Long time no posts. Why? Because!

University: Check!

Things have been really rough around here the last 6 months. I wont go into detail on it, but suffice to say: Things are looking better, and I am about ready to start posting my random geekery again :-)

University is finished. I am semi-looking for a job whilst working on my web design business (www.frozenmonkeywebdesign.com), revising stuff from uni and working on some personal projects and having fun.

Before I go, here is one plug I shall make - Geek and Sundry - Felicia day, Wil Wheaton and more... enough said, check it out!!

Skyrim: Velk's journal - Part 2. *Contains spoliers*

Before I went to rest that night, I spoke to Sven who was playing music in the inn, and he gave me a letter to give to Camilla, to frame Faendal...

I rested well, very well considering the day I just had. This inn would be torn through in a moment, or burnt to ashes should the dragon come back... Anyway, I was awoken by the smell of breakfast on the spit in the center room, and the melodic notes of Sven... STILL playing to the same people getting drunk... these people are either very rich, or have issues...anyway, I decided to just snack on some of the food I had with me since finances are short, and headed back out into town. When I was walking back to the Forge to do some smithing, I bumped into Camilla. I gave her Sven's letter and told her that he was trying to frame Faendal... she was much appreciative and promised not to have anything to do with Sven. She asked me to seek out Faendal and tell him myself as he would appreciate it.

Whilst exploring the town, a man called Lucan told me that Bleakfalls Barrow up the hill across the river contains an artefact called 'Gold Dragon Claw'. I agreed to retrieve it, and headed along the path and over the bridge...

Whilst there I spotted a deer grazing down by the river... I notched an arrow and took aim, and fired - a direct hit. The deer jumped into the river and started swimming to the other side as my second shot hit it right in the side of the head, finishing it off. I skinned it, took what meat I could... and also a ring it was carrying...

I then head up the hill to Bleakfalls Barrow...  on the way I was ambushed by a wolf pack, that I scorched to the ground. Shortly after a blizzard rolled in, making it hard to see as I continued to climb, ahead I spotted a spire in the white-out, but as I got closer I got attacked by some bandits that had set up camp here... A brief melee later I had taken them all out, and taken shelter in the tower until the blizzard died down.

I then ventured the rest of the way to the ruin, where I took out more bandits and a giant spider with Greatsword and bow.

I delved into the dungeon, that seemed to be inhabited solely by spiders and the walking dead. Deep inside, I came to a door - watching a bandit pulling a lever, he was cut down with arrow-fire from a trap... The door it likely opens was barred shut.

After playing about with some statues in the room, and triggering the lever from a safe location, I managed to get a working combination for the door: Fish Snake Snake. The door ground open, and stale air and dust greeted me, aswell as a lot of spider webs.

As I passed through the corridors, looting what I could fit in my pack, I heard a man calling out for help... I noticed a room, blocked off with vines...

I cut through them to find a room covered in heavy layers of spider webbing, with numerous dessicated corpses and giant spider eggs... I could faintly see someone struggling in the webbing at the far end of the room, as a GINORMOUS spider dropped down right in front of me, a bear would have been a snack for this thing... I fell backwards out of the room, and started to attack with bow and arrow since it couldnt squeeze out through the door, and eventually done enough damage that it was visibly staggering, then run up and cleaved it in two with my greatsword.

The man introduced himself as Arvel. He told me he had the claw and knows what it is for - to unlock a treasure horde deeper into the dungeon, so I offered to cut him down if he would assist and give me the claw. I free'd him. He ran. He died. I chased after him and with my greatsword, cut him down, and took the items he was carrying.

The dungeon ahead was filled with the walking dead, and traps... it only made sense - I used the traps against them... having them step on their own pressure plates triggering traps, and hitting pots of flaming oil hanging from the roof so they burst over them as they passed underneath... it felt good!

Eventually I came to another door that had these unusual symbols associated with it, and a slot for the claw... After toying about with it I got it unlocked.

As I entered the chamber a flock of bats nearly knocked me on my ass. I moved further in and found some strange glowing writing near a tomb...

As I moved closer it seemed to flash, then fade and I felt... strange... moments later a powerful dreugh rose from the tomb, only to be cut down. I looted an Ancient Nord Greatsword of Cold from him... much better quality than what I was using, and enchanted to boot!

