I have a feeling I've typed that title before. But who cares, really?
I've been busy for a while now with trying to get back to my usual routine of bedtime habits, but ever since summer hit, I couldn't have the air conditioning and time to make or film another video. Not to mention it makes it hard to get some sleep. I've tried some sleeping aids too. Unfortunately, it's the Rite Aid brand, which means it does nothing. Useless piece of crap. I'm suppose to take two tablets before I head to bed, which I did, and I didn't feel sleepy in the slightest, even when I was laying down. Kinda sucks when your product doesn't work, but then again I probably have the older version of it. I'm not so sure.
In any case, ever since winter came around, and a few energy drinks on hand, I think I can finally dedicate myself to a bit of work. I mean, the only project I've actually released was the Dead Space LP sample, and that was like two months ago. And it's not that I haven't been working. I've actually got some more footage for one of my special reviews, but the problem is that I don't have enough space to hold it all. And my script needs a lot of work. I would like to start off my video's by showing that I at least have a bit of knowledge on the subject of my review, but finding information is a bit hard. I've only managed to find info on GameFAQs and another website on how the game mechanics work, which is good and all, but it doesn't equate to finding out much about the creator, which all the info I have about them is what they created in the past. If anyone has a better way to find source material on producers of an obscure game, please let me know, Google isn't helping much.
I would also like to get back to doing the Let's Play on Dead Space, but ever since I switched from different versions of Vegas, I lost all the inspiration to keep going. Mainly because I worked really hard on the lead up to my sample. And I thank everyone for taking a look at it and giving me their feedback and criticisms. Hopefully, I will get back to it. But I do guarantee this, I will have a video out at least by the end of the week, I swear that! I'm done with playing anymore games until I've actually found a way to make this work.
Another reason I've waited is because my computer has been acting wonky lately, and I figured out it was because of the fan. I now have a bigger tower case, so it's gonna require a bigger fan than the one I have now. I've ordered two, actually, both at cheap prices, but not too cheap that I hope I'm not being ripped off. Newegg is pretty good about that. For the most part.
I'm gonna try to avoid rants in the future, because let's be honest, The Spoony One owns that department and I should probably try to veer far away from it as much as possible. Besides, I like talking about stuff I enjoy.
Aside from that stuff, I think I'm gonna do a little cleanup around my blog. Get rid of stuff that doesn't belong and stuff that I just really don't feel comfortable with being up. Maybe a little change in the title.
Now to get these scripts up and running. Until then, enjoy life while you can.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Let's Play Dead Space
Yes, I am getting to my reviews, it's just that it's been hard to really get back into the groove of things, what with doing multiple things at once. I'll be freeing up more time for working, but for now, I have a sample of my LP ready. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it, so without further adeau...
Friday, August 6, 2010
Combat Arms....
I remember a while back I was asking people to download this game because it was fun, which it kinda was, at least until the hackers overwhelmed it. But even then, I didn't really mind the hackers much, and if anyone called me a hacker I'd just go along with it, putting on my normal satirical routine. As I played this game, I suddenly began to realize just how stupid and irritating the game actually was, at least when compared to much better games like Modern Warfare 2. Then again, it's free, so what did you expect? But that isn't what pissed me off about this game.
I've been thinking about a word to describe just how bad, in terms of the way the game is played as an MMO, just how bad the game actually is, and just how hardcore it considers itself. And I finally found a term that actually describes it quite well. This game is a fucking attention whore. It can't keep going unless people actually pay a lot of attention to it. And a lot of people might not get where I am coming from with this, and I'll explain it to you.
The game is your basic first-person shooter where you just run around in these different game-types and just go around killing people. The usual stuff you would see in FPS's. But what makes this game such an attention hog, that people apparently put most of their everyday lives into playing, is that in order to stay a formidable opponent in this game, you have to constantly buy your items. I would have no problem with this, only except the items are fucking expensive. In the game, their are these points you earn based on your performance called GP. And you use that GP to rent guns, hats, armor, grenades, and backpacks for a certain amount of time, like say a day. Like, my favorite weapon is the SCAR and that costs about 800GP at most. Now, here's the kicker. When you go into this game as a casual gamer, you'd like nothing more than to just wield a weapon that you personally prefer, so for starters, you play a match, getting killed left and right by either really skilled players or hackers, and by the end of the match, you probably have about a few kills and maybe twenty or more deaths. And you'll only gain about 456GP. Not nearly enough to buy the stuff you want. So you play another game. You suck in it, and you only get maybe 234 GP. Still not enough. You have to constantly play these games just so you could get the equipment you wanna play with and stay competitive in the playing style that you chose. By the time you finally collect the money to get the gun, you then realize that it only pays for using the gun for a total of ONE whole day. And this doesn't count for just game time, it counts for real time as well. So after working hard to obtain the GP to get a 24 hour gun, you lose it after a day. So then you work again to obtain the gun.
Already, you can probably see one of my major complaints with this game. WHY CAN'T YOU KEEP THE GUNS?! No FPS in the history of FPS's has ever pulled such an time consuming stunt as this game has. At least none I can recall. At least with Crossfire, it only counts for in game time, and you could actually purchase the gun permanently, it just only requires maintenance to keep it repaired. But this game has the fucking gall to make you waste your entire time trying to stay on top of your shooting capabilities just so you can purchase the stuff you want. Why don't they just go ahead and have you lose your GP after a full day while your at it. That's probably the only way they could've made this game more dickish. This is one of the stupidest systems I've ever heard of, and my complaints don't stop there.
They do in fact have a way to buy a permanent gun, but it'll cost you about 35 dollars. That's just fucking greedy. At least give me the option to obtain my gun with the GP I've collected, you stupid money-grubbing whores!
I don't know if I've said this before, but I don't have anything against companies making money. In fact, that's a good thing. They get to maintain their business and everyone keeps their job, they pay for the servers, they are able to feed their families, themselves, that kinda thing. I have nothing against that. What I do have a problem with is that they are trying to make money off of imaginary items that can only be used in that one game. If I had 35 bucks on my right now, I would never think to use it to buy in game guns. In fact, I would probably use it to buy a game that is way better than this one. And their are quite a few games like that. If you want, I'll even name off a few of the games you could buy for less than 35 bucks that offer way more than this game ever will. Hell, Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, even Wii Shop, have items that cost way less and are worth your money more than just the single 3D metaphysical object you paid 35 bucks for. And it's not over.
