tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38780007301345450472024-02-20T18:22:53.516-05:00Kesith's Gaming RantsKesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-61848877898400952502011-10-25T21:52:00.001-04:002011-10-25T21:53:18.933-04:00Leaving WoW. For good this time.I was raiding the other night, and something snapped. Some switch in my brain clicked, in a sudden, surprising manner. For the last four years I have played one game, often to the total exclusion of other games. I have spent so many hours on it, collecting items, fighting, and honestly making real and lasting friendships. But as Wednesday night rolled on in the desolate Firelands, as the members of <shave boomkin="" my=""> were downing bosses and murdering trash, I realized something. I was done with this game, done with it in a way that I have never felt before. I didn't want to be in Azeroth anymore, I don't see myself going back. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/10/leaving-wow-for-good-this-time.html">Read more</a></shave><br />
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Usually, at least I find; when someone leaves WoW, especially in a sudden manner, they do so for one reason: anger. Anger at their teammates usually, but there is also anger at lack of content, lack of progression, their style of play going away, etc. These are usually petty and dumb reasons. However in my case, I felt no anger in leaving the game. No real sudden cause. I have no problem with wiping, even on stupid crap, and I really never get mad while raiding. I for the most part, like the people I was raiding with, and had no real problems with anyone. I just looked up at the screen and felt this weird sensation; I knew I was done.<br />
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When I realized this, I wasted no time in making my intentions known. It was received pretty well by the rest of the raid. Better than I thought it would be, as while by no means I am the best raider, I got shit done. There were some people asking me to stay, but I knew this was it. However, I didn't leave everyone high and dry like a dick though. I raided the next night, as I had signed up for it. If they wanted to replace me I would have been good with that, but they did not. We ended up getting the farthest on Ragnaros we had ever gotten. Something like 3% to the kill. It was honestly pretty damn impressive. Do I wish we had downed Rag before I left? Well of course. But still, it seems more than ever that the guild has the tools and the will to get this dude down well before 4.3 comes out.<br />
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Now down to the heart of the matter. How do I feel about leaving this game I gave 4 years to? Pretty...damn good. Now that I am a few days removed from the game, I notice my day opening up, as I really don't feel like I need to play this game. While it was fun to play yes, at times it really felt like a second job. To get anywhere in the game, you have to spend a lot of fucking time grinding, grinding, grinding. In the end, I do miss it at times. Found myself looking for the shortcut icon a few times over the weekend, to no avail. I am happy though I was able to resist the urge to re-download the game, as my account is active till mid-November.<br />
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Also I have been throwing myself back into games I need to play that are not WoW. Like FF9. I am also writing again, as opposed to playing WoW and forgetting to write; which I have done for the last few weeks. No more. No fucking more.<br />
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Last thing: I am moving this blog to Wordpress. I am teaching myself web design for funsies, and playing around with this blog will help me in that vein.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-67144034818543295082011-09-18T13:01:00.001-04:002011-09-18T13:02:35.014-04:00Really what have I been playing lately?WoW...and that is it. Everything else took a major fucking backseat to my pursuit of a home and a chance to kill Firelands bosses. Well this past week I finally found my new home on Eldre'Thalas, and I found a guild that I like being with, and that raids. <shave boomkin="" my=""> has become my new home, and it seems filled with people who are generally nice. I also got in at just the right time it seems as well. After one night in Firelands with them, they asked me to be part of their regular raiding group, which is really more than I hoped for. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/09/really-what-have-i-been-playing-lately.html">Read more</a></shave><br />
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See, I went into this server hop expecting to get in a guild and be on some sort of trial run/probation period. I expected my DPS to be low-end compared to more established people. It seems however that I was wrong, as I am close to top in DPS usually (Except Bethtil'ac, but hey I get to run around for-fucking-ever in that fight.), and as a newer guild formed from raiders, they still needed one or two more people to fill up regular spots. I fit the bill, and I am the full-time Ret Pally, which I have to say, suits me nicely. Already got two drops out of Firelands, oddly both gloves. I got to see four bosses and down all of them, with only Baleroc giving us a huge headache. So really, what does this mean for me now? Have I found a home for my toons, a place I can call my own? <br />
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I think, barring any crazy developments, the answer is yes. I can see myself sticking with these people, through Firelands and into the Deathwing fight. They're nice enough people, they know what they're doing, and they seemingly managed to accept me pretty quickly. Also while not getting in on the ground floor as it were, I got in at just the right time where the guild is forming its own way of doing things and instead of having to play catch-up and learn them, I am part of the process as it happens. We have a stone rotation that works for Baleroc, we figured out our way to kill Spiderlings quickly.<br />
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We did this too on the last week of Firelands being somewhat difficult. On Tuesday, Blizzard is going to be beating Firelands with the nerfbat until it cannot move it seems. Now I don't think it will all be at once, but Blizzard said they plan on nerfing Firelands as much as they did BoT and BWD, which I think sits around a 30% nerf right across the board. So I don't know if it's gonna be 5% a week, or if when I walk into FL on Wed, everything will feel like we're doing Ulduar on our 85's. <br />
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Do I mind the change? Yes and no. Yes because I got to waltz into FL the other day, with barely any experience prior and I was able to hang. I did my thing, and we downed some bosses. I wanted to see if I could keep it up going into Fire bird and beyond. Also if they do 30% all in one shot, that is simply too much. The fights would basically all become loot pinatas. Especially since more than one boss have that soft enrage where they sit around for phase 2 and it's simply a DPS race. 30% less health will make those fights simply silly. If they do 5-10% on Tuesday however, I would not mind. That 5-10% would make bosses go down in 2 pulls instead of 8. I am not a person who minds wiping a lot to get a boss down, but it's simply better for the sense of flow.<br />
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Now onto the last part. Yes, all I have been playing lately is WoW, no other game has really crossed my mind as of late. That is now changing, probably because I do have a normal raid spot now. I don't feel the need to be on all the time hunting for a new home, or doing other stuff like alts and such. Right now, I wouldn't mind signing on, doing a Zandie or two to cap out my VP for the week and then just get back to raiding. In the meantime, this would allow me all sorts of time to get to my still-growing back catalog of games. Yes, despite only playing WoW, I still buy games. It's sick yes. I have this feeling that I may start what I think is going to be a mediocre game today, Nier by Squeenix. I haven't played a new style RPG in a little while, and well my Xbox is already plugged in.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-66120614539717136912011-08-25T23:07:00.001-04:002011-08-25T23:08:00.245-04:00The damn itch is coming back.The damn itch where I feel the need to raid. It usually happens when my gear catches up to what would be considered to be raid ready. I somehow manage to do this despite never getting the chance to actually raid. However, I put myself in a bit of a spot when it comes to actually getting to raid now. The server I find myself now on, Wyrmrest Accord has two major problems with it. First of all, it's an RP realm that actually RP's. This is definitely weird for me, coming from Earthen Ring, which is full of fucking morons and little else, but at least they raid. Wyrmrest Accord as a server is more concerned about Black Temple than Firelands, which does not net me valor points. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/08/damn-itch-is-coming-back.html">Read More</a><br />
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Now the other problem is that it is a west coast server. I guess this was something I always took for granted on Earthen Ring (an east coast server), but now the raid times are extremely inconvenient for me, especially if they are late on server time, as that is super late for me, especially with my schedule change. I used to be up all night, but now a days, I am in bed by midnight often. So if I wanted to raid on this server say for 3 hours, 2 days a week...I would need to start at ...maybe 10 my time. That's 7pm server time. One a normal server, that is not such a big deal. However on this server, which is more junior-high RP drama class than game server, it just seems impossible to find something that would work for me.<br />
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Now the issue is what do I do at this point? Leave the server again? I don't find that likely. Even though I do not RP, I have spent a good amount of money throwing my toons over there. I also like a few of the people I have found myself being around. Others are kind of douchey, but whatever, I know I am not the most likeable guy. I could just shunt the main somewhere else, who knows. Only time and my boredom will tell.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-36919325826276487042011-08-02T00:12:00.002-04:002011-08-02T00:49:36.396-04:00Dogfish Head Chateau JiahuSo I am back from my trip to the Dogfish Head brewery in Delaware, and I have come home with a few interesting beers from what has become over the years my favorite brewery. In the spirit of my weekend traveling, I decided to <a href="http://videogamesandbooze.blogspot.com/">rip of a great blog I read</a>, and do a game and booze pairing. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/08/dogfish-head-chateau-jiahu.html">Read More</a><br />
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Today is the SNES classic Chrono Trigger, and the Dogfish Head brew Chateau Jiahu. Now first, let me make a confession that haunts me to this day as both a gamer and an RPG aficionado; I have never beaten Chrono Trigger. I have seen most of the game over the years, but I have never sat down, be it SNES, emulator, or DS and beat the hell out of this great game. I decided to finally change that this weekend, and got through a lot of the game on the ride to and from Delaware thanks to Dramamine and a lot of traffic. However, I wanted to pair this game with a Dogfish Head brew, and found my target. However, due to weariness from traveling, and my work schedule, I was not able to throw myself into this experiment until tonight.<br />
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Chateau Jiahu is a heavy, sweet beer. It has quite the history, the recipe coming from over 9000 years ago, found in a Neolithic village in China. Archaeologists found residue from pottery in the village and reverse engineered the alcohol within. The result here is a very fruity, golden drink that brings a heaviness one could not expect from simply looking at it. It pours extremely well into the Dogfish Head laser-etched glass, with mimics a snifter, bringing minimal, but desired head, the foam bringing an almost airy prelude to the depth that lies past. Despite the light, golden color, the drink carries a myriad of complex flavors. The rice oil carries a certain weight we are not used to feeling in western beer, and the grapes mixed with honey add a sweetness that people would not be able to guess on scent alone.<br />
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As I said earlier, the beer comes from a recipe that is 9000 years old. Like Square's classic, the delicious flavor of Chateau Jiahu travels through time to where it will be able to show how good it is. Also like Chrono Trigger, it is colorful and lighthearted on the surface. However, this first glance belies a depth that truly needs to be experienced to be appreciated. The eastern roots of the drink also show a great breath of life when put under a western lens, much like the esteemed RPG. It is refreshing to find a flavor bold enough to carry the heavy alcohol content that Chateau Jiahu does, but dare to bring a flavor that more than placates the normally lighter, eastern sensibility to alcohol flavoring. It was truly a pleasure to experience Magus' castle while drinking this beer.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-24960582477485804872011-07-31T22:28:00.002-04:002011-07-31T22:31:39.805-04:00My weekend trip game.So I settled on Chrono Trigger on the Nintendo DS for my game to play during the weekend. I got to play a surprising amount of the game, though most of it came during the horrific car ride to Delware, and back. As such I did not get to drink really while playing it. I am also very tired tonight, and decided not to indulge in the pairing I thought up for the game. <a href="http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occassional-rarities/chateau-jiahu.htm">Chateau Jiahu</a> by Dogfish Head is what I plan on trying tomorrow and seeing if my ideas will gel nicely with the game. I think they will.<br />
