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Warning: This is an archive, click Here to return to the home page. Click Here to go to the main blog page. Visit my Talk Page if you'd like to discuss anything here.

November 14, 2011

So, Skyrim! I admit, my first 4-5 hours of playtime did not give me a good first impression.

My first and foremost gripe is movement and to a lesser but related extent, controls. My character is slow to move and slow to turn, which is annoying when enemies are all speedsters that are fairly skilled in movement and flanking my ass. The sensitivity doesn't help, as there's no middle ground. It's either too slow or too fast to where I press to turn and I spin around like a top.
That's the most annoying thing for me right now. I can even excuse the ultra-small text, since I can still read it (provided there is a dark enough background). Which is my second issue, and I hope we eventually get a setting to help that. But I doubt we will, since I have the same problem with Dragon Age 2 and there's been nary an update for a "text size" setting.

Some of this has been lessened, however. The movement was mostly a case of "getting used to it". I eventually got it figured out and can do combat with multiple targets without spinning like a top.

Still not sure how I feel about the leveling system yet. I like how "everything" contributes to a complete level up and yet, I don't actually level any faster. Although this is probably because half my beginning playtime was spent getting to Riften so I could get to the Thieves Guild. (Later finding out that I could have taken a carriage and saved a whole hour) But hey, this is a first impressions, not a review. I still wish there was an easier way to level up my sneak, which is VITAL. One little slip and suddenly those two bandits in the Riften Ratway charge me like a couple of wolves. Not gonna call it unbalanced, but it was certainly unfair since I didn't do anything to alert them. I just need a higher sneak.

As far as good things go? Basically everything else.
I love how elves look more iconic now rather than round faces with long ears.
Love the voices.
I love how rivers and water has an active, working current.
I love crafting, but I don't like how am forced to carry around way too much weight in craftable materials. But I accept this, because ingots in real life are NOT light things. Still, it cuts down on my ability to steal as much crap as possible. But hey, trade offs, right?
I love how I'll be able to make like 4 different thief/assassin characters and still not do the same thing twice.

More to come, eventually!

November 10, 2011

So, I'll be playing Skyrim tomorrow evening... And probably won't stop for some months.

So I'll dedicate this post to a quick, simple rundown of my own lore and stories in the TES universe.

I began with three brothers. Each representing the main "classes". The thief, the mage, and the warrior. The thief, the "main", and yet youngest, of the three is a Crime Lord named Matthias. Dalyn, the middle-child, was a Redoran guardsmen of Morrowind. The eldest, Shad'Artael, was a necromancer.
Matthias, (And by the way, no, not this one or that one), is obviously adopted since he was an Argonian in a Dark Elven family.

Anyway, stuff happens in Morrowind. Dalyn gets in over his head and is killed by his brothers, who get along just fine. Some more stuff happens and eventually the remaining two brothers earn long life and a lesser level of immortality, through varying methods. Which is why they survive each installment of the series, especially since Skyrim is 200 years ahead of Oblivion.

Now, I wish I could go into more detail and give you all some context that will make you all actually give a shit when I say that they're both on the last legs of their life. Matthias still has another game left in him, but since Artael is extending his life by magical means... he's becoming increasingly... finished, with life and everything. Matthias may not be as close to actual death, but he's definitely thinking of retiring his criminal empire and handing it off to a long lost daughter - whom he's only discovered a few years before the events of Skyrim. (This is not an asspull, Matthias was very popular and not hard to look at as far as Argonian standards go, and was one hell of a ladies man back in his earlier life).
Matali, the daughter, may become my new "main" TES character. She's mostly the same as Matthias, if a bit more hot-headed and ambitious. And has the Dragonborn thing going for her, which in my sublore, will extend her life without direct magics or Daedric blessings (Matthias' method of immortality was just being awesome enough to impress the higher ups).

I'm doing all this because eventually, my characters can become dated, overpowered, or otherwise dull to play. Maybe they not be as dull but my mind is a character generator, and I cannot play the same one for TOO long.
Which will be my main dilemma, since I only have a couple new concepts to play. The rest, I'll be fiddling with the character creation for what will probably be hours until something, a particular preset face, inspires me.

So yea. See you all in another time and ... well, just time. Same place.

November 6, 2011

So, turns out I -will- be getting Skyrim the -day- it comes out. Funny how luck sometimes works.
The only Guild-Wars newsy piece of info I have is that I gave the full book to the Asurans for my Dervish, since I've built her up for some speed clears and both builds use a different asuran skill. Might as well, ay?
I really do need to drop some coin for an extra headpiece for a different statistic, though. I mean, I -have- one but it's one of the basic armors and doesn't look good when "Shown" with my primeval. Oh well.

