Dragon Age II

Well, after seeing the leaked Dragon Age II demo... I'm pretty disappointed. I'm not the kind of guy who loves things for the graphics, but mother of God that game looks terrible. I'm actually at a slight loss of words for this game. I really did enjoy the first, but this just does not seem right. I know I know, it's just a demo... which wasn't even in English, but still I got a glimpse of what it was.

Not only was it like a pile of vomit splattered across my PC screen, the combat just didn't seem that fun. But there is one up side. In the game you get the pleasure of having a lovely sister. And by lovely sister I mean this:

See? Isn't she the best sister you could ever ask for? But in all seriousness, I found the game's environment to be very bland and ugly. Of course there will be other places in the actual game but if they look half as bad as this I don't think I'll be able to stand it.

Babby

Sorry to everyone for the lack of content these past couple of days. A few things have happened lately that has prevented my ability to get on the PC. One particular reason is that my sister just pumped out her third and hopefully last little hellspawn. Don't get me wrong, I love my niece and nephews, but if the new one grows up to be anything like the other two then I can expect a lot of cleaning up after them.

Although it seems as though all recent children born into my family are destructive little bastards. Well anyways, the reason I wasn't on yesterday is because I had to baby sit the kids the majority of the time while my sister was delivering the baby and my brother-in-law was there. I don't really have anything video related today except this video. Which is completely awesome.

Back to video games tomorrow. Until then, PLAY TEH VIDYA!

Dead Island

2011 seems to be a pretty nice year for me as far as gaming goes. I've seen multiple great looking games that are set to come out, so I can only hope this next one will be the same. Not much has been said about Dead Island except the basics. Here is a video for you to watch the trailer.

As you can see, there are clearly zombies. Zombie Island will have a large focus on melee weapons and will be in first person. I imagine it's going to play a lot like other sandbox zombie games in the genre, such as Dead Rising. If that's the case, I won't complain as I love the Dead Rising games. Anyways, there will also be a strong story which is also good and another thing I enjoyed about Dead Rising.

Best of all, however, is that it takes place on a tropical island on a vacation. I think I enjoy that a little more than a mall or casino. Just like in Dead Rising 2, there will be co-op. I'm not sure to what extent, just that it will be a 1-4 drop in and out co-op. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for a co-op story mode.

Rift Beta Start

The Rift open beta has now started, so if you want to give it a try now is the time.

See you guys on the beta.

Sorry guys. Forgot the link. http://www.riftgame.com/en/beta/index.php

More Progression

Last night after downing Chimaeron, my guild and I headed to Cho'gall for a few wipes. After about five or six wipes we decided it was time to try a different strat. The range DPS was having a little problems with the slimes that come out, so they decided we should try having me running in to help out. Being a Rogue, we knew this was risky but we figured "Eh what the hell." You see, on Cho'gall, you have a "corruption" gauge. If you get to a certain amount then basically, bad things happen.

First slimes come out, I don't need to help. Second slimes come out, same story. Third slimes come out, I tricks to the mage, run in, and blow shit up with FoK. No corruption gained, fuck yes, I go back to DPS the boss. Next add comes out and then the slimes, I trick to the mage like always, run in, and start the FoK spam. This time, it was different. The mage decided to freeze all the adds right on top of me. Promptly causing them to all turn on me and start attacking.

Right when I was about to die I popped Cloak of Shadows to get the DoT off of me and Vanished. This was well and good, but my corruption hit about 95%. At 50%, you start spewing corruption onto friendly targets in front of you, and at 75% you start casting Shadow Bolts on them. However, at 100%, you can no longer be healed and you do 100% more damage. The last phase was just about begin so I let myself get 100% Corruption and blew up the boss.

I was able to live quite a while in this form, actually. Lucky for me I had Cloak and Grounding Shield up, so I used it on his Shadow Novas. After I died, the tank waited for tentacles and battle ressed me. Now it was a race against time. The longer we were alive the more corruption was spreading. At about 1mil HP, I died again. But with the valiant efforts of my fellow raid members, Cho'gall went down with half of us still standing.

All that's left is Nef and Al'Akir now. Hopefully it goes as well.

Enhance your Minecraft Today!

Do you ever play Minecraft and wonder why there are not more monsters? Do you ever swim in the endless ocean and wonder why there is no sea life? Ever look to the sky and question where are all the birds? Well this mod fixes that. It's a simple to install mod that will add more things to the game. All you have to do is follow the directions in the link. http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?t=86929

Still not tempting enough? But guise you can totally turn into a werewolf and show your affection for Team Jacob! When I say more creatures... I mean more. So many more creatures it will make you wonder "Man... What the fuck does Notch and his team do all this time?" There are ducks, boars, ogres, wolves, wraiths, bunnies, birds, horses, some gay pegasus thing. Not only did he add more creatures, but there is also the ability to saddle and ride the horses.