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In the meantime; I was just talking to my friend Joe about how the Wii U will have DLC. I like the idea, but they need to fix this memory issue if they're going to do this. I refuse to catalog what DLC I put on what SD memory cards.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-75237688630773567502011-07-29T00:26:00.003-04:002011-07-29T00:27:30.082-04:003DS Price DropSo Nintendo is apologizing to early adopters. Rewarding them...whatever. It seems even the re-release of what many consider to be the greatest game of all time was not able to push the big N over 850K sales of it's new portable funtime machine. With absolutely nothing I can think of coming out in August, and Star Fox 64 (a remake...) coming out in mid-Sept, it seems Nintendo has finally realized they counted the chickens before they hatched...and those eggs without chickens leaked egg shit everywhere. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/07/3ds-price-drop.html">Read More</a><br />
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So for those of us who bought the 3DS before August 11th, when the price drops 80 dollars, we get 20 free downloads. Note you have had to have registered your sorry self on the online store first. Also when I say free 20 downloads, I mean 10 NES and 10 GBA.<br />
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I gotta say though, I like how this is shaping up. Assuming the memory can support it, and the right games are put out, this may be the best "I'm sorry we fucked up" deal ever, putting the PSN thing to absolute shame. Weird thing about this is none of my personal information was even given away, I just happened to willingly overpay for something that has not lived to the hype. <br />
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Again though, this all comes down to the games that will be given away to those of us at love Nintendo no matter how many times they smack us around. Here is my list of what I want to see (no order mind you):<br />
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NES:<br />
1. Mario 3<br />
2. The Legend of Zelda<br />
3. Mother-fucking Kirby<br />
4. Marble Madness<br />
5.Crysallis<br />
6. Rampart<br />
7. Castlevania: Simon's Quest<br />
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<br />
9. Mega Man 5<br />
10. Mega Man 4<br />
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GBA:<br />
1. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow<br />
2. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance<br />
3. Mario Kart: Super Circuit<br />
4. Any GBA Pokemon game and give it DS/3DS compatibility (Take your fucking pick Nintendo)<br />
5. Legend of Zelda: Four Swords<br />
6: Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap<br />
7: Metroid Fusion<br />
8. That LUNAR remake that was on the GBA<br />
9. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones<br />
10. Final Fantasy V Advance<br />
(Cheating) 11. Final Fantasy VI Advance<br />
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If this was allowed to happen to me for free, I would wave the banner at the front of Nintendo's fanclub forevermore. Really if a good part of this was given, that would be more than enough, as I already figure I will not be made this happy.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-32785418858204028852011-07-28T00:24:00.000-04:002011-07-28T00:24:54.516-04:00So close your eyesI plan on having something up tomorrow. Also I am going to steal a page from another blog I read. <a href="http://videogamesandbooze.blogspot.com/">The Art of Pairing Video Games with Booze</a> is a great time, and I love what he does. Since I am going to Delaware this weekend to go to the Dogfish Head brewery, I figured I will try and think of a game pairing or two, and test it out. Anyway, yes, tomorrow will bring new stuff.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-4000689246091055002011-07-15T00:46:00.002-04:002011-07-15T00:49:31.727-04:00Review: TorchlightI feel like I could say it's a pretty Diablo with a dog and knock off for the night. I still may do that halfway through this thing, who knows. Maybe I'll just start talking about chocolate. The possibilities are endless. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/07/review-torchlight.html">Read more</a><br />
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Anyway, Torchlight was a fun as hell game. It has a very old-school mentality with a very modern coat of paint. That old-school mentality however does come with a few touch-ups of learning from past mistakes, mainly addressing the problems of the first Diablo. First of all, the game is not the absolutely torturous potion spam that Diablo was. Yeah you need to heal, and especially toward the end, heal a lot, but you don't need to eternally have one button hovering over the heal button if you know what you're doing.<br />
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Also I love, love, love the art in this game. The exaggerated proportions of you armor and body type really immerse you in the class you're playing. I first started playing as the mage type, the Alchemist, and the gloves you wear are always fucking enormous, like they're insulated for magic; and the steampunk goggles mixed with rugged leather adventuring gear helps drive home the fact you're no nancy-boy mage hiking up your skirt shooting magic missiles into the darkness. Fuck that, I had a mace and shield and was beating the crap out of demons just as much as I was hurling magic at them.<br />
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To further expound on this point of great art direction, I ended up beating the game as the Destroyer, also known as the warrior, also known as a shaved bear in armor. Every single armor style looked slick and really let you know that things were going to die in horrific ways by your hand. From gladiator-style leather pieces to spikes all over plate, the game makes sure you know exactly how you're playing and does so in such over the top, colorful ways you cannot help but smile with glee as 40 imp things are cut in half at your feet.<br />
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Lastly, what I want to say about this game is that on normal, the game does not outstay its welcome, not being terribly long at all. It's like the developers realized that really you're doing the same thing over and over, so they did not feel like beating you to death with it. Thank fuck for that. Granted, it seems the game can go on quite a while more with extra dungeons and quests, but they are by no means mandatory, and are there for the hack-o slash-o fanatics. It's really a great way of doing things, good length for the gamer looking for a short, fun experience, then expanded gameplay for the potion chugging, quick mouse clicking aficionado. <br />
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The game has some obvious issues though, and while by no means making the game unplayable, it simply serves as a detractor for playing the game again.<br />
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First of all, the item drops are too often, totally fucking useless. In an MMO, I never really mind getting some sort of item my class has absolutely no use for, as I can usually pawn it off on someone else using whatever auction house system is available. In Torchlight, the game might as well just drop straight cash. My warrior has no fucking use for a sword that adds to my magic stat, let alone a wand. I get going back to the hub to sell everything the little bastards drop is a hallmark of this type of game, but with the modern touches already added to the game, why not streamline this too? I also get you can just send your dog/cat back to town to sell everything, but again, just give me the gold and stop wasting my time.<br />
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Not that you will ever...ever need the gold for anything. Everything you need, potions, scrolls, weapons, armor, cooking utensils, and jars of jam can all be found in the freshly crushed limbs of your foes. I tried the gambling thing a few times and never got anything of value. The only time I ever found the money worth using was the enchanter. Sometimes boring, basic weapons I found would be nicely enhanced, and as opposed to the loot system dropping whatever it feels like, it seems the enchanting more often than not adds things you want for your class.<br />
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Gear and useless pawning trips aside, my biggest gripe about the game is how the characters play. Granted, I only played two out of three, and they seemed different, if you tried. However it seems the game will throw at you an area of effect ability that is so tailor made to how this game works you're going to use nothing but that. For the Destroyer and the Alchemist, said god-skills are on the first tier of their fucking talent trees too. So I all I did was level up those skills, and whatever side skills that ended up helping those skills. Oh an Adventurer, because really it makes you level up faster and makes potions better. Might as well call it the I win button. In the end you do not need to use these skills, and not using them I can see changing how the game goes significantly, but what it does do is find a way of taking classes that seem otherwise so awesomely distinct and makes sure there is at least one way to make the choice all not matter.<br />
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Those problems aside though, the game is fun, and may actually be better than either of the previous Diablo games that so obviously influenced the making of this game (a few Runic members having had a hand in Diablo). Oh also I have not mentioned the story at all. It's not good, it's not bad. It's there...I guess. Did you ever really care why you're traipsing down 60 flights of stairs? I never really did so long as there were bodies to mangle along the way.<br />
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I also get that this game has been out for a long time now and this is basically a retro review. I bought the game during Steam's Summer Sale, so this was my first crack at it. So fuck off.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-72504122360711659372011-07-06T22:48:00.001-04:002011-07-06T22:49:18.911-04:00Backlog and annoying bitchesI was never one to play all the games I own as soon as I get them. I always had a modest backlog of games going on, usually RPG's, which as we know, tend to take a lot more time to play than the more standard cover-based shooty bullshit. WoW doesn't help matters either. Game is really more of a fucking lifestyle choice, and it's starting to bug me again. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/07/backlog-and-annoying-bitches.html">Read more</a><br />
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I can never seem to just be happy in the game, despite liking it, despite wanting to do better at whatever it is I am doing. But again I find myself bored with the samey old gameplay, the doing the same fucking quests over and over, and dealing with the incredibly stupid people both in my guild and in the world itself. As a side note, speaking of stupid fucking people, there is someone in the guild I subject myself to currently who speaks and acts like she was the victim of a few amateur lobotomies. She was actually offended the other day that no one said "grats" to her when she got some bullshit item everyone and their mother is going to get. Now this "grats" thing bothers the shit out of me. Grats as some of you probably sadly know, is something that is uttered usually when someone gets an achievement in WoW. You may also know the stupid fucks who tend to do this on a regular basis do it on an extremely regular basis. WoW is full of not really achieving anything achievements like visiting the Barber Shop, or hitting level 10, that require less than no effort. However, like everything else WoW does to you, people get conditioned to say grats to all of this. Apparently it has gotten so bad now, whenever this automatic, devoid of actual congratulatory feelings term is not spoken, idiots get offended. <br />