Haven't posted here in a few days because I've mostly been on Dragon Age. I'm finally understanding the superiority of Origins over 2. I didn't think so before because 2 was shinier. And because I got them both at the same time and basically zig-zag'd playing them (which I still am, pretty much), I thought I had an authority on the matter.

That's not true as much anymore. While I'm playing DA2 right now because I want to beat the damn thing (And I had my fun with an XP exploit, so I'm running around as a level 38 in a place I'd usually be a 12) and see what the hell happens. However, DA:O just feels like there's... more to do. In comparison, I can beat Mass Effect 1 in 6-10 hours, and that's -with- some extra stuff on the side. But with DA:O, I didn't do many side stuff (That is to say, hopping back and forth between towns for a quick "poke this person and come back" type things) and I think I beat it in 20 hours or so, give or take. Now imagine me doing some of those side stuff, which I will be on my current couple of characters.
Can't say how long DA2 is for me. The 'side missions' don't really feel optional. Especially in Act 1, the "Go to the expedition now" only pops up when you're two quests away from being done anyway, so why not do them? So all of the so-called optional quests feel necessary. Less freedom. Entire game pretty much takes place in the same few city zones. DA:O had me crawling all over a country, where realistically the entire game took place during a full year, due to all the travel time.

And some other stuff. I'm seeing the whole "DA:O is better" side now. But as usual, that's not going to stop me from playing 2, either. I have similar complaints about ME2, which I'll get to if I'm still doing this blog when I get back on them. (Already did another stint while waiting for Skyrim, before I got back to GW)

So, I'm gonna poke at some flash games and maybe do more GW stuff.

November 2, 2011

So, turns out I won't be getting Skyrim the -day- it comes out due to conflicting paychecks, but definitely a week after or so. Can't waaaaaiiiitt.

So, beat EotN on my dervish at long last, and she's sitting on a full book I'm not completely sure what to do with, which rank to give it to. My eyes are on the Norn armor but really, I'm content with her Primeval.

So I'm sleeping on that and hopped on Shizuma to do some PvE skill hunting, which I need to do with practically most of my characters at the moment. But concentrating on my "mains" first. That is, the characters I'm usually on the most.

Last on my list of shit to do is test the PvP waters with the new flux effect. +2 to secondary skills. My dagger ranger might have some fun.

October 31, 2011

Began EotN on my dervish, as noted on the last post. It was significantly less annoying than it was on my Mesmer, and I'm not sure why. I'm still using Sabway (Which is considered outdated to some), with the addition of two mesmers. My sabway on my Mesmer are runed up and everything, yet still had a harder time traversing asuran areas.
Which is what I'm doing first. Getting it out of the way, and the last Asuran mission will, too, be easier since I was reminded of the exploit of walking past the main area and just killing the destroyers at their spawn. (A.net, please don't fix this within the next day or so).

The rest of EotN is relatively straightforward. Kill a bunch of charr for the Ebon, kill a bunch of red dots for the Norn.

What I don't remember however, is apparently I've done enough of EotN on my Dervish to get rank 3 in both Delver and Ebon Vanguard. I'm not sure how. Back with CoF runs were still popular, maybe? Still, I welcome the boost.

Wish I had that boost for her Norn rank, since it's the only other dervish armor I may give a damn about. I'm actually not fond of most Dervish armors, and I got her primeval which is all kinds of awesome, especially since I dyed it black a couple nights ago. (Because why the fuck not?)

Anyway, sitting in LA right now waiting for Mad King's arrival. Got the hood already, and as mentioned on the Reaper's Hood talk page, it looks somewhat silly on females. And since females encompass 8 out of 9 of my characters, that's a problem. Like most of the masks, they make it too "high", showing a neck which doesn't compliment pretty much every armor.

I think I may utilize the Tricorne hat however, possibly on my mesmer. A pirate hat with trenchcoat like armor? I'm feeling some historical inspiration for the character. A Corsair Captain, perhaps? The thigh-lace really helps the image. I guess we'll see.

Have fun, peepols.

October 30, 2011

Whee, Halloween.

Haven't updated because it's more of the same. I did finally beat EotN with my current mesmer, but she still hasn't quite reached "Never delete" status. The Asuran areas are motherfuckers, but may be easier to repeat since any consecutive missions don't require you to go through hell and back, usually just lets me do it via NPC in a town. That helps, and I forgot how I can actually solo the missions for the most part. Getting there was always the problem.

