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Month: April 2014

Almost Human was Cancelled

And you shouldn’t be surprised. A science fiction teevee show on Fox gets cancelled in it’s first season just about 100% of the time. Next time vote with your wallet and watch some other show on some other network. Supernatural has what you could call abysmal ratings and it was renewed for an 8th season.

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More ESO

Episode 2 of Leprekawn plays ESO went up the other day.  Last week I think, I can’t keep track of these things.  I digress. [embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYVWf5pKR_0[/embedyt]

I’m finding enough momentum and entertainment to keep my wheels spinning for at least another week or two.  You’ll see about one video a week as I document some moments in the game.  Nothing special as I’m not recording everything and some things I encounter I think “Gee, this would look great on camera.” but alas, no camera is present.

I’ve come to realize one of the things I like about ESO is the pacing.  World of Warcraft sorta makes you feel like Batman.  You have a utility belt with so many powers you have to really know your class to use them all effectively.  Here in Elder Scrolls Online it’s more about knowing how the game is played, knowing how fast you can put off attacks.  When I swing my swords I really feel like those swords have weight.  The draw of the bow is closer to reality making my arrows feel significant.

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ESO, Site Redesign and YouTube

Welcome back dear readers for another installment of MalformedFork.

You’ll see some more posts down the road and maybe an automatic relay for my YouTube project.  Some preliminary evaluation has shown me two things:

1) Audio Quality is scratchy and craptacular.  I’m going to fix that just as soon as I figure out how.

2) Game load times get wonky while my recording software is running.  I’m testing on a second-drive solution but that’ll take time to complete migrating all my crucial data from the old Hard Drive to the new.

Katie of katili*made is hard at work tweaking the site and making it snazzy.  Meanwhile I’m reinstalling some games that I think we should look at once more.  Coming up is Distant Worlds as I can feel a 4x itch building.

I’ll have a dash of Minecraft recorded and maybe a few words after their next update: 1.8

Meanwhile I’m playing ESO, enjoying my romp through a fantasy wilderness rife with lore.  If you find yourself out there look me up under @egoprovince

-leprekawn

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Elder Scrolls Online

I’m not far into the game so I can’t say much. (That usually means I’ll write two more pages..)

ESO is shaping up to be an interesting venture into the MMO marketplace.  This comes from the same company that made the other Elder Scrolls games with each set in it’s own period of history surrounding an empire.  I ventured into this world with Daggerfall and thoroughly enjoyed it’s deep and rich roleplaying experience.  I skipped Morrowwind unlike many of my friends but I came back for Oblivion and then Skyrim to wander the land and hunt monsters and treasure.

ESO takes the single-player focus from Skyrim another notch, holding onto tropes they built into their past ventures such as a compass marker telling you where the quest objective is, while changing the completely open class-mechanic from Skyrim.  Here like and unlike other games you’ll pick a base class with it’s own abilities and mix with whatever abilities you happen to cross.  Heavy Armor Wizard? Done.  Archer with a dash of magic? Done.  There are limitations but the range of expression is there but there’s little hand-holding when it comes to The Trinity or pursuit.  I’m leaning towards Argonian Sorcerer, or as I call it “Leezard Weezard”, much for my own drive to build a character who can nail down the opposition while someone else cleans them up.

Differing from other games you have to wear or use the powers and abilities and equipment you want to improve in.  Experience rewarding activities improving those items you setup leaving unexperienced in things you never use.  So, while I can pop on some heavy armor and go wade into combat with a greatsword, don’t expect it anytime soon.

I was caught right at start with the beauty and detail layered into the game.  Things for you to loot, crafting materials and the environment is well-blended leaving me often just staring at a room without realizing i’m being attacked.  Bottles and books and food and ingredients for various crafts are just laying around in plain sight.  No sparkle, no magical highlight to draw my attention.

If nothing else this will prove to be a beautiful example of another game in the Elder Scrolls series though I expect so much more out of a chance to join other players like this.  There are group dungeons and regions to explore, conquest to be had and stories to be told.

ESO comes in with a box price and a monthly subscription so while I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Morrowwind, Oblivion or Skyrim I would do so with some caution.

Stay tuned to my youtube channel for some footage of various characters as I try to zero in on my personal drive in this game.

YouTube

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Updates!

The best part of waking up is coffee already made for you regardless if it’s Folgers.  Or maybe it’s the warm shower.  I digress.

The best part of having your own blog is the ability to plug your own ventures without shame.  After all, it’s my blog, I’ll do whatever I please.

Starting very soon (Tomorrow, probably) you’ll see updates to a YouTube channel under my personal label: leprekawn

You’ll see videos of Minecraft, some Elder Scrolls Online and whatever else comes across my plate.  I’ll even try recording one of our usual Sunday Night WoW Raids, but at 2.5 hours I might just record the highlights.

 

Also, while i’m plugging other sites, you can see some finely made hand-crafts from Katie Wagner at katili*made – Enjoy!

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Dresden Files: Your Story

Once upon a time I was deep in a search for a class-less game system.  Having spent years mired in D&D 3.5, with it’s level progression at the front of my personal annoyance, I was in the market for a game with similar ideas (magic, adventure, tombs to rob) and conducted not a little research in this pursuit.

It wasn’t until years later my good friend Scott convinced me and my roommate to play Dresden Files.  At first I was caught relatively off guard.  Unlike many games you make characters last.  The people you’re about to play don’t come into the equation until after, as a group, you’ve talked about the game and the world and made decisions on key locations or people with which to interact.

So far I’m splitting my favor 50/50 with World of Darkness for ease of play.  While it makes an interesting story-spin for the Dresden Files books (which I’m told are quite good) I find it’s potential for other games is an under-discussed point.  You spend almost a whole session on building the world you’re about to venture into, why not sand off the minutiae of conventional Dungeon Plundering and weave a compelling story of adventure and high fantasy.

I’m not sure where I was going with this.  Dresden Files is worth playing if you happen to roll dice on a regular basis.Dresden Files Your Story

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