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April 2025 Retrospective

Tabarnak les boys!

Read Losing the Signal

When I attended the University of Waterloo I would walk through the Research in Motion campus every day on the way to class. They were so synonymous with success that everyone at school was aiming to secure a RIM job (yes we were immature idiots). It seemed as if they could do nothing wrong until the release of the iPhone and then they could do nothing right.

Reading Losing the Signal was a painful trip down memory lane. It was shocking to reflect on how powerful the small little town of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada was for a brief moment. The book goes into great detail about the rise and fall of the Blackberry, affectionately known as "Crackberry" due to how addicting they were. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and literal Heads of State could not survive without constant access to their email and BlackBerry Messenger. In the aftermath of "Signalgate", it is funny to think how similar messages probably flowed through Waterloo servers back in the early 2000s.

For me the most interesting part of Losing the Signal was how close Research in Motion was to nailing the transition to the smartphone era but the co-CEOs could just not see the forest from the trees. It sounded like they understood where they needed to get to but were bogged down by their existing prejudices of how products like this should be developed. Apple and Google had no restrictions and it really shows when you read books about the development of iPhone and Android. The developers did whatever they thought was best because they were building something from scratch.

It is depressing to think of how close Waterloo came to truly becoming Silicon Valley North. But now it has effectively become a training ground for university students destined for California.

Dave the Diver

Dave the Diver may be the most schizophrenic game I have ever played. I was expecting a "cozy game", such as Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley, where you have a core loop of collecting materials to improve the various facilities around your house, farm, place of business, whatever. And for the first couple hours it is that game.

But for some reason the developers of Dave the Diver are obsesses with introducing new game mechanics which seem to be completely disconnected from that core loop. Suddenly there are boss battles that rely on twitch reflex shooting which the controls of the game actively push against. Chase sequences where if you are caught you are just dead. Forced stealth sections where you cannot be spotted or the game will end. Imagine if Stardew Valley forced you to stealth around cows and if you are spotted you die.

Dave the Diver is a perfect example of a game developed by committee where no one was allowed to say no. My "favourite" random game mechanic was where you needed to slingshot a leatherback sea turtle into a wall of ice several times to destroy it and open a new passage. You've never fired anything out of a slingshot before this and you will never do it again. But for some reason the developers wanted to waste a few minutes of your time rather than just show the turtle breaking the ice and immediately getting back to the fun parts of the game.

If you asked me how much of Dave the Diver I enjoyed after the first five hours I would have instantly said every minute. It was actually at the top of my list of played games for this year. But by the end I'd say I enjoyed maybe 40% of it. I was addicted to that core loop and it dragged me along for dozens of more hours but the game just kept getting in the way of itself. I had to slog through more and more bullshit to get back to the core loop when eventually I couldn't even see a way back.

Finished season one of The Pitt

Last month I raved about The Pitt and I am happy to report that it is still spectacular right through to the season finale. There were a couple more melodramatic moments near the end that I could have done without but it remained thoroughly enjoyable.

So if you think you will be able to withstand the copious amount of gore, you owe it to yourself to watch The Pitt.

Watched seasons three and four of Shoresy

I didn't think it was possible but somehow seasons three and four of Shoresy just kept getting better. You can really tell that the actors and writers have gotten more comfortable and are unabashedly showcasing their love for the Canadian hockey experience.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

I nearly beat the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake this month and unfortunately it is one of those NES games that has not aged well. I am not going to harp on it too much because it literally came out in 1988 so I do recognize how revolutionary and important it is. But in the year 2025 the story is quite basic with the most rote fetch quests and the combat was far too grindy. If this game was half the length I probably would have enjoyed it but multiple times I found myself frustrated and / or bored with how much backtracking and combat was needed just to make my way through another dungeon. They even added a lot of quality of life improvements in this remake to speed up the game so I cannot imagine how much worse it was in 1998. One of the more hilarious shenanigans with this game is there are various enemies who have instant kill attacks. Multiple times I encountered a group of them who got to attack first and then killed my entire party without me taking a single action. We really did tolerate bullshit much more back in the day where a video game had to last you six months until your next one.

The reason why I nearly beat Dragon Quest III was because I got to the final dungeon where the developers cranked the health and damage of the enemies to such an insane degree that it only served to waste my time. At this point in my life whenever I realize that a video game designer has built something explicitly to waste my time I simply stop playing. I know I said I wasn't going to harp on this game but after writing about it I'm realizing that almost no one should play it. If you're interested in a Dragon Quest game might I suggest Dragon Quest XI instead.

Kobo eReader

In my never-ending quest to move away from American companies I ditched my Kindle for a Kobo eReader this month. So far it has been fantastic and I learned that it integrates with Libby so I can borrow books from my local library directly on device. Kobo also makes it easy to download digital copies of your purchases which allows you to use programs such as Calibre to remove the DRM so you can back them up.

Leafs continue to suck

At the time of writing the Toronto Maple Leafs are up 3-2 in their series with the Ottawa Senators after leading 3-0. As is tradition they will lose game 6 tomorrow night and then collapse horribly in front of their home crowd in game 7. This will make them the fifth NHL team to give up a reverse sweep.

Rock bottom isn't a static measurement. It is simply whatever the Leafs have done last.

Review April Goals

May Goals

#MonthlyRetrospective