So that reminds me. Sometimes I have a nearly full book but held off because I was on the Asuran quests. Now that I've been reminded of how easy they -can- be, I should be able to get to it.

In slightly other news, been playing Dragon Age Origins again. I mentioned earlier that I've had both games for a while but haven't beaten either of them yet - Not from inability or otherwise, but I just don't like how both of them have "downer" endings. If I spend 20 hours on a character only for them to lose or die, then I feel like my time was kind of wasted.
Still, I got farther than I did before, and I'm only 2-3 missions away from beating it now. Then I'll see what kind of 'perks' I might get for importing a complete game to Dragon Age 2.

Which is actually where my incentive began. I know in Mass Effect 1 to 2 you get an extra ability, some free levels, and even more perks depending on what achievements you get. And even MORE when you continue a second playthrough. I want to see what DA2 has to offer in that regard.

Anyway. Going to get my dervish into some EotN stuff after I cap a couple of Mesmer elites that I apparently need for my heroes. Toodles for today!

October 25, 2011

Technically the 26th but it's just past midnight here so shut up. It's still the same day to me.

Anyway, the Gw "funk" that I've mentioned before is averted. Now that I can actually play most of the game, I have all kinds of things I can do now. The only problem is that GW likes to lock up on me in between some loading screens.

I love Nightfall, but since I have a -few- alts that were locked at the same set of missions (Wehhan Terraces crashes me without 3d Analyzer), it gets pretty dull pretty quick when they're all on the same line of questing. But it's gotta be done.
A slight priority however, is I should gain more and more PvE skills on various alts. But hey, plenty to do now that I -can-!

Anyway. It's archive time. Killing everything prior to October.

October 24, 2011

Has it been three days already? Yeesh.

Well, I made a Mesmer and she's become fairly accomplished fairly quickly. But that doesn't always mean I'll keep her. After all, I've deleted a Mesmer with Asuran armor before. (It's generally a rule of thumb that when I get some expensive armor, it significantly deceases my will to delete them). That doesn't work every time, of course.
But I got a signet build that's pretty easy to use and has reliable nuke capability. Not a lot of 'direct' damage, but as I read on a PvX talk page, Mesmers were always more support than anything so it makes sense.

I'll get some screenshots of her when I get armor that isn't the simplistic Sunspear armor.

In other news, I eventually DID get Dhuum's Soul Reaper. For 22e, that's 2-4 less than I expected to pay. So I'm sitting on a few extra that I may keep around for those kinds of trades.
Regrettably, my graphics makes it look like a big green ball and it obscures the blade. Still, happy to have it.

October 21, 2011

My mind is pretty set on Dhuum's Soul Reaper. The only regrettable fact is that the particle effects while running 3D-Analyzer, is one green ball which obscured the blade itself, which is what I mostly want it for.
So in case I don't go for that, not sure what I plan to spend my influx of money on.

Influx, Vanguard? How?! You always complain about not being able to make any money!
True fact, but doing the new(ish?) Vaettir farm on, who else, my assassin. Regrettably the Raptor runs require paragon heroes and I don't really want to micro-manage hero skills. I have it hard enough timing my own damn skills. And with my luck, they'd be in range to steal my drops. Accidentally.
Neat development I'm noticing. People are trading more things for ectoplasm's now. Not sure why that happened but people are buying stacks of things for a few ecto's rather than raw cash. Someone is welcome to explain that one to me.

When I discovered farming. I had a thought to add to that link but the search made me forgot what I was going to say about it. Damn my memory.

October 20, 2011

Thanks to 3d Analyzer, it opens up several previously closed doors. Now I don't even know -what- to do first. Admittedly, I am mostly just killing time until Skyrim comes out next month but still, it's night to finally be able to play the two things I actually liked. Being Nightfall and EotN. Though EotN can be a tad annoying, specifically all of the "end" quests for each faction. Which makes sense, but really annoying to fill books to an admirable state. Trying to get rank 5 Deldrimor on my warrior and it's proving to be a real bastard.

So I'm working on my monk some. I gotta get her some PvE skills, but she also needs to beat Prohpecies so I can get started on a 40/40 smiting set. Since a smite build is pretty much all I'm running through PvE. And smiting is hard to make fun. Thankfully, I can AFK-fight most of Nightfall and Prophecies thanks to all hero teams. Man, can't imagine the shitstorm of drama in the community when that update hit. If anyone has links to some forum threads regarding that, I could use the lulz.

Still, not everything is single player. Some missions I just don't think my heroes can hack it. I'm honestly considering actually updating hero gear with health and +primary skills (if their build calls for it) but that just became a much more expensive endeavor, not to mention there's still a few things I want for myself.

