At the ETSI ISG CIM Plenary, organized at the #FIWARE office in Berlin, our partner #NetFoundry was invited to present the Secure Integration Fabric (#SIF) layer within the COP-PILOT architecture.
This component enables secure, intelligent, and policy-based data exchange across multiple domains and infrastructures.
This reflects our drive to shape standards for AI-powered, context-aware services.
~ Sif ~
It is said that Loki once cut off all of Sif's divine hair, supposedly as a prank. Thor demanded he replace it with a golden headpiece, and it was crafted by the Dwarfs along with five other divine objects.
https://www.inkedgoddesscreations.com
#DivineFeminine #Goddess #Norse #Sif #Hair #Gold #Sun #Family #Fertility #Magick
Compendium: SIFs, Major Hazards, Fatal & Traumatic hazards, risks
This is an expansion to my prior compendium on Critical Controls, Barriers and Energy thinking. Suggest you read that in conjunction to this, link here:
Barriers, Critical Controls, Verifications, Energy Models
If you’re after indicators check this mini-compendium out:
Safety & Risk Performance indicators (lead, lag, drive, process safety + more)
This compendium focuses on articles discussing SIFs, fatal & traumatic hazards, risks and similar concepts. Focus is on acute traumatic injury – occupational health/chronic exposures will be covered in the future.
I’ve focused on full-text articles – so there’s heaps of relevant articles not included here because I couldn’t source a link. Abstracts are towards the end.
I’ve largely omitted major hazards and process safety, as there’s too much ground to cover in a single article. I’ve also not included much traffic/transport, aviation and some other select industries.
NB. A special call-out to NIOSH – who has been supporting research on fatal and traumatic workplace injuries for decades. You’ll find several studies supported by them here.
Feel free to shout a coffee if you’d like to support the growth of my site:
https://buymeacoffee.com/benhutchinsonhttps://www.assp.org/docs/default-source/psj-articles/f1bayona_0923.pdf?sfvrsn=2ab06946_0
https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/058/05/F2Manu_0513.pdf
https://ingaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/39015.pdf
https://www.pge.com/assets/pge/docs/about/doing-business-with-pge/SIF-Prevention-Field-Guide.pdf
https://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/JCEMD4.COENG-13741?download=true
https://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/JCEMD4.COENG-14545?trk=public_post_comment-text
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01446193.2016.1274418
https://www.qmihsconference.org.au/wp-content/uploads/qmihsc-1995-writtenpaper-mcdonald.pdf
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/aaaj-03-2014-1625/full/html
INTERMEDIATE MEASURES FOR SAFETY – Geoff McDonaldDownload BETTER WORDS, CONCEPTS AND MODELS – better safety – Geoff McDonaldDownload 1997_spk008_McDonaldDownloadhttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10468201/
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2025.100598
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/288368964.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/81254206/Storybuilder_A_tool_for_the_analysis_of_accident_reports
https://www.whitequeen.nl/assets/papers/management-failures.pdf
https://www.whitequeen.nl/assets/papers/temp-workers.pdf
https://www.icheme.org/media/9015/xxiii-paper-05.pdf
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/2459401
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950423021003041
https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/054/03/F3Janicaketal_0309.pdf
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=13788&context=dissertations
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9273025/pdf/nihms-1767948.pdf
https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/proceedings/2010/docs/514.pdf
https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=gradschool_theses
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105494
https://www.academia.edu/87380877/OE_Fatality_Prevention_at_an_Organisational_Level
https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Tabled-Papers/docs/5620t197/5620t197.pdf
https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/058/07/F3Ferg_0713.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4469339/pdf/nihms-698667.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105986
https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/b9564408-d1e5-4893-8ec2-d10f8a00ccc8/content
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8095070/pdf/nihms-1693546.pdf
https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/85051/1/978-3-031-35163-1.pdf#page=33
https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/downloads/hh63t155h
https://shura.shu.ac.uk/33951/1/Hill_2024_PhD_TheIndustrialFatality.pdf
https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/063/09/F3_0918.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3390/safety4030033
https://journalofsar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Vol05_Iss01_revised.pdf#page=41
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2023.07.015
https://www.cell.com/heliyon/pdf/S2405-8440(23)00596-0.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10803548.2021.1916238
https://www.osti.gov/etdeweb/servlets/purl/691242
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8371748/pdf/nihms-1698565.pdf
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UynsKenlzixa_tIIEajnGiWDuSfMetdM/view
https://www.mdpi.com/2313-576X/7/1/21/pdf
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147592
https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2023/54/e3sconf_geotech2023_04002.pdf
https://iaeme.com/MasterAdmin/Journal_uploads/IJMET/VOLUME_10_ISSUE_2/IJMET_10_02_167.pdf
https://pure.coventry.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/11392744/Manuscript_fnl.pdf
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/272/3/032063/pdf
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3233/WOR-182702
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2019.06.007
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3233/WOR-203291
https://ira.lib.polyu.edu.hk/bitstream/10397/95186/1/Fatal_Construction_Accidents.pdf
https://www.cell.com/heliyon/pdf/S2405-8440(23)08923-5.pdf
https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/47080fec-ed1d-4e76-9a25-100cb6db3ac6/content
https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0718-915X2020000200271&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en
https://pure.tue.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/2318431/200410809.pdf