Of course don't expect it to be perfect. This is a lot of content that has not been tested on a wide scale until not too long ago. Good luck in those mines.

More Video Games

Sorry for not making a post yesterday, everyone. My uncle went into the hospital so I sat with him for a while and by the time I got home I just felt like sleeping. So anyways, now I'm going to be back to my regular posting and back to my list of favorite games for each system. Today I'll be going over my favorite N64 games so you guys will remember a few of these from older posts.

First off is my favorite for the N64, and possibly for the entire generation, Banjo-Kazooie. This was back in the days that platformers were the most common genre for me to play. If you never played this game, then please stop reading right now and play this game and then the sequel. It follows the daring efforts of Banjo trying to rescue his sister Tooty from the evil witch Gruntilda. Of course, Kazooie is with you every step of the way doing most of the work from the confines of Banjo's backpack.

The game has multiple levels which are unlocked by collecting "jiggies" which are jigsaw puzzle pieces collected from various other levels. You must also connect notes to unlock doors along the way. In the sequel, the abilities you gain are much more complex and more polished than in the original. Choosing which I like more is a hard thing to do just because of the pure mass levels of nostalgia I get from thinking about these games. Both of them were great games which I recommend beyond any other. 

Second today is Super Smash Brothers. I can still remember having multiple bros all around the TV playing SMB, screaming and cheering. The move sets were pretty basic and the characters were nice. You didn't have too much of a selection but I always enjoyed playing Pikachu for some reason. I thought he looked extra adorable in the blue party hat. I wasn't really all that good at the game, or any in the series for that matter, but the item system seemed fairly solid. Not what you'd want if you wanted a fighting game, but it if you want a game to play with some bros, this is the one.

I was thinking of doing OoT, but I just figured I'd have to be more original than that. One N64 game I played a shitload was Diddy Kong racing. Again not what you'd really want for a serious racing game, but fun to play with bros. You had a large variety of fuzzy or in some cases feathery bastards to choose from. What made the game fun was how it had multiple vehicles. You could either drive a car, hovercraft, or plane. Each had ups and downs on certain courses. There are quite a few different levels and multiple different time challenges. In order to progress through the game you have to collect balloons by winning races or just finding them around the outside world.

Do you like Pokemon and taking pictures? Then you'd love Pokemon Snap. Just thinking about the oddly enjoyable hours spent playing this game makes me want to play it all over again. You take the role of some no name photographer taking pictures to help Professor Oak's research. In order to progress in the game you have to take better and better shots of Pokemon in different poses or groups. If the picture is of a high quality, you get higher points. You can also progress through a couple of levels only by doing certain things in the level, like (spoilers) making Mankey fall down onto the button or some shit in the river level. Fun game overall and has a lot of replay value.

One game which a lot of people more thank likely don't know about is Space Station Silicon Valley. You take the role of a robot, normally in the form of a dog, It just turns out that the space station which vanished in the year 2001 has reappeared in the year 3000 and is on a collision course for earth. So it's your job to stop it. You have to navigate great levels and get through various machine and animal hybrids.  Just play this game, it's great. You might not be into it at first, but once you get used to it, you'll love it.

 

Also I got a new puppy

Top Games for Sega Genesis

Aside from the Super Nintendo, the Sega Genesis was my second game system to ever own. I spent a lot of time playing the Genesis when I was a kid up until I got an N64. I'm sure some of you know of all these games, and some of you might not know about any of them. But I assure you that they were all gems of their time.

One game I remember spending more time playing than any other would have to be Wacky Worlds. This was a simple building game where you took the role of Sonic and just built some shit. There were multiple environments to build in, such as a graveyard, in the clouds, in a house, and various other places. Each environment had its own special building pieces. Not only could you build things, but you you could make music. The music creation was actually pretty nice and had some amazing sounds. The game had a very impressive amount of great tunes.

You could even change the color of everything. All of the buildings, all of the creatures, and it was good. Now I have the urge to play again. Oh the nostalgia is killing me. The game is by no means impressive now, but back then it felt to me like it was something awesome. I rented this game around 14 years ago... We never returned it.

In Rocket Knight, you play what I only can describe as a large rodent knight with a jetpack. Sounds awesome, right? You have to save the kingdom for the evil pigs or some shit. Now that I think about it, a lot of old games use evil pigs... Most levels were just side scrolling and killing baddies left and right. The levels were quite linear like most games at the time. Pretty basic game but it was awesome during my childhood.

