I've been following NBC's Heroes since Episode I, as if that comes as a shock to anyone here. I'm a geek, I fly my flag high. This is a blog consisting almost entirely of videogame related rambles, after all.
Anyway, so far this season has been pretty lackluster... that is until last night's episode. I don't want to go into any specifics for fear of spoilers for those who haven't seen it, but suffice to say things are finally happening this season. It took 6.5 episodes, but things are moving. There's some re-used plot devices, which doesn't surprise me, but by and large I actually can feel the tension building again after what was somewhat of a dud of a Season 1 finale.
The two "sides" of the conflict seem to be in the gray, and I can't really say how the outcome will work, unlike last year's "coming from a mile away" ending. The only character I can say has truly evil motives is Sylar... and while Alejandro and Maya are boring, he's anything but. Cannot wait to see that guy as Spock.
I just wanted to hammer this out, because I don't have much to chat about today. Slow beginning of the week. Hellgate goes well, despite the occasional bug, and I'm nearing the end of the campaign on my first character, the Engineer in my previous videos. And other than these two things, there's not much to talk about unless you want to hear about work and school. Which, seriously... don't we read and write these blogs to escape those last two?
Cheers, peoples.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Rambling for Monday the 5th of November
Time to go off on a few different subjects here, gaming and otherwise, so dig in.
As you can very likely tell by the videos, my gaming time this weekend was spent playing Hellgate: London. As I read more and more reviews of the game, the more I am boggled. Has the Action-RPG really gotten so stale? Is HG:L such a new blend of the genre that people really don't see that it's basically Diablo with a new view-point? I see some reviews get the concept, and give the gameplay great praise but the bugs bring down the score. To me, these reviews hit the target. They're well written, and touch on the major problems of bugs and whatnot that plague the game, while still maintaining that at the core is a very fun Action-RPG that fans of the genre won't want to miss.
On the other end of the spectrum are reviewers who seem to think the game was meant to be WoW with a new setting, or Gears of War with RPG elements. From these reviews one gets the notion that maybe the critics just plain old did not do their homework, and very likely didn't play the game much... or perhaps they're just not fans of the genre. A-RPGs are certainly meant for the player who doesn't mind repetition and for the game that relishes in loot-hoarding. Make no bones about it.
I suppose, though I'm content with the game, the bad reviews of some bug me because I know many folks won't even give the game a try and I feel they'd be missing out. It's Holiday season, the shelves will be filled with great AAA titles, and I worry HG:L will get overlooked, and those of us who are fans won't have the support we're hoping the game receives to take it from bugged launch product to absolute classic. Time will tell I suppose. I do see at least 15,000 people on most of the weekend when I do a "/who" in chat though, so that's a good sign.
I hope the game's selling well both here and in the EU, as it's apparently doing well in Asian territories already. I'd love to be constantly going back to this game for new adventutres of the next few years, so I hope it gets the love it deserves. I'll definitely be subscribing soon to take advantage of the new content in December, that's for sure. I won't be missing out on Stonehenge plagued by demons. Heck, I might even dump 10 bucks tonight if the lure of the Guy Fawkes event pulls my geek-strings too hard.
Moving on, let's talk about Jonathan Coulton. Where the hell has this guy been hiding from me? I found his name via everyone's clamoring for the Portal Finale theme song, and I spared as much cash as I could to download 9 of his songs last night via iTunes. I'm hooked. Think Weird Al or Tenacious D with more subtlety and, in my opinion, more talent and you've got Jonathan Coulton. Humorous, poignant, and absolutely ear-catching, I've got to find a way to get more money to get more of his stuff. Definitely an Indie artist to support if ever there was one.
Lastly, back to the all-important addiction that is gaming, a week from today Super Mario Galaxy ships. Metacritic is already tracking reviews, and they're coming in exceptional. If their words can be trusted at all, we might actually have a Mario that can compare to Mario 64. These days I feel the wear of Zelda's formula. I'm starting to get pretty bored by Link's same old, same old adventures. The DS version is a change in control, and a streamline of features... but it's still the same old dungeon/puzzles that you've played with since the original. I love it, but it is getting old.
On the other hand, Mario doesn't fail to entertain me. The NES pack-in was my 1st game, and I've played every single one since it to death. Super Mario World was the best in its day, then 64 took reign, Sunshine was good but not a "true" Mario game in my book, and from the looks of it Galaxy sets a new bench mark with its gravity tricks and ingenious puzzle design. Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a good solid platformer.
US Guvmint employees get the 12th off for Veteran's Day, and I've decided to take the 13th off as well to "celebrate" Mario's return to perfection. Here's hoping I'm not too hyped. I doubt I will be.