Their is also an option to buy with REAL MONEY an elite moderator status so you can ban people from your games...
This game has the balls to take a simple feature that should be available to everyone, the fans of this game, and make people pay for it in actual cash....
I can't fucking believe this. This is just so stupid, I can't even begin to say just how dumb of an idea this actually is. And I just thought of another game you could play that doesn't take up your 35 bucks. Team Fortress 2. And unlike Combat Arms, it's not an attention wanting whore. In fact, it's way better in almost every manner. If you want something a bit more photo-realistic, then Modern Warfare, or the first Call of Duty. Or anything Infinity Ward has made. Hell, even Crossfire, which is another free FPS game, allows you to be able to kick people from your server, and/or ban them. In fact, I would recommend Crossfire over this game anyday. It may be full of hackers, but it's not as blatant. Not to mention that Crossfire has way better hacking protection than Combat Arms does.
Not to mention the sheer number of bugs in the maps and the gameplay itself that still need working out.
Btw, speaking of the hacker issues, coming from a guy who's played this game for about a year only to just play it now, the situation on hackers hasn't gotten any better at all. Nexon has no fucking idea what it's doing anymore. They never had an idea what the fuck was wrong. This is why Maple Story is so full of hackers and people that take advantage of all these loopholes in Nexon's games. Years upon years of working with Maple Story, and yet they can't figure out how to block the hackers out. Here's an interesting question: why do programmers waste their time making these hacks for these Nexon games, when they could be doing something else with their programming skills, like making a game that actually does the genre way better than any of Nexon's games. SubaGames has the right idea. They are at least trying to give people a better gaming experience, regardless of how low on money they are. This game is not going to change for the better. You might as well stop using these hacks and actually start doing something that will earn you more cash. It's not that hard either. I imagine it's only a game development degree away, and I'm pretty sure their are SOME game companies that are hiring programmers. Hell, you could even get a decent pay from them. I mean, using your programming skills to help other game developer companies be better, that just sounds stupid. But no, they would rather spend all their time and attention towards a self-absorbent greedy piece of bigot crap that doesn't even deserve their time. The hackers are way better than this! They are not this low! They should not be wasting their time with such an insignificant metaphysical attention-wanting piece of programming. And you people are way better than this too. Support the games that really deserve it, the companies that really do try to get rid of the hackers, or the ones that really do try to give you something entertaining and balanced for your buck. But don't waste your money on this game.
I hope I got my point across. I don't want to come off as sounding like some sort of jackass, too late, but the people who play this, and the hackers that hack the hell out of Nexon's games deserve way more than the guys that program it are giving them credit for. I'm actually more surprised by the fact that Nexon is unable to get in contact with any of them and asks them for advice on how to stop the hacking from getting through. I probably come off as sort of a troll when trying to portray how much of an attention grabbing whore it is. It's certainly not that bad in terms of gameplay. It does seem like the hitbox detection works, and that the gameplay is okay, but in terms of micromanaging, it's just a wreck. This probably seems more like a rant on little nitpicks, and even then, the ramblings probably don't make much sense. And it is. But in the end, I don't really expect anyone to stop playing because of what I say. That's fine. I really don't care about people hacking in the game either, even if I can't get a kill off before the game ends. But let's not pretend this game isn't an attention wanting program. You can probably just see for yourself by looking at how long you've played, just what rank you are at, and how much GP and stuff you've actually acquired. You are clearly addicted to it's charm. You really enjoy the fact that you are paying money and devoting hours upon hours to keeping your character in tip top shape. But like I've said, if you like it, nothing I can do, and more power to you. But don't put comments at the bottom telling me I should give this game another chance. But I do fully expect comments that tell me I've missed a few things about the game that I didn't cover, and that's fine too.
I better get back to work. I've got a few maps that need working on. I hope I didn't ramble on for too long. Or send out a wall 'o' text your way. Probably need help with sentence structuring. Slowly working on that.
I've been thinking about a word to describe just how bad, in terms of the way the game is played as an MMO, just how bad the game actually is, and just how hardcore it considers itself. And I finally found a term that actually describes it quite well. This game is a fucking attention whore. It can't keep going unless people actually pay a lot of attention to it. And a lot of people might not get where I am coming from with this, and I'll explain it to you.
The game is your basic first-person shooter where you just run around in these different game-types and just go around killing people. The usual stuff you would see in FPS's. But what makes this game such an attention hog, that people apparently put most of their everyday lives into playing, is that in order to stay a formidable opponent in this game, you have to constantly buy your items. I would have no problem with this, only except the items are fucking expensive. In the game, their are these points you earn based on your performance called GP. And you use that GP to rent guns, hats, armor, grenades, and backpacks for a certain amount of time, like say a day. Like, my favorite weapon is the SCAR and that costs about 800GP at most. Now, here's the kicker. When you go into this game as a casual gamer, you'd like nothing more than to just wield a weapon that you personally prefer, so for starters, you play a match, getting killed left and right by either really skilled players or hackers, and by the end of the match, you probably have about a few kills and maybe twenty or more deaths. And you'll only gain about 456GP. Not nearly enough to buy the stuff you want. So you play another game. You suck in it, and you only get maybe 234 GP. Still not enough. You have to constantly play these games just so you could get the equipment you wanna play with and stay competitive in the playing style that you chose. By the time you finally collect the money to get the gun, you then realize that it only pays for using the gun for a total of ONE whole day. And this doesn't count for just game time, it counts for real time as well. So after working hard to obtain the GP to get a 24 hour gun, you lose it after a day. So then you work again to obtain the gun.
