Rants / Random thoughts
Contents
Some "rants" about badly designed products etc. stuff that
could fit into a blog article but not really technical. May also
put some wild thoughts in there.
Headphones
Superlux HD662F
My first headset was a carefully selected (price / quality)
closed back Superlux
HD662F, i was quite satisfied for some times from this cheap
buy in term of quality and durability, my main wish was a 'studio'
quality / monitoring headset so i mostly wanted a neutral frequency
response and good comfort, this kind of headset can go crazy in
term of price but the HD662F delivered all of this for me, it
seemed to have good frequency response curve from tests i saw on
boards.
Sadly the HD662F wasn't perfect, mine had cables fraying issue
after 7 years of usage which was a minor issue since it worked but
it sadly started to have cable connection issues as well so i
decided to buy another one since they were pretty cheap.
The second HD662F had connection issue after 2 years of usage
which was quite frustrating since the first one lasted much longer,
i don't know if it is build related (bad luck) or perhaps
aggravated by my setup since i had a different desk / chair between
both and the long cable was often stuck below my chair
wheels.
There was perhaps quick fixes to solve the issue but i thought
it was a design issue anyway, an easily replaceable cable entirely
solve this case (with a minor bump in price) thus i started to look
for a headset with a replaceable cable.
Earpad durability was good although they are quite low in term
of comfort, i changed them only once for the 7 years case.
All in all this cheap headset would have been the most durable
if the cable was entirely replaceable !
Rode NTH-100M
I chose this headphone due to 3 factors :
- replaceable cable due to my experience with the Superlux
HD662F
- has support for the NTH-Mic condenser microphone which was
attractive as i could use it in audio conference instead of my
phone, seemed good quality as well so i could perhaps use it for
other stuff
- brand / price (way more comfortable cushion, build quality due to better materials / experience etc.)
It was much pricier (8x more) than the Superlux although still
quite attractive for all it does compared to other products on the
market,
sound quality seems also quite good.
I also needed to buy the VXLR mini-jack 3.5mm to XLR adapter
also sold by Rode and use the splitter cable to have both mic /
audio on my ONYX Producer 2-2 audio interface. (don't forget to
switch +48V button to have correct audio level for the
mic)
First feels were very good, i thought it was of much higher
level than the Superlux in term of comfort or even overall quality
and features. It also had adjustable headband compared to the
Superlux.
Then issues appeared, there was cracks on the plastic part
that hold both earcup after less than 2 month and it eventually
broke almost completely, this really frustrated me due to the price
and since i thought Rode was a quality brand and would design
durable products with all the experience they got...
this eventually broke completely
It seems it is either bad luck product with production issue
or a design issue again with too little product testing, my feels
goes to the second case as i feel the parts that hold the earcup is
quite thin for all the pressure it may experience, this is also a
global issue, many peoples reported such thing with this product
and Rode was forced to apply lifetime warranty on the product...
which looks like they are quite aware of this.
There is a cheaper solution than going for a replacement
fortunately : the almighty duct tape !
So i Just duct taped this part with several layers, the fix is
great and hold the part without issues, it remains flexible so
there is no disadvantage except aesthetics.
my fix, 100% working and durable, back to
usable product again
Another design issue is that my hair sometimes get stuck into
some movable plastic part.
Even for all the features the Rode has i still think the
HD662F managed to be better than the Rode although not easily
repairable, time will tell if it is as durable with the adhesive
tape...
2024 update : Now it have a connection issue as well sometimes
(sound in only one ear)... what a shitty product !
Plantronics Backbeat PRO 2
I bought this wireless headset in 2018 for office usage, i was
mainly attracted by the noise cancellation feature, it was fairly
cheap at the time (cheaper than the cheap Rode above) with
seemingly good build quality.
Sound quality was not a focus but it is correct anyway,
focusing on bass, sometimes has too much bass though, the noise
cancellation feature is ok for the price although not very
powerful.
All in all i think it is a mediocre to okay headset although
bad for audio conference (due to Bluetooth
profiles issue), i especially like the nice and comfortable
cushion but there is two product issues after years of usage
:
- the cushion although very comfortable (even compared to the Rode) are not durable, replaced them 3 times after 4 years and i don't use this headset often, would probably needs to be replaced every 6 month with a frequent usage...
- has a feature which detect when it is head mounted and cut the
output off when unmounted, this feature is very hit and miss for
me, too sensitive and cannot be disabled easily...
After some years of usage the head mounted detection feature
is even worse than it was leading to many frustrated moments where
it cut the sound output after some light head move... a bad product
design all in all and i wouldn't recommend this headset for this
alone.
