-The End of Flok Factory-

You have reached the Ending of my Online Diary.

I have written more than enough in the last 10 years at Flok Factory, and now it is time to close down and move on. It's pleasant to write, self-reflect and learn. Not just about video games and movies, but also about traveling, non-fiction and miscellaneous topics too.

After I put this blog of mine under the archives, it's time for me to go communicate online elsewhere, and share my thoughts, feelings and opinion. I will explore Twitter, Reddit and other social media, but perhaps I will also become active on traditional forums again, just like I was 18 years ago.

What's next regarding my own projects though? After streaming for 6 months now, I expect to continue doing so, and somehow, hopefully grow an audience in order to make it more exciting. I am also freewheeling about writing my own horror novella, and to finally, finally make time in order to develop a proper video game on my own.

By no means are these easy projects to become successful with, but I will try them out, seriously, but also with large portions of fun. Because distractions and escapism are good ways to spend leisure time with, and if I can entertain others, that would be an honorable privilege.

It's time to wrap this up and let go. For any reader who bothered to read my life at Flok Factory, thank you, whoever you are.

Signing out, Flok/Flow_Rush/Floris

Top 12 Favorite Flok Factory Blog Posts

These are the 12 blog posts that had the biggest personal impact on me over the last 10 years, and impressed me the most to either experience or write about, for different reasons standing out. This is purely my own selfish subjective opinion!

1.Killer7: The Game Screaming for Originalism(2010)

2.Retro Blog: Super Smash Bros. Melee(2011)

3.What Makes a Great Horror(2012)

4.North Korea(2013)

5.The Best That Money Can't Buy(2014)

6.Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain(2015) 

7.The Journey of Martial Arts(2016)

8.Xmas and 2017 Review(2017)

9.Get Equipped With: Flok's 3rd Generation PC(2018)

10.Top 30 Favorite Movies(2018)

11.Cooking(2019)

12.Fear of the Unknown(2020)

The Problems of Philosophy

For my final formal review, let's take a look at The Problems of Philosophy, published in 1912 by Bertrand Russell. It attempts to briefly introduce and guide as to what this body of knowledge is primarily about.

Rather than concentrating on metaphysics, the philosopher focuses on what is defined or meant by knowledge, and the different ways they are perceived or formed. Such as the nature of idea, things, and truths, but also universals, the mind, matter, and more.

Explaining the difference between knowledge by acquaintance(I know that gold can melt) and knowledge by description(I know that there is an Emperor of China), Russell briefly further references previous great philosophers such as Kant and Hegel to bring up the general argument that the same great questions have been asked too often, with failed unclear results.

Fallacies, falsehoods, the biological way of memories having several layers of self-evidence, empirical experiences, demonstrably methods, rational thoughts, questionable existences, objective morality and more give cause for philosophy to act with doubt and inquiry.

Bertrand also writes that philosophy can be used as critical examination towards the body of sciences, of the grounds of convictions, prejudices and beliefs, to ascertain what is to be determined as the truth or truths.

Finally, he argues about the value of philosophy, and why it should be studied and stay relevant;

Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.

The Problems of Philosophy is a thought provoking book about epistemology and skepticism, that can still be used today in the modern current world and timeline, and it encourages to think deeper about not only major topics, but common sense too.

Rating: ***

Cyberpunk 2077

A very ambitious video game developed over 8 years, but ultimately a flawed and, depending on which launch you witnessed, a broken experience.

Cyberpunk 2077 was the most hyped game of the year, the only one left that could give 2020 somehow a bang to end with, but no. The hype was not met in the end, and after beating it just now, the reputation of CD Projekt Red has been damaged for good.

Having purchased my digital copy on Steam for the PC, using my high end PC without an RTX video card, I was able to still play it with high settings and enough performance, but even when all the early patches were installed, I still encountered numerous bugs and glitches, which have been talked to death on the internet.

Coping with the incompetence of the development, it's an open world first person shooter with main and side quests, dialogue options with little impact, a cyberpunk and trans-humanism setting with an impressive graphical and artistic vision in mind but crumbling here and there too, and inventory management, skill trees and equipment.

The main story was interesting enough to follow, but the characters most of the time not so much. Exceptions are Johnny Silverhand played by handsome Keanu Reeves, and to a lesser extent Jackie Welles and Panam Palmer. Expect to be immersed by it, especially with Johnny pulling a Joker as a plot narrative.

At first I was playing Hard mode, but after I grew tired of the bullet sponges having to hit enemies over 6 times in the head to kill them, I switched to Normal with no regrets. Aside from the regular modern gun play, expect to drive around GTA style, and to also play little hacking and detective mini games, which all have been executed better in other games.

