't be as bad as people won't be trying to hit me with turtle shells or throw banana skins at me. My favourite animal is an owl and I have over 100 owl ornaments at the moment. This is quite a useful fact to know as when my friends get stuck for ideas they often resort to getting me something owl related. Shout out to Lollie for my lovely owl scarf which I'm wearing as I write this! =P

I've lived in rainy old England for 15 years but I was born and lived in New Zealand for 2 years. I have been back there to visit my Godparents when I was round about 10 years old. My brother who's called Braden was born in Australia and he's 19. We don't talk as much as I would like but I still love him to bits =) I have quite a large extended family, with my grandparents, 5 aunts, 4 uncles, 8 cousins and my little baby second cousin =)

About my posts:

Anywho, enough about my life and more about this blog! Every week I'll try and write about a different topic for you guys to read about. These could be writing tips along with little snippets of stories, recipes for yummy food, certain news articles which have caught my interest or some of my favourite memories as well as my favourite experiences. Next week my next post will be about writing tips so I hope you will enjoy it! XD

Until next time!

Ash xx