Already, you can probably see one of my major complaints with this game. WHY CAN'T YOU KEEP THE GUNS?! No FPS in the history of FPS's has ever pulled such an time consuming stunt as this game has. At least none I can recall. At least with Crossfire, it only counts for in game time, and you could actually purchase the gun permanently, it just only requires maintenance to keep it repaired. But this game has the fucking gall to make you waste your entire time trying to stay on top of your shooting capabilities just so you can purchase the stuff you want. Why don't they just go ahead and have you lose your GP after a full day while your at it. That's probably the only way they could've made this game more dickish. This is one of the stupidest systems I've ever heard of, and my complaints don't stop there.
They do in fact have a way to buy a permanent gun, but it'll cost you about 35 dollars. That's just fucking greedy. At least give me the option to obtain my gun with the GP I've collected, you stupid money-grubbing whores!
I don't know if I've said this before, but I don't have anything against companies making money. In fact, that's a good thing. They get to maintain their business and everyone keeps their job, they pay for the servers, they are able to feed their families, themselves, that kinda thing. I have nothing against that. What I do have a problem with is that they are trying to make money off of imaginary items that can only be used in that one game. If I had 35 bucks on my right now, I would never think to use it to buy in game guns. In fact, I would probably use it to buy a game that is way better than this one. And their are quite a few games like that. If you want, I'll even name off a few of the games you could buy for less than 35 bucks that offer way more than this game ever will. Hell, Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, even Wii Shop, have items that cost way less and are worth your money more than just the single 3D metaphysical object you paid 35 bucks for. And it's not over.
Their is also an option to buy with REAL MONEY an elite moderator status so you can ban people from your games...
This game has the balls to take a simple feature that should be available to everyone, the fans of this game, and make people pay for it in actual cash....
I can't fucking believe this. This is just so stupid, I can't even begin to say just how dumb of an idea this actually is. And I just thought of another game you could play that doesn't take up your 35 bucks. Team Fortress 2. And unlike Combat Arms, it's not an attention wanting whore. In fact, it's way better in almost every manner. If you want something a bit more photo-realistic, then Modern Warfare, or the first Call of Duty. Or anything Infinity Ward has made. Hell, even Crossfire, which is another free FPS game, allows you to be able to kick people from your server, and/or ban them. In fact, I would recommend Crossfire over this game anyday. It may be full of hackers, but it's not as blatant. Not to mention that Crossfire has way better hacking protection than Combat Arms does.
Not to mention the sheer number of bugs in the maps and the gameplay itself that still need working out.
Btw, speaking of the hacker issues, coming from a guy who's played this game for about a year only to just play it now, the situation on hackers hasn't gotten any better at all. Nexon has no fucking idea what it's doing anymore. They never had an idea what the fuck was wrong. This is why Maple Story is so full of hackers and people that take advantage of all these loopholes in Nexon's games. Years upon years of working with Maple Story, and yet they can't figure out how to block the hackers out. Here's an interesting question: why do programmers waste their time making these hacks for these Nexon games, when they could be doing something else with their programming skills, like making a game that actually does the genre way better than any of Nexon's games. SubaGames has the right idea. They are at least trying to give people a better gaming experience, regardless of how low on money they are. This game is not going to change for the better. You might as well stop using these hacks and actually start doing something that will earn you more cash. It's not that hard either. I imagine it's only a game development degree away, and I'm pretty sure their are SOME game companies that are hiring programmers. Hell, you could even get a decent pay from them. I mean, using your programming skills to help other game developer companies be better, that just sounds stupid. But no, they would rather spend all their time and attention towards a self-absorbent greedy piece of bigot crap that doesn't even deserve their time. The hackers are way better than this! They are not this low! They should not be wasting their time with such an insignificant metaphysical attention-wanting piece of programming. And you people are way better than this too. Support the games that really deserve it, the companies that really do try to get rid of the hackers, or the ones that really do try to give you something entertaining and balanced for your buck. But don't waste your money on this game.
I hope I got my point across. I don't want to come off as sounding like some sort of jackass, too late, but the people who play this, and the hackers that hack the hell out of Nexon's games deserve way more than the guys that program it are giving them credit for. I'm actually more surprised by the fact that Nexon is unable to get in contact with any of them and asks them for advice on how to stop the hacking from getting through. I probably come off as sort of a troll when trying to portray how much of an attention grabbing whore it is. It's certainly not that bad in terms of gameplay. It does seem like the hitbox detection works, and that the gameplay is okay, but in terms of micromanaging, it's just a wreck. This probably seems more like a rant on little nitpicks, and even then, the ramblings probably don't make much sense. And it is. But in the end, I don't really expect anyone to stop playing because of what I say. That's fine. I really don't care about people hacking in the game either, even if I can't get a kill off before the game ends. But let's not pretend this game isn't an attention wanting program. You can probably just see for yourself by looking at how long you've played, just what rank you are at, and how much GP and stuff you've actually acquired. You are clearly addicted to it's charm. You really enjoy the fact that you are paying money and devoting hours upon hours to keeping your character in tip top shape. But like I've said, if you like it, nothing I can do, and more power to you. But don't put comments at the bottom telling me I should give this game another chance. But I do fully expect comments that tell me I've missed a few things about the game that I didn't cover, and that's fine too.
I better get back to work. I've got a few maps that need working on. I hope I didn't ramble on for too long. Or send out a wall 'o' text your way. Probably need help with sentence structuring. Slowly working on that.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
D&D Session Log 1
I thought I'd take a break from watching Avatar The Last Airbender to write up my DMing session. The players are as follows, going by their usernames: Owler as Jerom Daleborn, Kurt as Kurth Pendron, Axe as Rolen, Hellion as Alain, and Mehdi as Thevars. With the help of Kurt's proofreading, I was able to retell the story of what happened among the Mercia Kingdom.
Our heroes started out in the Mercia Kingdom, with Thevars, a tiefling warlock in the tavern getting drunk; Alain, a human fighter speaking with a few of the locales looking for a job; Jerom Daleborn, a half-elf monk who was heading towards the nearest Bahamut Temple to pray; Rolen, a half-elf cleric who happened to be passing through; and Kurth Pendron, a half-elf warlock who was wondering outside the town square, perhaps looking for some gamblers to cheat out of their gold, with little success. Did you notice their were three half-elves? Neither did I. It was around noon when civilians came screaming down streets yelling 'bloody murder,' yes they literally yelled bloody murder, when some of these warriors ran towards the town square to see what the commotion was about. Alain asked a very nervous man what was going on, only to have him reply in a stuttering manner that someone had been killed out in the town square. When asked if he was going to go see it, he staggered backwards and paused before saying that he doesn't like the sight of blood, and walks away. Afterwards, Alain ran towards the incident. Thevars, drunk off his ass, limps on over to the town square for his own reasons.