Do you like killing aliens and mutant creatures? I know I sure do. That's why I played Zero Tolerance. This game was easily one of, if not my first shooter. This game was so fun, even my dad enjoyed it. Hell, he played it far more than I did. I don't remember the story, but I do remember that the game was often quite dark which made it hard to see the enemies. I also remember that you could use cheat codes to skip levels. It might not look like much, but it really was a great game.

Want a game to play with your bro? Then you need to play The Great Circus Mystery! A game starring who else but Mickey and Minnie Mouse. You can take the role of Mickey or Minnie and stomp some enemies. Eventually you get different costumes which will help you in different levels. For example you can get a vacuum outfit to help fight enemies and move things, or you could get a rock climber suit to swing from rocks. All of this is to fight the big boss, Pete. One of the best games I ever played hands down, childish or not.

Another game that I played with my dad and it surprises even me. NHL 94', a hockey game. I'm by no means a sports fan so I'm not sure why I enjoyed this game so much. It's pretty much what you'd expect. Take the control of a team and try to get points on the other team. I know it's nothing special, but this game is more appealing to me than the modern day games in the same genre. Maybe it's the nostalgia or because I played with my dad. I just know this game seemed better than most sports games.

Top Games and Rift Beta

Well, for all of you that have been following me these past two weeks and like Rift, I have some good news. On the 15th there will be a six day open beta, so I assume anyone can try it out. If you preorder the game you'll be able to play a week before the game actually comes out. I believe the headstart starts on the 24th.

Well now I'll talk about my top five (not in really any order) favorite PS1 games. Some you will remember me talking about before, others might be completely new to you. The first game is of course one of my favorites, Azure Dreams. I've talked about this game many times before, but it's just that good to me. It's about a kid named Koh who has to go to the monster tower to capture monsters and get items to sell to help his town grow. The combat system is turn based. Once the player moves, it's everyone else's turn.

Another classic that I played oodles of around the same time as Azure Dreams would be Jade Cocoon. It's about a young teen who has to unpetrify his entire village or some shit. I never really full grasped the story because it's crazy as fuck. You can also catch monsters in this game, but the twist is that you can actually merge them with other monsters. Not only will the monster's skills change, but even its element, name, and appearance. The sequel to this game was terrible and if I could it I would.

Spyro certainly deserves a spot on this list. All the hours spent watching  that little purple bastard breaking barrels and chests. If you don't know who Spyro the Dragon is, you don't know shit about vidya. The game is about a young dragon out on a quest to free all the other dragons from being turned into statues by the evil Gnasty Gnorc or some shit. The game is filled with things to collect. Everything from dragons to free, gems to plunder, and eggs to retake. The first three are hailed as being the best three (if not, the only good ones).

Next is Yu-gi-oh!: Forbidden Memories. Yeah yeah, I know it's Yugioh. But this has to be without a single sliver of doubt in my mind the best (and mostly the only good) Yugioh game I've ever had the chance to play, and trust me, I've played a lot to try and find a good one. Fusing cards was very easy in the game and you just had to have an imagination on what could fuse and what couldn't. The game didn't really have an impressive story, but the gameplay made up for it.

Final game I'll mention is a game most people should remember if they played it, Tomba (Tombi in Europe). The story is about seven pig wizards who transform the islands of Tomba into some shit place. Despite the story being a little strange, it brought endless hours of laughter beat up those little pig bastards. You pretty much just travel around performing simple tasks and being an all around badass to the other citizens. Those pig douchebags took your grandfather's bracelet and you'll do whatever it takes to get it back!

Well, that's all for now. I know I didn't give really solid descriptions for these games. Hopefully I can do better on tomorrow's list, which will be about Sega, more than likely. 

Music! VIDYA MUSIC!

If you've played video games much at all, I'm sure you've heard a lot of songs you enjoy. I figured since I'm always talking about WoW or Rift I really need to switch it up starting now. So I'm going to tell you guys some of my favorite songs or games with all around good tracks.

The first game I'm going to mention should be a given. It's of course, Zelda: OoT. This game contained some of the best tunes I've ever had the good grace of hearing. Even though it was low quality sound, you would still have the tunes in your head forever. When thinking of certain songs I can pick out Song of Storms, Saria's Song and Zelda's Lullaby to be my favorites. Those along with the Hyrule Field theme.

