Tuesday, February 23, 2010

New character...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Day 10...

A quick update on my WoW travels.  I promise I will post some real posts ASAP (probably about Dragon Age)...
  • Bessler is up to lvl 32, has a tiger named Mittens and a giant snapper turtle named Tabasco.
  • I have taken to wandering the highways and byways
  • I joined The Followers of Eli, a 244 member guild that's got some pretty reasonable folks in it.
  • I got the living bejebbus scared out of me by my first encounter with a Horde faction member.  I was running through Westfall and ran over the crest of a hill.  There was a big gnarly looking dude on a big gnarly looking mount.  fortunately he just menaced me and didn't turn me into dead.
  • I am thinking of starting a new character, possibly Horde.  I dunno...

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Day 4 of WoW.

"Man, you are in the Bell Jar!"



Well, my Dwarven Hunter (Bessler) is Level 17, on the Fizzcrank server, a Crocolisk named Pequin, a cat named Orange Tabby, formed a guild called Hooligan Youth Unite and has a beer stein for a hand weapon.  I have learned the hard way that I can't just can't run into any area.  I have died...a lot...and then died more trying to escape areas like the Badlands. 

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Day 1 of HYR in the World of Warcraft.

Yesterday I got home from work and downloaded the free trial of World of Warcraft.  Besides pausing for beer and smoke breaks I pretty much was glued to the computer for a good couple hours. 

So, is Warcraft the end all be all game?  I don't think so.  I am not used to PC controls (thank god I found the link to hook my 360 controller to the PC) so there are several controls/camera issues which should be fixed soon.  As far as character customization I didn't see anything super special.  The game looks good though the characters are a bit...cartoony is a word I've seen bandied about and I have to agree.  As far as story or plot I have no idea what's going on, who's who, but then again I'm fresh off the truck.  The quests, at the level I am are standard step'n'fetch, get me this, get me that, I want, I want quests.  You why NPCs just stand around in games?  Because they have people to do shit for them.  NPCs are digitized managers/shaolin delegators.  I also wish there was an icon or something to let people know that you are soloing.

So those are some gripes.  On the other hand I like being a stranger in a strange land.  I don't know what's going on, who anyone is, the customs and norms, and in some cases I don't know what the hell people are talking about.  While gameplay is pretty simple to pick up it's all the other stuff I need to learn and I like it.  Exploration and discovery is what I am about and Warcraft has it.

I think I might go onto the Role-Play section of the game and play a Dwarven Hunter/Mountain Man.  Antisocial and somewhat deranged, only entering town to sell pelts.  We shall see.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

HYR 2010: A new computer and forays into the world of MMORPGs

So I finally (finally!) got my school money and was able to pick up a new computer: Gateway DX4831-01e package deal.  I spent a good chunk of time last night tinkering with settings and deleting crap I didn't want.  I didn't know Best Buy put in a program to set up my programs for me.  No big, I just 86'd it.  There is still tinkering and fine tuning to be done.

I am still having a bit of trouble figuring out what MMORPG I want to play.  I am looking at Warhammer Online: Age of ReckoningAt the very least I will give the trial a shot.  Of course the Warhammer 40K MMO is still in the creation stages otherwise I wouldn't be having this debate. Then there's Star Trek Online which I am curious about but I don't know if I can become a Trekkie at this late date.  Bioware's Star Wars: The Old Republic is pretty sweet but is not out yet (or even close according to some).  Then there's The Lord of the Rings Online...cue Aragon's theme...

Once again, any readers out there with comments/suggestions please let me know.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Scars are sexy, especially on video game characters.

I have to wonder why there are only two games - that I have encountered - where you can scar up your character during creation Mass Effect and The Godfather.  I wish I still had a copy of The Godfather (PS2) so I could take a picture of my goon character who was - according to Amanda "hard to look at".  I would say he looked like he used his face to cut down the ugly tree.  My new character in Mass Effect is fairly beat-up looking as well, with a potato nose, deep facial scars, and acne scars as well.  My previous female character was fairly attractive but also had scars, though I noticed that female character creation have fewer gnarly looking scars than males.

I think that having the ability to make a beat-up looking character is as important - if not more so - as being able to make some Adonis/Venus.  Personally I don't want to my PC to be a Ken doll. 

Mass Effect 2 almost final thoughts and a new character is created...

Well I polished off my first playthrough of Mass Effect 2 last weekend on hardcore.  I enjoyed it very much.  The universe is safe again...for now...dun dun dun.  The last section of Mass Effect 2 is actually one the better endings to an RPG out there, even though it's a cliffhanger.  I'd love to discuss the plot and what happens to characters but I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.

I decided to begin a whole new character in the ME-verse and downloaded Mass Effect.  Last night I created "The Inquisitor" - a ruthless Earthborn adept with nothing but disdain for xenos and weakness in humans.  I'm gonna play him pure Renegade (my other character is a Paragon...for the most part).  He's a really ugly fucker, scarred and beady-eyed, with a potato nose.

Now the first time I played through ME I was kind of disappointed.  This time around I am really enjoying myself and have been noticing some remarkable differences between ME and ME2.  The main difference is in the first game there's a great deal of control over your character's skills, armor capabilities, combat prowess, even what kind of upgrades and gizmos you can equip on weapons and armor.  Personally I love tinkering with my character and equipment - it goes with the territory of being an RPG-hound and is still one of favorite things about Elder Scrolls IV. 

In comparison there is minmal tinkering with any item, armor, or character in Mass Effect 2.  Sure you can upgrade weapons and armor to a certain extent, however you cannot change any character's armor.  You can equip some different types of armor on your PC but once you get decent armor you never change it again.

This may sound like a petty argument to most of you but I view it as one of the downsides of blockbuster games.  In order to make a game accessable to the masses (no pun intended) fiddly elements (item selection/equipment/character stats) need to be streamlined.  In some cases it works, in ME2 skills and biotics are far easier and faster to use than in ME.  However, removing in-depth customization of a character and their gear takes a major element of challenge out of a RPG, tactically and otherwise. 

I will make one more complaint about ME2.  There ain't grenades!  There are grenades in ME!  Jeez, Bioware - did the grenades not test well?

Okay one more gripe, squad control stinks and especially stinks in comparison to ME. 

More reviews to follow re: ME & ME2

ps: the story of ME2 is truly great and one of the best I've ever played through despite gripes about gameplay.
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