Cheers you lot.
As you can very likely tell by the videos, my gaming time this weekend was spent playing Hellgate: London. As I read more and more reviews of the game, the more I am boggled. Has the Action-RPG really gotten so stale? Is HG:L such a new blend of the genre that people really don't see that it's basically Diablo with a new view-point? I see some reviews get the concept, and give the gameplay great praise but the bugs bring down the score. To me, these reviews hit the target. They're well written, and touch on the major problems of bugs and whatnot that plague the game, while still maintaining that at the core is a very fun Action-RPG that fans of the genre won't want to miss.
On the other end of the spectrum are reviewers who seem to think the game was meant to be WoW with a new setting, or Gears of War with RPG elements. From these reviews one gets the notion that maybe the critics just plain old did not do their homework, and very likely didn't play the game much... or perhaps they're just not fans of the genre. A-RPGs are certainly meant for the player who doesn't mind repetition and for the game that relishes in loot-hoarding. Make no bones about it.
I suppose, though I'm content with the game, the bad reviews of some bug me because I know many folks won't even give the game a try and I feel they'd be missing out. It's Holiday season, the shelves will be filled with great AAA titles, and I worry HG:L will get overlooked, and those of us who are fans won't have the support we're hoping the game receives to take it from bugged launch product to absolute classic. Time will tell I suppose. I do see at least 15,000 people on most of the weekend when I do a "/who" in chat though, so that's a good sign.
I hope the game's selling well both here and in the EU, as it's apparently doing well in Asian territories already. I'd love to be constantly going back to this game for new adventutres of the next few years, so I hope it gets the love it deserves. I'll definitely be subscribing soon to take advantage of the new content in December, that's for sure. I won't be missing out on Stonehenge plagued by demons. Heck, I might even dump 10 bucks tonight if the lure of the Guy Fawkes event pulls my geek-strings too hard.
Moving on, let's talk about Jonathan Coulton. Where the hell has this guy been hiding from me? I found his name via everyone's clamoring for the Portal Finale theme song, and I spared as much cash as I could to download 9 of his songs last night via iTunes. I'm hooked. Think Weird Al or Tenacious D with more subtlety and, in my opinion, more talent and you've got Jonathan Coulton. Humorous, poignant, and absolutely ear-catching, I've got to find a way to get more money to get more of his stuff. Definitely an Indie artist to support if ever there was one.
Lastly, back to the all-important addiction that is gaming, a week from today Super Mario Galaxy ships. Metacritic is already tracking reviews, and they're coming in exceptional. If their words can be trusted at all, we might actually have a Mario that can compare to Mario 64. These days I feel the wear of Zelda's formula. I'm starting to get pretty bored by Link's same old, same old adventures. The DS version is a change in control, and a streamline of features... but it's still the same old dungeon/puzzles that you've played with since the original. I love it, but it is getting old.
On the other hand, Mario doesn't fail to entertain me. The NES pack-in was my 1st game, and I've played every single one since it to death. Super Mario World was the best in its day, then 64 took reign, Sunshine was good but not a "true" Mario game in my book, and from the looks of it Galaxy sets a new bench mark with its gravity tricks and ingenious puzzle design. Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a good solid platformer.
US Guvmint employees get the 12th off for Veteran's Day, and I've decided to take the 13th off as well to "celebrate" Mario's return to perfection. Here's hoping I'm not too hyped. I doubt I will be.
Cheers you lot.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
One More Vid for the Weekend
To be fair, the scenery in this video is just like the scenery in the "Mind of 314" level which I haven't recorded yet, but I thought the idea of a Hell-ship and having to go into it to retrieve its heart was pretty cool. Think is I ran into a bunch of Bile Brains and Bile Lords.
As any HGL-er will tell you. Face enough of these guys and you're fudged. Just have to keep on respawning and taking them out little by little. The summon minions, and if there are a few of them it becomes an army against you, and you have to usually take out some of the minions before you can get a clear shot at them. It can be rough. Earlier today I spent about 15 minutes in the dried up Thames River area clearing them out. Freakin' annoying.
Anyway, enjoy the video. Regular rambles shall return tomorrow.
Oh, and that's OK Go playing through the video. Great garage-type band. You may have seen the video with the members of the band dancing in perfect sync using treadmills. Bah, just look it up.
Cheers!
As any HGL-er will tell you. Face enough of these guys and you're fudged. Just have to keep on respawning and taking them out little by little. The summon minions, and if there are a few of them it becomes an army against you, and you have to usually take out some of the minions before you can get a clear shot at them. It can be rough. Earlier today I spent about 15 minutes in the dried up Thames River area clearing them out. Freakin' annoying.
