Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3

I purchased Far Cry 2 a couple days ago. It's another graphical feat with some interesting gameplay. I've only played maybe an hour or so of it but so far I'm impressed with the game. It seems immense with a lot of ground to cover, and truly is a free environment where you can pick and choose your own ways of taking out your enemies. I've got a ways to go in the game so I can't give it a real review. The coolest thing so far is how you heal yourself. No instant medkits here, as you have to literally pry bullets from your flesh and wrap worse wounds in bandages. You have to be careful starting out, since you've contracted malaria and must take medicine periodically to stay on your feet.

I'm more excited about what'll be on shelves in three days...and that is Fallout 3. It's developed by the same folks that made Oblivion. There were some things about that game I hated and loved. Fallout 3 is a totally different setting and hopefully alongside it will be different gameplay. I can't wait to get lost in that post apocalyptic world!

Xbox 360

My roomate acquired an Xbox 360 from an associate in one of his drug rehab classes for 10 bucks. I won't ask why so cheap, but I am glad it is in the house for now. A co-worker of mine was generous enough to let me borrow several games I'll try once I get home today. This is just what I need considering the current state of PC gaming.

Unfortunately the controllers are about 50, 60 bucks so we've only got one. Along with this cost also comes the cost of batteries. It seems to me that if Microsoft is going to require me to pay out the ass for a controller they could at least include a rechargeable battery pack of some kind.

GTA IV should be fun.

Goodbye WoW...

I made the decision a couple days ago. I'm going to sell my characters on WoW and leave that world behind. So many hours wasted...and for what? Well, when it comes right down to it, good times and epic gear. Still, that only goes so far. Once the next expansion is released your gear becomes obsolete, and so the cycle continues. Not only that but I enjoyed getting drunk while raiding, and I liked to raid a lot. Those two addictions were getting out of hand and too closely intertwined.

Surprisingly I'm still saddened by this choice, I did make a lot of online friends in that world. With the next expansion being released the temptation to continue adventuring is stronger than ever. It just took so long to become 100% aware of how much time is wasted playing it and how much life flies out the window.

Besides, there will still be other PC games to waste time with...but much LESS time.

Still waiting for new PC games

Lately I've had time to do more things aside from playing video games. Why? Well, there's not much being released lately that is appealing. Spore is out right now and while I'm tempted to buy it...I'm not going to. This game is an ingenious idea, but the reviews on it have been mediochre for the most part. The game seems like a huge time sink as well, which I don't feel like getting into. That's a weird thing to say, coming from a WoW player.

Actually, I haven't really played that either for about a month.

Metaboli.co.uk is a site I signed up on a few months ago. You're charged about 24 bucks a month for access to a bunch of PC games. Some old, some new. I think I've about run out of games on that site to play that I can genuinely get into. Lately I have really been wanting my Diablo fix so I had been researching diablo clones and played Titan Quest for awhile. I uninstalled it yesterday.

I've been searching and searching for an elusive title that never quite made its debut called Mythos. This was supposed to be some kind of a diablo clone, but judging from the videos it offered a new feel to the hack and slash genre. They only made a free version which was a beta that I can no longer find on the web.

That's ok, as the holiday season looms ever closer I am certain I'll be posting more often. Or maybe not, that depends on if these promising upcoming titles immerse me enough. At this point even a demo of Fallout 3 would satisfy me!

Console gaming is out for me right now. My PS2 is busted, Gamecube is just old, and of course we know what happened to my Wii. It got ripped off.

A short history of my WoW

-you see a hooded figure approaching through the fog, slowly using a stick to push his small boat forward in the cavernous halls of the internet-

I've spent countless hours (well not countless, the /played command will show me my total play time in game) playing this highly popular MMO. When I first started it was interesting and kinda fun, moving through quests and the lush landscape of Mulgore. I eventually made my way to the capital cities, joined a small short lived guild and got to know the instances scattered throughout the lands.

My second guild was the one that turned into a small online family and is still going strong after nearly 3 years. They were the biggest reason I kept playing the game.