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That was extremely tangential to what I really wanted to talk about. Moving along. Due to me buying games at a high rate, and my other time-consuming habits, I usually have the backlog. Usually it is manageable. Not anymore. Fuck you Steam. You and your awesome Summer-Sale has completely ruined any chance I ever had of clearing this backlog. I have obtained a slew of great games at amazing prices and really it bothers me. I now have a console and PC backlog so large I have no idea what to do with it. Well since I am getting a bit sick of WoW it seems, it may be time I get back to some new, different experiences. Thanks to Steam, I now have enough new experiences to last me until the Playstation 5. Fuck you Steam, and thank you.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-43952318870105835542011-07-04T22:59:00.001-04:002011-07-06T22:50:27.443-04:00Making the transition: Finding what you are looking for first in a guildIt is weird. I find myself wanting to do something that I have no wanted to do in a while. I touched on it in the last post when I spoke about...well really nothing. It was just babbling. But what I was hinting at the other day was that I was going to be trying raiding again. This is something that became part of my normal week, and while it was fun doing it with people who were fun to be around, we suffered from a heavy burnout when Deathbringer Saurfang was brought down. Eventually the guild stopped raiding and most people left the game. I stuck around for the most part, and while I have had fun with my casual leveling game, I have found myself wanting to do more of the endgame content. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/07/making-transition-finding-what-you-are.html">Read on</a><br />
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Enter the last few weeks, I have since started looking around for a guild I can call home. A place that raids, and is somewhat fixed in its raiding schedule. I know I am not ready to devote 15 hours a week to raiding, but I do not want to join one of those guilds who is just starting to do endgame content for the very simply reason I just sort of want to slip in and do my role right off the bat. I don't want to ever have to 'help' the guild get to raid readiness. I got it from the get-go that if I stick to this idea, I very well may be riding a backup bench if everyone from the normal raid is there, which I am totally fine with. I am a person who doesn't ask for mats or flasks, or food. I bring what I need for myself, so I am ready to go when needed, and I know eventually every guild needs to reach into the bench, it's why they have a bench.<br />
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Well contrary to just about everything I said there, the guild I ended up joining did have immediate need for me, and when we raided that one night, it was a great time. A few wipes were had, but according to one of the healers, I availed myself well, and as far as I could tell I did not cause any wipes. Unfortunately I ended up leaving that guild on Thursday, after only a week and a half with them. I was actually sad to leave, they are a great group of guys who are good at what they do. However, the minor reason I left was that we only raided that once in two weeks. I was told this may happen, and I was ready for it, as I said, they were fun and the GM/ MT has a very busy job that can pull him away from the computer at a moment's notice. However, the main reason I ended up leaving was that besides raid time, no one was ever really around, and whoever was, was not typically talkative. Why should they be really? The guild is a group of real-life friends who wanted to raid together. Instead of getting on WoW at once, they most likely went out, or just spoke over Facebook, which is what they should do, I would never begrudge them of that. Also, why outside the raid would anyone really wish to speak with me? I was almost like an outsider, encroaching on their territory. I tried to be friendly, but in the end this was not the guild I need in the raiding, or more importantly the social aspect.<br />
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So on Thursday when waiting to see if the raid would happen, I was invited to go kill some heroic 25-man bosses with a guild I was with for a bit in Wrath. I accepted when it seemed obvious my progression-ish raid was not happening, and I ended up having a ton of fun. I got a ton of achievements that I never thought I was going to get and things were generally good. These people are friendly enough, but as the problem is with any guild with a lot of people, they are very clique-ish, which is actually a good topic for another time. Also they are very...family oriented. Which means basically they do not curse, and get all pissy if you do.<br />
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In the end, I am not sure if I can stay with this guild. They are a little too squeaky-clean for my tastes. But for now, we do Firelands trash, and will hopefully move on to try some bosses. Who knows, maybe I will end up staying with them, getting past the little clique-ish tendencies and making some connections. As it stands now, I guess I could stand to do worse. This post has given me a few new post ideas, which I plan on expounding on, which is why this kinda cuts off.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-85566646604519092012011-06-06T00:36:00.001-04:002011-07-06T22:51:30.749-04:00I have been trying to write now for so long. Nothing.I have a few draft blogs sitting around on Blogger that I have written in varying states of weariness and/or sobriety. They're all crap, not that what I tend to write is normally gold, but seriously, bad. Tonight really seems as good a night to write as anything. I really was not going to, but I was playing like such absolute crap in heroic ZG that I decided that WoW and myself were not meeting in the middle tonight. I apologized to my group for my poor DPS and tendency to fucking croak and excused myself in the hope that they would get a random DPS who had their head in the game, as mine was obviously not. It was odd too, as I really wanted to play tonight, as it has for the past few nights, WoW has reinstalled itself as my succor from an annoying day of work. I have even found myself for a week now being sick of smacking my face into the heroic wall while using the LFD system. So much so that tonight, I spent a good deal of time skimming possibilities for raid spots. <a href="http://kesith.blogspot.com/2011/06/i-have-been-trying-to-write-now-for-so.html">More to read bitches</a><br />
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Now in Wrath I was part of a guild, and while we started as a casual 'hang out and fuck around' guild, we ended up being a guild that raided every week, and were honestly pretty damn good at it. We downed Saurfang before any buff was rearing its nerfing head, however, that is where we completely and utterly stalled. Since then, I finished the rest of ICC, but that was after the full buff came around and some of the new heroics were harder as a result. But really, for a while now, WoW has not been a game where I felt terribly compelled to be better at, no idea why, maybe loss of interest, wanting to play other games, who knows. However, in the last week or so I have found myself wanting to raid again. Tonight I actually got the stones to look around and half-way apply for a guild that does raid. Now really what does one do with a paltry 351 item level, and wants to suddenly raid with the Firelands so close to the horizon?<br />
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Well it seems like I have a chance to find out what I can do in a raid environment. I am giving it a go with some sort of tryout this Tuesday. Now I need to look up the fights so I can have a chance of knowing what I am doing. Also on the raid side of things, I finally did Baradin Hold for the first time today. The fight simply put, was a joke. The movement component is minimal, and other wise you stand there and pound on this demon until dead. Nice plate pants dropped, but unfortunately they were the warrior tier pants. Dammit. This is a fight I need to make sure I do every week though, basically free VP.<br />
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In the end, I am finding that now that I am giving myself actual goals in WoW I am slowly pulling myself out of my players slump and am really enjoying playing again. I hope I am up to the challenge I am giving myself, I remember being pretty good at the raid stuff in Wrath, and really I am looking forward to having a structured time in which I need to be doing something fun. It's like a softball league for nerds.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-1992406712984938682011-04-10T14:21:00.001-04:002011-04-10T14:22:18.689-04:00Games, games and more games.I have been in a weird place lately while playing games. I find myself with such a daunting backlog of games to play that I can never get anything remotely close to done due to the almost paralyzing size of the pile of discs I want to go through. Despite that, I find myself dicking around in games that I am not having such a great time with, if anything they just serve to waste time while I tell myself I am looking for something better to do. I am somewhat sure that last sentence is the very essence of, if not close to, insanity. I will talk more after I put the cut here. Click on the article to read more.<br />
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I still find myself signing onto WoW for no reason. No one is around anymore, and frankly I do not feel like finding a new group to play the game with. I like the idea of trying Cata raiding, but I find myself unable to want to put the time into it. Maybe I was just spoiled with Wrath of the Lich King, and its easy-going way of doing things. When it comes down to it, Warcraft is just always so easy to turn on, and do without having to pay any real attention to things. I have already learned everything I need to know so I can get things done in the game while also watching TV.<br />
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I don't think I am going to cancel my subscription, but really I should stop playing. I would get so much done in other games if I never bothered with it. Maybe one day I can come back to it, fresh-faced and ready to find a group that doesn't vanish. Hell, if that doesn't happen, then I can simply cancel that account and save myself the fifteen dollars a month.<br />
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Despite what I said above, I am playing other games. I picked up a 3DS the day it came out and I got Super Street Fighter 4 (despite promising myself I would not), and that Tom Clancy Shadow Wars game. Street Fighter 4 has somehow found a way to surpass every incarnation of the game that has come before. Capcom leveraged some amazing skill in porting a beautiful, responsive and balanced game into a handheld, while adding 3D graphics and a little figure collection game. The Tom Clancy game is fun, had no need to be on the 3DS, could have simply made it for the DS. Maybe the game is super long? I don't know.<br />
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I have also been playing Pokemon White. It's fun in that exactly the same as everything that came before it kind of way. You know, what Pokemon has been doing since it came out. There are no holdover Pokemon this time, and while it is kind of refreshing to not have to see a Zubat, it really is just the same thing, with the same horrific writing, same forest of bugs, same cave of small rock balls (this time with no arms, unlike the old timey Geodude, which has no legs). The graphics got something of a boost, adding actual metropolitan areas to the game, which is actually pretty nice. Also the game tries to shoehorn an overarching story into this game, which is just silly. Team Plasma is trying to liberate Pokemon from the people who keep them. The really silly thing is that if you think about it for 5 seconds, they're in the right. Whatever, I bought it, I mainly play it on my breaks at work, so that means I am getting nowhere fast in the game.<br />
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Major console games...not really playing much. I am still inching through God of War, which is fun, but I cannot see it as the pinnacle of action gaming many say it is. Maybe back when it came out it was, then 2 and 3 simply improved on it? I guess I'll eventually see. I also find myself trying to start Dragon Age: Origins. I bought this game a while ago, but I found it painfully boring. However, I played the demo for DA2 and loved it. To some degree, I have to imagine this is because my copy of Origins is on the Xbox, where as I tried 2 on the computer. I was never a PC gamer, always preferring my fun to be on a TV, with a controller in my hands, but in this case, my blind insistence that I play first on consoles might have given me a sub-par look at the game. I made an elf, barely started it, but I think I will try diving into the game today, see if my opinion can be changed.<br />
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Lastly I do want to bring up something. I have wanted to get into journalism for some time now. Finally, I have something of a chance with this gaming news site I have written a news article for. If you like my writing, and want to see some more of it, as well as the work of other talented people, then head over to <a href="http://botchweed.com/">Botchweed Gaming</a>. I am going to try my best to stay on top of the world of video game news and help this site grow and evolve into something great. That is pretty much everything that is on my mind right now. Wow, I wrote this whole post in one go. Usually I have to stop and think about what I write for a bit, ya know, take breaks. Today was apparently not the case, but anyway, till next time.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-44136092612906403472011-03-20T23:12:00.000-04:002011-03-20T23:12:05.082-04:00Let's PlayI make no secret of the fact that I am a big fan of The Escapist Magazine. I think it is easily one of the best, most complete geek resources out there. However, for a while, when I first started going to the site, I was only availing myself of one of the articles, and that was Zero Punctuation by Yahtzee Croshaw. I don't even remember how I came to finding this dude, as I don't remember anyone recommending it to me. That is neither here nor there though, my point is, sometime in the last two weeks, he wrote an article about this website that I have never heard of before. Now normally if this guy goes out of his way to point something out, it usually means he is going to tear it apart with his superior accent.<br />