https://iris.unisalento.it/bitstream/11587/407110/5/GnoniMaraisSaleh_NearMiss_submitted.pdf
https://www.aidic.it/cet/19/74/232.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5395534/pdf/IJPH-46-380.pdf
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajim.23681
https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.450232614927618
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s43621-024-00197-3.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/91344828/Occupational_safety_during_interventions_in_confined_spaces
https://www.academia.edu/34179412/The_Causes_of_Electrical_Fatalities_at_Work
https://www.academia.edu/7055163/Causes_of_electrical_deaths_and_injuries_among_construction_workers
https://electricalsafetyworkshop.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/255/ESW-2023-12.pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/72498/1/72498_Casey_et_al_2021.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2021.104698
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2021.02.040
https://www.academia.edu/79778168/Bow_tie_analysis_of_a_fatal_underground_coal_mine_collision
https://upcommons.upc.edu/bitstream/handle/2117/96657/Bowtie%20models.pdf
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0310057X1604400615
https://safety177496371.wordpress.com/2024/01/22/accidents-and-fatal-accidents-some-paradoxes/
https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/1515586.pdf
https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/pdf/10.1680/cien.2006.159.6.46
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/190687141.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2010.03.001
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1765407/pdf/v007p00i27.pdf
http://behavioral-safety.com/articles/scandcsr2019.pdf
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-58824-y.pdf
https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/061/09/F2_0916.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/download/39190036/Final_printed.pdf
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=4330169
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3233/WOR-182715
https://open.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1464&context=all_dissertations
https://pure.coventry.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/46235508/Binder1.pdf
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/216507990205001107
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/7/638/pdf
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=13788&context=dissertations
https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/063/04/F2_0418.pdf
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/9742/cdc_9742_DS1.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5448973/pdf/nihms860902.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10202011/pdf/nihms-1897745.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1765407/pdf/v007p00i27.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1756586/pdf/v008p00306.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4631642/pdf/nihms726279.pdf
https://doi.org/10.5491/SHAW.2010.1.2.107
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10984334/pdf/nihms-1973207.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/download/49350344/ajim.1030420161004-25096-xihixo.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1757606/pdf/v055p00485.pdf
https://journals.utm.my/mjce/article/download/15846/7330
https://onepetro.org/SPEHSE/proceedings-abstract/16HSE/2-16HSE/187032
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106198
https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docman/irua/0edcef/157788_2022_02_23.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1061/JMENEA.MEENG-6074
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID4605175_code698198.pdf?abstractid=3988416&mirid=1
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15614263.2021.1878893
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jhrm.21583
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925753518309160
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/154193127602001104?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.7
https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0001304
https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0001297
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10803548.2015.1095546
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2011.12.015
https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-8141(93)90097-W
https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2019.1644379
https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000738
https://doi.org/10.1016/0925-7535(92)90011-N
https://doi.org/10.1016/0376-6349(80)90002-4
https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2001)127:4(337)
https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/051/04/020406as.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9877915/pdf/nihms-1864776.pdf
https://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/JMENEA.MEENG-6074?download=true
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2013.10.002
https://doi.org/10.1016/0029-5493(94)90108-2
https://publications.anl.gov/anlpubs/2010/01/65912.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10803548.2013.11076999
https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2591094/Winge.pdf?sequence=5
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2022.03.004
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=1973837
https://www.csb.gov/userfiles/file/progress%20on%20process%20safety%20indicators%20(wilkinson).pdf
https://secure.chasnz.org/downloads/PSJ%20-%20TRIR%20Paper.pdf
https://www.nzism.org/crm/file/store/CYCqH0LxXgj2hZhWnAc9QnoxmYqaf5mH.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001297
https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0001304
https://www.scielo.cl/pdf/rconst/v19n2/0718-915X-rconst-19-02-271.pdf
https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/download/pdf/52660/1.0076370/1
LinkedIn Post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/compendium-sifs-major-hazards-fatal-traumatic-risks-ben-hutchinson-hv0wc
#accident #energy #fatalInjury #fatality #incident #injury #majorHazard #occupationalAccident #occupationalFatality #occupationalInjury #sif #traumaticInjury #workRelated #workplace #workplaceAccident #workplaceFatality #workplaceInjury
Les collègues qui me suivent et sont au CA de la Société informatique de France (qui ne semble pas être présente sur Bluesky ou Mastodon), ce serait une bonne idée de rejoindre ou a minima relayer cet appel ⬆️.