The playing got out of hand a few times and affected my studies and sort of threw me off track of what I had been focusing on, which was a career. At times I'd stop playing for a few months, only to start again at a much heightened pace of playing. Eventually I decided that next time I turned my account on, I was going to race to level 60 using a hunter. For this I needed help, so I bought Joanna's 1-60 Leveling Guide. It worked, and quite well. So I did again on my druid. This was before the release of BC, if I remember correctly. I think my best time was around 7 days of played time on my hunter.

BC was released and was an absolute blast to play. I tell ya there is nothing in WoW that is quite like discovering all-new areas. My favorite was the mushroom forest. Once I had reached 70 on my main character (a shaman), I was ready to raid. The rest of the guild was, for the most part, behind me on raid progression so I waited a few months before everyone was ready to give it a go.

I like 10 man raiding...a lot. We started going to Karazhan weekly. I eventually became frustrated as we only went once a week, so I switched my main character to another guild. In some ways it was a regrettable decision yet I did do a WHOLE LOT more raiding, and thankfully the guild leader was someone I knew from past times in WoW.

Playing this game went from something fun I do every now and then to a full blown "Let's see how far I can get through endgame content" drill. Once you get to the upper tiers of the game and progress through the story, you get into raids of 24 other players. That's better than the number of people they used to require which was 40, but you still get lost in the numbers and you lose some of the experience because of that. Probably the biggest downside to 25 man raids is waiting on everyone to show.

I've recently slowed down my pace a great bit but I still do the Kara or Zul'Aman thing every now and then. My goal now is to get 5k gold before WotLK, since of course the new mounts will probably cost 10k this go around.

This game has destroyed lives and careers and takes some kind of discipline on the part of the player not to get lost in this world. There's no doubt in my mind now that the game works like an addictive drug, and it was intended to be that way.

Crafty company, Blizzard is. Damn them.

I wanna be the guy...no, seriously!

I've been playing that insanely difficult game lately and somehow I'm starting to enjoy it (but FUCK YOU Mother Brain, you're going down.)

Update time. There are a lot of games being released in the coming months, and most of the ones I'm looking at seem to be coming out on the PC. That's fortunate not just for the obvious reasons but also for the fact that my PC really needs to be run through a gauntlet of new releases to see how much my performance decreased over the months as games become more demanding and PC components become obsolete (though many of us are aware that these said components are usually obsolete as they hit shelves).

Spore seems like it will be quite an innovative game. I've fooled around with the Creature Creator for an hour or so and found the possibilities really can be endless when it comes to customization.

Fallout 3...well, I don't know. This is my relationship with the past two fallout games: I bought both 1 and 2 and set them aside for awhile as I just did not get into it as much as I had hoped, though so many people had raved about the game. At this point in time the graphics in the game are quite out of date (though I am aware that this is not what gives a game its true fun factor), and besides that my two CDs have somehow grown a small hole through the data so that neither game will install. I'm willing to give this a chance though.

WotLK. IT'S WOTLK! Wrath of the Lich King, the next expansion for WoW, is due out in early November. I was kinda pissed that I didn't get to play the beta but, eh. So far there's a lot to like about this one. I'll be one of the first to buy this latest form of digital crack once it hits shelves.

I'm looking forward to trying Project: Origin as well, as I just recently finished out the second expansion for the first F.E.A.R. game. This is supposed to be its sequel, but due to some bullshit about rights to the name of the first game, it's not F.E.A.R. 2.

Lastly I'd like to say that Starcraft 2 had better be fuckeen arwsome. It's been too long of a wait to have to QQ over an unpolished game.

And I'll leave you with one last sad bit of news from this gamer's world: my Wii has been stolen. I know it happens, but it's not usually your roommate that does it. I was compensated by one of his family members later, but that does not take away the fact that I camped out in front of Target for that white brick. That was definitely a first for me. Thankfully the guy next to me in line had the foresight to bring brewskies and shared a tall boy with me. I did not sleep that night nor late into the morning as I simply HAD to try Wii Sports and the new Zelda.

It's funny though, because around the time it vanished I was considering selling it due to the seemingly lack of quality games being released for it. Yeah, very fucking funny.

