keraph
Blog! Where I've Been
2007-05-30 2:35 PM PDT
Alright, a blog system! That's what I'm talkin about. Now I can share the intricate details of my life that I'm sure you all shed tears over not knowing. But don't worry, I'll have the good taste to restrict this blog-area to gaming info.
So, where I've been: Not on WoW. I stopped playing about a month ago, to take a small break, and I have yet to feel the urge to return. No particlar reason, just too much time spent playing one game was getting to me. So, here's what I've been doing:
(Note: These are the opinions of but one avid gamer.)
STALKER - awesome game, Oblivion with guns. This was the first game I was playing heavily after I took my break from WoW. I haven't beaten it yet, mainly because I've been playing so many games, but I have made a TON of progress, and I highly recommend it.
Halflife 2 - I only wish there was more of this for me to play. The story is just so drawing, I found myself at the end in no time! I picked up Episode One and beat that in one sitting (Which kinda miffed me, I wanted more!), played though the silly Lost Coast thing, and I am eagerly awaiting Episode Two, though I dearly hope it delivers a bit more gameplay. I've always loved Halflife, hell, I played the original game and every expansion, and I'm glad there's more to play. I'm even considering grabbing Halflife Source, for some improved memory refreshement.
Lord of the Rings Online - It's not bad. Really, I don't want to slight it in any way. But it's "Lineage: World of Everguild Questwarcraft XI". It's a great MMO, but it doesn't feel any different than any other MMO I've played, and that's a lot. Nothing new, just a different world to do the same things in. If you're a Tolkien fan, that's excellent! But since I was trying to take a break from the repetitive nature of MMOs, I stopped playing once my 10 day ran dry.
Battlefield 2142 - OH man, I love this game. Granted, I curse like a sailor when I play, but nevertheless, excellent online FPS. I had been very dry on the FPS gaming for the past year or so, which is a travesty considering that it was the Quake series that got me into gaming in the first place, so I hit this game HARD for a few weeks. Still play fairly regularly.
Quake 4 - As I said, I started gaming in the Quake universe. Well, that may be a lie, as I had been hitting up the NES before that, but this was my first real taste of competetive online gaming. And boy did I love it. Therefore it was a given that I'd play Quake 4. The singleplayer is cool, love that they returned to the Quake 2 world. The gameplay is good, less deathmatchy and more realistic (I use this term lightly in a sci-fi shooter, but you DO have to reload, worry about even normal falling damage, can't rocket jump, and the such). Beat the game in short order, and moved on to the online play (Which is not yet listed on my XFire account; I wasn't running XFire at the time)and I am VERY pleased. While the singleplayer is more realistic, they kept to their good old roots for the multiplayer fragfests. No reloading, rocket and plasma jumping, grav platforms everywhere; it felt a lot like 3. Which is very good. This is the staple LAN game for me these days.
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Well, I beat the hell out of Dawn of War (NO, I haven't played Dark Crusade yet), but I craved some fantay action, especially considering that WAR is on the horizon, and I'm in a state of near-wetting myelf over it. So I fire this game up, and I'm pleased to learn that unlike DoW, there are no buildings in this game. You do not research tech-trees and create more units in-game. It feels like real Warhammer, the tabletop game, where you pick your army in advance, and play with nothing more than you prepared at start. This also means you get right to the battle, no fussing over building defenses and unlocking the right units. Just glorious battle! The single player is a ton of fun, and the multiplayer is just great! The time you spend custom-crafting your army to use in multiplayer is very remniscent of good old tabletop, and the amount of choises you have i very nice in making the army YOU want, even if you like all light infantry, heavy ranged, or full-mounted armies. Lot of options.
Neverwinter Nights 2 - I LOVE what they've done with the place! NWN was my favorite game for a long time, and may still be! So much fun, so many choices, options, a real D&D feeling. Two expanded on that, adding more classes and prestige classes, VERY detailed race options, and a lot more to character creation (One of my favorite parts), along with a BEAUTIFUL new graphics engine. Gameplay feels a lot more KotOR than the original, and the characters feel more realistic. That, and you can control any henchman in your party (And yes, you can have more than one), and you only lose if EVERYONE in your party dies, not just your main character. My big qualm with the game? I DON'T GET THE TOOLSET! I was in LOVE, and I mean dump my girlfriend and MARRY it in love, with the original NWN toolset. I love making custom content, my own detailed campaigns, creatures, characters, my own worlds! I've always had the creation aspect of being a Dungeon Master down, I'm just not too good on the delivery, and with NWN, I don't really have to. Now, the new toolset is great, I couldn't ask for more options and detail, and it REALLY feels like a game developers program, but the problem with that is that there is NOTHING intuitive about it. I don't know what I'm doing, how to do something new, or even how to do plain old stuff I did in the original. Now, I'm taking my time to learn what I can, read their forums, and I'm slowly getting the hang of everything, but it's just a lot less intuitive than the previous, and I understand that it's because there's so much more detail in the new toolset, but I reserve my right to fume!
