-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

The Direction of Paper Mario

This is basically Sticker Star 2.0, but a tad better.

In Paper Mario Color Splash, everything looks like paper aesthetically, which is visually pleasing. The lack of a fine story and unique characters makes this not as much fun as I really wanted it to be, but at least it isn't as soulless as the previous game.

Paint Scraps are used as incentive to make regular battles have a purpose, which can increase your max paint supply, but it’s still unnecessary to battle most of the time, as they still remain convoluted, and if you escape battles, the enemies literally disappear! This felt cheap and fundamentally wrong.

As the pain mechanic is used for progression and powering up on the overworld, the same battle system is used, and the card system used with it is a bit better, but also soon becomes a chore, as you constantly have to use it before you can attack, delaying the battles.

 

Resource management and rewards don't mean much, as the game throws so much cards and coins at you at every spot. Things also return as stationary objects, and are used for puzzle solving, but also for obtuse obnoxious moments of having to defeat certain bosses.

Koopalings also return, and the humor is witty and intact, referencing pop culture and memes, like Super Paper Mario for instance did too. Again, the world map consists of smaller parts, and isn't interconnected.

Also, Color Splash is ridiculously easy, even for Nintendo standards, and combined with the shallow battles, that is one awful combination. Despite all of the negativity and disappointment, it's still worth playing once if you are a Paper Mario fan in general or not, but it could had been so much more!

Rating: 7.4 

Paper Mario’s latest adventure on the Nintendo Switch. Once new entities known as origami invade and convert the paper figures into their ranks, it's up to Mario and his new companion Olivia to stop her brother from turning everything into origami.

The battle system is quite unique and a departure. It's still turn-based, but Mario is now confronted with a ring system, where he can either spin or slide enemies in rows or next to each other in order to attack them in the best way.

As for boss battles, the stationary (office supply)enemy is put in the center, and Mario will have to figure out through a bit of puzzle solving from outside using arrows and other special buttons in order to defeat each one of them. From elemental creatures to normal tools such as tape and hole punch being bosses, their appearance and personalities were something else.

While the normal battles quickly became redundant and repetitive, because you could only collect coins, defeating it's purpose similar to Sticker Star and Color Splash, the boss battles turned out to be entertaining and memorable.

The origami and confetti themes are fitting and work well in the paper universe, and the dialogue plus writing was spot on. The soundtrack was also noteworthy, and perhaps the desert theme during the yellow streamer episode is my favorite.

Finding and rescuing Toads can be fun to discover them, and filling out Toad Town the more you play is also a nice touch of reward. However, creativity and variety for characters are still missing. We all want unique ones, not generic ones. This design philosophy/policy remains awful and 99% of other video games don’t have this prohibition.

Origami King's new features and directions are welcomed, but the incentive for battling remains low in general. Like many other hardcore fans, I also hate the development’s strict Nintendo policy of not being able to use original NPC characters traditionally anymore, and most of us want a true sequel in the light of 64 and TTYD by now, now with Mario & Luigi's fate also being bleak.

Rating: 7.7

The spiritual successor towards Paper Mario we have been waiting for! and by we I mean the oldest Paper Mario fans around. That doesn't mean that the new Paper Mario titles are bad games with their new themes, but they did become a identity and creativity crisis for the series itself.

Hence why Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling truly is what the old fans have been waiting for since 16 or 13 years, depending on if you look at it from TTYD or SPM's release date. Developed by only 4 people from Panama of all countries, I am truly blazed away by the love and charm how this game got created!

It's not just a clone of PM 64 and TTYD's overall concepts, but it certainly has it's own identity, lore, charm and much more, plus it has quality of life improvements upon the established gameplay, it really feels like an evolution.

In combat, you can switch turns and even positions between characters, using relay functionality so that 1 of the characters can get another turn, which can sometimes be more tactical. Whoever is in front will be hit the most but they will also deal extra damage. Action Commands are back!

Kabbu, Vi and Leif are the protagonist trio of Bugaria, and the game has great writing in general for them and the NPC's in the overworld. There is great chemistry, backgrounds, lore and humor to be found, and the tattle and spy options have improved here in quantity and arguably quality.