 Second on the list is Mario 64. Another gem from the 90's and an amazing game for the N64. Of course all of Mario's songs are great for the most part, but this game just seemed to have the best yet. I highly suggest this game not only for the music but for the sheer level of fuckwin. If I had to think of any track in this game, the first to come to mind is Dire, Dire Docks.

Third is another game from the N64. Now that I think about it, it has to have the best tunes of any game I've ever played. I love this game that much. I hope I will play this game a hundred more times before my death. Banjo-Kazooie, my hero and my love. These tunes will truly fill my head until I die, and I do not doubt it. Hell, even the sequel had equally amazing songs. God I miss you, Rare. If you want to listen to some music from this game, I would recommend Spiral Mountain and Jolly Roger Lagoon.

Finally, a game that's not on the N64 and will more than likely get me a few funny looks. It's called Kingdom Hearts. Yeah yeah. Some people would certainly laugh at somebody for liking such a game. But it was one of my favorite childhood games. The orchestra was fucking amazing. Deep Dive and Dearly Beloved are two songs that pop into my head when I think of this game.

My last game to talk about is Azure Dreams, for the PS1. I've talked about this game before and let everyone know how much I cared about it. I've purchased it so many times from it getting lost, stolen or broken. I played it so many times that it was unreal. So many hours lost and the music kept playing that whole time. This music will never, ever go away. It is seared deeper into my mind more than any game I can imagine. People, I played this video game so much my mom remembers the tunes.

Now for a few days I'll be listing my top favorite games for various platforms. So you'll be seeing every single one of these games again more than likely.

Whoops. Just wanted to apologize for having captcha on for so long. I could have sworn I turned it off!

Pictures and Characters

Well I'm going to take a day to post some images of what I talk about a lot on the blog. Pretty standard stuff.

This is my Rogue! As you can see green and brown is going pretty nicely for him. I'm not very geared by any means, but I we have a Feral Druid now to replace our Prot Warrior due to loldrama. So now for the first time since Kara I'm having to roll against somebody else for gear. Oh the sheer horror.

I've been talking about Rift a lot lately. Well here it is. This is what my Pyro/Ele/Arch looks like. Notice I'm basically a fire Mage but I get to have an elemental, hurray! Actually in PvP the pet is a hassle. It enjoys taking long strolls 100 meters away from me and dying quickly just so I can take the time to summon its lazy ass again. I said that in duels I was doing pretty crappy with my Pyro, but when I tried their version of battlegrounds it seemed I held my own pretty nicely. I had a lot of fun in the short amount of time I PvP'd.

This is what talent trees look like. The nice thing about Rift's trees is that not only does it have "branches" it also has "roots." Every so often, after allocating a certain amount of points into your branches, you gain an ability or bonus from the roots. For example once I put 51 points into the branches of Pyromancer, I will unlock the ability Fulminate in the roots. I find this be a pretty great way to give a variety of abilities. Hell even if some of the builds are sub-par or even just plain horrible at least you can always try something new just to have a little bit of fun.

Rift

Well, I've been playing Rift a bit now. I have to say I like it quite a bit. At first I tried a Rogue, because that's what I normally prefer in MMOs. But after trying a Riftstalker/Nightblade/Blade Dance, I didn't really enjoy it so much so I considering a Cleric. However, I went with Mage. My souls are Pyromancer/Elementalist/Archon. Lots of fire damage flying around and I even get a pet!

The Rift events are very common and pretty much basic "kill fucking everything" from what I've seen so far. I have not gotten to PvP aside from a few duels here and there. As a Mage I feel like I could have done better. As a Rogue I thought I was doing pretty nicely. I'm still not sure if I'm even going to play Rift, but it's certainly on the table as a likable game.

My brother chose to go with a Rogue also. I think he decided to go Riftstalker/Assassin/Blade Dancer. My cousin chose Mage, so he went Necromancer/Warlock/Dominator. The possibilities in classes is pretty fun. Some go great together where others don't do so well. I'm going to try to hurry up and get to the level cap as soon as possible on my Mage so I can test the game out more.

Even more raiding and stuff!

Well, we downed Chimerion last night. For some reason we decided to raid Tues/Wed/Sun now instead of Thur. So now all we have left is all three end bosses, heroic versions and Sinestra. I know we're not very progressed, but to be honest, we wipe to stupid, idiotic moves most of the time. For example we spent the most time wiping on Magmaw the other night because our guys were not chaining him at the same time.

I don't mind all the wipes, though. You tend to phase them out. I just wish I was doing something a little more... constructive with my time. When I was away, something good happened actually! My brother got into the Rift beta. So once the next wave goes out I can finally try it. Also look at this! Would you want this? I'm going to say no.