Semantic Nonsense: Four Games, Four Picards, Four Cokes

Four in February 2020

I didn’t bother to set a #4iF this year, as I expected to be too busy to bother. Then I inadvertantly beat two games on stream last Saturday. Just like that, I’m back in the running! But I have to find two short-enough games to risk blowing it. So here we go:

Final Fantasy Randomizer

You guys know I like me some randomizers. And I’ve had an itch to play the one for the original Final Fantasy since I first saw it during Frame Fatales last year. (On a side note, this year’s Frame Fatales starts on Feb. 23.)

As such, my third #4iF game will commence on my second streaming day of the month, probably but not definitely this Saturday. Stay tuned to Damage Control for a proper announcement.

This will also segue nicely into what I had originally planned for my next stream before getting bumped: A four White Mages run.

Shovel Knight

This is one of many, many games that have gone ignored on my 3DS for years. Now that the series has ended, I suppose it’s high time I get going on the first adventure.

Boy, this blurb was much less newsy than the other one…

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Picard Impressions

We’re four episodes into the new Star Trek series, just shy of the halfway point, and somehow I haven’t seen enough of the show to get a good grasp on it.

There are absolutely little details I can pass judgement on. I enjoy the running gag with holograms. I dislike the way the villains are played. I’m enjoying getting some more meatly worldbuilding for Romulan culture. And I hate that the best two characters in the show get benched by the end of the third episode.

Also, the opening credits are really blah.

The first two episodes did a good job laying out the mystery and the stakes for the story, but then the next two spent a very long time introducing a major character each. With only 10 episodes to this season, that’s a lot of time to invest. The Fellowship of the Ring was gathered 15% of the way through “The Lord of the Rings.” Picard (the show) is 40% done and is still in the process of assembling Picard(the person)’s crew. I’m ready for Act II, please.

Patrick Stewart is still Patrick Stewart, so he’s keeping me interested in Picard (the show). But I’m going to need more than the upcoming gratuitous cameos to placate my inner critic. I’m looking for a satisfyingly unrushed ending.

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Coca-Cola Energy

Coke recently put out some energy drinks based on their well-known soda (If you haven’t heard of Coke, let me interview you). The available drinks come in the regular and Cherry Coke flavors, each also with a zero-sugar variant.

While Mountain Dew and a few other less famous brands beat Coke to the punch on having an energy drink spinoff of their soda, this time it’s different. The Mountain Dew energy drinks were entirely new concoctions based on the brand. Coke Energy instead tries as best as it can to resemble the original drink’s flavor.

The result certainly isn’t perfect, but it does a great job of masking the traditional energy drink flavors with a cola flavor that’s close enough for jazz. The brew’s method also trivializes the taste difference between the regular and zero-sugar blends. The cherry versions don’t have as strong a cherry influence as a regular Cherry Coke does, but you can still perceive it.