Multiple abilities per character allow for fun puzzles and platforming moments to happen in the overworld, and the game is split up between chapters. The Cooking and Badge systems(hereby named Medal) return here, and I really, really missed them over all these years. Well, Hollow Knight also kind of has a badge system.

Hard mode is a real challenge for Paper Mario veterans, some of the bosses will eat you up, you will need to use precise movements and the right strategy to beat them. But while I was playing Hard Mode, I would also be getting more Exploration Points, and get rare Medals as rewards.

But alas, after chapter 4, I decided to turn it off, as Normal mode is a bit more fun in order to experience it all even better. Aside from a well done main storyline, the game has numerous side quests to undertake, not just fetch quests, but also unique battles and more.

With a card mini game and an arcade being present, as well as plenty of secrets to be found around, Bug Fables is a true sequel towards the turn based Paper Mario RPG's of the past, and it redeems so much, that it has filled up the void.

Rating: 8.5

Internet Movie Database

The Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, has been my best partner into discovering movies/television series. For reasons such as recommendations being shown, and being able to click on directors and actors, and discover more movies.

Launching over 30 years ago, I myself started using it when I was 18 years old, when I somehow also decided to start writing short reviews of each movie I have seen inside documents, and I have been doing that for almost 15 years now, that's crazy!

Obviously I haven't shared the majority of those reviews, as I just write them offline. I have shared some of them on my blog in the past, expanding my thoughts and opinion with each of them. And as I will reach 5000 movie reviews soon, I wonder what happens next.

With IMDb, I have also rated each of these. As I tend to look at movies, I read the summaries, the cast, the overall rating score and the reviews others have left behind. Trivial stuff and bloopers can also be interesting, and I miss the message boards, which closed down because I think that they could not moderate so many movies anymore primarily.

Since last year, I have also started to use Letterbox, as I like the way it categorizes lists with movies, it's visually different and striking, and the community is different. After importing IMDb data towards that, I started using both databases, although IMDb remains my favorite.

It's fulfilling and entertaining to not only watch good movies, but look them up too, and if possible discuss and talk with others about them. I am grateful with databases such as IMDb, because I would have never discovered a large potion of movies, especially foreign, were it not for that website.

Future Travel Plans

Traveling this year has almost been impossible without consequences. And that sucked hard, because I really love traveling for many reasons including getting to meet people, knowing the world better, history, new experiences, memorable moments, and so on.

Once this pandemic is over, I expect to return to Panama and re-do my travel plans there alongside Costa Rica. I was also expecting to travel towards Normandy with my father and towards Portugal with my mother, so both have been delayed.

Similarly, I had plans with buddies of mine to discover New York and Russia(Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Wolgograd)this year too. In the case of U.S.A., there is much I would still like to see one day, and I hope that with the new presidency coming up, travel restrictions will be lessened again.

Also, some "horrific" locations are still on my wish list too, including the Catacombs in Paris, Bran Castle in Romania, and Pripyat in Ukraine. Pretty much all these are located in Europe, so that makes things a bit easier.

Of course, there's even more I would like to see, but since I am just a simple man with a middle income, I will have to choose wisely whatever comes after the ones I already listed. Thankfully, I have already seen most countries which once where dreams of mine.

Now, all I can do is wait like the rest of the world. I can imagine that Corona vaccines will be politically used as travel laws in order to visit other countries, so if that opportunity comes up, I will most likely take it.

Until then, memories and dreams will suffice.

One Piece: Third Time's The Charm

This is my third and last appreciation and tribute towards the world famous manga and anime franchise known as One Piece. My first one was back in 2010, my second one was in 2015, and I figured that wrapping up things in 2020 is the way to go.

To be completely honest, I have said everything I wanted to say in the previous two blog posts already. 5 years later, and the story still hasn't ended, and numerous more characters, arcs, lore and plot developments have been shown. Eichiro Oda is keeping true to his words as to when the story ends.

Humor wise, I do notice that this has lessened, I guess because of the ambitious arcs and of jokes running out, but this is just my observation. Once in a while, the Japanese humor about the fictional pirates still can be effective.

Admittedly, I miss that it has been a long time since the Strawhat Pirates were truly re-united, as they have been separated so many times by now while hopping between the islands in the New World of the Grand Line.