Dhuum's Soul Reaper for example. And various other armor aesthetics for myself. I might start small. Put some +1's on their helmets or something. Honestly not sure yet.

October 18, 2011

Can't sleep due to temperature. So I hopped on GW and found something to do. This post will act like an impromptu "to do list", for future reference.
Gotta work on my monk. Specifically, a 40/40 smiting set. Surprised I didn't have one already. To save money, I need to do a few more Prophecies mission and get a Droknar piece, and probably get the other one crafted in Vasburg Armory. If I'm patient enough.

I like my monk but not really "feeling" smiting, RoJ's cast time and the fact the AI runs away from it lessens the value in PvE. Which is what snares are for of course so I went and did a Norn quest to nab the EZmode one. But that's just one thing. Ah well, figuring this out as I go. She's got less than 100 hours on her. Which is a shame because she looks damn good.

Added: Excitement slightly rekindled. Thanks to 3d Analyzer, I am able to visit the zones that usually crash me. There's a couple of graphical oddities but it's a fair trade for being able to actually play things again.

October 15, 2011

Haha, that didn't take long. Already got bored, frantically character hopping to try and find something to do.

PvP can be pretty fun unless you run into consistent shutouts, then it stops being fun. I don't mind losing some games, especially if they're particularly well fought or the scores are close (I lost one AB by 6 points. SIX POINTS.) I lost another by quite a bit more, but the other side was impressively responsive, without being a mob. We capped one point and there was a team on that shit in seconds. I don't mind losing to -that-.

However, not usually the case. Some games the other side just holds most of the bases for some reason or another, maybe I just got a bad team. I don't know. Even well-fought losses still grind on my patience really quickly, just as it always has.

It's a shame that GW has resorted to weekly gimmicks to actually get people playing. If it's not some kind of weekend, I can't get teams for -shit-.

Winds of Change would have been neat if it wasn't designed to be purposefully difficult. As one player on some talk page said, it seems to cater to powerplayers using meta builds to powerhouse through everything. But I'm not one of those people. I like playing my melee ranger and various other odd variants. I'm also not rich enough to full equip every single goddamn hero with what runes and whatnot that they need to be completely optimal. My old sabway is well geared, and a few scattered heroes may have a max green or two if I was able to spare them. Beyond that, most of my heroes are sitting on the default 480 health and such.

So, not being a major metagamer, locks me out of a few things. I already got every armor I give a damn about, and my graphics card isn't even allowing me to load the outpost she's in so I can't even -play- in my favorite armors.

So. What does one do when they've done pretty much everything?

October 14, 2011

Well shit, it's almost next year. Sorry about that, for any potential fans!

Played and beat a few things, I don't even remember what I have and haven't mentioned on this Blog anymore. I recently got the DA:O/DA2 bit, but haven't beaten either of them. Mass Effect still holds its replayability somehow, I can come back to it after several months and still do several playthroughs before getting bored. Even all the extra stuff in ME1. (ME2 has a lot of "optional" stuff but it will ultimately punish you if you don't).

As for DA, usually I don't mind spoilers but my mood was murdered when I read about both of them having downer endings. I don't mind some tragedies but if I beat a game and still feel like a loser, something went wrong on the storyboards. I think I lost interest in DA2 as soon as I got the "cover" armor. Because that was my overall goal, and I just got this sense of "Why bother?" after I got it. To me, attaining that endgame armor -was- my endgame. If I quit there, then all will be right with the world for a while.
I do, however, still plan to clear all my saves and do a full, DA:O playthrough so I can import it into DA:2 for a full experience. Eventually. I have to be put back into the mood for it somehow. DA:O Looks nice but somehow it still feels outdated. The combat mechanics, the skill trees, all feels like something I'd have been playing in the late 90's. DA:2 is better in that regard but the story never feels like it goes anywhere. Ah well. Guess I'll see some day.

So yea. Guild Wars, huh? Been reading up on some of it from time to time and pretty much deduced that my current computer will NOT be able to run GW2. So people will not see me there for some time unless someone feels like shelling out some cash for me. And I have a personal limit for how much I will take from internet friends. So far the most I've taken was 60$ worth, which was WoW:Cataclysm. I'm not above asking for that kind of thing, but even a new computer is far beyond what I think I would allow unless I'm convinced that a person is swimming in more money than they know what to do with.