A secret exit was built into the room, and it lead me to the surface... it was night time once I got out, and I made a bee-line for town, stopping only to slay wolves and slaughterfish that took a liking to me, and paused momentarily to talk to a poaching huntsman.

When I got back to Riverwood, I returned the claw, sold my loot and headed back to the inn for rest. All in a days work!

Gaming update

Still a little short on gaming time at the minute, but heres an update of my latest activity:

Star Wars: The Old Republic:

Currently have a level 16 Sith Assassin, slowly getting the hang of the game now. Spent a while running about with a colour crystal in my sabre that I was too 'evil' to use... Muhahah - meant my companion was doing most of the damage though. /facepalm. Geek fail right there :p

Skyrim:

Still keeping track of my adventures, should have the next installment up when I get round to typing up from my notes. Currently level 10.

UFO: Enemy Unknown:

When I have time to squeeze in a quick shoot about, I have had this game in the background. My latest adventure has been a pistol challenge on Superhuman difficulty. Currently a few research items from Cydonia... Have everything I need to get there, and have had 2 missions using plasma pistols and the last one with laser pistols. Before this it was allll normal pistols... They work well with a scout/sniper combo :)

More to come,
-V

~Generic Seasonal Greetings!~

Merry Christmas to all :)

Been busy as hell prepping for the big day, now hopefully its a good relaxing, and moderately drunken one :D. Squeezed a little bit of time in on Star Wars tonight after polishing off to relax, and I am thoroughly enjoying the Sith Assassin with his double-light sabre :D

-V

Xcom UFO Defense, and others: discounted on Steam

I am kicking about my parents tonight and have been unable to play Star Wars or Skyrim due to being on an old laptop instead of my desktop. I took a looksie on steam when talking to my dad about buying Terror From The Deep a few days ago... and seen that Steam has a sale on... all the games are discounted... Damn it!

If you have been considering getting one of these games - or even any other game that steam has for sale, it is a good time to take a look. Cheap cheap cheap!

-V

Star Wars: The Old Republic, continued thoughts.

Sith Assassin, From Deadmanwalking182 at Deviant Art.

I have accumulated enough time in game now to hit level 10 and get out of the start area, and have moved to 'The Fleet' area. I must say, my experiences so far have proven to me that this game is pretty damn good. I played WOW from UK release day, until about 6 months ago. This game blows it out the water in pretty much every way so far. Only downside being the hardware requirements, my laptop will NOT run this game, and the increased level of complexity (steeper learning curve, but in no terms difficult for someone experienced with MMO's)

When I arrived at the flee, I was led to my next task... choosing which Sith path to take... This proved to be much tougher than I expected...

Sith Assassin: Dual-Bladed sabre, and the talent trees span down to Tanking, DPS (Rogue style) and another form of melee DPS

Sith Sorceror: Healing, or two forms of ranged dps...

I kinda wanted to be a healer, but I dont want to do that yet.. I ended up picking the Roguesque class... Apparently you can respec - but I think it is just a talent point reset.

A whole new array of abilities was unlocked upon seleting this, so I have two hotkey bars to use my powers - I am not sure if the initial ones are needed, but I still have them on the hotkey bar to move... Complicated - but Ill work it out next time I play. As a bonus, I got a goodie bag which contained my Dual bladed light sabre (no item level, I think these are like 'heirloom items' in that you keep the one as you level and can modify it as you go with the use of components and crystals to modify the buff effects.)

After this I also picked up my trade skills (3 gathering skills... it looks like gathering is done by companions on missions though... confusing much!)

Thats about as much as I have done so far... I heartily recommend anyone that likes MMORPG's to take a look at this. It is more demanding (computer and brain!) than World of Warcraft, but it is also more mature, and humorous in its own way. Server queues seem less of a problem now, although queues still exist.

Happy hunting!

-Velk

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Initial Thoughts

So, The Old Republic officially launched this morning. I jumped on a RP server where most of my old gaming community from Star Wars Galaxies, and World of Warcraft: The Second Sun, are residing.

I joined the queue to get into the server at about 7:30 am, and had access by about 8:30am (queues galore just now, Im sure its an issue that will be resolved in due course, and hopefully not via a loss of customers) then rolled myself up a Sith Inquisitor. It seemed the closest thing to a Mage which is what I played in Wow as my main.

