My Favourite Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

1991 was momentous for me for two big reasons. The first was the birth of my little brother, who has been my best friend since that day. The other was the release of the game that would become the one I have played the most times in my life, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Of course, technically it didn't release in Europe until 1992, but still!

My Mum and I picked up our copy in the Newport Woolworths and I clutched it to me all the way home, staring at the beautiful gold box in awe, not even daring to break the plastic wrapping on the outside. I ran upstairs to plug the cartridge into my SNES, while Mum sat on the edge of my bed to watch the now unforgettable animation of the Triforce spinning into view. I was convinced it was 3D! Then the Master Sword dropped in, along with that incredible Koji Kondo fanfare. I watched the intro scene, learned of the reasons for my coming quest and began what would be the coming of age of my gaming life.

Over the years that followed, I attempted speed runs, exploration, hunting for secrets, anything and everything you could do in ALTTP. To this day, I still say it is one of the most graphically perfect titles in history, still standing up to most any 2D game around. But, with that said, I have always wanted to see it in HD.

When Four Swords dropped on Gamecube, I saw was could have been. I still long for Nintendo to re-release ALTTP with Four Swords style graphics, not the 3D style of A Link Between Worlds, but a true to the roots version, everything as it was but with those amazingly polished sprites. The fire effects should stay, though, as those are so cool!
 
In the last couple of years, I have played around with various art styles, in order to do my own re-make of ALTTP. As I learn more about sprite art, as well as 3D modelling, I have been trying to come up with a "photo-realistic" orthographic style for ALTTP, something that has, so far, eluded my grasp. I have managed to create some pieces of concept art, which I will place here for you all to see. 

On the left is the original screenshot I based my art on. The right side shows my efforts!

While I may have completed the quest in ALTTP many times over, my personal quest for ALTTP HD continues. One day, that quest may be completed too.

Rainbow Six: Siege, Beautiful Destruction!

I remember sitting and watching the E3 trailer for this game, seeing the style of combat that was employed and enjoying the tactical shooter that was unfolding before me. That wasn't what I was most impressed by, though. I wanted to BLOW THINGS UP! You see, ever since I was a child playing his first videogame on the ZX Spectrum in 1986 (I was 2!) I have yearned for more. More realism, more things to destroy in a realistic way. So too, it seems, had the team at Ubisoft! My first match of Terrorist Hunt, on the newly released Rainbow Six: Siege, lasted 3 hours! Not because I was being overly cautious, far from it. After breaching through an upstairs window of the "House" map, I cleared the top floor of enemies. I then proceeded downstairs and cleared the ground floor. There were 4 enemies left, all holed up in the basement. This is where an amusing thing happened. I found out that the enemies won't come looking for you, until the last 3 are left. So, I decided to have some fun, instead of completing my mission.
What happened next was like Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen's worst nightmares! Using breach charges, I "renovated" the house! Starting on the top floor, I removed every breakable wall and floorboard! 

Nothing a lick of paint and a Dyson won't fix!

I found myself in a paradise, merrily trotting back and forth to resupply crates to stock up on my instruments of destruction. Eventually, I made my way downstairs and continued the extreme makeover...

Come on in, please take your shoes off!

This was where I hit upon a snag, with the floor now pretty much gone, the enemies in the basement could see me and shoot at me, thus ending my fun and games, at least for the moment!

My Experience With Alcoholism

I read a report today on the Guardian Facebook page about alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous. There was a quote that read “During my 14 years in AA, I saw people come and go largely for two reasons: either they “couldn’t get the God bit”, or they couldn’t maintain the abstinence. I'm sad to say that the "couldn't get the God bit" is often used as a way out for alcoholics who don't want to quit but have gone along to appease family or friends.

My ex-wife cited that as her reason for not going after one meeting. She said she would "quit on my own" and didn't need help, that I didn't need to worry as she "would never drink again." I swore my trust to her, said that I would support any decision she made and that I believed in her.

Unfortunately, it was all a ruse to hide her drinking further. She secluded herself, blaming any drunken behaviours on her medication (which she wasn't taking). After months of total confusion and self-doubt on my part, as well as many, many arguments where she would get so angry about anything and everything I was doing, or not doing, the fateful day came. We had an argument which resulted in her going to bed without saying a word. When I went to go to bed, she was laid out across the bed so I couldn't get in. I didn't want to wake her and cause another argument, so I went to the living room to set up the airbed. When I opened the wooden chest to get the airbed out, I found her booze stash, as well as months of receipts that were for corresponding days showing litre bottles of vodka on each.

The next day, I had to confront her about it. This was the hardest conversation I'd ever had, during which, she still denied to my face that she was drinking. Over the next few weeks, I made arrangements to move back to my parents house. Then, on one particular day, she seemed brighter. She asked if I wanted dinner, as she was making our favourite snacks. I said yes, thank you and told her I loved her. She said she would call through when it was ready. An hour passed by and I hadn't heard her call. So, I went through to see what was happening. I found my dinner left in the kitchen, cold. I then spotted her dinner bowl left in the middle of the dining room floor. I looked into the living room, where I found her slumped in the armchair. She wouldn't respond to my calling her name for about 2 minutes.

Eventually, after asking her again what was wrong, she said "I want to kill myself". I explained that I didn't want her to do that and that I didn't think she really wanted to either. I calmly told her that I would remove the medication that was stockpiled next to the chair, so she couldn't overdose. At which point, she flipped completely, going from sedated to manic in a heartbeat. She attacked me, hitting and scratching, screaming at me to give it back. In the end, I did so, as I didn't want to hurt her or have her hurt me. She then threw open the front door and told me to "Get the f**k out of MY flat!". I calmly said that it was our home and I wasn't leaving, so she attacked again, more ferociously this time. I quickly realised I had to assert myself and moved us to the bedroom, where I threw her off me and onto the bed, a soft landing place. I told her we needed to calm down and talk like adults, somehow getting her to agree. She went and shut herself back in the living room, while I blocked myself in my mancave. Fearing she might do something stupid, I phoned the police, who arrived quickly. They could get no response from her for an hour, while I tried to get in touch with her mum, at their request. Eventually, her mum arrived and she spoke to her. The officer informed me that, if her mum hadn't come round, they would've invoked the mental health act. I was then told to pack up a bag, as they would be taking me to my parents house for "my own safety".

In the following 3 months, she contacted me regularly, saying she was getting help and had not drunk since. She would drive to my parents house to visit me, but would be stinking of alcohol when she did so. It then got reported that she was pulled over for drink driving and had her license taken away. She also lost her job because of it all.

I have also suffered panic attacks, severe anxiety and depression as a result. I have also since lost my job, because there were a lot of reminders of our situation in my day to day work and I couldn't face it.

The bottom line is this. Alcoholism doesn't just affect the addicted, it destroys whole families, tortures those who live with it daily and ruins lives. I write this in the hope that my experiences will help someone else who may be going through it, to know that there is help out there and to know that you are not weak for walking away. In fact, you are stronger than you know, because you cannot help someone who will not help themselves, no matter how hard you try. The best thing you can do is save yourself, hope and pray that, one day, the person you care about will realise they have an addiction and, if needs be, stay in contact with the persons relatives, letting them know you didn't abandon the person. 

Above all else, know that you are not alone.

Rich