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However this time the focus of his writing were a series of screenshots and videos of people essentially giving the Mystery Science Theater treatment to playthroughs of video games, called Let's Play. So far today, I have been spending a good part of my day watching a dude named Garin play trough Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, with a rotating cast of guest speakers. Now I know I am extremely late to the party when it comes to this website, but if you're as slow as me and have never heard of it, check it out, well worth the time. Hell it has made writing more enjoyable than music or TV tonight.<br />
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Anyhoo, here is the link: http://lparchive.org/Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-21959765514778859302011-03-19T23:01:00.000-04:002011-03-19T23:01:13.637-04:00Ranty...or not enough of it.I have been in something of a writing funk as of late. I think I finally figured out why too. When I first started writing this thing, it was supposed to be about my thoughts on video games. Quickly though, things devolved into me simply reviewing games, which while fun, did become far to formulaic and hence, boring. What I need to do is get back into what I wanted to do with this deal, and write whatever comes to mind about video games. So here, I shall commence writing about whatever I damn well please.<br />
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I bought Rift some time ago, it's a damn pretty game. The advertising though, ya know, that tag-line that boldly proclaims "You're not in Azeroth anymore" is a god damn lie. The game is simply WoW 2.0, made by a company not as good as Blizzard. It was like everyone at Blizzard got drunk and outsourced the sequel to their cash-cow. I rolled a Paladin, a tank class. By level 10, I was throwing my shield like I was a medieval Captain America. Sounds oddly familiar. So questing along in the game is just as fun as it is in WoW, as the quests are the samey grind-fest. However, Rift decided to add something to break the monotony, the damn monsters attacking quest hubs. While a great idea on paper, it fucking sucks in practice. I get that it makes the world seem more alive, more vibrant. But the problem is, it also forces me to break stride in what I wanted to do to make sure I can turn in my quests later. So I am forced to run for miles back to the quest hub, pray other people are there also and do battle with the armies of darkness. While this is occasionally fun and actually offers tangible rewards, I never quite appreciate the whole idea of "If you do not do this lengthy process right now, key parts of the game will be closed off to you." On top of that it would not be nearly as bad if these incursions were not so constant. There really seems to be no respite from fighting fire goblins. If I try taking a respite from doing so, I see the world chat being spammed with people spewing their idiot talk <i>plus</i> I cannot hand in my quests.<br />
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In the end all this game did was make me go back to World of Warcraft, where I finally got my priest to level 85, and actually get him pretty decently geared. Still have not stepped into a hellish heroic with him yet, but I am at the item level to do so. Really just depends on when I want to be punished for wanting to get good gear. But see that? World of Warcraft lets me choose when I want to be punished, as opposed to having the bosses attack the Shrine of Avina. I get some people like the idea of world events happening around them completely out of their control. Rift is certainly a game for them, on a PvP server for maximum forced stress. As for me though, if I am going to play a game so much like World of Warcraft, but infinitely more stressful in a way I do not like, I will simply play World of Warcraft instead.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-40042373262086751482011-03-10T00:05:00.000-05:002011-03-10T00:05:44.851-05:00Quick listQuick list of the top 10 games I missed the boat on that I need to finish...or start to play (no order in terms of importance)<br />
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1. Half- Life<br />
2. God of War<br />
3. Dragon Age: Origins<br />
4. Shadow of the Colossus<br />
5. Earthbound<br />
6. Devil May Cry<br />
7. Fallout<br />
8. Persona<br />
9. Panzer Dragoon<br />
10. Shadow HeartsKesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-76892105784927051872011-03-06T23:48:00.000-05:002011-03-06T23:48:30.728-05:00Fable 3A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I promised I was going to play Fable 3 upon my completion of Halo: Reach. So really me talking about this damn game has been a long time coming. I finished it something like a month ago, I don't know. I mean I could go check, but that would require me turning on the Xbox, which shall not be done as House is on right now, and nothing interrupts my viewing of that show...nothing. So anyhow, let's talk about Fable 3 and what a piece of crap it was. Well...gave away my opinion right there didn't I? I should really talk more about this I guess, so here it goes. Click on to see the rest of the article.<br />
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So I decided to give the Fable series another chance after Halo: Reach decided to show me that a series as bland as wall Spackle can eventually churn out something worth being played. I played the first Fable game way back when before the 360 came out, and it was impossible to hate anymore. It was boring beyond reproach, bland and did not feature one original idea. While the moral choice system of gaming was still in its infancy, you had games like Knights of the Old Republic doing it infinitely better. Fable just had you kicking puppies, where as Revan could tear shit up if you decided to. It had a leveling system that left nothing to the imagination, and the world itself was so cookie-cutter, I'm still surprised everything wasn't shaped like a Christmas tree, a five pointed star, and a gingerbread man.<br />
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So fast-forward to the tail end of 2010, and we're up to the third Fable game. I skipped Fable 2, because really, after disliking the first one so much and seeing that about fuck-all changed while watching my friends play it, why would I bother with the second one? So back to the original point. I took the plunge and bought the third game, trying to push aside any prejudice I had about the series in order to give the game a blank slate, make sure it was judged by its own merits. In the end though, this was a complete waste of time and effort, as I could have honestly taken any thoughts I had about Fable 1, apply them to this supposedly new game and almost nothing would have been off the mark.<br />
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Albion is still a world full of things you do not need to do, and if you do happen to do them, there is really no tangible reward. Any reward you would also get, even if it were an actual help, would not be needed anyway, as all you need to beat the game is two thumbs and half of a working eye. Playing on the normal setting was such an absolute joke that I only died in the game once, and that was only because I was not paying the slightest bit of attention to the game at that moment. Regardless of this though, there is no such thing as an armor stat, so your frilly pirate prince shirt apparently affords all the same protection of that suit of armor you bought.<br />
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The story to this game, while keeping a sense of flow, is completely stupid. By the by, I am going to spoil the whole plot here, because it's fucking March, the game came out in November and a Paddington Bear book reads better. You're the prince...your brother, the king sucks. He's a dick, and he hadda break a few eggs in front of you to make his royal omelet. So you get mad, run away like a sissy, and get people to follow you by hugging them, or playing patty-cake, or fighting some easy undead a paraplegic 4 year old can fend off. Then you go yell at him, he gives you the kingdom, then you have to fight off the BP oil spill with the help of a man with a hookah, and a bald woman Lion Head had the common sense to leave out a romance subplot for, because bald women are gross. I am guessing there is a message there somewhere. Oh and you also have the help of a gruff, old British man who suffers a series of personal trials that makes you care infinitely more about him than any of the faceless whores you can marry and knock up in the game.<br />
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Speaking of those...things, like in any Fable game you can marry almost any NPC you meet in the course of the game. However, each city only has about a grand total of oh...I dunno, 4 face models, maybe. Or maybe it's only 4 face models stretched out over the course of the game with differing clothing, who knows. Point is, like I said, you can marry any of these people, and have children, assuming it is a heterosexual relationship (I guess, I wouldn't know if Albion has Butt-babies). However, the problem is with this game, and the games before this is that if you are a remotely normal person, you will not give a crap about any of the semi-faceless, one word-track set of people you can become betrothed to. If you can somehow find yourself giving half a crap about the NPCs you can do anything with in this game, then that simply means you are the type of person that goes into a department store and names all the mannequins, and remembers those names on each subsequent visit.<br />
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Lastly combat is the same as it has been in Fable previous; if you use melee, you're an idiot. Dump everything into AoE magic and go nuts. You can target spells, but why would you? You have near infinite health and eventually you can cover the screen in pretty much everything you want. I happened to choose lake of fire+ raining ice shards. However, I am sure that like the rest of this pointless game, the magic combos you use are totally up to you.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-89217971413457851082011-01-28T00:16:00.001-05:002011-01-29T11:36:16.769-05:00Halo: ReachI normally find myself responding to the release of a new Halo game in the same fashion, with a resounding "Ughhhhhhh...", then remembering that I should not be surprised at the fact that people who like their games as bland and unoriginal as a cinder block exist, and exist in force. Since 2001, we have all been drowned in the mediocrity of Halo and it's crowd of middle schoolers corpse-humping people between shots of Ritalin pills administered by parents too lazy to notice that their son, whose balls have not dropped yet is thoroughly telling a grown man off who just wanted to unwind after a day of work, and instead has to listen to some little pissant go on about fucking his mom in all the octaves that Justin Beiber will no longer be able to reach once the hormones for his gender reassignment surgery take over and he will finally be a real boy. Ten fucking years and that boy still has somehow not grown up, or he has cloned himself ad nauseum into some sort of barely pubescent army that has infected the world of online gameplay. Honestly this type has been around since before Halo. But somehow the union of console online gameplay and the console first person shooter have made some sort of scary singularity that pulls in all the dickheads with a headset and brings them directly into the realm where a normal sane person just wants some time to face other players in a competitive game. Fuck, nowadays it is a risk playing Uno on XBL. Uno...really?<br />
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Now until recently, I had never been big into competitive multiplayer in games, especially ones with a single-player mode. Fighting games may be the only exception, but honestly if you buy a fighting game just to slug it out with the computer until the end of time, then it really is high time you go outside and see what the sky looks like. Pushing that fact aside though, the whole idea of testing my ability against other people was never something that I found satisfying. Even in games like WoW, competitive multiplayer was never anything I took to as more than a passing fancy. I think I did maybe two arena matches, then promptly wanted to jam an icepick into my eye socket in an effort to find something more fun to do.<br />
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Now between the last two paragraphs, we have established I am not the biggest fan of two things: The Halo series and competitive multiplayer. So what the frak was I doing buying Halo: Reach? By simply looking at the box, one could easily tell it's a Halo game; it has a Spartan, fuck it has many Spartans, it has vaguely futuristic-looking weapons, and it even goes so far to have the word Halo boldly proclaimed on the box, like this is supposed to be a good thing. Well in my infinitely shrinking amount of personal time, with all this bullshit of trying to be an adult, I find myself having not the free time, nor the patience to sit down with the traditional turn-based RPG's I have loved in the days of olde. So this problem has made me decide to go back to genres and series I have written off in the past in the hopes of finding something fun that can accommodate the fact I very rarely have 8 hours straight to sit down and play a game. So really...how is this experiment starting for me? Am I going to be flocking to the world of XBL with gusto, getting headshots like prostitutes get STDs? Or will I cower back to my RPG's, resigned to the fact it will forevermore take me months to finish a game simply because I need to grind experience points endlessly?<br />