So on the GW1 front, seems like there's been a couple of expansions. I don't even know where to begin, and it seems like the same "War in Kryta" deal (Which I never completed) where I have to visit the same spot several dozen times before I actually get a quest. But hey, 7 hero teams seems pretty neat, even though it seems to kill the whole "Multiplayer part". But hey (again!), not everyone has Heroes to throw around.
What will be frustrating however, is trying to figure out what skills are no longer viable in both forms of play. I've skimmed a few and they mostly look the same so far.

Oh! Apparently I deleted my elementalist, again. I have one blank spot which confused me for a while. I thought the game had given me an extra slot due to being a long time player or something. Not the case.
So now I need to decide what kind of elementalist I need to make (yet again). Presearing, perhaps? Depends if anything has changed.

I guess we'll see.

January 28, 2011

Before the movie review... Let's talk about what I've been doing!
For Christmas; I got Fallout: New Vegas. Unlike FO3, it's not a game I can binge on. I almost -have- to take breaks because no matter which faction or concept I choose, the first ten levels are generally identical. Even my Legionnaire. After some research, I found the Legion to be moderately acceptable. (In games or out, I do not like slavery. In fact I usually wiped out Paradise Falls even on my evil characters)... I also feel it's a bit realistic that in all of old Rome's glory... I'm fairly certain there were a scattered few who tried treating their slaves a bit more human.
I was one of those, even though I really couldn't mechanic wise. But it gave me the moral minimum to at least playthrough as a Legionnaire.

I mentioned that because the world is pretty much anti-legion and the first ten levels are dedicated to stockpiling cash and money.

I also got Mass Effect 2. Nothing to add, I'm sure I have a blog post about it somewhere, when I was just borrowing it from a friend. Actually bought it this time.

ANYWAY. I also got a level 85 on WoW. A warrior. I suck at her.

Playing Allods recently, relearning the game after -several- patches from my inactivity. I'm on Nezeb, Empire, for anyone who wants to help me out.

Now, to the review!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

It's a shame because almost every movie gets between a 7-8 out of 10 for me (Half-Blood Prince gets a 6.5 because, well, it had little to do with the Half-Blood Prince. Snape had a much bigger role in the book) for it's general accuracy and decent action that was paced well with the general school-time shenanigans.

TDH:Part 1 falls on it's face with this. NOTHING HAPPENS. It's two hours of... very little. They could have taken 20 minutes from this movie and just tack it onto Part 2 and call it one movie.

I've always been opposed to this whole idea of "splitting" the movies, but I at least understood why. Even the book was just one big scavenger hunt. Why devote two extra hours to this nonsense? Well, if they had just automatically found every Magical McGuffin, people would complain about it being too easy. But as it is, we're complaining because it was boring.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm not a director. But from 6 previously decent movies, the director could have done this better.

Here's the general outline of this movie; Intro. Fight scene. Wedding. Fight scene. Escape. Camping. More camping. A fight scene. A chase scene! More camping. Dark Lord gains major magical McGuffin. Movie ends.

Oddly, my favorite scenes weren't the fighting or the camping. I'm a sucker for character development and it was sparse, but present. For example; Harry going to his birthtown. That was a strangely fascinating scene, even in its simplicity.

So, very clever. People are still required to sit through this crap in order to be caught up with part 2. Although, someone can just read reviews and summaries and miss very little. So you have that option.

August 26, 2010

I named a druid on Diablo 2 "Zydrate" approximately three days ago. To date I've had FOUR people ask me if I come in a little glass vial.

July 28, 2010

Before we get to my Movie review, Guild Wars stuff!

I finally did press myself into staring at 5 separate sets of dialog and finally got down to the actual missions. The first one kicked my ass because level 15 prophecies henchmen are useless. I had to hire a player who brought a second MM along, and only one healer. We managed with only one death, at the Seal.
However it is nice to see "bow pulling" making a return. Welcome back, Pulling. How I've missed you. (Reminds me of how Crowd Control is making a comeback in WoW's Cataclysm)
I also had to switch to a Bow Build. I guess my melee-ranger can't do "everything" anymore. (PvP excluded, obviously)

I'm not going to say the aforementioned "funk" is averted, but it might be soonish.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009)

Worse than the first, but not horrible.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Complaints out of the way first.

I understand the concept of 'using what worked' from the success (if a bit underground) of the first, but they seemed to be copying set-pieces entirely too much. There was a very quick replacement of "Rocco", in the form of a loud-mouthed Mexican. They replaced the hilariously gay FBI agent with a southern chick. Now, when I heard about that I was like; okay. Sure. Makes sense. They'd almost have to to keep the original charm.