When reaching the town square, they notice 3 men who are frothing at the mouth, their eyes rolled into the back of their heads, perhaps unconscious. No blood in sight though, which was odd. Upon further inspection by Rolen, it didn't seem like they were poisoned by any form of drug he knew. Alain also approached to do the same, and figured it was drugs that did this to them. Thevars saw throught this trickery and immediately warned the fighter of the cloaked skeletons in time to dodge it's attack.
It's amazing that the drunk tiefling warlock got a better check than the half-elf warlock who was sober.
As the mirage wore off, the skeletons rose and attacked the nearby citizens. Kurth manages to halt one of them, while holding his ground overzealous. Guess he's trying to make up for the failure in his last check. Jerom stopped the last attacking skeleton's scimitar with a quick move, pulverising the foul creature into dust.With ease the group thwarted off the skeletons, with a few hits here and there, even some of the guards getting a few hits off. Awesomeness came when Alain slid between two of the skellies and Dual Strikes both of them at once. Dual Strike allows the character to target two different monsters with one basic melee attack each. He rolled pretty good slicing off one's ribs, while slicing another completely in half! Much to their surprise, it continues to fight. While trying to gnaw on his leg, with little success, it distracted him long enough so that the skeleton behind him could get a critical hit, grazing his back. Kurth attempts to finish it off, with little success. Thevars shows him how it's done with an Eyebite to the face, causing the skeleton to disintegrate into the ground, after Kurth cursed it.
Eyebite is a wicked magic that blinds an enemy down to it's very core, hiding the caster from any form of sight. In other words, it deals charisma towards the target's will, dealing one dee-six plus the charisma modifier, and applied as psychic damage. Upon hitting, you are invisible to the target until the start of your next turn.
After finishing off the last of the skeletons, they were questioned by the guards as to who they were and what they had to do with the situation. Introducing themselves, Alain goes on to explain that they were only trying to help eliminate the undead, which is clearly proved by their assistance and good diplomacy. The guard believes him, but insists that they come with him anyway to meet the king, to which the group agrees.
Upon arriving at the gate, after an exchange of what is believed to be a code of some sort(that code being "Where do the swans swim?" to which the guard responds "Along the rivers of Clouchester), they enter inside escorted to the throne room of the king. Giving the usual hail to the virtuous King Leodegrance, the guard tells him of what has happened in the town square. He asks the adventurers if this is true, to which they explain that they were only trying to help fight the skeletons off. The king believes them and thanks them for their deed, to which Alain responded with a word of him being the son of Maec, who the king recognizes as one of the guards who protected him on his way to one of the neighboring kingdoms. He honors his presence and asks the guards to leave them alone. The king explains that the scouts have spotted a group of orcs making way to the eastern walls of the kingdom. The militia wasn't strong enough, so he asks the group to head out on a stealth mission to try and route the beasts from the eastern forests. In return, they would each recieve one thousand gold, two hundred right off the bat, after a little bartering by Kurth. The king insists that the group stick around for a day to regain their abilities, and even prepares rooms for each of them, and access to the library to gather information on the orcs. They, of course, take advantage of it.
They would split up to gather their supplies for the rest of the afternoon. Rolen was out collecting moonlight herbs from the elven merchant, whilst Alain visited the blacksmith, a very tall, bald headed man who worshipped Kord, asking for more hand axes. The blacksmith asked him why so many axes, to which Alain responds that he likes to toss things. Upon this, he also explained that he was hired to head out east. The blacksmith tells of an adventurer who also was hired for the king, had a hood above his head, a sunken face, and pointy ears, leading him to believe he was an elf. Thevars went off to find a better staff for himself. His travels fruitless, he went with Kurth to the library to find information about the orcs. All the while, Jerom had to travel to the otherside of the kingdom before finding a Bahamut Temple, amazingly not tired after the long walk.
Thevars discovers the name of the group to be called the Marauders of Gruumsh, but it was Kurth who figured out that the Marauders had travelled through many kingdoms, ravaging and pillaging the masses for all their worth, only caring about the thrill of causing great chaos. A group so powerful, even entire militaries of over a thousand soldiers couldn't defeat fifty of them. About a few years after their many conquerings, they vanished from the province, never to be seen or heard from again. They speculate that these orcs could be the Marauders of Gruumsh.
The real interest though comes from Jerom, who had just finished praying to Bahamut for good fortune in his future quests. On the way back, he was struck with a crossbow bolt from a nearby cloaked man. He gave chase after him leaping onto the roof with ease, discovering that his assaultant was quite small in stature before he made a run for it. Apparently, the small rogue knew the alleyways well, and managed to trick Jerom's eyes before vanishing into the paths. Jerom shrugs it off and decides to head back to the castle, checking where he was so that he wasn't lost. A streetwise check told him he appeared to be somewhere outside the town square, which was convenient.
The next day, after an extended rest, the group headed out to the eastern gate to be greeted by a caravan prepared to take them out to their destination. They would take them out halfway to the front of the Mercian Woods, in which they would make their way to the Raedwald Forest from there. Before heading out, one of them asks if they could have a method of passing a message once they were done. To which they were given a hawk, who seems to be much friendlier to Rolen than anyone else.
I would just like to note that this next battle gets a bit foggy on the mind. Sure, I remember all the roleplaying bits, but when it came to battles, I never was very good at remembering them unless their were funny or awesome tidbits and such. So with the help of Kurt, I managed to be able to recall most of what happened in that battle.
