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Month: November 2012

Far Cry 3

Published November 27, 2012 by Leprekawn

This one will be short so you can get back to your lives quickly.  If you liked Skyrim, the open-world exploration and crafting and villain hunting and questing but were thinking: Gee, if only I had a gun.  Well, then Far Cry 3 might be for you.

Far Cry the first was hailed as a serious performance test on your computer.  It was developed for high-performance computers and low-end systems were wheezing to keep up with it’s vicious needs.  Far Cry 3 isn’t hailed as heavily as such a beast but I’d step into these waters carefully.  Far Cry 3 features an open world island where you’re completing tasks/quests for some local villagers to help fend off the encroaching pirates that have taken up residence.  You’ll harvest plant and animal for ingredients to health kits or grenade pouches, you’ll activate derelict radio towers and other esoteric quest to get access to weapons cheaper.  It’s a quest/adventure game set with modern terms and ideas.  Guns, boats, grenades, etc.

So if you liked Skyrim but wanted guns.  Or if you like the ‘roam and shoot’ options Fallout 3 provided but wanted more color or more gameplay then I think you’ve found your next time-sink.  This is an Ubisoft game and for reasons I won’t go into here I won’t be touching it.  But I will admit it’s right up my alley of shoot and loot and craft.  And it looks fun.

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Squire

Published November 20, 2012 by Leprekawn

I’ll never know how he found his way into my possessions.  Half a rusted lantern and a tatter of penant were all there was and yet the ghostly spirit hounded me.

I noted to make time to try and communicate with it someday, should it prove to be a manifestation of spiritual energy and not a hallucinatory emanation from the Mad King.

Cohorts within the Bubblegum Brigade coerced me to join them in assaulting the Mad King’s private sanctum.  I assured them it was a bad idea, that nothing good could come of this and yet they insisted.  I won’t say I regretted the choice though I won’t admit I enjoyed it either.

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Four Days of Mild Hell

Published November 19, 2012 by Leprekawn

I was sick.  Like: Sinus pressure so bad I can’t sleep til 2am when fatigue takes hold and I spend the day numbly blowing my nose and largely oblivious to what’s going on around me.

And of course the obnoxious pain was just enough that I spent four days parked in front of my computer.  Mental note, Chlorox the keyboard when I get home.  Did I check my email? No.  Did I answer my phone? No.  Did I post to Facebook? No.  What did I do then? Guild Wars 2.  Something like 40+ hours in four days.

Highlights from the memory reel.  Warning, this is in no particular order or by any means complete.

Made 10g

Spent 11g

Cleared 7 dungeon wings

Cleared Arah Story mode

Cleared Twilight Arbor Story mode

Started leveling a warrior

Started leveling an elementalist

Deleted elementalist

Made decision to reroll warrior with different color skin

Made five bags

Remarked at how I now have 104 item slots on my mesmer

Decided to play more of my mesmer after 40-odd hours of my guardian

Completed exploring Orr

Found an Exotic

Found some rares

Sold all of them

Took part in the weekend Lost Shores event

Promptly got bored of the Weekend event and went back to regular questing.

Met an awesome friend

FB’d awesome friend

Made myself semi-famous with “Dungeon 101”

Dungeon 101: Don’t Stand in It, Don’t Stand in Front, Try not to Suck

Nearly rolled a second guardian what cause I like them so much more than Warrior.

Finally found a staff I can stand looking at for long periods of time.

Got an exotic sword for my guardian what glows blue at night.

Finally learned how to tell time in Guild Wars 2.

With that being said, I was rather sick.  What would I have done instead? Played a crapload of Pokemon.  On account of some technical hurdles I restarted my game.  I wasn’t far in.  But when I really wanted to play Pokemon I couldn’t focus on fine details or long-range strategies.  Yes, we’re still talking about Pokemon.

I’m feeling better now and hope to have better focus on what I’m doing for the next while.

 

Edit: I’ve added a new category, MMORPG.  Now you can filter based on even more criteria and largely avoid my Guild Wars 2 rambling.

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Dragon Age 2

Published November 13, 2012 by Leprekawn

You would really think I’d be caught up to all the various high-profile games I’ve played in the last five years.

I’m talking about Dragon Age 2 today because I feel it warrants a brief discussion.  I liked Dragon Age for it’s approach to storytelling and prefer DA2 to DA1 because of it’s comparison to Baldur’s Gate.  If you were gaming RPG’s in the late 90’s, you’ll get what I’m talking about.  I liked Baldur’s Gate, don’t get me wrong.  But I liked the graphical and technical approach to DA2 more.  I liked that they deviated from making two games with similar designs.  That each game has it’s own story, mechanics and approach to the world themes they share in common.

Now, I went into DA2 thinking as many Computer Gamers would think.  Get the PC version, it’ll be prettier.

Was it pretty? Yes.  Pretty-er? I’m not so sure.  My roommate got the Xbox 360 version and I got to compare the differences first-hand.

I appreciated the interface on console more than I did on PC.  I was looking for a single character experience with sidekicks that I didn’t have to manage and a quick and easy interface for using my special powers.  If you’ve played Fable or Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning then you’ll pick up the controls quickly.

PC was great for allowing me to pause the game, move between my party members and setup actions before unpausing and moving on.  I liked it, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.  Hindsight being 20/20 I figured I’d share, in case you were considering picking through the bargain bin for something new to play.

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Closing Thoughts, 2012

Published November 12, 2012 by Leprekawn

You might be asking: What? Closing Thoughts? In Mid-November?

Ladies and Gentlemen.  Yes, i’m speaking to all six of you, my amused fanbase.  I close out my tabletop gaming in late November, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and free myself and my players from the frustration of trying to schedule their weekly gaming excursion.  I don’t pick it back up until January giving myself some time to plot and consider.

I’m closing out one game this season, Shadowrun comes to a close tonight or next monday.  Either they die, or they escape.  Next year is already shaping up to be a busy run.  I’ve got calls for Werewolf, Shadowrun should pick up in January on schedule and I’ve got some piqued interest for Pathfinder.  All games I’d run.  The tricky part is I can’t usually run more than two games without canning one of them.  Something in me feels like I can do this.

I don’t subscribe to many of the AAA titles that come out of the video-gaming cycles.  I’m not playing Assassin’s Creed though I’ve heard it’s good.  If you like the sneaking and stabbing style then I can’t imagine you’ll be left wanting with another bout of the ‘Creed.  Unconsciously my brain keeps trying to call it Asheron’s Call.  I played Asheron’s Call 2 back in that brief window they kept the servers up.  I liked it alot and would have played it a lot longer save that unfortunate cutoff.  I’d tell you about it’s wonders but it’s been so long I barely remember any of the details.  I remember you could /play an instrument you’d pull out of thin air and if others joined you it would form an orchestra of sorts.

I bought into a new Gameboy DS XL.  Hell, this thing is huge.  My brain is dancing around the idea that I made a mistake in getting one so big.  I’m playing Pokemon Black and later I’ll play Black 2.  That’s all I ever do with my Gameboy as that’s why I get them.  Pokemon is, as it’s ever been, a game about collecting creatures and putting them to battle.  Pokemon is classically a kids game, but there are complicated breeding aspects that I can’t see making sense to a six-year old.  I’m a collector at heart and Pokemon is a nearly perfect fit.

I’m going to be looking into Machinima and what they offer to YouTube broadcasters.  See if I could make something out of recording playthroughs.  If that were the case, you’d likely see more writing and more games.

2012, you were awesome.  You’ll see more of me but for the time I’m waiting for Star Command, Wasteland 2 and Planetary Annihilation.

 

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