So far, I like it. It is definitely based on wow, but hugely improved. I really like the combat system, no targetting system, it plays more like an fps - there is no auto-attack, you point at a target and hit your attacks. You can click on a target to face them and attack - its all a pretty fluid and easy system.

Another thing I like about the game is the map. If you move when its activated, it becomes a transparent overlay, and you can actually run around with the map up. Nifty ^.^

I have not found any bugs or glitches so far (Perhaps with the exception of when I have my training-light-sabre out (Pressing Z - the controls are all identical to WOW) - it clips through walls, but never mind :D )

The graphics are ok, nothing spectacular. They are nice and clean, this PC has no issues running on max everything (560gtx graphics, AMD X55 processor and 8GB ram - 22" monitor at 1920*1080).

Aaaand... thats about it. Maybe Ill write another more in depth review once I spend a bit more time in game and level my char past 6 ^.^

-V

Skyrim: Velk's journal - Part 1. *Contains spoliers*

As previously mentioned, I wanted to keep an in-character game journal, much like Arwen. It will contain spoilers, I have no intention of editing thme out, if you dont want to see them, please don't read. I am a veteran of Morrowind and Oblivion, so I am going to try my best not to use any exploits I find in the game, Im likely also going to stick fairly close to the main quest line with this character, and explore all the fun to be had with guilds when Im not trying to keep notes as I go! And with that over with: INTO IT!

*****

I awoke, with no memory of where I am, or why I am here... I was in a cart, being transported in convoy with what appears to be prisoners. Ulfrik Stormcloak introduced himself to me. A few others rode beside us... We arrived at a keep soon after... One by one the prisoners were lead forth to be given their last rights before... before being beheaded. I was not on their list, but nevertheless, the captain ordered that my head should be removed along with the others...

The first man hurled taunts and insults at the guards, and was promptly dispatched. The lucky one. A freshly sharpened blade took his head in a single stroke.

By now, eerie sounds could be heard echoing from the mountains... but it made no difference... I was next. Perhaps the sounds were my own imagination as I stared death in the face... As I lay my head on the block, some strange beast flew in from behind the keep, and landed on a rooftop, and started raining fiery death to the village. A Dragon! 

AArrgh! Death!

 I made my escape with Ulfrik, into the keep with a few other injured survivors...

We made a break across town, and I met with Hadvar, the guard that tried to bargain for my release with the leader at the executions, and we headed into the Keep, and made way through catacombs.

We fought our way through a number of Greycloaks that decided they fancied some hostile negotiations, but we managed to fight our way through and out the otherside. When we got out, the dragon flew right over our heads and over the mountains in the distance...

Spot the dragon!

we watched the Dragon fly off into the distance. Hadvar informed me the local town of Riverwood would be a good place to shelter, so we headed off along the path. He pointed out an old ruin, and we paused at some blessing stones.

Thieving time!

We then continued heading on towards the town, being halted briefly by a pack of Wolves, though they were easy to dispatch with my bow, and Hadvar's sword.

We entered the town of Riverwood where Hadvar and I met his father, Alvor. We went inside his house to talk...

Alvor and his wife

I talked to Alvor in length about assistance he needs. Soldiers from Whiterun seem to be his prime concern, he told me a little about Whiterun and the Jarl - this may be tricky, he is quite opposed to the war, although he doesn't side with anyone, it may make it tricky to coerce him to assist...

I spent a little while milling about, cooking some Cabbage Apple Stew, and sharpening my weaponry at the blacksmiths and had a brief run around town. It was dark now, and a full moon was out.

The mountains at night. Pretty. Dangerous. Hide.

I decided I want rest, and somewhere to sell all my loot, but Alvor and his family had been hospitable enough, so I headed to the Sleeping giant inn. Hopefully I can get some rest, a clean and some coin for my troubles. After coughing up 10 gold pieces, I rested for the night. Whiterun can wait until tomorrow... I need rest, lest I will fall to another wolf pack and never even get the alert out!