However, the Mexican always felt unnecessary. They tried establishing he was a bit more combative and competent than the original Rocco, and it becomes true for the most part but quite frankly, the character just becomes annoying.

The female FBI agent CLAIMS she's "so f***cking smart, I make smart people look retarded". Which was a cool line, but she never actually PROVED it. Y'see, in the first film you actually saw the agent walk through the scene, looking at particular points of interest. The new girl did none of that. She put on some headphones, then five seconds later she takes them off and explains everything, complete with "cut-to-4 hours ago-montages". Normally this would have been okay, if she actually solved the scene instead of sounding like she was handed a script (ha. ha.)

The three cops were a bit too 'animated' from the first film. I sort of excuse this because of their predicament they were in, but in the first one the two cops were a lot more cool and collected. And the third incompetent was just there for comic relief as he always was so I excused his behavior.

That's the main problem I had. It copied too much and the characters were needlessly over the top.

But I liked it anyway. I liked seeing II Duce's past, and I really loved the 'end-boss' Italian. Very well acted. And before that, the scene with II Duce and the short Italian assassin playing Russian roulette with each other also seemed like a very well done scene, and thus was my favorite of the movie.

Fans of the original will like it. Those who haven't seen the first one, watching this one, definitely won't sell them on the series. Watch the first, have it gain your respect, then try again.

July 27, 2010

Entering the 'funk', as I call it, for Guild Wars. For newcomers, it's the phase I go through after coming back to Guild Wars after a month or more of inactivity and realizing, every time... That there's really not a lot in Guild Wars. Compared to many other games I play, of course. Once you get to 20, a proper rune set and any kind of cheapass green weapon that have identical statistics as any Destroyer weapon... the game is practically over for that character. I mean sure, I've done a lot (My ranger for example) but eventually, there's a cap to the experience.

I need to figure out this War of Kryta thing. Everyone I talk to are useless. They might be giving me good information, but due to my activity, they can't explain it like someone who's JUST coming into Guild Wars. So now that I write it out that way, it's not really their faults. They just need to word their "walkthrough" better.
The respective wiki pages don't seem to help, though. I have the impression I basically have to revisit the same spot SEVERAL different times so I can witness the proper dialog to activate the actual quests. Or something.
I visited this spot once and ALREADY lost interest in it. Unless I'm wrong in this theory, it'll take some mental pushing to even bother with this 'expansion'.

July 24, 2010

As a followup to my last post, Activision/Blizzard recalled their plan to show real names on their forums. Good for them.

In other news, running out of WoW money on the 26th. I've already 'mentally' been done with it for over a week. I'll get it back in September or something.

So I'll be back on Guild Wars. Maybe.

I've also been playing Borderlands, especially over Xbox Live. I got a 50 soldier, a 50 hunter, and a ~19 Siren I still want to get powerleveled. Cheating? Maybe. But after ~6 separate playthroughs, I've earned the right.
Not fond of the berserker. Might make one just to be a mule for epic lewtz. Not that I can do much transfers, seeing as how I'll -also- run out of Xbox Live in ~19th of August.

Money be tight, yo. Working on that.

In Guild Wars News, my guild is almost turning 2 years old. Too bad absolutely nothing of note has actually happened since nobody roleplays. Bastards.

July 8, 2010. Another game shoots itself in the foot

WoW is "love it/hate it" among most gamers, especially at this particular community. Those who don't like it can't deny that it took what early-day MMo's did and did everything a little better. Though, most people cling onto one game they really really like despite there being no real progress once you hit level 20 (Which you can do in a day now).
That's not precisely a mean-spirited slam on Guild Wars. Sticking to one game is all well and good.

Which I have done for WoW for ~4 years now.

And yet...

http://antivirus.about.com/b/2010/07/08/blizzard-real-names-real-risks.htm

WoW just introduced a RealID thing. At first, it was simply trading account emails to friends in-game. People you trusted, and in turn they would see your real name and account.
At first I was like, sure. Okay. I get it. So I added two real life friends and one person I knew in-game.
But now they announced that soon, on their forums, EVERYONE will have their real name displayed on their posts.

The main announcement is here;
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25712374700&sid=1&pageNo=1

That thread has tens of thousands of replies. Over 1900 pages of naysaying, complaints, and thousands of people are canceling their subscriptions.

Sure, 40,000 may sound like a "minority" to the millions who play. But how many of those are ignorant of these upcoming changes? Who simply doesn't care, or are also ignorant to the general risks?

The first link covers what I mean by risks. There are many real life ramifications to this.