Dans le #numérique, les Héros sont souvent d'autres que ceux qui font la une... Je viens d'apprendre la triste nouvelle de la mort de mon ami Jean-Pierre Archambault. Il a été l'un des combattants du Libre dans l'éducation, car oui, à un moment, ça a été un combat, et nous y avons laissé des plumes. MERCI pour ce que tu as fait Jean-Pierre, continuons au mieux l’œuvre que tu as entreprise. Ton ami, jy #Archambault #ITIC #EPI #SIF #CRDP #SCEREN #CANOPE
New ✨#MarvelCosmic✨ #comics this week for #NCBD (1/22/25)
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Phoenix #7
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W-#StephaniePhillips,A-#MarcoRenna
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A-#YasminePutri
B-#CorinHowell
C-#Ejikure
D-#Frany
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#Phoenix #JeanGrey #Thanos #CaptainMarvel #Nova #RichardRider #Sif #RocketRaccoon #Marvel #MarvelComics
New ✨#MarvelCosmic✨ #comics this week for #NCBD (8/14/24)
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Ultimates #3
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W-#DenizCamp,A-#JuanFrigeri
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A-#DikeRuan
B-#InHyukLee
C-#JuannCabal
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#Ultimates #Thor #Maker #SheHulk #Sif #Marvel #MarvelComics
In #Sami #mythology, the goddess #Ravdna is the consort of the thunder-god #Horagalles. Red berries of the #rowan #tree were holy to Ravdna & the name Ravdna resembles North Germanic words for the tree (for example, Old Norse reynir).
In #Norse mythology, the goddess #Sif is the wife of the thunder god #Thor, who has been linked with Ravdna. According to #Skáldskaparmál the rowan is called "the salvation of Thor" because Thor once saved himself by clinging to it. It has been hypothesized that Sif was once conceived in the form of a rowan to which Thor clung.
Schweiz und USA tauschen künftig gegenseitig Finanzdaten aus
Die Schweiz und die USA tauschen voraussichtlich ab 2027 gegenseitig Finanzdaten aus. Am Donnerstag haben beide Seiten in Bern ein entsprechendes neues Fatca-Abkommen unterzeichnet. Heute liefert lediglich die Schweiz Daten an die USA. #SIF #news
I recently finished playing Lies of P after a single playthrough of the main story, collecting what extra collectables and delving what optional areas I found along the way. I came away from it wondering what fans like about soulslike games, disappointed in the writing and voice acting and score (though the optional collectable songs were lovely), and soured on the genre as a whole. Spoilers follow.
This game feels like they wanted to hit a certain mood (sour, gross, sad, gloomy) and a certain game design philosophy (tough, derisive, “fair”). And goodness did they succeed. But I don’t think it’s for me.
I like the philosophy of levelling up the player instead of the character. The character doesn’t accumulate experience points for failing to advance (in fact: the opposite), but you as the player accumulate experience in the attempt. And that makes subsequent attempts more likely to succeed. However, the way they ensure this arc is by laughing at the player: hiding enemies around corners to surprise you only the first time, having pitfalls to catch you only the first time. Yeah, of course it feels like my (the player’s) experience is valuable in subsequent runs… but only because jumpscares only work the first time.