Upon entering the area, Rolen noticed that something was a bit off, but was unable to tell due to the wind rustling the trees. The gang prepares themselves for combat, holding their weapons at the ready. Incidentally, it was Rolen who was shot in the back by a crossbow bolt. He was able to spot where the bolt came from, and threw a Lance of Faith into that general direction, the tree's rustling, but not hearing a sound. Alain notices another bolt fly by Thevars, and looks up to spot another rogue hidden in the tree above them. He throws his axe upward, cleaving the rogue's branch off, causing the little guy to hit the ground. One of the warlocks finished him off with Eyebite. Alain spotted another one hidden among the trees on the far left. They were like little squirrels hiding up in tree's. Only difference is these squirrels are masters of stealth equipped with crossbows.. Alain eventually caught up to rogue number two, but not before Jerom hopped up into a tree and chucked rogue number three into the ground, drilling him into the grass, causing massive damage. Alain cleaved the rogue in the eye, causing him to fall to his death against the hard earth. The group proceeded to surround the rogue Jerom had tossed, hovering over him while Kurth finished off another rogue from afar. Rolen struck one out of the tree in the southern center, having him actually survive the fall with little damage. Jerom made quick work of him with his fists. It came down to two rogues left, the one in the tree, and the other one proned on the ground. Alain finally figured out where the last rogue was and chucked an axe in his general direction, the axe flying over it's head. The rogue simply pointed and laughed at the human's attempt. Feeling insulted, he threw another axe, this time flying into the rogue's groin, causing him to fall forward face first into the grassy plain. Surprisingly, the fall didn't hurt as much as the hand axe to the happy sack.
The other rogue, seeing his buddy cleaved in the balls surrendered without a fight, his comrade calling him a bloody coward before being coup de' graced.
I LOVE this rogue. Reluctant to taunt his enemies after seeing his allies fall before him, he is chopped in the nether-regions, downed to the grass, survives, and manages to call his ally a coward even under so much pain. This guy has balls. Er, used to anyway.
The battle ends with the remaining rouge being tied up. They begin to question him on who hired them after being intimidated by Jerom. Then again you really didn't need to scare this guy in order to find out information, you know, because seeing his allies die before him wasn't enough to scare him shitless. He explains that he was hired by the Marauders to route any forces sent to attack the encampment up ahead. Upon this, he talks about a group that looked like orcs, but weren't of orc descent. Before interrogating the rogue more, Thevars came up with the brilliant idea to scare the man futher beyond his wits' end. Shockingly, his bluff worked so well that the man died from a heart attack out of pure fear. The group decided to make camp, as it was about to get dark outside. To be continued...
Our heroes started out in the Mercia Kingdom, with Thevars, a tiefling warlock in the tavern getting drunk; Alain, a human fighter speaking with a few of the locales looking for a job; Jerom Daleborn, a half-elf monk who was heading towards the nearest Bahamut Temple to pray; Rolen, a half-elf cleric who happened to be passing through; and Kurth Pendron, a half-elf warlock who was wondering outside the town square, perhaps looking for some gamblers to cheat out of their gold, with little success. Did you notice their were three half-elves? Neither did I. It was around noon when civilians came screaming down streets yelling 'bloody murder,' yes they literally yelled bloody murder, when some of these warriors ran towards the town square to see what the commotion was about. Alain asked a very nervous man what was going on, only to have him reply in a stuttering manner that someone had been killed out in the town square. When asked if he was going to go see it, he staggered backwards and paused before saying that he doesn't like the sight of blood, and walks away. Afterwards, Alain ran towards the incident. Thevars, drunk off his ass, limps on over to the town square for his own reasons.
When reaching the town square, they notice 3 men who are frothing at the mouth, their eyes rolled into the back of their heads, perhaps unconscious. No blood in sight though, which was odd. Upon further inspection by Rolen, it didn't seem like they were poisoned by any form of drug he knew. Alain also approached to do the same, and figured it was drugs that did this to them. Thevars saw throught this trickery and immediately warned the fighter of the cloaked skeletons in time to dodge it's attack.
It's amazing that the drunk tiefling warlock got a better check than the half-elf warlock who was sober.
As the mirage wore off, the skeletons rose and attacked the nearby citizens. Kurth manages to halt one of them, while holding his ground overzealous. Guess he's trying to make up for the failure in his last check. Jerom stopped the last attacking skeleton's scimitar with a quick move, pulverising the foul creature into dust.With ease the group thwarted off the skeletons, with a few hits here and there, even some of the guards getting a few hits off. Awesomeness came when Alain slid between two of the skellies and Dual Strikes both of them at once. Dual Strike allows the character to target two different monsters with one basic melee attack each. He rolled pretty good slicing off one's ribs, while slicing another completely in half! Much to their surprise, it continues to fight. While trying to gnaw on his leg, with little success, it distracted him long enough so that the skeleton behind him could get a critical hit, grazing his back. Kurth attempts to finish it off, with little success. Thevars shows him how it's done with an Eyebite to the face, causing the skeleton to disintegrate into the ground, after Kurth cursed it.
Eyebite is a wicked magic that blinds an enemy down to it's very core, hiding the caster from any form of sight. In other words, it deals charisma towards the target's will, dealing one dee-six plus the charisma modifier, and applied as psychic damage. Upon hitting, you are invisible to the target until the start of your next turn.
After finishing off the last of the skeletons, they were questioned by the guards as to who they were and what they had to do with the situation. Introducing themselves, Alain goes on to explain that they were only trying to help eliminate the undead, which is clearly proved by their assistance and good diplomacy. The guard believes him, but insists that they come with him anyway to meet the king, to which the group agrees.
Upon arriving at the gate, after an exchange of what is believed to be a code of some sort(that code being "Where do the swans swim?" to which the guard responds "Along the rivers of Clouchester), they enter inside escorted to the throne room of the king. Giving the usual hail to the virtuous King Leodegrance, the guard tells him of what has happened in the town square. He asks the adventurers if this is true, to which they explain that they were only trying to help fight the skeletons off. The king believes them and thanks them for their deed, to which Alain responded with a word of him being the son of Maec, who the king recognizes as one of the guards who protected him on his way to one of the neighboring kingdoms. He honors his presence and asks the guards to leave them alone. The king explains that the scouts have spotted a group of orcs making way to the eastern walls of the kingdom. The militia wasn't strong enough, so he asks the group to head out on a stealth mission to try and route the beasts from the eastern forests. In return, they would each recieve one thousand gold, two hundred right off the bat, after a little bartering by Kurth. The king insists that the group stick around for a day to regain their abilities, and even prepares rooms for each of them, and access to the library to gather information on the orcs. They, of course, take advantage of it.