That might explain why something is missing from the latest arcs if you ask me, which is for me the personal battles each member undertakes mentally and physically with worthy opponents, and not just Luffy, Zoro and Sanji cleaning up.

But One Piece still manages to uphold it's quality in general. There's always a new interesting and different plot playing out per discovered island, new characters can be interesting, old ones can surprisingly return, and plot twists can still happen now and then, while other characters are plotting.

I will be glad when the story is finally over, but not before Oda manages to end with a huge bang, larger than any Buster Call, giving each of the members one last satisfying battle, making their personal dream come true, and then ending it in the best way possible.

Thanks for this amazing distraction from real life! Perhaps one day, maybe through virtual or augmented reality, we can all role play as pirates again, real or with enhanced super powers, and then see what happens next.

Brutal Boss Battles

This is the final part of this boss battle mini series. Short and sweet, not all of these are truly brutal as a boss battle, but it's another B word, and the ones below are interpreted differently each in their own kind of ways.

Isshin The Sword Saint

An awesome satisfying finale with an opponent technically consisting of 4 phases, switching between swordplay and gunplay. Patience and waiting for the right moment here really is the way to acquire victory and be done with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice!

Yatsu No Kami

I actually hate this snake boss, for it represents the crushing difficulty spike inside Nioh 2, and is the reason I dropped the game last month. By now, I have defeated it, and it most likely isn't the hardest boss in the game, but it did broke me in a way, so yeah, it had an impact.

Giygas

A fascinating final boss with a creepy presence, a unique way of defeating it, and several theories as to what the heck Giygas is all about in terms of motivation, form and it's connection with the rest of Earthbound.

Lavos

Another classic final SNES boss that just exists to consume up worlds literally, bound through different time eras. First you fight it in an unwinnable way, then you fight segments of it, and then you technically fight 3 entirely different phases of it each being  intriguing in their own ways.

Dr.Weil

My favorite Mega Man villain, I love how hard you can hate this Dr.Wily look a like, the way his psychotic personality and manipulative motives are so messed up, and the buildup towards finally being able to face off in part 4, he really is Zero's arch nemesis. Sure, the battles themselves aren't that special, but the way he reasons and shouts out stuff as ideals being nonsense makes him very memorable.

 

Six More Fun AVGN Episodes

James Rolfe is still doing his fame as his persona Angry Video Game Nerd, continuing to spread out the good news that very bad games are worth bashing for entertainment value!

Pepsiman(PS1) 

A commercial and brand heavy episode with a funny abstract guest character fooling and antagonizing the Nerd. Also, a normal Pepsi fan promoting the game, who turns out to be a guest character 2 decades later! This might be my favorite modern AVGN episode!

Game Boy Accessoires

A familiar episode concept where AVGN goes through the general accessoires of a particular console or handheld. The Game Boy camera plus printer add-on really was something back in the day, and it's funny how he makes up ridiculous other add-ons, while some of them turn out to be true!

Polybius

A thrilling unfolding episode where the Nerd investigates a video game urban legend involving an arcade machine. With a teaser video previewing it beforehand, Polybius had an effective buildup, a scary jump scare, and a satisfying conclusion.

Sonic 06 Part 1 and 2

With deserving determination, the Nerd discovers the atrocious designed Sonic the Hedgehog from 2006, which is notorious for awful game design, endless loading screens and an embarrassing legacy that arguably still plagues 3D entries of Sonic.

The Immortal

Perhaps the most original and most insane concept of all episodes, with The Immortal, the AVGN character goes through a long one take scene, reflecting the way the game is meant to be played; one mistake, and you are done!

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask(N64)

This might be the longest episode shot and developed yet. I don't agree with all of the observations as the Nerd pins out in here, but it's interesting to see his viewpoint on a spin off game he did not play upon release, despite being humorous or not.

Frankly, some of the modern episodes feel forced and aren't as entertaining as these. Still, he manages to keep pushing out interesting episodes that obviously stand out on their own for various reasons such as concept, production values, jokes and information.

Thanks again James, for entertaining so many gamers, making life a bit more happy and enduring.