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Well if Halo: Reach is any indication of my ability to like shooters, both single player and multi, then I may have a future in this. While not the best game by any stretch, hell no, it is a game under the Halo banner sporting a story that at least looks like it was written by someone with an education past the fourth grade in a school made fully of lickable lead paint chips. It is a story about sacrifice, duty, guns, tanks, dog tags and other manly things. And these things are spoken about...sometimes, by characters with more personality than a piece of pvc piping, but less than...a mentally challenged deaf cat. The voice acting is flat, full of that manliness that such a game should have I guess. It's less Saving Private Ryan and more Saving Private Ryan done by an acting class of people fresh from their frontal lobotomies. Thankfully though, Reach does do away with the paint chips, and replaces it with asbestos insulation, so while it is still not an ideal change, your will not become retarded and die quickly from the sheer stupidity of what is going on, it is a lot more gradual now.<br />
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But story...psh that is simply a holdover from my RPG days dammit. I don't play a shooter to deal with pussy things like narrative, I play them to put bullets into things that want to put bullets...or plasma into me. As far as this goes, at least from my novice perspective, Reach does this pretty well on the single-player front. The missions, at least compared to previous Halo games where all you do is point your wooden Master Chief man at things and hold down right trigger till nothing besides you in the room can move, are actually pretty varied. There are plenty of vehicle sessions that do not feel totally shoe-horned, the best being the space fighter level. Fuck, this may be the best part of the game, and it has absolutely nothing to do with shooting from a first person perspective. If Microsoft took that one level and made a whole game out of it, I would be first on line to pre-order it from my local Gamestop/Pawnshop (synonyms). But besides vehicles which may or may not doing excessive barrel rolls, while thoughts of mentor-ish rabbits dance through my head, the missions are varied and do actually pull the plot forward. The sense of progression, while samey in the sense that most of the time you are shooting the same types of enemies ad nauseum, is present by impressive set-pieces and areas to run around and gun-butt grunts.<br />
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The multiplayer is...fun. For the most part. Some of the types of play I just cannot wrap my head around, like King of the Hill. In the end I just wanna shoot guys with my shotgun, or my DMR. This is more of me and how I like to play games though. Teams also never really work well for me, probably for the same reason they do not normally work on XBL. People on the service (including me) are fucktards who cannot coordinate a trip to the bar, let alone an attack plan that involves many people. So I tend to find myself sticking more to solo slayer style festivities. Also I get that all games, including shooters are looking for ways to keep players coming back, but this RPG leveling up shit that comes with all mutliplayer needs to stop. Probably the only rewards I could possibly give a crap about in Reach multi are the varied helmet styles. But no, on top of that we have to add arbitrary pipes to the existing helmets, if nothing else to pad the amount of time the most grind happy idiots spend on the multiplayer, corpse-humping each other. Why do I need to be a Warrant Officer to wear certain types of wristguards? And are there really any added benefits, like ones that fucking matter? My pink and seafoam green Spartan would love to know, as it feels right now like I am only playing out 'manly' Barbie dress-up. Now excuse him while he hops in his plastic Corvette and heads back to the Dream House.<br />
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Probably my biggest complaint about Halo: Reach is the lack of any proper boss fights. All the challenges in the game at least on a normal setting come from me simply being impatient and not looking around to see all threats. Instead of boss fights, the game just seems to throw hordes at you, large ones. However the field is always arranged to where groups or even individuals can be cut off from each other, making the takedown steady and easy. Unless of course if you get too close to an elite and the motherfucker whips out an energy sword that he was storing for a rainy day and cuts you to ribbons. But that is not even a bossfight, that is a cop-out as sometimes he will pull out the sword and sometimes not. Tries 1-3 he will sword up, try 4 he will not but ill die because I jumped on a plasma grenade, then try 5 I am being pureed by Elite asshole again. Eventually I will just whip out my own fuck you button and stick him with a blue spider, but in the end that does not make me feel like I accomplished something, it feels more akin to me hitting the "Skip level" option after dying a lot in Splosion Man...which I have never done...no siree.<br />
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In the end though, I bought the game on sale back in November, and I have to ask myself...did I get forty dollars worth of game? The answer is yes, although barely. If nothing else Halo: Reach has made me curious in the genre, if not its own parentage. I can have fun with a shooter, and I did in Halo: Reach, but I feel like there has to be something better out there than what Bungie presented in their last rodeo with the Spartans. And through me not hating this game, maybe I will have the patience to slog through some other manly cock-extension toting games and see if I can warm to the genre. But until then, I will try another game series I have previously written off as utter shit. Fable 3, I'm coming for you.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-70778099670796087582011-01-12T23:44:00.000-05:002011-01-12T23:44:39.389-05:00Katamari ForeverSo I got a PS3 for Christmas. And since I got a PS3, this opened me to a whole world of exclusive games that I have always wanted to play, but haven't had the chance to. My current plan is to still use the Xbox for games that go on all platforms, for a very petty reason. I am invested in achievements as opposed to trophies. Switching now would be like switching my main in WoW. All that work down the toilet, no thank you. So yes, my PS3 will be seeing a lot of play, just not exactly as much as my Xbox. But anyway, I have started a few games on the new system, most notably God of War. The first one, yes I have dabbled in the game, but never really plowed through it, so I am hoping to change that, and when I do, I will review the trilogy as a whole. For right now however, I am going to talk about one of the games I was most excited for, one of the reasons I really wanted this system. Hit the jump to see me babble about Katamari Forever.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Katamari Damacy was one of the biggest surprises of my life when it first came out. It was...well no other way to say it, a twenty dollar gaming orgasm. For all of the simplicity, it delivered such a quirky and addictive experience that I could not put the controller down, and I think for many people who were heavy gamers during the PS2 era, this is a classic that will always be remembered. But we're now in the next generation, and like switching out the Enterprise for something bigger between series, it was instantly evident the kawaii simplicity in the first Katamari game was not enough for today's sequel heavy market. This started in the second game (We <3 Katamari), adding that little map, open-ended gameplay setup that pushed the game in a good, logical direction. With such varied levels in the game, why not let us re-experience them in any order we wish? That game was one that was still full of life, not the same sort of new, unexpected flash of brilliance that was the first Katamari Damacy, but one that decided to show how you can take that simple concept and flesh it out, and in adding new music and some new theme stages, made for a very welcome experience that may actually be considered the seminal Katamari game. After that, no game bearing the quirky title would be released on the Playstation 2.<br />
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It was after this that the series took a turn that I can only really describe as aimless. It seems after the games stopped being on the PS2, we got the functional but ultimately forgettable PSP Me & My Katamari, and then the Xbox 360 game, Beautiful Katamari. Now both these games were interesting and both suffered from problems, mainly stemming from not feeling as imaginative as the first two games, while also having other, game-specific problems. Could it be that the rolling magic could not last forever? Well if Katamari Forever on the PS3 is any indication, then yeah...it seems simple, unadulterated fun can indeed get stale, the joy that comes from rolling up a town can get routine and when you decide to stop exploring the possibilities within a genre and just wallow in its own glory and bullcrap then it is indeed time to up and die.<br />
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I should probably do my best to qualify that last statement with something resembling an actual explanation of how the game is. Well first of all, the game is the most uninspired work to ever come out of this series. Almost, if not all of the levels are copy/pasted from old Katamari games, with no effort made to ever think outside of the box already established by the earlier entries. This may not seem like a horrible offense for a game like Katamari Forever, as the levels are still outside of the established box of what we see in most games, however Katamari now has enough entries in its own, self-contained library that it has indeed created its own box. Not only does this entry fail to think outside of this established box, it curls up as much as it can into the fetal position, trying to be in as much of the center of the box as possible, if nothing else, creating a smaller, more annoying box where it looks out at what has come before and thinks of it as some sort of bizarre ball filled dogma, not to be changed or broken in anyway, lest some Japanese god become angry and smite Namco. Not only is every stage copy/pasted from a previous entry, but even the themes are re-hashed, giving the whole game an entirely lazy feel.<br />
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On top of the whole re-used level design of gameplay, everything honestly feels more empty than their previous incarnations, almost as if they were trying to increase the difficulty. They tried to pull this crap in the Xbox Katamari as well, difficulty is not something I want in my rolling sticky-ball games. I play the games to calm down and have fun with a friend or two, I have no desire to have to re-roll a continent because some man with a long head tells me I was not fast and/or good enough.<br />
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I said before the themes on top of the stages are something that are completely redone. On this note I mean they are redone to the tee. Not one gameplay element is redone, and the most egregious examples come in the stages that are manifested in the King's subconscious. Not only are these stages old and done before, being redone with the lack of imagination you see in today's cinema, but even worse, are black and white, only coloring themselves object by object as you collect things to "help" the comatose King's memory. There is one stage in which this is a damn nightmare. Anyone remember the old stage where you have to roll around hot objects to get your heat level up? Well you get to do this again, only everything is black and white, and sometimes this makes telling what is hot and what is cold a horrible game of trial and error...and failure. My god the failure. Like playing spin the bottle in a Leper colony.<br />
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Somewhat less annoying are the stages that in the end only wish you to get as big as possible, doing the will of the Robo King, if nothing else apologizing for the exacting goals of the Real King's levels. But even in these stages, do you get ultimately vestigial goals, often not needed as they are only fulfilled by rolling up as much as possible. Oh roll up as many powerful things as possible, what the hell does that even mean? I did not bother thinking too much on what this really means and instead just got as big as possible. Everything worked out in the end, so really there was no point in them saying anything like that in the first place. This problem again, adds to the lazy feel of the design, while some of the goals are hard...at least, others like this just feel like they were tacked on to pad out the script and make you feel like you have a goal besides get huge, which is sad. Getting as big as a pregnant Godzilla is pretty much what I always want to do in these games.<br />