Video Games
Mass Effect 1, 2, 3
vs Star Control 2
Always wanted to play Mass Effect since its release in late
2007 and finally took it to completion in 2024, it was well
received at the time, some peoples compared it to Star Control 2
(1992) and i can see why since there is similarities although in 3D
(mako, planets gameplay, lore or even music) and with a shooter
gameplay, it is a good game to my opinion especially for a 3D game
in late 2007... but it didn't have the same impact on me as when i
played Star Control 2 in early 2010s and here is why :
- the beginning was tiresome and boring, being stuck in the
citadel for a while... for me the game start once you gain access
to space
- the lore felt restricted, it is not as wild, diverse and fun as
Star Control 2, it is well made but it is way too conventional;
shallow, generic, obvious and boring, follow norms too much, too
human-centric
- gameplay was tiresome and i felt some parts were made by
sadists... such as the heavily repetitive planets gameplay with the
mako, especially on worlds with huge hills... another tiresome
gameplay thing was the melee rushing enemies or the rocket launcher
abusive ones when the player doesn't even have the equivalent
weapon to counteract; why ? also explosives everywhere (same in
ME2)... perhaps the gameplay just didn't age well and they were
still figuring stuff out at the time, anyway it is pretty mild for
a FPS, i didn't like backtracking as well especially in ME3 (fast
travel option in Citadel still require some amount of walking
probably made to lengthen the game)
- i dislike the abuse of invisible walls everywhere to prevent
the player from falling (same in ME2 and 3), this impact the
gameplay in Mass Effect because the player path is often blocked
for no reasons
- the copy pasted buildings / spaceships interior is mediocre, same as backtracking... i see all this as a cheap development / budget trick typical of these game studios doing business
- the cities are actually pretty limited size wise, you'd expect
a huge area but no, many invisible walls etc. same in ME2, it does
a great job at appearing as bigger though
- the UX was bad... especially the inventory or when skipping
dialogs, the HUD UX was ok, this improved a lot in the
sequels
- it was not as lively, one thing i enjoyed greatly in SC2 was
the dynamic map with the enemies slowly progressing as you play and
which can eventually wipe all the galaxy out, it is admittedly a
pretty hardcore feature though and required me to do the game a
second time because i wasn't aware of this at first :D, there is
choices to make sometimes in ME (more in ME2) but it is focused on
characters with bits of romance, choices are carried over to the
sequels though which is a nice feature.
One thing that Mass Effect does very close to the SC2 vibe is
music, i find it pretty similar at times but again perhaps too
smoothed out, it still doesn't reach the same high as SC2 music to
me because SC2 music was a crowd-sourced
effort, it has huge diversity. In Star Control 2 tracks were
composed by various folks of the MOD community adding huge
amount of personality and identity to the game (same for fonts,
graphics etc.), from ambient to industrial, rock or electronic
music, it has this unique crafty feels with quality variations
(even goofy !) that is difficult to expect from a rising 2000s
video game company doing usual business.
Now SC2 isn't perfect as well, it has a similar boring
beginning with the spaceship being very slow (especially the slow
rotation) and has balancing issues but the lore and exploration
kick off way faster and the exploration is actually necessary for
survival and progression, exploration is also the main initial goal
by finding out what is out there (because it is the first time
humanity step out outside their home system), exploration is fun by
adding arcade elements instead of gimmicks, this hook me quite
early in SC2 along with the ambient vibe, it has an immersive vibe
with few stuff holding it apart and parts of that is also because
of how it begin. Planets gameplay can also be seen as repetitive
later in game but still has more variations, hazards actually do
something.
On the lore side SC2 is just amazingly more varied and fun
than ME, i can see why, it would be very difficult to transcribe
SC2 lore in a full 3D game (and risky), that is perhaps why all
smart aliens in ME (and the ones you interact with the most) are
mostly all humanoids... they are also quite similar in term of
personality.
All in all i enjoyed some parts of Mass Effect 1 due to the
sheer amount of references of the story such as Babylon 5,
Battlestar, Tron, Dune, War of the worlds, Firefly, Star Trek, Star
Wars and of course SC2 and some planets environments but overall it
didn't provide anything new for me and the gameplay was cumbersome
most of the time for a shooter / RPG, it was a good start though,
the side missions and space opera story and the way it unfold is
okay but took some times to get in, the lore lacks huge amount of
diversity though.