It's not as simple as "don't post on the forums", either. Those seeking tech support have to sometimes.
And check this out: Some people LIKE forums. Some people like bantering, debating, or simply talking with their community when they're not online.
The simple fix is to just let people have a 'username' or 'handle'.

However, this is the facebookization of WoW. The money their losing from tens of thousands of subscribers, they're getting back from sponsors who are paying Activision to start tossing us in-game advertisements.

I was honestly expecting World of Warcraft to go on for decades. I really was. And I'm not going to stop playing just yet. I might, I just might... But not yet.

I hope we have a voice.

June 6, 2010

Random thought.
I didn't think Battlefield: Earth was that bad.
Certainly not the -best- movie I've seen, acting was a little dodgy and I've seen worse in terms of effects. I'm not sure what it did to earn itself on mostly everyone's "Worst Movie of All Time" list.

May 6, 2010

Still alive, just playing WoW.
I have a new review for you all.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Yes, spoilers. But I usually write reviews in the assumption that any readers I get may have seen the movie already.

So I'll start with the very first thing I didn't like - The ending. This whole movie, I was believing the "fantasy" portion was "real" in this movie's particular reality. I thought the girl was in sufficient danger with the child-eating demon. I even thought the Faun was more sinister than he let on. And I would have been fine with any "sad" ending. What I did not like is the movie treating me like a moron. At the very end, the girl's death puts her in her Princess-like station with a father and a mother who looks amazingly like her previously dead real-life mother.

As in: It's basically her "Heaven".

As an atheist, I'm not prudish. I don't get angry when people say "God Bless You" when I sneeze, and sometimes I even visit my friend's church to socialize. But somehow this movie succeeded in offending me. It tricked me. It all turned out to be the imaginings of a girl.

Or was it?

How did she get the chalk? How did she escape a locked door? How did the "Mandrake root" actually seem to work, and it's effects immediately diminished as it was burned? Was all of it real, or imagination?

I don't mind multiple interpretations to things but It would have been nice to be directed to one or the other.

...But I digress.

I read a lot of the reviews under "Hated" (as I often do, because I already know what I liked in a film so I don't need to read a dozen reviews of "this was amazing"), and I don't believe the movie was completely awful.

The acting was fine, especially that of the Captain. They did a good job making you hate him, but his acting was superb. His facial emotions, his movements were all fluid and believable for a man with that personality. He stole every scene he was in, and despite his cruel bludgeoning at the beginning, I couldn't wait to see him in the next scene.

Everyone else was mediocre, which was fine in this semi-realistic portrayal of War-life. I liked the girl, but the split War-Drama/Fantasy was jarring, but I ran with it.

And one final, minor complaint; Wasn't this advertised as a children's fantasy? Goodness me, I can't imagine what people thought after seeing it in a theater.

Other reviews of mine

February 20, 2010

Been off playing Mass Effect 2. Good game, but after two playthroughs, trying it again, even with another class, feels like a chore. Though I might have played it too much, I just need a break.
Anyway, enough on that.

I have a review for you.

But it's not a movie. It's a television show. I've "reviewed" a couple shows before already, but they were more or less rants. I made fun of "Ghost Whisperer" and talked about how I liked "Burn Notice", but never actually "reviewed" them.

All the same, before I post it I should explain what "Spartacus; Blood and Sand" is so you all get a vague idea of what the hell this is.

It's a show that popped up on Starz (Starz is a much lesser HBO-type station), it's a mix between Gladiator and 300. Combine sex and violence with slow-motion, and you basically have Spartacus. It's an Arena-based show and they do keep it more interesting then just 1 on 1 fights, which would get boring. Simple concept, so-so execution, everything it does is too much.

But onto the real review.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010)

Summary: Enjoyable with the potential to be annoying

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Since I get Starz on Demand for free due to some tiny extra payment on my cable plan, it's generally my biggest source of movies and other time-wasters while I'm waiting for something else better to do. No offense to Starz in particular, because that's all TV is to me these days. Filler-time until something else comes up.

I started seeing previews for Spartacus in front of my movies and was instantly intrigues and slightly troubled that they seemed to be taking notes from 300 a bit too much. A lot of people add "Gladiator" to the mix, but Spartacus has enough differences in story... so I disagree. However, the "300" inspiration is painfully obvious.

Now, I liked 300 for the most part, minus that borderline pornographic sex scene... And now Spartacus is trying to take too many notes and try to fit in at least one sex scene, one set of breasts and maybe one bare penis for good measure at least in every single episode. I'll never understand this. Yes, sex happens from time to time, we get it. I'm not going to sit here and type "Think of the children!" because I'm a 21 year old who STILL thinks there's no room for it in this.