Content wise, there is enough to do even after beating the game, but I am told that other promised has been either cut, or I hope not, prepared for future DLC. That would break CD Projekt Red's great reputation of The Witcher 3's DLC expansion packs to a lesser extent too.

But as far as ambition, hype, optimization, performance and gameplay goes, Cyberpunk 2077 does not deliver in the end on those, and instead, we are left in my opinion with a regular open world first person shooter that tried to be something much, much more.

It's certainly not innovative, and it's launch event was a disaster, so many people have refunded it already, and some lawyers have already started a lawsuit against them for delivering false marketing and promises, especially for last generation console gamers.

I prefer to replay the first Deus Ex, or Human Revolution, instead of playing this again. Only if CD Projekt Red is able to fix so much about Cyberpunk 2077, and release exciting post-content, perhaps somewhere in the future, they will be forgiven.

Or, a sequel could be much better, now that a new IP has been established.

Rating: 7.5

A Christmas Carol

Okay, so I lied. It's time for 1 more traditional Christmas blog post :)

I decided to read the original 1843 novel by Charles Dickens about A Christmas Carol, the timeless story about Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, and the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

Of course, having seen many film adaptations about it already, such as Scrooge from 1951 and The Muppet Christmas Carol, this public domain story is widely known and portrays Scrooge's current love of money, while throughout the plot, will remember what Christmas means, and he then transforms into a kinder, sympathetic man.

The ghosts of the past, the present and the future portray with melancholic and beauty, typical events of family, but also how the poor are treated, and how Scrooge remembers joyful moments from himself and others.

Reading and finishing this for the first time, at the end of it, I just had to cry, reflecting back upon my life so far. Where has the time gone? I was such an innocent boy long ago, just like any other child. I suppose the tears meant ultimately that I am thankful for my virtues, those around me, and my life.

Merry Christmas, and a much healthier and happier New Year!

Die Hard

It's official, I have officially run out of Christmas related blog posts, so I will be giving Die Hard the spot light for this year!

I figure that everyone knows about this movie when talking about movies in general. And ironically and funny enough, the action movie has many Christmas related elements, that it adds an extra layer towards it. Some fans even go far-fetched with some of it.

Die Hard is an impeccable action oriented movie with movements, negotiations, clever tricks and actions. And that's about it. This is a movie you watch to unfold and then see it through the end through tension and action. Calm and professional thinking cop versus terrorists, even if they claim not to be.

The title also stands out for me, Die Hard sounds great. In overall, it's an iconic late 80's movie, well beloved by many. Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman shine and give great performance with memorable quotes, and it has spawned a franchise. There might be another entry releasing called McClane, kind of similar in title towards Sylvester Stallone's Rocky and Rambo series.

Rating: 8.0

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The first portable Zelda game, Link’s Awakening takes place ultimately on a dream island, similar to Super Mario Bros. 2’s dream ending. 

 

8 dungeons await Link, and Koholint Island was for me, a confusing maze most of the time. Traversing around wasn’t as fun or as mystifying than it is in its three earlier brethren. It also uses plenty of cameos towards Super Mario’s world most of the time, which was odd, but perhaps adds to the dreamlike experience.

 

Switching around the tools, accidentally touching certain rocks, re-reading the use of the compass and other things were issues that grew annoying to experience. Other than that, Link’s Awakening does not come up with other new features from what I can remember, but its length and dungeons were entertaining. 

 

There are underground platform sections, improved from the original NES title, which were also fun to play through, despite their simplicity.

 

Rating: 7.5

This is the colored remake of the former, making it a more graphical experience on the Game Boy Color, adding a new Color Dungeon with some nifty elements, and also a Photographer NPC that takes pictures throughout Link's adventure, similar to Earthbound.

Stone Slabs have also been replaced by Owl Statues which is a quality of life improvement. Also, Link's Awakening introduced the traditional Trading Sequence, and Roc's Feather combined with Pegasus Boots meant that you could traverse swiftly around.

Rating: 7.7

A recent remake, suitably released on the Nintendo Switch. The graphics have dramatically changed, but the overworld map and the gameplay are largely identical. The Legend of Zelda has experimented with different art styles many times, and this one is no different!

Most of the time, the game's performance is fine, but there are scenes where the frames drop. More quantity of certain items have gone up, there are more quality of life improvements in the user interface, and more shortcuts are available.

Chamber Dungeons are also a new feature which basically toys with assets of featured dungeons asking what if, Zelda Maker was real? It's as if Nintendo is looking at the response in order to release this in a complete full fledged edition, similar to Mario.

Before I forget and stop talking about Link's Awakening, people remember the dreamlike ending, where it turns out that the island is manifested by the Wind Fish. Also, Eagle Tower and Turtle Rock are some of the most challenging and confusing Zelda dungeons out there, but it's a fine victory if you can overcome them.

Rating: 7.9