*****

Thats it for now folks - I did not get much time to get into the game as I am still in the midst of studies, but the more notes I get, the more I shall post :) My thoughts so far: plotline seems good, the game is very immersive. Full HD on a 22" screen, with headphones on makes it very immersive, and I love the water and the atmosphere, especially walking through the valleys and looking up at the misty peaks above! :-)

-V

Xcom: Enemy Unknown - aka, Xcom UFO Defense...

Studying hard for the exams I am in the midst of, but I have my distractions...

Namely You Tube.

I have been watching SillyGoosesinc's 'Let's Play X-Com' videos, they give me giggles.

I also found this article on Ufopedia...

http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Murphy%27s_Laws_(X-COM)

Oh yeah!

DC Universe Online. Mini Review

In amongst my studies, I have been downloading DC Universe Online. I heard on The Instance that it had gone free to play. Naturally... I decided to check it out. I dont promise a well written or article with any real aim other than to waffle on about what I have done and my thoughts on the game ;)

After installing, I hit the character creation process... I felt brave and selected PVP server, then Villain. Why? I dont know, I always play the good guys and I thought it would be an interesting twist. Plus, I got to choose The Joker as my mentor, and the entertainment value of such a thing just could not be ignored! Superman? Bores me. Batman? Bores me. Huntress? Who the hell are you?

Catwoman? Yes plx. The Joker? Yes plx. Lex Luthor ... o.O ... ok, sure whatever.

Next up I chose my starter abilities, I took the ability to fly which seemed a no-brainer, and "magic damage" because if I remember correctly it had properties of being a healer and I thought it would be nice to be able to heal or be a group healer if such content is in this game, which it seems it is.

I then chose my costume... yeah... Its all very customisable, but I chose something simple... a two tone stripey green and red spandex suit. Go team camp! On a  big plus - all the armour bits you collect in the game customise to match your colour scheme - so no fugly armour parts or clown suits (unless you wish to make it so) like in WOW.

I have never really been big into the DC comics, so it comes as a nice touch that despite my lack of knowledge, the game fills you in on the characters back stories. This is evident in your first "warehouse" where at the end of it you learn a little bit about who The Huntress is.

Storywise, it is amusing me and keeps me coming back for more.

Gameplay is rather unusual compared to other online games I know. For a start, the game is also available to console players which results in some interesting mechanics. I have noticed that you dont need to be a great aim to hit your targets, and that you can "lock" onto a specific target so that you are attacking it regardless of what you are doing on screen. This is quite handy if you think you will be confused by the environment. A downside to this is the way the "combo-moves" work. When you gain skillpoints you spend them in various talent trees for your abilities (or to learn new abilities) and as you gain new abilities they are activated with different combo-buttons. In the case of the PC where I am playing it, a left mouse button tap is a melee strike, a right mouse button tap is a ranged hand-blast. Holding the right mouse button unleashes a charged bolt. Holding it down twice supposedly fires a meteor, but I dont know if that works. Holding the right mouse button and tapping the left twice is supposed to boot a fireball at the enemy... so far I have not seen any of these combo moves do anything different, but I will persevere.

I am level 7, and have maybe accumulated 3-4 hours in game, flying about, doing missions, giggling at the dialogue and taking part (albheit mainly as cannon fodder) in some of the pitched PVP battles that break out.

It appears there is only 30 levels in the game, but I dont think this is a bad thing, it means a band of lowbies like myself can wither down a level 30 and kill them despite their toughness or ability to one-shot half of us.

At this point in time I would rate the game as follows:

Story: 7/10 (The plot is odd, or maybe completely irrelevant - Im not sure, but thats not a good thing is it! - but mission plot and the story info you gain from them is well implemented.)

Graphics: 7/10 (I play at max everything. Graphics look good, not awesome, and there are some niggles, but its pleasant to look at.)

Gameplay: 7/10 (good but not perfect. Again, some niggles in how things work, but it seems a solid concept.)

Entertainment Value: 8/10 - Im in the early game, and despite getting ganked, Im enjoying exploring something new again.

Overall 7/10 - I might enjoy the game if/once I have time to get into it more, and perhaps partake in group activities. I know a bunch of friends that play this game so it seems to be fairly popular. Overall - if you have not tried it, it is free to play so give it a blast! You might be pleasantly surprised. If not - at least you just enjoyed a few hours of your very own action hero movie :p

-V