Anyway, enjoy the video. Regular rambles shall return tomorrow.
Oh, and that's OK Go playing through the video. Great garage-type band. You may have seen the video with the members of the band dancing in perfect sync using treadmills. Bah, just look it up.
Cheers!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Bildo Goes to Hell
Didn't take too long. Here's video number two! I take a nice vacay to hell. Enjoy!
Trying something new...
Going to try and upload some movies of my mission runs in Hellgate.
The first is simple enough, me hunting a named mob for a side quest in some warn down warehouse-like thingus. They're low-res as to make sure they fit under the Blogger video size cap, so don't take their visuals for good cues of the game's quality.
You'll also notice that my Engineer is a pretty passive build. It doesn't have to be that way, but I'm choosing to power up my drone, and also work towards a Napalm Strike skill much later on. Basically I'm specializing in 2 main abilities. My drone as a tank for me, and one handy dandy grenade-like stunning ability. Napalm Strike is levels and levels from being attained, but the stunning grenade works for now.
At the end, you'll also get a blurry look at my assigning skills in the Engy skill-tree. Sorry it's so fuzzy, but had to keep it that way to fit. Enjoy the video! (And yes, I like to shoot boxes... they're good for the soul.)
I've got another one coming, in this very cool place called Aldwych. It's pitch black and requires the player to wear a flashlight-helm to see his/her way through to the end, and there's also a Hellrift in it. Turned out to be a pretty decent video. But like this one I need to cut it up and shrink it a bit.
Cheers!
The first is simple enough, me hunting a named mob for a side quest in some warn down warehouse-like thingus. They're low-res as to make sure they fit under the Blogger video size cap, so don't take their visuals for good cues of the game's quality.
You'll also notice that my Engineer is a pretty passive build. It doesn't have to be that way, but I'm choosing to power up my drone, and also work towards a Napalm Strike skill much later on. Basically I'm specializing in 2 main abilities. My drone as a tank for me, and one handy dandy grenade-like stunning ability. Napalm Strike is levels and levels from being attained, but the stunning grenade works for now.
At the end, you'll also get a blurry look at my assigning skills in the Engy skill-tree. Sorry it's so fuzzy, but had to keep it that way to fit. Enjoy the video! (And yes, I like to shoot boxes... they're good for the soul.)
I've got another one coming, in this very cool place called Aldwych. It's pitch black and requires the player to wear a flashlight-helm to see his/her way through to the end, and there's also a Hellrift in it. Turned out to be a pretty decent video. But like this one I need to cut it up and shrink it a bit.
Cheers!
Zombot, Oh Zombot... My Sweet, Sweet Zombot.
So as of the launch on Halloween, Flagship's been running a Halloween Event to kick off the release of Hellgate: London. The treats were to be just for subscribers, but due to some seemingly difficult to surmount billing system issues, they've released all the Halloween content to subscribers. Personally, I think it'd be rather nice if they always made sure free-loaders could get SOME of the special event content, even if not all of it but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway, it's not spectacular. A handful of quests that can result in some nifty candy and halloween drinks that give you buffs and make you look somewhat ghosty. There's a special helm called "All Hallow's Vigil" that drops off of any mob you go a killing, but it seems to be a pretty slim ratio, because I've yet to get my own. I'd love to snag it before the event ends later this weekend, because while I can't post a picture of it I think you'll understand what I mean when I say "Ghostrider". Me wants.
But, being a player that enjoys little fluff objects almost as much as real story/quest based content, I spent the greater part of Wednesday and Thursday nights not progressing my character's story but rather going back to lower level areas to run through mobs, collecting the appropriate parts I needed to build my very own Zombot.
Again, a picture would reall do this post justice, and hopefully I'll be able to get some on here soon, but think part robot, part zombie, 100% cute and mini and you've probably got a rough idea of what the Zombot looks like. The kicker? Every so often a beat will sound from your speakers that sounds eerily familiar, and Mr. Zombot breaks out into the Thrill dance from Jacko's now classic music video. I about spit my Lo Mein all over the screen when I spied him doing it the first time.
While I'd not subscribe for this little stuff alone, it's great to see that right at day 1 subscription features aside from the storage space, character slots, and hardcore mode are being dished out. Can't wait really to see where it goes from here. December is supposed to be bringing a hefty content patch with Stonehenge as a new area to hunt in. Rock on, indeed.
I really must stress not to take very review of this game as gospel. As with all reviews, one must remember that they are simply opinions, as is what I'm saying about the game. It might not strike your fancy, but if you, dear reader, long for a new take on the Roguelike I highly suggest giving HG:L an honest look. Haven't had this much fun for a good while.