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Remember what I said before about not one gameplay element being redone? While nothing is refined, the game did decide to tack on two new gameplay elements that range from pretty useful to controller-through-TV angering. The first, and usually good new happy fun snack is the King's Broken Heart, which comes in two forms. One will suck everything small enough to be sucked within a certain radius to you, instantly increasing your size, sometimes many times over. This is really handy when timed right. Just because you can grab one of these nom noms, it doesn't mean you should right away. Any stage can be beaten without it, where as getting a good overall score in stages will sometimes rely on you grabbing this item right away and growing at times to that stage swallowing girth. The other version of this heart is a lot less useful. What it does is make you an object magnet for a short period of time. While this would seem like a much greater boon, in that it lasts for the 10 seconds or whatever it goes on for, but the magnetic type pull is very small, and usually you will find yourself simply pulling up things you were rolling to anyway accomplishing crap-all in the end. This power-up I never found to be speeding up my roll times, no matter how strategically I would try to use it, definite downgrade from the first form.<br />
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The other addition to the core gameplay is nothing short of totally useless, although I would expect nothing less fueled by the six-axis control system. By flicking your controller, you can make your ball jump...like it's six bottles of Delerium Tremens in. The Katamari jumps unnaturally high and is never particularly useful, except when the game goes out of its way to put the aforementioned Broken Hearts in an awkward place requiring a well-timed hop, in which case, you will find your mind going blank with rage as you try to precision jump your ball, which works as well as putting your testicles in a gasoline-soaked flaming vice. After you pick the pieces of controller plastic out of the fresh hole in your TV, you will eventually find out (or have someone else notice) that R2 also makes the ball jump, totally bypassing the horrible controller flicking. While this will now have the ball jump 100% of the time, that doesn't mean it will make the jumping work in the way you want it to, ever. No, if nothing else now you did the stupid thing and raised your expectations, and while now you don't have to rely on a sensor that is dodgier than the NES Zapper setup, you're still trying to make your Prince jump in a way that suggests the smack withdrawal is just too much and needs the help of a Methadone clinic.<br />
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After you give up on trying to make the Katamari jump at all, you're going to notice something else that shows at this point Katamari Forever is just a game masturbating to the high-quality stuff that is the first two games. All of the music in this entry are remixes of older songs. Now don't think I am totally knocking this idea, some of the songs are great, while some would be better used as punishment for people in one of the deeper circles of Hell. The best songs tend to be the 8-bit remixes, but that is largely a matter of personal taste. At least they didn't pull a Me & My Katamari and just use old soundtracks all over again, nothing done to them at all. In the end though, the music in the first two Katamari games, while representing some of the greatest songs in a video game I have ever had the pleasure of hearing, should not be used as a stand-in for new music to come out and maybe take their place among my favorite songs in gaming. While again not bad by any stretch, it is almost cheating, grasping at the nostalgia factor, even if Namco seems to consider nostalgia being less than five years old in some cases.<br />
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Really when it comes down to it, Katamari Forever is a game that while fun, was not needed whatsoever. It feels like a greatest hits album for a band that might have had some life left in it if it simply tried. But no, it seems after the dismal game Noby Noby Boy, Namco cannot rush their colorful series into the wasted on a couch making a VH1 Behind the Music stage of life. If they wish to take their shotgun and put two between the eyes of the dog before they're sure it has rabies, that's their business, but it is a shame. There was the fun that we have come to expect from Katamari Damacy in Katamari Forever, it was just unfortunate all the fun came from fun we have already had. So if you're a fan of the endless re-hash, then go grab Dipp, he's in the exact same firefly stage we have seen him in before, and start making the ball bright so that kid can read his damn book.<br />
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-KesithKesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-85691687754998406662011-01-02T23:53:00.000-05:002011-01-02T23:53:46.398-05:00My games of the yearMy friend Steve made a short Facebook (It's a little weird that word is still considered misspelled.) post the other day about the games he has played, rating them and then saying what his favorite game of the year is. I meant to copy him, doing the same thing with the games I have played this year, but then I realized why don't I just take this chance and return to my blog with some game of the year talk. So I am gonna do something I am not always fond of doing. I am going to apply number grades to the games I talk about. Everything will also get a brief review, colored through the lenses of hindsight, as I am not gonna sit down and play these games again simply for this article. Alright, let's get started, well we'll get started after the break.<br />
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Transformers: War for Cybertron is a game I should like more, and I did initially. Anyone who knows me knows that I am indeed a fan-boy of all things Transformers. While playing the game, I loved it, as the writing was yanked right from the 80's camp the original cartoon had, and the voices, when not done by their original voice actors, still captured the spirit of the character so well I really got sucked into playing the game, all the while not being able to take a step back and realize what a generic shooter it really is. I am not usually a person glued to the TV plugging away with any gun game I can find, so after I finally beat Gears of War for Cybertron and stopped playing the multi-player (another thing I so rarely do in games) I kinda stood back and realized the game play is not that inspired. It was actually more like a rip-off of other games, cough Gears of War cough. It's worth playing through if you're an utter fan-boy like me, but otherwise it's a meh title at best. 6.5/10<br />
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Crackdown 2 is exactly what a sequel should not be, bland, and containing less. After sprinkling brown on the landscape from the first game, and hollowing out some buildings, Crackdown 2 decided to go into the campaign and get rid of the multi-tiered system of gang elimination, instead making you run around turning on all the zombie killing flashlights. And if you stopped engaging in this activity for more than 5 seconds, the narrator berates you for not doing your job. Add that to ruining the individual looks of different agents, instead going for the generic space marine cop soldier clone thing look, and the un-fun weapon selection you somehow got a game that was less than its predecessor. But wait! This installment has multi-player! While this was actually a lot of fun for a while, some technical issues I suffered, and horrible game balancing in the Rocket Tag event, it was nothing that lit a fire under my ass. In the end, I ran around from roof to roof collecting every orb I could find, and I killed plenty of people online. Not the worst game ever, but by no means a good game. 5.5/10<br />
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Final Fantasy 13 was one of the biggest wastes of time in my life. I am not even going to go over it, just the memories are making me cringe. 2/10<br />
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Dragonquest IX is a game that proves old school RPGs can still be awesome, even in the glitzy and glamorous world of modern games. Engaging dungeons, a great, time-tested battle system and charming music, topped off with bright, beautiful graphics that make every character burst with life, at least when given a personality. My big gripe about this game was that while the jump in/jump out multi-player is great idea, the game is definitely geared a bit too much for it. The grinding gets to be a bit much when playing by yourself, like I mostly did. 8/10<br />
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Poker Night at the Inventory is...funny. That's really it. The poker portion of it to me is not the star of the show. I would actually prefer if a series of internet shorts were made with these characters. Have them play poker, sure, but I don't need it, or even want it to be a game. Sometimes I will get knocked out just so I can sit back and listen to the well written dialogue. I also wish Jerry Holkins actually did the voice of Tycho, but hey, that is pretty nitpicky. It's a basic poker game at the end...and in a world of online poker for real money, well let's just say I paid five dollars for the game, and that is basically the max one should pay. Gameplay- 4/10 Writing and Humor- 8/10<br />
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Flat out...there need to be more games like Just Cause 2. This game did not give a shit about presenting a story that mattered. It was really just one big excuse to blow up as many things as possible, while having some of the best run and gun gameplay ever presented in a sandbox format. My only real complaint about this great time was the sheer size of the game. It is by far the largest sandbox game ever...and really it's too big at times. It is, in this case possible to have too much of a good thing. Thankfully those planes fly really fast. 9/10<br />
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Pokemon (A rightly spelled word in the eyes of Blogger) Heart Gold/ Soul Silver was a re-trekking that the series needed. Often cited as the best region Pokemon ever had, we finally got a DS re-hash that while offering those...to me pointless extras, the core Pokemon gameplay is blessedly intact. I feel like this game was somehow made to be somehow less of a timesink than the other games, as I noticed the time it takes to grind has been greatly reduced. I would welcome this change to extend itself to the upcoming Black/White, as the best parts of the game usually happen after you actually beat the Elite Four. However, the time required usually just to get to that point is typically insane. So this may signal a trend coming that I would be first on line to cheer for. 8.5/10<br />
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World of Warcraft Cataclysm. Hm...what do I say about this. It is honestly an expansion of a game that has already devoured my soul...and time. Most people who know me personally know I spend entirely too much time on this game, and this game has done nothing but redouble my addiction. The new zones for high-level players are fun and well designed, and the new 1-60 is an altoholics dream. I am not going to talk about this game a lot, as you already know if you like it or not. I won't even give it a number, as it is a MMO, and always evolving, just know I like it. <br />
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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood continues the tradition set forth by AC2 by being fucking awesome. While the gameplay is largely unchanged, it really did not need to be. The extras thrown into the game such as the training sequences are largely fun, and sometimes actually informative. I did have a couple of gripes with the game though. While training your boyscout troop of would be Assassins, the idea it is done entirely through text based adventures makes the whole experience ring a bit hollow and tacked on. However, when taking your little group into the real world of things also has the effect of making the game entirely too easy. Any mission in which killing one person was the goal, they would usually instantly die under a hail of crossbow bolts. While this was often mitigated in the main game by making the whole story mission process multi-tiered in nature, any side mission, especially the ones in which you would kill a Templar agent were just silly. However, honestly pales in comparison to the top-notch story, with superb pacing and a well-thought out and satisfying payoff, on both the Ezio side and Desmond side. This would have been my game of the year if...9.0/10<br />
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...Mass Effect 2 did not exist. This game took all the stat balancing crap out of ME1 and threw it to the wayside to a level-up menu that is so trimmed and perfectly lean I want to make every RPG like it. As I stated earlier, I am not a shooter person by any stretch of the imagination, but this game took that generalization, and made me throw it right out the fuckin window. Fun gameplay mixed with writing that is...at the very least unparalleled and I find myself gripped fully in a space opera that makes me forget all about George Lucas' space-witches. The morality system that was started with the first Knights of the Old Republic is faithfully carried over, allowing you to fully realize the personality of your Shepard, male or female. Looking past the fully realized main character, there is also a fleshed out secondary party of characters that make your space ship come to life. It is hard to honestly name a favorite, as even the one's I did not use in the game, I loved in terms of a talking-buddy when hanging out on the hub ship. This is something that never really happens to me with a game, but Bioware found a way of writing characters that while they may not be for you combat-wise, you still wish to have them represented in your game. This is one of the few modern generation games I have played through more than once...and probably the only one I have played through more than twice. The first trailer for the third game is already out, and I honestly could not be more excited. While this is not my favorite game ever, it is definitely in my top five, maybe in my top three. To me it also represents the zenith of what 2010 had to offer, in terms of graphics, gameplay and writing. Everything came together in a way that made every moment a seriously rare joy. 10/10<br />