For bosses, it’s the same thing but instead of pitfalls and hidden enemies, it’s hidden rhythms in the moveset and unknown numbers of stages. This appears to be the more “pure” expression of the philosophy of player experience over character experience points, though, as even knowing and having seen the entirety of a boss doesn’t mean you can avoid the punishment for failure. Repetition (training) is what grants you the resilience to outlast the onslaught and sneak in your attacks just enough so their health reaches zero just before yours.
If you’re familiar with soulslikes, I apologize for writing out stuff you already know. This was my first of this genre and I don’t think I like it. Though the philosophy appeals to me academically, I struggle to imagine an expression of it that doesn’t involve laughing at the player. I don’t know that there’s an expression of it that isn’t _mean_. And I don’t like that relationship between video game and player: to me we’re collaborators in my enjoyment. We’re in this together to trick me into not optimizing the fun out of the experience, to divert my attention from the real world for a while, and maybe to get me to think about things in a new way.
I believe the enjoyment in these games is supposed to be catharsis from overcoming a challenge with, predominantly, your improved mastery over the game’s systems. For some reason, that doesn’t stick with me. Defeating a boss, making it through a dangerous area unscathed… that feeling doesn’t last long, replaced quickly with frustration when there’s another pitfall or mean punishment for stepping foot in a new place or swinging a sword against an enemy for the first time. And many times even the catharsis was sour as it didn’t feel as I did anything better on the run that succeeded over the runs that failed.
On top of not being really sure I like this genre, or how others like this genre, I’m unsure that this is a perfect example of the type. There’s three decision prompts in the dialog system that all serve the same purpose. The writing is very tell don’t show, the voice acting is unevenly skilled, and the antagonist motivations range from cliche to nonsensical. At some point I began wondering if I was playing the game incorrectly: I never really wanted to use any of the items or any of the Legion Arms. Heck, I mostly forgot about Fable Arts, and never customized a weapon except to upgrade its damage level. Was I missing the joy because I didn’t play with all the toys? Or did I do the best I could with systems that were neither necessary nor pleasant to use?
The one thing I liked was the portrait I found in a house that grew a nose whenever I lied or did something else “human” (as opposed to “puppet”). It was goofy and gamey and strange and unsettling and odd. Wonderful. And that I could’ve walked right past it without noticing felt nice. Would that the rest of the game’s mechanics had been similarly playful in tone.
All in all, I didn’t like the game. It performed and responded well to my inputs, communicated its mechanics in a way that encouraged engagement, and had a difficulty that was surmountable after challenge… but it was mean, frustrating, nonsensical, gloomy, overwrought, and unfun. If it is indeed a typical exemplar of its genre, I might recommend it to others who like this kind of thing. Otherwise, I don’t think I could recommend it at all.
https://chuttenblog.wordpress.com/2024/06/06/so-ive-finished-lies-of-p-ps5/
#sif #soIVeFinished #videoGame #whyIsTheBadGuyTelepathicForNoReason
Customize your own Norse God and Goddess Coloring Cards with our exclusive designs in a PDF download. Color them digitally or print them out and help your Wee Witches learn about the Norse pantheon in a fun way!
https://www.inkedgoddesscreations.com/products/norse-gods-goddesses-coloring-cards-pdf
#Norse #Download #Pantheon #Odin #Thor #Frigg #Freya #Loki #Sif #Magick
Sif by Arthur Adams #marvel #marvelcomics #superhero #superheroes #comicbook #sif #ladysif #comicbooks #comicbookart #artist #artists #illustration #comiccon #geek #thor #geeks #nerds #nerd #artnet #artlover #inspiration #fantasy #fantasyart
#Artorias the Abyss Walker and #Sif #commission. #pencils on 12x18 coldpressed cotton paper. #art #StarTrekart #comicprofessional #wip #workinprogress
There are still a couple spots open on the 2nd quarter commission list: https://jkwoodwardart.blogspot.com/2024/01/mail-order-commission-list-for-2nd.html
I’ve finished playing Final Fantasy XVI after completing the storyline and all side quests and hunts. It was a visually-stunning but stiltingly-animated JRPG romp with a more adult tone but childish treatment of themes and characters that ultimately satisfied mostly on the back of its real-time action battle system. Spoilers follow.