They would split up to gather their supplies for the rest of the afternoon. Rolen was out collecting moonlight herbs from the elven merchant, whilst Alain visited the blacksmith, a very tall, bald headed man who worshipped Kord, asking for more hand axes. The blacksmith asked him why so many axes, to which Alain responds that he likes to toss things. Upon this, he also explained that he was hired to head out east. The blacksmith tells of an adventurer who also was hired for the king, had a hood above his head, a sunken face, and pointy ears, leading him to believe he was an elf. Thevars went off to find a better staff for himself. His travels fruitless, he went with Kurth to the library to find information about the orcs. All the while, Jerom had to travel to the otherside of the kingdom before finding a Bahamut Temple, amazingly not tired after the long walk.
Thevars discovers the name of the group to be called the Marauders of Gruumsh, but it was Kurth who figured out that the Marauders had travelled through many kingdoms, ravaging and pillaging the masses for all their worth, only caring about the thrill of causing great chaos. A group so powerful, even entire militaries of over a thousand soldiers couldn't defeat fifty of them. About a few years after their many conquerings, they vanished from the province, never to be seen or heard from again. They speculate that these orcs could be the Marauders of Gruumsh.
The real interest though comes from Jerom, who had just finished praying to Bahamut for good fortune in his future quests. On the way back, he was struck with a crossbow bolt from a nearby cloaked man. He gave chase after him leaping onto the roof with ease, discovering that his assaultant was quite small in stature before he made a run for it. Apparently, the small rogue knew the alleyways well, and managed to trick Jerom's eyes before vanishing into the paths. Jerom shrugs it off and decides to head back to the castle, checking where he was so that he wasn't lost. A streetwise check told him he appeared to be somewhere outside the town square, which was convenient.
The next day, after an extended rest, the group headed out to the eastern gate to be greeted by a caravan prepared to take them out to their destination. They would take them out halfway to the front of the Mercian Woods, in which they would make their way to the Raedwald Forest from there. Before heading out, one of them asks if they could have a method of passing a message once they were done. To which they were given a hawk, who seems to be much friendlier to Rolen than anyone else.
I would just like to note that this next battle gets a bit foggy on the mind. Sure, I remember all the roleplaying bits, but when it came to battles, I never was very good at remembering them unless their were funny or awesome tidbits and such. So with the help of Kurt, I managed to be able to recall most of what happened in that battle.
Upon entering the area, Rolen noticed that something was a bit off, but was unable to tell due to the wind rustling the trees. The gang prepares themselves for combat, holding their weapons at the ready. Incidentally, it was Rolen who was shot in the back by a crossbow bolt. He was able to spot where the bolt came from, and threw a Lance of Faith into that general direction, the tree's rustling, but not hearing a sound. Alain notices another bolt fly by Thevars, and looks up to spot another rogue hidden in the tree above them. He throws his axe upward, cleaving the rogue's branch off, causing the little guy to hit the ground. One of the warlocks finished him off with Eyebite. Alain spotted another one hidden among the trees on the far left. They were like little squirrels hiding up in tree's. Only difference is these squirrels are masters of stealth equipped with crossbows.. Alain eventually caught up to rogue number two, but not before Jerom hopped up into a tree and chucked rogue number three into the ground, drilling him into the grass, causing massive damage. Alain cleaved the rogue in the eye, causing him to fall to his death against the hard earth. The group proceeded to surround the rogue Jerom had tossed, hovering over him while Kurth finished off another rogue from afar. Rolen struck one out of the tree in the southern center, having him actually survive the fall with little damage. Jerom made quick work of him with his fists. It came down to two rogues left, the one in the tree, and the other one proned on the ground. Alain finally figured out where the last rogue was and chucked an axe in his general direction, the axe flying over it's head. The rogue simply pointed and laughed at the human's attempt. Feeling insulted, he threw another axe, this time flying into the rogue's groin, causing him to fall forward face first into the grassy plain. Surprisingly, the fall didn't hurt as much as the hand axe to the happy sack.
The other rogue, seeing his buddy cleaved in the balls surrendered without a fight, his comrade calling him a bloody coward before being coup de' graced.
I LOVE this rogue. Reluctant to taunt his enemies after seeing his allies fall before him, he is chopped in the nether-regions, downed to the grass, survives, and manages to call his ally a coward even under so much pain. This guy has balls. Er, used to anyway.
The battle ends with the remaining rouge being tied up. They begin to question him on who hired them after being intimidated by Jerom. Then again you really didn't need to scare this guy in order to find out information, you know, because seeing his allies die before him wasn't enough to scare him shitless. He explains that he was hired by the Marauders to route any forces sent to attack the encampment up ahead. Upon this, he talks about a group that looked like orcs, but weren't of orc descent. Before interrogating the rogue more, Thevars came up with the brilliant idea to scare the man futher beyond his wits' end. Shockingly, his bluff worked so well that the man died from a heart attack out of pure fear. The group decided to make camp, as it was about to get dark outside. To be continued...
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
How my DMing went.
Yesterday, I just tried DMing a 4E game for the second time in my life. And for the most part, it went pretty well. The only thing wrong was that I was a bit too generous in the spoils department. Which I will hope to rectify in the near future. I'm working on encounter maps even as I speak, and they are turning out pretty well, especially with this neat Mapping Tools torrent I found that contained a lot of images for terrain, objects, enemies, etc. It was the biggest lifesaver, but when I first peered into this Holy Grail of awesome, my brain had whiplash. It was THAT awesome. So much so that I couldn't figure out what to do first with them. So I was left with a half-decent piece of terrain.