Oh! I've also been playing the Witcher, speaking of fun, and I've struck gold there too. It's been equally as long for me since I found a really good offline CRPG, and the Witcher is just about the finest to come along since KotoR. Look for my review on that late this weekend or early next week.
In the meantime, go give HG:L a try! Bildo commands it.
Cheers!
Anyway, it's not spectacular. A handful of quests that can result in some nifty candy and halloween drinks that give you buffs and make you look somewhat ghosty. There's a special helm called "All Hallow's Vigil" that drops off of any mob you go a killing, but it seems to be a pretty slim ratio, because I've yet to get my own. I'd love to snag it before the event ends later this weekend, because while I can't post a picture of it I think you'll understand what I mean when I say "Ghostrider". Me wants.
But, being a player that enjoys little fluff objects almost as much as real story/quest based content, I spent the greater part of Wednesday and Thursday nights not progressing my character's story but rather going back to lower level areas to run through mobs, collecting the appropriate parts I needed to build my very own Zombot.
Again, a picture would reall do this post justice, and hopefully I'll be able to get some on here soon, but think part robot, part zombie, 100% cute and mini and you've probably got a rough idea of what the Zombot looks like. The kicker? Every so often a beat will sound from your speakers that sounds eerily familiar, and Mr. Zombot breaks out into the Thrill dance from Jacko's now classic music video. I about spit my Lo Mein all over the screen when I spied him doing it the first time.
While I'd not subscribe for this little stuff alone, it's great to see that right at day 1 subscription features aside from the storage space, character slots, and hardcore mode are being dished out. Can't wait really to see where it goes from here. December is supposed to be bringing a hefty content patch with Stonehenge as a new area to hunt in. Rock on, indeed.
I really must stress not to take very review of this game as gospel. As with all reviews, one must remember that they are simply opinions, as is what I'm saying about the game. It might not strike your fancy, but if you, dear reader, long for a new take on the Roguelike I highly suggest giving HG:L an honest look. Haven't had this much fun for a good while.
Oh! I've also been playing the Witcher, speaking of fun, and I've struck gold there too. It's been equally as long for me since I found a really good offline CRPG, and the Witcher is just about the finest to come along since KotoR. Look for my review on that late this weekend or early next week.
In the meantime, go give HG:L a try! Bildo commands it.
Cheers!
Some Tidbits and My Thoughts
A wee bit of news is making the rounds right now.
First up, as certainly expected Warhammer Online has been delayed until Q2 2008. That's the April to June months for those who were never good at fractions.
Honestly, while I was looking forward to some Greenskin playing come March, I was also dreading having to choose between Pirates, Conan, and Warhammer all at once. Given Age of Conan doesn't delay again too, we now have Pirates hitting shelves in January (MUST BUY), Conan in March (likely try), and Warhammer in April-June (for now). That's a solid 6 months of new and fresh MMO gaming. Who knows which I'll end up sticking with, but I'm really looking forward to trying them all. I like new and shiny things and having a collection of MMOs on my shelf to hop to and from. These 3 will be no different.
Also making its slow and steady way around the internet, apparenly Zenimax Media, parent company of Bethesda Software recently bought the rights to the domain name "ElderscrollsOnline.com". Oh yeah, that's right. Let the rumors begin. Not only might we have a new KotoR themed Star Wars MMO on the way, we could very well hear announcement of an Elder Scrolls MMO within the next year or so. Looks like the genre's booming for sure.
Snack on that for a while, and I'll be back with some Hellgate stories in a little while. Need to try and actually get some work done.
First up, as certainly expected Warhammer Online has been delayed until Q2 2008. That's the April to June months for those who were never good at fractions.
Honestly, while I was looking forward to some Greenskin playing come March, I was also dreading having to choose between Pirates, Conan, and Warhammer all at once. Given Age of Conan doesn't delay again too, we now have Pirates hitting shelves in January (MUST BUY), Conan in March (likely try), and Warhammer in April-June (for now). That's a solid 6 months of new and fresh MMO gaming. Who knows which I'll end up sticking with, but I'm really looking forward to trying them all. I like new and shiny things and having a collection of MMOs on my shelf to hop to and from. These 3 will be no different.
Also making its slow and steady way around the internet, apparenly Zenimax Media, parent company of Bethesda Software recently bought the rights to the domain name "ElderscrollsOnline.com". Oh yeah, that's right. Let the rumors begin. Not only might we have a new KotoR themed Star Wars MMO on the way, we could very well hear announcement of an Elder Scrolls MMO within the next year or so. Looks like the genre's booming for sure.
Snack on that for a while, and I'll be back with some Hellgate stories in a little while. Need to try and actually get some work done.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