This is my Active Time Lore Appreciation Paragraph. I will hear nothing bad said about Active Time Lore as the ability to pause any cutscene at any time and be able to remind myself what the heck is going on is invaluable to me and anyone else who can’t devote hours every day to keep a game fresh in the mind. Plus, it helps flesh out the things that no character would ever say but might be bloody interesting to know, like the symbolism of the Sanbreque Imperial Flower gobbin. There’s always a tension in high fantasy between building a world Not Like Our Own but having to make it comprehensible to an audience that only knows our own world. Add in a visual show-don’t-tell medium like video games, and your narrative lens is almost exclusively through characters that already know everything about their world. You can dump in an amnesiac or isekai in a high schooler to give yourself someone to explain the weird and interesting stuff to… or, if, like Final Fantasy XVI, the narrative doesn’t want that, you can, like Final Fantasy XVI, be careful to keep the fantasy word salad to a minimum while providing backstory via Active Time Lore. Very nice.
This is my Vivienne’s Table Appreciation Paragraph. When at your Act 2 hideout you can review the entire cast in relation to each other and the map as it currently sits with motions of important characters and forces. So outstandingly helpful for all the same reasons as Active Time Lore.
A pity I never actually needed either of them.
The story and themes of Final Fantasy XVI are kinda boring. You’re the chosen one who falls from a privileged position to one of an oppressed class who then discovers that oppression is bad, actually. Through a mentor figure you are given an opportunity to fight back for yourself and your fellow people, but in no way that upsets the status quo that resulted in the existing power dynamic. You have a romantic subplot in which you are the subject and she is the object. Nobles (as in bloodlines) are noble (except for the evil one), and bloodlines are the best way to supply the right to lead (except for the evil one who is destroyed by it). In the final boss fight you kill god.
You know, the usual.
It keeps feeling like it wants to say something. It wants to liken crystals to oil, or something. It wants to liken the subhuman classification and treatment of Bearers to slavery or the treatment of indigenous peoples. It wants to liken the Blight to climate change. …but maybe that’s me wishing it had the will to say anything about anything at all, as there’s certainly nothing I saw in the text that would suggest this. Which is disappointing.
And it’s not afraid to treat the audience maturely. (And I don’t mean the sideboob and abattoir’s amount of gore.) It’s willing to supply two philosophies at odds with each other and not immediately resolve which one is “better”, most notably when the Templar-equivalent researchers sacrifice their brethren instead of the mission and Clive is all angry about it. Unresolved tension between schools of thought! Like maybe there isn’t a clear answer to every conflict?
Except that the mechanics of the game really hold it down. With no branching narrative, there’s no choices of meaning. With nothing but a sword, there’s no way to choose diplomacy or intrigue or cleverness to resolve things that are needed to progress. It is a fun sword to swing, mind: you spend an awful lot of time inside the battle system and it does satisfy. Attacks and abilities land solidly, enemy designs are sufficiently varied to keep it interesting, bosses hit like a dumptruck only after obvious windups. It’s fun in that realtime battle way: can you read and react in time. But when the battle is done it is sorely disappointing to be shown that not all bandits are bad, actually… and then immediately have more battles with bandits where you kill them really really dead (well, maybe they don’t die. There’s no clarity about whether “defeated” or “slain” actually means dead.).
What isn’t disappointing is the visual fidelity. The landscapes and humans are very well modeled and textured. Clive’s hair is really pretty, and moves exceedingly well. The draw distance appears infinite, and I only found one vantage point where the grass tiled diagonally: the rest of the wild and built world looked and felt like it had some supreme attention paid to it. (Except the water. Water’s hard. Though Horizon: Forbidden West had better water.)
The performance-capture-driven character animation is also a visual treat. Expressions, emotions, tiny gestures… the performance-capture cutscenes are well-directed and acted with motions and emotions small and large expressed exceedingly well in most cases. Jill checks her boot for mud just before the akhashic marlboro (sorry, they’re called “morbol” now) fight. Leaders wishing for deniability hide their mouths when talking. They paid attention, folks.
But there’s a sharp decline in animation fidelity once you’re out of performance capture. At my count there are three conversation systems: performance-capture cutscene, lip-flapping (though it’s clear the engine’s trying to match mouths to phonemes, it’s failing), and shopkeepers (who only voice the first line. You get to read the rest). None of them support branching dialogues. All but the first are really awful to look at, especially coming from Horizon: Forbidden West, let alone The Last of Us: Part II. Especially when they use a lower-fidelity system for Important Story Moments. Especially when the writing is so gosh-darn wordy that I can cut off characters mid-line and the same information is conveyed. For a game with nothing to say, it spends a lot of time saying it.