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Now while these were not the only games that I played throughout the year, these were the ones I played that not only came out in 2010, but they were also the ones that I played enough to fully feel qualified enough to review. 2011 already seems like a year in which...many games will come out. I honestly feel a bit fearful for modern games, as all the major systems now have their motion controllers out, and this is just to me...gameplay tends to suffer when waving your arms around gets shoved down your throat. I hope dearly Microsoft and Sony keep their motion controllers at the niche area they are in right now, and let game studios concentrate on the continuation of refining gameplay, and the upbringing of great game writing.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-80349257927192838202010-11-21T23:57:00.000-05:002010-11-21T23:57:08.087-05:00I tried writing something, but this is god damn annoying.Last week I broke my hand and I have a hard time typing quickly. I wanted to write a long blog post about the new Assassin's Creed, but really, while I can type with my left hand, it is only one finger at a time, and the way I have to hold my arm weighs on me, on account of the cast. And well I still plan on talking about Assassin's Creed tomorrow, because well I was gonna do it tonight, but I ended up getting my Kingslayer title instead. That's right mutha fucker! Turthias the Kingslayer, woooooo. Anyhoo, see ya tomorrow.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-12277335138150770902010-11-13T14:28:00.000-05:002010-11-13T14:28:03.155-05:00Woah it's been a whileBeen a few weeks, yes I noticed. I do actually have something of an excuse though, in that I have been working at a new job, with hours completely different from that I was used to. To that end my body has been in something of a weird shut down mode lately. I barely go out, all I really do lately is work, come home, then play WoW. Ill pop off for dinner somewhere in there, but that is the basic itinerary lately. As a result of this, I really haven't had much to write about lately. Sure I have been playing tons of Warcraft, but really it's more of the same for now until Cataclysm. Luckily it seems like I am getting some spring in my step back, and just in time for the new Assassin's Creed game, for which I am very excited. I guess I can talk briefly about what I have been doing, and maybe write something more substantial tomorrow, get back into the groove of things.<br />
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WoW- Well at least one good thing has happened lately to me in the Warcraft universe. I found a guild that I seem to gel with a bit. The last two were not good for me at all, and I was starting to get worried I wouldn't be able to find people I liked playing with again. I had a good, tight group once upon a time, but they have, for the most part decided to stop playing WoW, or they moved servers. The guild is ran by the boyfriend of a WoW buddy I lost contact with for a while, and it seems they have a good group of people around them. Went raiding on Thursday and for the first time in my WoW-ing, got up to Sindragosa in 10 man ICC. We're going again on Sunday it seems, and I am looking forward to the chance of maybe, just maybe getting my Kingslayer title on Turthias. Other than that, not much has been going on my WoW world, got swift flying on my priest, and been leveling a human Warlock somewhat quickly. He is level 42 now. With WoW I am really just waiting for the expansion to come, so I can have an experience bar back on my Paladin and eventually throw him headlong into some new content. Till then though, I have been actually having a good time with this new bunch of people, let's just hope this one sticks.<br />
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I have been playing other games too, just not as much. Oddly enough these games are for the most part, throwback games I have not touched in a long time. Beautiful Katamari is one such game. I haven't touched it in a long long time, but lately I find myself picking it up every other day or so. Actually got a bunch of achievements I was missing too, which is really a good thing. It's been a while since I hit the 10k Gamerscore mark, but since then I have remained stagnant it seems. Mainly due to the lack of new games I guess.<br />
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Soul Calibur 4 is another game that is worming its way back into my life. I had the game, but I had to re-download it since my physical copy of the game was stolen a long time ago. I am terribly out of practice with this game though, and it shows. Floor 17 of the Tower of Souls is kicking my ass like no other, and it is at best, frustrating. At worst, I may throw my controller at my TV, but usually I am able to recognize such rage coming, and turn off the game before it actually happens.<br />
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With my new job, it seems my appetite for hand-held gaming has fallen to the wayside, though that is not surprising, don't have the dick-around time I used to. Alrighty, time to go about my day, expect something tomorrow about the new WoW book, which I read, and shall subsequently speak of.<br />
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-KesithKesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-37939306343853031882010-10-24T19:34:00.000-04:002010-10-24T19:34:06.332-04:00Taking the week off.I have been busy...and sick. So no update this week. Let's see how gaming jives with my new lifestyle.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-91215673902451446242010-10-17T23:48:00.000-04:002010-10-17T23:48:30.164-04:00I am a Paladin in patch 4.0.1I found out this week that my laptop is a useless piece of crap when it no longer had the space to contain the MMO juggernaut that is World of Warcraft. The new patch came out this week, breaking down and rebuilding the core concepts of so many classes. On top of that, established game systems were turned all upside down and changed. What does that mean for me though, a Paladin who likes getting punched squarely in the face and sometimes smacking things with a huge weapon? I just wanna talk about what this patch did for me today, I am not gonna go over this whole change to the game, because frankly, it's too much, I haven't played around with all the changes, and there are far better places to get that kind of information. So fuck it, let's get a move on. Cut goes here, so ya know, click on the title to read more.<br />
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First of all, let's talk about the most obvious change to me playing a Paladin. What the fuck is this bar under my mana? Well, that is Holy Power, the whole new resource for Paladins that acts kind of like a Rogue's combo point system. We build up Holy Power by primarily using Crusader Strike, which is no longer a Retribution only talent, it is used by every flavor of the Paladin spectrum. Other moves can grant Holy Power based on talents and such, however it seems that Crusader Strike, Holy Shock and Hammer of the Righteous (Holy Shock for healers and HotR for tanks) Once we have three Holy Power stacked up, we unleash some sort of finisher. For Ret Paladins, this would be Templar's Verdict for single targets, and Divine Storm for groups. Tanks have Shield of the Righteous, and the main dump for Holy Power is Word of Glory with the healer types. Now first of all, lemme just say everyone actually has access to Word of Glory, but it will be mainly Holy Paladins using it. Secondly, I said before to stack Holy Power until you have the max of three stacks. You will always want to do this, no matter what. This is because any finisher that uses Holy Power gets stronger with the more stacks. Finishers charged with only one or two stacks hit for pitifully small amounts, whether it be damage or healing so really, wait a fuggin moment and make sure your entire Holy Power bar is glowing.<br />
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Now this new resource has been a major game changer for me, and I am sure every Paladin worth his or her Tier 10. First of all, I just don't spam every ability I have anymore, when it is off cooldown. Both of my talent trees, (ret/prot) each have a bunch of proc talents that really mix up my rotation and dictate what I should be doing. Also not every move is useful anymore for every situation. Divine Storm is a useless finisher against a singular boss, Templar's Verdict is the clear choice now, especially when it can crit for 17k, and often does. Also, like I said earlier, I wait for my Holy power to stack to three, so you will find me holding off on actually using my finishers, even when they're off cooldown. Ret ramps up Holy power fast, prot not so much, and I have no idea about holy.<br />
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So when it comes down to it, it seems Paladins have gone from this first come, first serve ability class to something resembling a rotation, with a heavy heavy proc bent. I have to say I really enjoy this style of play compared to what I was doing. While it did take me a few heroics to get my bearings with my new playstyle, I find it's great because I actually have to pay attention. For retribution, I actually have to watch my myriad procs (although they are hard to miss with the new, and I have to say, awesome Power Auras) while keeping an eye out for the right time to unleash some beastly finisher. It's a lot better while fighting with my head turned away from the computer screen, watching TV while hitting random numbers and doing good dps. Flat out, we were something of a faceroll spec previously, and it is nice that they found a way to mix us up while keeping true to the class. Prot...is a bit odd on the other hand. Hammer of the Righteous hits for pitiful damage now, and really should not be used against single targets. SoR was re-tooled to be a single target Holy Power dump, which is great for boss threat and the like, but we really have no group finisher, nothing to really knock around a group of bad guys. I find myself in those situations actually using Word of Glory more than SoR, giving the healer a bit of help. From what I can tell, I should just be tossing Avenger's Shield whenever it is ready in groups, with a nice new 15 second cooldown now making it more than just an initial pull ability. I just need to re-do that spell over to a mouseover macro and maybe then I can use it on someone other than me. Tanking is a bit odd right now, but that may be because we are still in the Wrath dungeons. From videos I have seen, I think Cataclysm dungeons were better made for the way I tank now. I was also a bit worried about the removal of the ability to make Divine Plea last forever, but that was all for naught as Judgements of the Wise may in fact be a better way to restore mana than eternal Divine Plea. I am also a big fan of Vengeance, the DPS boost it gives is certainly welcome in the face of so many of my moves being nerfed on the face of things damage wise.<br />
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Besides actually fighting, there are more craaaazy-ass changes to the Paladins, in our talent trees. First of all, the talent trees have been reduced from 51-point to easier and honestly more interesting 31-point talents. It is in these trees we see a lot of boring shit chopped out and thrown into our new shiny mastery abilities, which feels like a big Christmas present of awesome given to you at level 10. Actually I wouldn't know yet, I haven't really played around with a lowbie, so I had everything anyway. But really I have to say the talent trees are actually exciting, especially compared to what they used to be, bloated messes where you would grind out an entire level just to give yourself a point of spell hit or something. While I love the new ret tree and all the fun it brings, like the new Divine Storm, and its new capper, Zealotry, Prot is a bit uninteresting by comparison, just buffing existing abilities, and having the capper being an ability that was nerfed so hard it barely feels like the same ability, Ardent Defender. While Cataclysm may not need such a passive 'oh-shit' ability, with more of a steady damage flow Wrath still does sometimes give you a smash to the face that no healer can be totally ready for, unless they're a robot.<br />
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One thing I have to say I do not like though is the homogenization of relics. My relics did, at least in my opinion, some awesome shit. I would often keep low level relics handy because they would better suit my playstyle than something 'better'. Now they're just another stat stick to be replaced whenever a new tier of gear becomes available, samey gem slot and all.<br />