Blizzard's New Baby - Diablo III

Well, it looks like it's that time for fanboys all around to short out their keyboards from drooling all over it.

It's been 8 years since the release of Diablo 2 and am I ever excited! When the original Diablo was released, it was thought by many as a revolutionary step in gaming. Revolutionary or not, I was one of many that played the crap out of Diablo 1 and 2. They were, quite simply, immense fun. I hope Blizzard continues to mesmerize us with this next installment. Here's one of many articles covering the announcement: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53365

I suppose I could be considered a fanboy as well having heavily played the aforementioned games as well as Starcraft, Warcraft 3, and WoW. But it's not so much that I believe Blizzard is untouchable when it comes to developing games, it's merely the fact that the games they do create are often hard for me to put down.

Rather than babble on about it I suggest you scoot over to the new site for the game http://eu.blizzard.com/diablo3/ Extra points to you if you can name the angel on the opening page. :D The content on the page is satisfactory though still limited, as they only reveal two classes (one of which was in Diablo 2) that will be included in the game for certain. There's a nice and fairly long gameplay video for you to see there too. Two things I see that I really like:

1. True 3D environments
2. Interactive environments

I always felt in the previous Diablo games that the world just didn't feel that immersive; it was flat. There's a good story included but simply not as much there as your typical RPG. Despite small shortcomings the gameplay rocks. There's certainly no shortage of baddies, and many elements of the old Diablo formula are still present; hell, it wouldn't be a worthy Diablo sequel without those.

Definitely looking forward to this. Blizzard sure has a lot in store for us, don't they? WotLK, Starcraft 2, and now this?? I'm just hoping that the attention to so many games in development won't have any impact on quality.

The Witcher - Full Review

Here's the latest reason no one has seen me lately. Technically speaking, I think The Witcher is quite awesome, hope you enjoy my review below.



MY SCORE FOR THIS GAME: 8/10 Stars

THE WITCHER

The Witcher is a PC based RPG that was released in October 2007 and has received positive reviews from many sources. This game was quite gripping for me from its opening movie to the end, and has a lot to offer; soon into the game you’ll realize that this is not your everyday average joe RPG. There still remains the old rule of ‘talk to everyone you meet,’ but these standard elements of any game of this genre are outshined by the overall unique feel of the world that the game presents. The battle system is heavily based on combos and a small selection of upgradeable spells. Your choices when relating to the world’s characters will determine your fate as you progress, and you may find yourself split in twain more than once. These choices are the reasons why this game received a “Mature” ESRB rating. Let’s delve a little deeper into this dark world.

The story is absolutely involving from the very beginning. Since you (Geralt) have amnesia and can remember nothing when the game begins, everyone’s a stranger and it’s up to you to piece together the past. Contrary to other games of this genre, you have no choice of the character of your class; it is focused on the witcher and his spells and swords. Probably the most fascinating part of this story is your ability to choose sides. As you gather information from the townsfolk, you’ll begin to form your own opinion of certain characters you meet which will most likely shape your decisions later in the game. This gives the game a treacherous, realistic feel which will make you wonder what’s right or wrong or if either exists. The voice acting satisfied me for the most part, although some of it was a little amateurish, and the character models are way too overused. You’ll inevitably form your own opinions of the allies you make in the game but they’re definitely memorable.

The graphics are nothing to scoff at and while not quite achieving the resource hogging elements of games like Elder Scrolls, I was definitely immersed. You’re given 3 different perspectives to view the world, all third person but from different distances which will give you the ability to either feel the heat of battle up close or to quickly assess the situation on the battlefield from afar. Aside from being overused, the character models are realistic enough, facial expressions including. To view this all in full detail you may want a moderately fast PC and video card but you can always tone it down using the graphics options. Here are the system requirements: http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/game/system_requirements.html

Whores, verbal curses, alcohol, drugs, and nudity abound in this version of an RPG. This truly is a mature-oriented game but reflects the reality of how medieval times might have actually been. It’s tempting to lay down with every temptress you come across, though I noticed one or two points in the story where the decision to do so may have had negative consequences. Yes, there are hookers walking the streets that you can have your way with.