For the sake of DMing, I thought it would be great to write down summaries of what the adventurers have been through and what they accomplished, which is actually turning out pretty well. I'll think on it throughout the week, but for now, I have a lot of Avatar The Last Airbender left to watch.
For the sake of DMing, I thought it would be great to write down summaries of what the adventurers have been through and what they accomplished, which is actually turning out pretty well. I'll think on it throughout the week, but for now, I have a lot of Avatar The Last Airbender left to watch.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Scheduling!
Alrighty! I realize I've been very silent in my blogging lately, so I've decided to start up my reviewing schedule again.
Deadly Premonitions
SaGa Frontier Pt. 1: Red
Sengoku Basara
My schedule will be biweekly until I get into the habit of making this stuff. And even then, I'm still trying to find a format that works for me, so any feedback would be great!
EDIT: I realize that Deadly Premonitions is actually a bit longer than I thought it would be. So I might have to stretch out the release date for the review a bit.
EDIT2: I'm sorry, but I can't feel the inspiration to do these. I'll just complete them at my own pace. So this is just a list of stuff to come.
Deadly Premonitions
SaGa Frontier Pt. 1: Red
Sengoku Basara
My schedule will be biweekly until I get into the habit of making this stuff. And even then, I'm still trying to find a format that works for me, so any feedback would be great!
EDIT: I realize that Deadly Premonitions is actually a bit longer than I thought it would be. So I might have to stretch out the release date for the review a bit.
EDIT2: I'm sorry, but I can't feel the inspiration to do these. I'll just complete them at my own pace. So this is just a list of stuff to come.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Just one of those days.
Ever have one of those days where you had this great idea to add to the script in your head before heading to bed, and the next day you are working on it you can't remember it? That happens to me a lot, too.
Friday, April 23, 2010
About Daxter
I remember a while ago this one part in the Daxter PSP game that really annoyed the hell out of me because their was this one ledge I couldn't leap onto, even with the upgrades to my spray/jetpack. I know it was in a fish level of some sort where I was suppose to leap from this one ledge to a chandelier using my spray as leverage. And I would usually make it, but the character would not detect the ledge nearby, and as a result, would drop back down. And for a while, I thought their was something I overlooked that I needed to get up there. But I swear I looked over the ENTIRE level, and I could not find jack-squat! But you're not gonna believe how I finally got up that ledge. Are you ready for this? You jump and hover like before, but this time, you hold down the L and R buttons to center the camera on your character, and for some reason, that let's Daxter cling on to the ledge and leap upwards...
...
THIS has to got to be a glitch of some sort. Who at Naughty Dog programmed it like this? And better yet, why not give some indication as to how to get up onto the ledge instead of throwing your fans through this huge loop. This game is virtually unbeatable due to this lack of information. Yes, we have GameFAQs and all those other lovely websites, but I can't help but think of all the poor bastards who were playing this game on the day it came out, only to reach this point and just give up on the first try. And this was released 2005 and we are still having problems with coding?
Actually, considering that Deadly Premonitions was just released this year, I'm not surprised we still have problems like this.
I'm curious if anyone was able to figure the whole 'L and R' trick out without any game guides on Daxter. Let me know if their was something I might've missed, because this was a long time ago.
Well, I gotta get moving. Tonight is my D&D session. And then tomorrow, more working.
...
THIS has to got to be a glitch of some sort. Who at Naughty Dog programmed it like this? And better yet, why not give some indication as to how to get up onto the ledge instead of throwing your fans through this huge loop. This game is virtually unbeatable due to this lack of information. Yes, we have GameFAQs and all those other lovely websites, but I can't help but think of all the poor bastards who were playing this game on the day it came out, only to reach this point and just give up on the first try. And this was released 2005 and we are still having problems with coding?
Actually, considering that Deadly Premonitions was just released this year, I'm not surprised we still have problems like this.
I'm curious if anyone was able to figure the whole 'L and R' trick out without any game guides on Daxter. Let me know if their was something I might've missed, because this was a long time ago.
Well, I gotta get moving. Tonight is my D&D session. And then tomorrow, more working.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Updating!
Alright, sorry for the long delay. I've been a bit busy lately. Been having trouble getting money the past few months. Hopefully, that will change next month, at least as long as I can keep the electricity bill to a down-low. Although with the obsession I have with computers, I might have a bit of a problem with that.
First off, I had the video data for my Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires review, but it was lost due to rebooting my computer. Couldn't back them up on my flash-drives either. Too big. So yeah, I've been in a sorta down mood as of late. And to get over it, I've been watching a lot of movies. One of them being Heroes. Remember that show, with the guys who have special abilities and go around trying to save everything within the span of 28 episodes that last the same amount of hours? Neither do I, but that's a rant for another day. I'm still on Season 1, and I gotta tell ya, it's boring to watch. Because of it's length, it is almost impossible to watch an entire season in one sit down. You actually gotta take a breather every once in a while. I'm on Disc 5. And each episode is about an hour long, or perhaps longer. But yeah, I've been trying to relax a bit. I've actually got a story idea not too long ago. Kinda inspired by the show. Don't know when I'll write it up. It's just floating around in my head. Haven't really developed it all the way though. Don't know where it would take me.
Well, I had hoped you all enjoyed your vacations. I know I did. But now I really gotta start figuring out what I'm gonna be doing for money. Don't have any form of transportation aside from my mother and brother, even then, it would have to be a while before either of them are willing to take me any place within a 6 mile parameter, especially with gas prices the way they are. So I'm stuck here. And I guess I should do something while I'm here. Maybe I'll write that story...
...After I take a nap. Good morning to you all and have a nice day.
First off, I had the video data for my Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires review, but it was lost due to rebooting my computer. Couldn't back them up on my flash-drives either. Too big. So yeah, I've been in a sorta down mood as of late. And to get over it, I've been watching a lot of movies. One of them being Heroes. Remember that show, with the guys who have special abilities and go around trying to save everything within the span of 28 episodes that last the same amount of hours? Neither do I, but that's a rant for another day. I'm still on Season 1, and I gotta tell ya, it's boring to watch. Because of it's length, it is almost impossible to watch an entire season in one sit down. You actually gotta take a breather every once in a while. I'm on Disc 5. And each episode is about an hour long, or perhaps longer. But yeah, I've been trying to relax a bit. I've actually got a story idea not too long ago. Kinda inspired by the show. Don't know when I'll write it up. It's just floating around in my head. Haven't really developed it all the way though. Don't know where it would take me.