Mass Effect 2 : Played it to the end and i liked some
parts of it but it carried over far too long (same in 3), the UX
style felt heavier although overall simpler but the gameplay is
slightly better overall, hack games were fun although not really
challenging after a while and thus doesn't serve any purposes, the
galaxy map actually looks more like SC2 (you can go around with the
spaceship) but they removed the Mako (they replaced it by the
Hammerhead which has a linear and mediocre gameplay), planet
landing is just regular linear missions now, this part wasn't
perfect in ME1 but i liked the vibe of barren planets environments
and exploration, the planet scan is tedious and doesn't offer
anything in term of gameplay (did they took that idea from Ironseed ?), planet
scan is even useless because if you are like me scanning all the
planets obsessively you will get way too much useless resources,
the scan only serve the purpose of finding side missions after a
while, so much wasted time ! Soundtrack seems to be of lesser
quality also (often dimmed into the background), i didn't like the
endless waves of enemies in some missions which felt like a loose
way to lengthen the game, there is also very limited variation in
enemies, the characters unlocking and loyalty system was quite fun
though (common in BioWare games, i liked this as well in
Dragon Age: Origins), most liked character is perhaps the
Geth one since it is a bit refreshing and a nice surprise (too bad
i lost it at the end), the Overlord mission was also nice with a
huge reference to System Shock. The
ending was okay although not as epic as i thought, there is choices
to make at least.
Mass Effect 3 : This one has a story that is the closest to
Star Control 2 (i even think that the Leviathan are a bit like the
Ur-Quan, a direct reference), i liked the story and how it unfold
with allies / war assets that you need to gather through
exploration (with cool surprises), this is a part that feels very
close to SC2, we see more of the Prothean past (too bad that they
are just smarter Krogans), the galaxy map has improved with less
hassle on scanning etc. i don't really know if the gameplay
improved, perhaps it feels a tad better (with the cover system) and
varied, the world is also slightly more detailed with some
impressive environments such as underwater (although short),
soundtrack is a bit more like the first, the EDI part was fun, i
like the scale of the reapers invasion which is quite similar to
the Ur-Quan one. The turrets placing enemies early on is just plain
annoying game design though and it goes back to the rocket launcher
abusive mob of the first one... feels like a cheap trick to ramp
the difficulty of the game, it is at least slightly avoidable by
focusing on the engineers, enemies also roll a lot when they are
hit as an avoidance trick and this is again quite annoying because
it feels cheap, there is also the usual close combat rushing
enemies and rocket launcher ones that are annoying, the enemies AI
is perhaps better in this one but that is because of all the cheap
tricks the game use to make fights harder, i disliked many of the
fights in this game due to this (and especially the arena fights
although it is fun sometimes), i disliked most Cerberus related
missions (too much and too samey) and the clone one (even if fun)
was dumb as hell... because the fight didn't make sens at all and
goes on far too long, bit likes playing mid 90s boss fights.
The trilogy story added up is good and the end of Mass Effect
3 was quite satisfying at least, i chose the synthesis ending
(could also have the "perfect" one) and it was very cool although i
have trouble to make any sens of it because even though it seems to
be the best ending to me the cut scenes that are shown after etc.
doesn't make much sens anymore with this option, perhaps it would
have been better if this was all abstracted away (which is what
happen with SC2), there is still some fun wild Eldritch theories
around though, i find similarities in this with my other favorite
games such as Secret of Mana where many stuff are abstracted away
compared to Seiken Densetsu 3 (the follow up) so the story may
feel very naive but the world feels vivid to me because it is not
explained (and you don't get much hints either unlike SD3) so
imagination kicks in and there is an adaptive coherence, less flaws
(less risks too) and then it all depend on how the player perceive
the given game world, it will be more personal, it is more akin to
a book in its own form instead of trying to be exactly like a book
with some added up elements.
So final verdict on all ME after ~119 hours put in ? They are
definitely okay space opera for the year they were released but
with severe gameplay flaws (shooter part is quite mediocre for all
versions, backtracking, AI of allies is completely off), it
improved a little on each iteration though, BioWare focus on
characters and the choices you make with all the animated sequences
is perhaps where it shine although the lack of overall diversity
and craziness bothered me, all the 3D stuff (animation, environment
etc.) is quite good (cannot replace imagination though !), i feel
like the lore was much more restricted than SC2 but i guess that is
the limitations of going 3D with all the quirks it
imply, still a bit weak to me as is but there is a great game
to be done if the 3 were mixed together with some changes and more
wackiness, perhaps i should have spent all this time looking at the
story through YouTube videos just like i did with Doom Eternal
instead of playing it since the gameplay was not that
good.