And it’s bonkers that they got the water reflections around the hideout so wrong and specifically turn the camera to frame them on the elevator. And how their inverse kinematics never seem to place people’s feet actually on the surfaces they’re standing on.
The voice acting is most excellent, though. You can really hear the cast giving it their all, and Clive has some truly emotional scenes that are sold convincingly (even if sometimes the animations don’t live up). Which is why it’s disappointing that Ultima can’t seem to decide whether to pronounce the ‘u’ in Mythos.
The score was nice. Maybe over-orchestrated for how thin the story and setting turned out to be… but maybe they were playing for the concept over the execution. No one told them they didn’t need to bring their A game and their forty-voice choir.
I still like it better than the XIII sequels. I like that they told a whole story, unlike XV. I like that they’re trying to age their series with its audience. I like that they kept chocobos and the victory fanfare and sixteen-bit sprites for some menu stuff. I really liked Cid.
I was disappointed that the visual fidelity couldn’t be supported at framerate. I couldn’t unsee how bad the lip-sync and water was. And worst of all, I can’t forgive that they had this world and cast and budget to say something and chose to not.
Recommended for fans of Final Fantasy and other RPGs that don’t have their hopes set too high.
https://chuttenblog.wordpress.com/2024/04/05/so-ive-finished-final-fantasy-xvi/
#andINeverFoundAnythingToDoWithAllThoseCraftingSuppliesIKeptFinding #finalFantasy #sif #soIVeFinished #videoGame
I still wonder what exactly the SIF2 global team did to make the game glitch out every hour on the hour. :ChikaScared:
I recently completed the story of Persona 5 (not the Royal re-release), getting a little over half the achievements. It’s not my first experience with a JRPG with Lifestyle Simulator elements (I did play Fire Emblem: Three Houses (no So I’ve Finished article for that one, sorry)), but it’s only my second. I found it to be incredibly stylish, political-aesthetic, mechanically consistent, and enjoyable… but so, so very long. Spoilers ahead.
With no grounding in previous games of this type I really didn’t know how to handle the two “halves” of the game. You’re given latitude in challenging the dungeons over several in-game days. Coupled with sparse save points (how nostalgic!) and expensive/rare healing items you can’t replenish within the dungeon, there’s a clear push-your-luck framework. Do you have the stamina to get to the next save point, are you going to spend all this time getting part of the way there and fail, and how many of these rare/expensive healing items are you willing to expend to make it less likely you’ll wipe?
As for the second, Lifestyle Simulator, half, while there’s a dungeon to be delved you _can_ do some lifestyle stuff (hanging out with friends, studying for tests, eating burgers, etc.) but the game often interjects “Hey, are you -sure- you want to do that? Here’s an easy button to go to the dungeon instead.” It’s nice to be reminded, and there are some hard stops to try and keep a distracted player from going too far and entering an unwinnable situation, but it’s uncomfortable. So too is the helper companion Mona’s insistence in putting you someplace where the only thing you can do is go to sleep. If all I can do is sleep: just put me in bed already. Putting me in the room and having me choose sleep does not make me feel like I have agency.
Between the two it’s hard to figure out what exactly I’m “supposed” to be doing. Eventually I got the hint and did whatever I felt like, but going from more typical JRPGs like Final Fantasy XV, it felt weird to actually have freedom.
I feel as though I made the right choice playing it with the Japanese voice acting. Some of the voice lines have some of what I semi-affectionately call “anime bullshit” in them, and I’m primed to ignore the bullshit if it sounds like it comes from a Japanese voice actor. And it made the repetitive barks easier to bear.