Now on to my favorite part which is game play. As a Witcher, Geralt uses two primary weapons: a steel sword for human flesh and a silver one for monsters. Through the adventure he’ll also pick up five different spells which all have their particular uses. These can all be upgraded using bronze, silver, and gold medallions which are awarded when you progress to each new level. This gives you some ability to customize you strengths and where you’d like to shine in battle. Most of the tougher battles will require you to use potions, and in fact you won’t finish the game without them. Because of this, you won’t find yourself upgrading your weapons very often and if you do, it’ll cost a hefty sum of orens (the game currency). You can also carry two secondary weapons, though I never found a real use for them as they were clunky compared to my swords. You’ll not be carrying around a lot of trash like enemy weapons to sell off to the store as you can only carry what you’re wielding. A lot of what happens in the game will be based on the quests that you find, and not all are required to finish the game, giving this one somewhat of an open ended feel. Unfortunately some of the quests are slightly bugged

The combat system in this game could make you giggle with glee or cry. When sword fighting, audible cues in combat tell you when to execute your next swing; the only problem with this is that you must have the mouse hovering over the monster. You inevitably will move during battle which turned out for me to be a disadvantage when my enemy disappeared behind another enemy, a bush, or other environmental object. Despite the sometimes offensive camera the combat is simply a lot of fun, considering the different modes of fighting (there are 3 stances Geralt can take- one for slow heavy hitting monsters, agile monsters, and one for groups) and spells at your disposal. Over time you learn how to best combine sword and magic to keep the enemy at bay. Go ahead and jam the hilt of your silver sword into that beast’s heart, you know you want to.

This was one of the least disappointing RPG’s I have ever played, and it kept me occupied for at least 60-70 hours (yep, the game is THAT big.) The solid story and mystery that is entwined is what kept me wanting to find out more about myself and the characters. Again, this game really does earn its “M” rating so if you’re easily offended, leave this one alone. From a graphical perspective the game does its job, though this isn’t going to be the reason why you’ll play it to the end, it’s the story and game play. These elements combined create a medieval, dark world where trust is hard to find. A new approach to the RPG genre, fans shouldn’t miss this one.

The World's Hardest Video Game

Here's my Digg of the Day:

"I Wanna Be the Guy is a computer game based on the ancient, impossible platformers. This video shows some poor sap suffering through it."

read more | digg story

(Digg is a news site containing stories submitted by users. Just, ya know, if you didn't know.)

My eyes are burning

Mostly due to watching a PC screen all day long. Recently I've been hooked on an RPG called The Witcher. All in all it's definitely worth a play in my opinion, it'll keep you occupied. Pretty soon here, I'll be typing up a nice review for it to post. It's not a brand new game but it had somehow missed my attention when it was first released and deserves a fair review.

Speaking of PC screens I feel it's about time to get a replacement for my little 17" LCD. I've been looking into a few 24"'s that aren't too pricey. Hard to believe I'll be paying less than what I did for a 19" CRT about 8 years ago. Back then though I didn't know about things like Newegg.

Yeah, I suppose we can all afford a bit more what with the 'stimulus' check handed about by the government. With gas prices the way they are, it's really required. I pay 'round $60 for a tank myself, how about you? Boy those Exxon fellas sure know how to run a business, eh?

Signing off for now and again, The Witcher full review coming soon. Honooooorr!

In the beginning...

...we had Pong. I don't know many people that don't recognize the name of that timeless game. Sadly, I'm not old enough to have seen its advent, but we've certainly come a long way from it.

-calls forth lightning and scribbles with it on a stone tablet-

It shall be written that herein will lie the somewhat interesting views of this blog's author on various aspects of video gaming and video games. Specifically, PC games...though I do tend to pick up my Nunchuk from time to time for some Wii action.

Here you'll find epic victories as well as losses, stories from my MMO experiences, relative gaming funk and, if you're lucky, reflections on life as it relates to the virtual world.

You've been warned.