Din's Curse
The gameplay of this game is... cursed ! This game is a Diablo
1 clone with light town management thrown in, i love the concept
(shared by all Soldak
games btw!), raw aesthetics and overall world dynamics (quite feels
like a "living" world) but come on... it is not fun at all unless
you like to be punished constantly by the game designer, it is too
dependent on character build (+ randomness) and the monsters
respawn hellfest is just infernal, in the end you just end up
wasting huge amount of time bashing endless amount of monsters to
get random quests completed with town attack event in between if
you fail to do them in time so if you are in the middle of
somewhere and an event happen you end up having to backtrack to
town and hope that no important NPC was killed, sometimes your
quests just fail a few seconds after you took it (failure is
literally embedded in the design which is ok but the result is lots
of backtracking and wasting time), rinse and repeat etc... just
tiresome, can see huge potential in co-op though !
The 2019 sequel Din's Legacy is much more fun to me,
it share the same ideas but i found it much more fair and balanced,
it is a Diablo 2 clone so not just limited to underground dungeons.
Also recommend Drox Operative games which is Diablo as if it was in
space with some 4x
ideas !
About Soldak
games: Not really a rant but i find all their game interesting
design wise even if they have some flaws because they are all based
on the same niche concept that they iterate on since mid 2000s,
they also share the same UX and the axiom of their idea somehow
works as in all their game share that unique 'living' feel, it give
them a distinct character.
Random
- Deleted videos on YouTube showing up as deleted but without
metadata anymore (title at least) is a damn plague, i had a way to
dodge that by asking for my data from time to time but they don't
even show the title anymore in the metadata... (i think they used
to ? anyway that is how they treat your data...) fortunately there
is tools...
- YouTube playlist is quasi unusable with high amount of videos and the endless scrolling of doom unless you just change the URL... perhaps that is why they limit it to 5000 videos !
- Formal verification of software programs are a very useful resource for maximum efficiency and reliability in defense programs (aerospace etc.), an interesting example of how a mix of seemingly innocent mathematics and software engineering can be reused for the gloomy stuff (but not only fortunately), seems the main source of funding for this in the US is (was ?) the DoD itself. Same for AI by the way.
- Etymology of "silicium" aka silicon is from Latin
Silex or silicis for flint, it is fun to me
that this metalloid (combining
metals and nonmetals properties) chemical element which is the
second most abundant element in the earth crust is so widely used
in computing hardware (backbone of semiconductor technology) and
relate to one of the first multi usage (almost fundamental) stone
age tool around. The fun of this relation between ancient
tool-making and modern technology was in part triggered by a
Deleuze
lesson in relation to a Rimbaud text.
Although bullshit my mind later wandered with the musing /
metaphor that the flint was somehow one of the Eden forbidden
fruit from the
tree of knowledge which enabled refined goods (such as leather
cloths) and more tools which enabled more awareness and further
refinements (the fall and man "disobedience" against its previous
nature) perhaps allowing him to "eat" from the tree of
life which might become a form of carbon and silicon
association. (AI ?) This was kinda fun as i see it as some sort of
distilled science fiction story mixed with spiritual ideas, this
was perhaps triggered by science fiction stories such as the one in
Mass Effect video game since i can see similarities, some recent
black metal lyrics also. Note that this align more to some kind of
Gnostic
interpretation but it can be adapted.... (of course.. !) that view
is of universal salvation (eventually) from gathering fragments, it
is more redeeming and transformative than "usual" and ignorance
there is seen as the act of forbidding the access to the tree of
knowledge, the "evilness" lie in preventing awareness which just
lead to not knowing whether own action is evil or not (true evil is
in the suppression of knowledge and awareness), the serpent is
metaphorical and may be seen as anything adversely that trigger
changes (usage of new tools !) to push forward and self-realize.
Note that even if tools are important there, they may also suppress
awareness... it is nuanced !
- Editing videos or audio is a tiresome soul crushing task !
Probably why i never made any sens of "studio" at all (and the
associated hardware / software) even though i respect the minutiae
of the peoples doing it, like the technical side of it and probably
listen and watch to a lot of heavily edited stuff, things is i
naively thought that most stuff was done live when younger and this
magic was shattered a bit later when i *got* the editing aspect,
the (probably) many hours passed in post production polishing the
end result is somewhat of a nightmare to me... still couldn't
conform to that and that is why i prefer one shot stuff (with the
unpredictable / unexpected sometimes popping up !) although i get
that editing is sometimes necessary as duct tape even for one shot
stuff.
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