Neverwinter Nights - Now, all this stress manifested itself in me playing the original NWN again. Now I LOVED this game, always have, but for the life of me I never took the time to beat the original campaign, as I was so wrapped up in the toolset and online content. I've put NWN2 on hold until I beat the original campaign, as a bit of self-incentive, and I've already made a ton of progress. Also, just for fun, Anna, Frank and I have decided to play through the main campaign together in multiplayer, just for a chance to all game cooperatively and get some of that good old D&D feeling back. Lot of fun for all of us. Oh, and a note to others who've played the original campaign: Charwood is creepy as shit!
Dungeons and Dragons - You had to know this was coming, what with all the Neverwinter I've mentioned. No, I don'y mean DDO, I mean real, tabletop, funyuns and mountain dew Dungeons and Dragons. Now that I'm back up in NH for the summer, we've reunited with the old crew, and there's a few fun campaigns running. When I get back down to boston I'll be running my own as well, though I'll be restricting the size of it for my own purposes.
Summoner - By Urath, what has gotten into me? I find myself playing through the FIRST FUCKING RPG for the playstation two. I've had this game since the day it came out, and I haven't touched it in years. What caused me to play it now? I have no clue, maybe playing Neverwinter has made me pine for my older days of gaming. Maybe I'm just really fucking bored. Either way, it's not an awful game, and one I'll probably play all the way through again. I only fear that all this old gaming is going to lead me down the dark path of...
Everquest - Now, it hasn't happened yet, and I have many good friends who are preventing my return to Norrath, but I've felt the urges. I KNOW the game sucks in comparison to EVERY OTHER MMO on the market, I've gone back to the game a couple times, just for a week at a time, to confirm this. But man, I've been craving some good old classic everquest. Why? I don't know. The funny thing about nostalgia is that you only seem to remember the good parts. I'm sure I'm heading towards dissapointment again, but hell, I have the 15 bucks to reactivate my account, and even if I only play for a few days, I'll get what I wanted out of it.
Anime - I've also been watching a lot of anime lately, which makes me very happy. There was a long time as a gamer when I found that I was drifting away from my anime side and going deeper into the gaming. I've been watching a bunch of odds and end lately, as well as Kanon 2006 (<3) and Fate Stay Night. I know have a good selection to choose from, thanks to my good buddy Frank, and I don't think I'll have a good reason to be bored all summer.
Well, that's about it for my recap. It was partially to let everyone know where I've been, partially to review the games I've been playig, and partially for my own good. I sorta forgot what I've been doing lately. It's a good refresher ^^;;
Later.
views: 121
So, where I've been: Not on WoW. I stopped playing about a month ago, to take a small break, and I have yet to feel the urge to return. No particlar reason, just too much time spent playing one game was getting to me. So, here's what I've been doing:
(Note: These are the opinions of but one avid gamer.)
STALKER - awesome game, Oblivion with guns. This was the first game I was playing heavily after I took my break from WoW. I haven't beaten it yet, mainly because I've been playing so many games, but I have made a TON of progress, and I highly recommend it.
Halflife 2 - I only wish there was more of this for me to play. The story is just so drawing, I found myself at the end in no time! I picked up Episode One and beat that in one sitting (Which kinda miffed me, I wanted more!), played though the silly Lost Coast thing, and I am eagerly awaiting Episode Two, though I dearly hope it delivers a bit more gameplay. I've always loved Halflife, hell, I played the original game and every expansion, and I'm glad there's more to play. I'm even considering grabbing Halflife Source, for some improved memory refreshement.
Lord of the Rings Online - It's not bad. Really, I don't want to slight it in any way. But it's "Lineage: World of Everguild Questwarcraft XI". It's a great MMO, but it doesn't feel any different than any other MMO I've played, and that's a lot. Nothing new, just a different world to do the same things in. If you're a Tolkien fan, that's excellent! But since I was trying to take a break from the repetitive nature of MMOs, I stopped playing once my 10 day ran dry.
Battlefield 2142 - OH man, I love this game. Granted, I curse like a sailor when I play, but nevertheless, excellent online FPS. I had been very dry on the FPS gaming for the past year or so, which is a travesty considering that it was the Quake series that got me into gaming in the first place, so I hit this game HARD for a few weeks. Still play fairly regularly.
Quake 4 - As I said, I started gaming in the Quake universe. Well, that may be a lie, as I had been hitting up the NES before that, but this was my first real taste of competetive online gaming. And boy did I love it. Therefore it was a given that I'd play Quake 4. The singleplayer is cool, love that they returned to the Quake 2 world. The gameplay is good, less deathmatchy and more realistic (I use this term lightly in a sci-fi shooter, but you DO have to reload, worry about even normal falling damage, can't rocket jump, and the such). Beat the game in short order, and moved on to the online play (Which is not yet listed on my XFire account; I wasn't running XFire at the time)and I am VERY pleased. While the singleplayer is more realistic, they kept to their good old roots for the multiplayer fragfests. No reloading, rocket and plasma jumping, grav platforms everywhere; it felt a lot like 3. Which is very good. This is the staple LAN game for me these days.