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Really, Paladin wise, I am a big fan of everything that happened, even if I do have a minor gripe or two. Holy Power certainly took a bit of getting used to, but now that I know what I am doing, I feel like a class that cannot be scoffed at anymore for being too easy to play. When the patch first came out, Blizzard kinda screwed the pooch and nerfed all melee DPS across the board, by accident while casters were dropping tactical nukes in the form of Arcane Missiles. Since they changed their error though, my numbers have actually been where they should be considering my gear. That actually makes me happy now as I feel Blizzard brought their 'bring the player' philosophy to bear on the Paladin, requiring the player to be alert in order to bring the fucking pain. I was bored with ret Paladins for so long, and this change has re-kindled the love I had for this spec when I first started playing WoW, when ret Paladins were dps jokes, unable to make a critter bleed without repeated whacks to the forehead. So all in all, bravo, now to collect Justice Points like a madman till December 7th, when Turthias reacquires an experience bar.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-51054098286389862452010-10-16T22:08:00.002-04:002010-10-17T16:11:44.293-04:00Sonic 4 Episode 1: The Phantom HedgehogOkay so I bought Sonic 4: Episode 1 the other day. I want to talk about it briefly, and I say briefly because...well there is not much to say about it. Is it good? Well that is really up to what you want out of a game that promises a return to form for Sonic the Hedgehog, whose image has been roofied, bent over while passed out, and raped viciously in the ass without protection, giving the small blue hero a maliciously resistant strain of HIV. So in the end what you're really asking, is the promise of a return to form a good one? Compared to the loads of dog shit Sega has shoveled at us for years now, yes. Is it a good game on its own? Meh, kinda, not really. Read on for something more detailed than...meh.<br />
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It's a Sonic game, that is for sure, very much in the vein of Sonic 1-3. It has that fresh coat of HD paint, showing crisp 2-d and a half graphics with surprisingly boring and repeated backgrounds. Looking past anything in the foreground brings about what can be only described as a pit of...copy paste. I have no idea if this was a nod to the retro...or just laziness. Sonic himself looks good, with full animations for his running, and his odd, T-1000 like walk he does leading up to running. I dunno, mixed bag in the graphics area, the foreground stuff is nice, Sonic is nice, backgrounds suck and you only see like 2 enemy types per stage (That I get though...as your speed really keeps you from analyzing any enemy for too long).<br />
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Speaking of speed, when you can keep it up, the game plays great, as Sonic always did. However I find there are way too many stop points, arbitrary walls keeping Sonic from doing his thing. There are even entire stages like this, where speed is kept to a minimum, like the second temple stage, where you are cast into pitch-blackness, the only light coming from a torch Sonic has in his hand. This level is definitely the worst, where you are required to solve a bunch of idiotic puzzles using torches on the wall to cast more light and activate platforms. This isn't fucking Zelda, I play Sonic because I want to run fast. On top of that the game gets pretty platform-heavy at points, treating Sonic too much like he was some very blue form of Mario. At least Mario always controls well. Sonic however, cannot keep forward momentum on a forward jump if you let go of the d-pad. He drops straight down, like a rock, for absolutely no reason. Actually in doing this, the Sonic team took physics and shit all over their laws.When they did this, they made a situation where precision platforming was turned into something that borders on impossible. <br />
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Worst part of the game though from what I can tell is that it is only four worlds. Well four actual worlds, and the ability to replay any Chaos Emerald stages. I really hope four more are revealed...but I doubt they will be. I get this is episode one also, but for 15 dollars I feel like I was ripped off. While the game plays like the Sonics of old, it brings literally nothing new to the table and wallows in what came before way too much. There is almost no reason to spend 15 dollars on the game if you already have the old Sonic games, as this one will not really be standing the test of time like that which came 16 years previous.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3878000730134545047.post-77148463256968537922010-10-10T18:01:00.000-04:002010-10-10T18:01:49.597-04:00Wrath of the Lich King: Looking backI've been scrambling a lot lately in World of Warcraft. Never really standing around just talking with people, shootin the breeze. No, anything social I have been doing in the game has been accompanied by a flurry of activity, whether it be heroics, questing for The Seeker title, or trying to get Rivendare's damn horse. All of this is being done for one simple reason: Cataclysm is coming out soon, December 7th actually. What always seemed as this nebulous, far off thing now has a concrete date, the beta is winding down and there is light at the end of the Lich King tunnel. While running around like a madman though, I have been thinking this entire time, how good is Wrath? Can I even really judge how good the expansion is, as it was my first full WoW experience. I got in on the game three years ago, when BC wasn't new, but not old either. So do I really have the experience needed to accurately talk about Wrath? I think so. I raided, did the PvP, did all the dungeons, so let's give this a go. Read on for more.<br />
<a name='more'></a>This expansion to me, at the very least is one that was leaps and bounds above of Burning Crusade, on many levels. A few though the neon predecessor has it beat. I mean first of all, I don't think anyone can really deny the setting of Wrath is beautiful. Each zone has a different flavor to it that makes questing a visual joy, for the most part. High points for me being Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills. Both are heavily forested areas, that while still not directly tied to the Scourge or Lich King, are still a joy to go through thanks to nice long chains that lead well from one hub to the next, making a story all its own. And actually that is kind of a lie, one of the first places you see the Lich King is Howling Fjord, but it is more of a small part of the quests, the zone really more has to do with you finding out about the various Vykrul races, who all worship the Lich King as an all around swell guy. These zones also kick the crap out of just about all of the Outland Zones, and their bizarre color coding. Give me Borean Tundra any day, especially over the neon fucking rave purple of Netherstorm. Also the zones all have certain story elements tied into them, but all the story elements also tie into each other. Sholazar ties into the Titans, which ties into Storm Peaks, which has Yogg-Saron, which ties into Icecrown and the Scourge mining his black blood in the form of Saronite. Really when you connect the threads woven through the two main conflicts (The Nexus War and the war against the Lich King) you end up with an intricate narrative that makes the disjointed and piecemeal storytelling of Burning Crusade look like it was done by an eight year old.<br />
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Another source of praise is also flavor related. Weapons and armor look fantastic in Wrath, especially compared to Burning Crusade and Vanilla WoW. The armor tends to show off the Norse themes inherit in the expansion, and best of all, you do not look like you were raped by a pack of Skittles, like I often felt in Outland. The tier armor, most of all tier 8, looks amazing. Pretty much anything from Ulduar is absolutely inspired.<br />
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As far as gameplay in Wrath of the Lich King goes, the expansion was very much a mixed bag. The raiding of Wrath started off pretty badly by re-using Naxxramas. Now I never played WoW in the Vanilla days, but from what I understand, Blizzard always felt they didn't get enough mileage out of this instance, due to it coming out in the tail end of the level 60 days. But from what I have read and seen, little effort was made at all to change the dungeon in any meaningful way, instead simply taking the dungeon and re-tuning the encounters to level 80. Things got much better with Ulduar though. Never had the chance to finish it myself, but I have seen every fight I didn't personally do, and I have to say, the place is pure joy. From creative bosses, to lore heavy scenes, to the final amazing encounter with Yogg-Saron, it's easy to see that Ulduar was the raiding high point in Wrath. Ulduar being the high point though, is almost a bad thing given that it was followed up by the dumb as fuck Trial of the Crusader. Way too easy, with only one good encounter, the Twin Valkyrs. Everything else was either just time consuming (Beasts) or gimmicky in a bad way (Faction champions) The final boss was also overgeared so fast, even for a casual raiding guild that he was never a problem at all. ICC, from what I have done is much better, but still not as good as Ulduar. That could also be because my recent ICC raiding is PuG based...which makes me want to fucking stab myself in the eyes.<br />
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I don't PvP a lot, but when I do, I like to mix it up in a Battleground. Two new BG's made an appearance in Wrath, Strand of the Ancients and Isle of Conquest. Strand of the Ancients functions kind of like a mini-Wintergrasp attack/defense thing, with each side trading. It was actually a lot of fun, much for the same reason Wintergrasp is actually fun. The goal was kind of the same too, get the Titan relic. I enjoyed this BG a lot and became happy whenever I got it as a random. Isle of Conquest though, plays like a shittier Arathi Basin with a wall demolition mechanic built in. To this day I still have no clue what I am ever doing in there. Arenas...I cannot comment on at all. Tried it once, didn't like it, just not for me. So like raiding, PvP in wrath is a mixed bag.<br />
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Last thing I want to talk about is what WoW did to existing things that changed how the game is played. First of all, mounts are a joke to get now. This is fantastic. The whole idea of running back and forth everywhere is just so...annoying. Blizzard seemed inclined to agree and lowered the basic mount level from 40 to 30, then down to 20...and with that the fast mount speed was lowered to 40, and basic flying was made to be 60. On top of all of these great changes would be a lowering of the training prices. Another addition to the game was the Looking for Dungeon tool. No more trolling trade chat for a group, begging for a tank. Now from what I can tell, the times you wait for a random dungeon is comparable to the time spent trolling in trade way back when, but hey, this is so much easier. It's like a Ronco grill, set it and forget it. Go farm Saronite while you wait, it's amazing. The last change I want to touch upon is the heirloom gear you can purchase. If you have a level 80, you are able to save up emblems and buy gear for your alts that not only levels up with them, but gets stronger, and gives an XP bonus in the case of armor, weapons do not. While some of the models used could have been better, this overall has made leveling an alt a painless experience and has ushered in a new era of replayability for a lot of people. It did it to me, I have no complaints here. For all three of the things I just mentioned, I really only ever saw elitists complaining on the forums. "Catering to casuals!" they would type, fingers crusty from Cheetos dust. To some degree this is true, but that is not a bad thing. The crazy hardcore fucks of any game, including an MMO do not make up the majority of revenue, so Blizzard helping the people who once in a while want to experience sunlight firsthand is a perfectly fine idea. To anyone that disagrees...really you just need a life. Making the grindy part of a game less grindy helps everyone. Besides, none of these changes are mandatory. Don't want a mount faster? Wait till the old level marks, then buy the training, and then throw away the fucking gold you would have saved. Don't like the lfd tool? Troll trade chat still, though good luck finding 4 other people doing the same. Hate heirlooms? Don't use them, it's as simple as that. Really I think I only go on forums to make myself angry.<br />
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So in conclusion, Wrath...is a damn fine expansion. While it does have some rough and not fun points to it, on the whole it is leaps and bounds ahead of anything put out for the game previously, in both pushing new ideas and streamlining the existing experience. From a story standpoint the expansion was top-notch, finally closing off a main story that has been in the making since Warcraft 3. While the experience overall was fun, I do hope for Cataclysm, Blizzard takes into account what the community said and doesn't fall into the old traps of this expansion. Trial of the Crusader and Naxx 2.0 sucked, so basically do not repeat those and I think WoW forward will be a grand old time.Kesithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401869781908183300noreply@blogger.com0