The worst part is, they seem to be trying to hard. It's like all the sex was filmed after the REAL episode and everyone thought "Let's just plug this in anywhere". 90% of the sex in this has no place. Scenes like that should be used sparingly, and it's not.

Pointless sex aside, the rest is admirable. Good actors, they all seem to fit in the role they're in. I don't mind the liberal use of slow-motion, but can understand how it might be annoying for some people. Like the sex, the slow-motion should get some more careful use. Still, I find it neat.

The actual character development could use improvement but the story seems to be going forward rather well. I don't expect this to last more than a season or two, but it'll be a fun ride.

Janurary 8, 2010

I just got finished watching the most badass, balls-to-the-wall insane heavy metal opera that my eyes have ever had the pleasure of being completely owned by.

I am of course, talking about Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Epic.

Might review it later.

January 5, 2010

New movie review. Babylon AD, hard to get into, harder to follow.

Babylon A.D. (2008)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

My 6/10 might be harsh but I did like the movie. The problem was I didn't even start liking it until thirty minutes in or whatever, and that's not a sign of good storytelling. I'll explain.

The movie begins with a neat concept, if unexplained. You see Vin's character (Toorop) march with a mission to a hip-hop beat. It's rainy, it's gloomy, and he's surrounded with guards and civilians, all trying to buy or sell different types of weapons. Casually. Like they were selling oranges on the street corner or something. I can only assume so much. The movie implies it's in the future but this could just be how harsh other countries are. Some drama later, Vin punches a guy, he goes back to his crappy apartment.

This is where the red flags began. The story didn't explain itself, it almost never explains itself. Now, I can excuse this because that's "just the style", but I still can't find myself to forgive it. It just progresses with Toorop getting some job to protect a girl and head on over to America, where he's actually a wanted terrorist (He's actually a mercenary).

Very little is explained, and you only get little hints here and there. The girl he's escorting mentions that Siberian Tigers went extinct in 2017. And... that's all you get. That's a fair clue to a time-line but where are THEY? Year 2020? 2050? 2200? No idea. Shortly after that dialog, you see a long shut-down Nuclear plant with a giant crater right beside it. It's unexplained and we are left to assume Nuclear War, but even that might be inaccurate. (I've read some other reviews but I haven't actually researched the movie and it's background Lore).

And that's all you get for a while, after some minor plot twists (The escort has a father, America is being led by some religious leader) and some action.

And the action IS fine, along with the acting.

But my major problem with this movie is there was no context. No explanation. I vaguely liked some of the characters but I feel like I was trying to catch up on a TV series I never watched. (Go ahead, I dare you to even attempt to start watching, say, Heroes from season 3 onward. You won't know what the hell is going on). As a result, the characters went about their merry way without explaining themselves to the audience. So most of the time I felt nothing for them.

Without context, without background, I have nothing to compare the story to, nothing to base it on. Nothing to work with. And I'm someone who LOVES background lore and history. If they had just done some cheesy beginning scroll-text like Star Wars or what Underworld did. I don't like those as much but at least it would have helped.

That brings me to the final problem. By the time we GET anything resembling the explanation, it's spouted by a cyborg'd doctor who explains EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING within two sentences. Just like that. One fell swoop and now I feel like the first whole of the movie was practically wasted.

How could they have improved that? Drop us more hints and explanation THROUGHOUT the movie, not in a single line on the script sheet.

Yet, the movie isn't a complete waste of time. It'll just take a long time and you'll need to force yourself to stick with it. It just needs something like a "prequel", that would help immensely.

Again, it was well acted and directed, it was just in pieces. It needs context, background, and gradual explanation.

Other Reviews of mine

January 4, 2010

So for Christmas, I mostly just got money. With that money I bought several of those new Mega Blocks Halo sets, because pose-able legoes are badass.
I also got some socks and a pair of pants.

I also got a month of WoW so I'm back on that for some time. I'm trying really hard to level my shaman some. And I got from 34-37 so, some progress is being made. I want Dual Wielding, damnit.

Had to return the 360 to my friend when he came back from his holiday vacation. Damn shame, too. I had just created a neat hunter-concept character.
I had also found ODST but only got to play it for an hour. As expected, I like single player more than playing with other people. But man, I eat through ammo like candy. It's nuts. It's like modern-day war games, all our American guns suck ass so we just pick up the enemies and use them for the rest of the game. That's essentially what happens on Halo.

I also saw two movies: Babylon AD and the Spirit. Both movies were pretty damn weird. I might review them later.