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Well, I beat the hell out of Dawn of War (NO, I haven't played Dark Crusade yet), but I craved some fantay action, especially considering that WAR is on the horizon, and I'm in a state of near-wetting myelf over it. So I fire this game up, and I'm pleased to learn that unlike DoW, there are no buildings in this game. You do not research tech-trees and create more units in-game. It feels like real Warhammer, the tabletop game, where you pick your army in advance, and play with nothing more than you prepared at start. This also means you get right to the battle, no fussing over building defenses and unlocking the right units. Just glorious battle! The single player is a ton of fun, and the multiplayer is just great! The time you spend custom-crafting your army to use in multiplayer is very remniscent of good old tabletop, and the amount of choises you have i very nice in making the army YOU want, even if you like all light infantry, heavy ranged, or full-mounted armies. Lot of options.
Neverwinter Nights 2 - I LOVE what they've done with the place! NWN was my favorite game for a long time, and may still be! So much fun, so many choices, options, a real D&D feeling. Two expanded on that, adding more classes and prestige classes, VERY detailed race options, and a lot more to character creation (One of my favorite parts), along with a BEAUTIFUL new graphics engine. Gameplay feels a lot more KotOR than the original, and the characters feel more realistic. That, and you can control any henchman in your party (And yes, you can have more than one), and you only lose if EVERYONE in your party dies, not just your main character. My big qualm with the game? I DON'T GET THE TOOLSET! I was in LOVE, and I mean dump my girlfriend and MARRY it in love, with the original NWN toolset. I love making custom content, my own detailed campaigns, creatures, characters, my own worlds! I've always had the creation aspect of being a Dungeon Master down, I'm just not too good on the delivery, and with NWN, I don't really have to. Now, the new toolset is great, I couldn't ask for more options and detail, and it REALLY feels like a game developers program, but the problem with that is that there is NOTHING intuitive about it. I don't know what I'm doing, how to do something new, or even how to do plain old stuff I did in the original. Now, I'm taking my time to learn what I can, read their forums, and I'm slowly getting the hang of everything, but it's just a lot less intuitive than the previous, and I understand that it's because there's so much more detail in the new toolset, but I reserve my right to fume!
Neverwinter Nights - Now, all this stress manifested itself in me playing the original NWN again. Now I LOVED this game, always have, but for the life of me I never took the time to beat the original campaign, as I was so wrapped up in the toolset and online content. I've put NWN2 on hold until I beat the original campaign, as a bit of self-incentive, and I've already made a ton of progress. Also, just for fun, Anna, Frank and I have decided to play through the main campaign together in multiplayer, just for a chance to all game cooperatively and get some of that good old D&D feeling back. Lot of fun for all of us. Oh, and a note to others who've played the original campaign: Charwood is creepy as shit!
Dungeons and Dragons - You had to know this was coming, what with all the Neverwinter I've mentioned. No, I don'y mean DDO, I mean real, tabletop, funyuns and mountain dew Dungeons and Dragons. Now that I'm back up in NH for the summer, we've reunited with the old crew, and there's a few fun campaigns running. When I get back down to boston I'll be running my own as well, though I'll be restricting the size of it for my own purposes.
Summoner - By Urath, what has gotten into me? I find myself playing through the FIRST FUCKING RPG for the playstation two. I've had this game since the day it came out, and I haven't touched it in years. What caused me to play it now? I have no clue, maybe playing Neverwinter has made me pine for my older days of gaming. Maybe I'm just really fucking bored. Either way, it's not an awful game, and one I'll probably play all the way through again. I only fear that all this old gaming is going to lead me down the dark path of...
Everquest - Now, it hasn't happened yet, and I have many good friends who are preventing my return to Norrath, but I've felt the urges. I KNOW the game sucks in comparison to EVERY OTHER MMO on the market, I've gone back to the game a couple times, just for a week at a time, to confirm this. But man, I've been craving some good old classic everquest. Why? I don't know. The funny thing about nostalgia is that you only seem to remember the good parts. I'm sure I'm heading towards dissapointment again, but hell, I have the 15 bucks to reactivate my account, and even if I only play for a few days, I'll get what I wanted out of it.
Anime - I've also been watching a lot of anime lately, which makes me very happy. There was a long time as a gamer when I found that I was drifting away from my anime side and going deeper into the gaming. I've been watching a bunch of odds and end lately, as well as Kanon 2006 (<3) and Fate Stay Night. I know have a good selection to choose from, thanks to my good buddy Frank, and I don't think I'll have a good reason to be bored all summer.
Well, that's about it for my recap. It was partially to let everyone know where I've been, partially to review the games I've been playig, and partially for my own good. I sorta forgot what I've been doing lately. It's a good refresher ^^;;
Later.