Speaking of repetition, there are only like seven songs in this game. And 120 hours of gameplay. Yes, they do a clever thing and enrich the arrangement over time so it develops as the plot develops, but not nearly enough and not for every track. The saving grace is that all of them (except Mementos, which I took to playing on mute) are bangers, so I don’t really mind kicking into battle for the eleventy-millionth time to hear the same tune (though my wife started to):
Battle is an interesting change from other JRPGs I’ve played. Sure, yes, it’s attack and magic, item and escape. Take your turn, suffer the enemies’ turns, rinse and repeat. But there are meaningful changes that reinforce the game’s themes really satisfyingly. You’re a bunch of stylish, clever, thieves, right? So you’re weak as a wet paper bag. But your wit and charm give you your edge, if only you can turn the tables on your adversaries. Mechanically this means knowing the elemental weaknesses of the enemies (from the ten possibilities) and exploiting them until you have the upper hand. At that point you can talk them into giving you things (items or cash) or joining forces with you (hi ho, a-pokemon we go). Or you can smack them upside the head for ludicrous damage, likely ending the fight in one all-out attack. And if you started this battle by attacking from stealth and surprising the enemy? You might end the whole shebang without the enemies even having a chance to act. This results in a pleasant rotation on the JRPG battle formula: it makes more of a puzzle of it that rewards thoughtful play, emphasizes tension of the heist, and supports the game’s premise, setting, characterization, and themes.
It’s pretty good, is what I’m saying. And it looks damn sharp. I was worried going in. In screenshots and video the constant pulsing motion of UI elements, the arbitrary changes of font and highlighting of letters or phrases, the incredibly busy screens full of text — how could you play a game with all that going on?But no. Somehow in the transfer from looking at the game to playing it I always knew where to look and how to parse the information. It didn’t matter how busy the screen was, I could instantly get the information I needed. The visual density was a welcome enhancement as it gave me something interesting to look at when it was the fiftieth time I was in that menu.
So is what I’m saying is that it’s a stylish and cohesive game that everyone should play? Well… yes, it is very nice bumping around Tokyo (I want Tokyo metro in my life. Driving sucks.) hanging out with my friends and devising how to topple the systems of injustice unfairly and supernaturally holding power over us. But it gets weird in the corners of the systems.
Like relationships. P5 is half relationships and half JRPG. The reward for improving your relationships is tangible effects in the JRPG half of the game, lending you aid when and where you need it most. And the reward for maxing out your relationship is _never having to do relationship side quests with that person again_. Worse, if you’re then given an opportunity to hang out with someone you’re besties with, or even _in a romantic relationship with_, and someone else, it is mechanically more optimal to hang out with someone else instead (because getting more relationship points in a maxed-out relationship does you no good). This is the exact opposite of how the mechanics of battle mesh with and support the game. The mechanics of relationship building are in opposition to the text of building and maintaining relationships and their importance to the plot and themes of P5.
Social stats, which both fuel and are rewards for relationships, are another weird corner. In the late game certain events require you to have maxed out a social stat… only to then reward you with that stat as you progress. How this escaped testing boggles me. I can only assume the order you meet confederates was kept fluid until late in development.
And then there’s the game’s atrocious treatment of gay people. The “best” part about it is that the game pretty much ignores that gay people exist aside from two ignorant, backwards interactions. This game was released in 2016, c’mon. And for a game about fighting the system’s injustices, what would be better than fighting for equal recognition in a country where a majority of people support same-sex marriage despite it not being legal?
…which makes me wonder if the game really is about fighting the system. Yes, the supernatural god (it’s a JRPG, of course the final boss is God) convincing everyone to give up their free will for an easy path through life has been defeated and its hellscape earth has been destroyed. But the characters all need to put their faith in adults to “do the right thing” in a largely-unchanged status quo in the ending and epilogue. Mischief: yes. Reform: no.
This way lies the most resonance between mechanics and theme, for only this way does it explain why a cat telling you not to stay up late actually works on a supposed delinquent/rebel/thief/hero.
All this is to say that I found Persona 5 to be a game about aesthetics. Its veneer is very shiny and hip, and it’s willing to put lip service to a few interesting ideas. But when it gets deep in to the core it is more interested in preserving the status quo with few changes: to its battle mechanics, to its orchestration, to its social interactions, or to its world. It’s a game that could be mistaken for having something to say. But mostly it’s flashy entertainment.
Which isn’t nothing! It’s difficult to be entertaining. And it’s allowed to be “just” entertained.
But it disappoints me when something so much better was well within reach.
I recommend this game for fans of JRPGs and Life Simulators who have 120 hours to put into being entertained and can look past some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hateful representations of queer folk.
https://chuttenblog.wordpress.com/2024/02/20/so-ive-finished-persona-5/
#jrpg #lifeSimulator #persona5 #seriouslyTheWeirdestThingAboutThisGameIsJustHowMobileAllTheseTeensAreBecauseOfHavingTravelPasses #sif #soIVeFinished #videoGame