Well, I had hoped you all enjoyed your vacations. I know I did. But now I really gotta start figuring out what I'm gonna be doing for money. Don't have any form of transportation aside from my mother and brother, even then, it would have to be a while before either of them are willing to take me any place within a 6 mile parameter, especially with gas prices the way they are. So I'm stuck here. And I guess I should do something while I'm here. Maybe I'll write that story...
...After I take a nap. Good morning to you all and have a nice day.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
One Piece: Alabasta Arc Review
One Piece: Alabasta Arc
I've always wanted to see what happened in the Alabasta arc, but I figured if I was gonna watch the entire thing without commercials interrupting it, I would purchase the FUNimation dub instead of the dub from that company whose name shall not be mentioned. That, and I didn't feel like reading subtitles--it takes away from the experience for me.
Although, before I get into the Alabasta arc as a whole, I would just like to get a few things out of the way--ADR processes on FUNimation's part, and my opinion on One Piece project as a whole.
The dubbing for these episodes have just simply been AMAZING! Whoever was in charge of direction and scripting in the ADR department did their job well. I have not once noticed a half-heart or poor attempt at a single part in this series yet. And the same applies to the Alabasta Arc as well. Everyone at FUNimation did an extraordinary job, and anyone who likes One Piece should buy their DVDs.
And then there is One Piece, Eiichiro Oda's most praised manga and anime series. Without a doubt, this has been one of my most favorite anime series to date. Not only is it action-packed, but it balances out the more emotional parts, and it takes a really good script writing and execution to get you to actually care about an animated character, which is quite an accomplishment. I almost cried at a few points during the series--it was THAT good.
Me talking about it doesn't do it much justice at all so I honestly think you guys should go watch it if you ever want to know why anyone loves One Piece. However, here's a few things you might want to take into consideration.
For one, the emotions are sometimes over-exaggerating--but it's still funny nevertheless--and executed quite well, in my opinion. Next, there may sometimes be a lack of physics, but in an awesome way. If you can suspend the idea of a law of realism in your mind, you can enjoy this series. There are quite a few moments where people can actually move around while in the air, or make imprints in the wall of themselves, but when these things happen, they are done really, REALLY well.
Also, if you've seen pictures of this series, you'll notice that it has a cartoon-ish look to it. I understand that there might be a lot of people who really dislike the cartoon look. If any of you can get over the cartoon-ish look of the series, I highly recommend at least renting the First Voyage.
Another thing is the little sequences that pop up before each episode, the ones that recap the last episode. The only reason these should EVER be around is if the series has disappeared for a long time and is only now just reappearing, you know, like maybe 2 years. There is no reason why I should have to re-watch the same scenes I saw last episode. And while I'm at it, it's also pointless to include a 'next-episode' sequence as well at the end of each episode. I guess I can see why it might be necessary considering it might be used for hyping up the next episode, but you don't need it. It's meaningless to have it up, especially on a DVD. Just leave both sequences out of the next DVD. They take away too much time.
And while we're talking about the DVD, the one gripe I have is that when I skip chapters, they skip over a lot of the beginning recap sequences, which isn't a bad thing, but it also skips over most of the beginning of the episode as well, which can be annoying. Meaning I have no choice but to watch the entire recap sequence if I want to watch the entire episode as a whole. This needs to be fixed NOW!
Also, one last tiny thing: this does not include the events of Whiskey Peak, Little Garden, and Drum Island. They are arcs of their own accord. Now with that out of the way, let's move on to the actual arc.
This arc is probably the longest of the series that I've seen so far. I do feel that it was kinda dragged on by certain events, even if they were meant to add to the atmosphere to the situation. Aside from that, these last 3 voyages were pretty good, if not, interesting.
Last they had just recruited Tony Tony Chopper--a human-reindeer with the ability to transform into different forms of physical abilities via Devil Fruit powers--into their crew. Now having a doctor to tend to their wounds if anything bad happens, they sail towards Alabasta in the hopes of returning Vivi to her home to stop the inevitable war that might break out between her kingdom and the rebellion, and to expose Baroque Works as the ones scheming this entire situation.
I won't say the details about everything that happens in their journey, but all I can say is that all the events involving Baroque Works will all come full-circle with the appearance of the Straw Hat crew--who traverse the desert to make their way to the main rebellion base in Yuba. They also meet tons of new friends along the way--some of whom I hope will be mentioned later in the series.
And above all else, they finally meet Crocodile--a maniacal man known as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, who wields the Devil Fruit powers of sand--the mastermind behind Baroque Works aka Number Zero. Not gonna spoil why he wants the Kingdom and it's people out of the way, but let's just say that it involves some important secret to the Alabasta King and is the precursor to a new member joining their team.
Although I did say that the episodes drag on a bit, it's still not so jarring that it'll make you stop watching it all together. And when there is action, it is done fairly well even if it does defy physics. There is even a point where Sanji hits someone so hard with his foot, that it actually causes an excruciating amount of pain within their body, forcing them to fling himself against a wall to cancel out the pain. It only gets even better when Zoro tries to cut steel and even better when Luffy figures out how to hit Crocodile.
Overall, it's an enjoyable arc. Although it could have been shortened a bit, but I find that it progresses just fine enough to resolve the main plot points in it, and make room for new ones in the next voyage. Here's hoping that all of you would enjoy it too.
Credit to Devils-Lock for proofreading my review! You shall all now visit her DeviantART page and praise her! ^^; http://devils-lock.deviantart.com/
I've always wanted to see what happened in the Alabasta arc, but I figured if I was gonna watch the entire thing without commercials interrupting it, I would purchase the FUNimation dub instead of the dub from that company whose name shall not be mentioned. That, and I didn't feel like reading subtitles--it takes away from the experience for me.
Although, before I get into the Alabasta arc as a whole, I would just like to get a few things out of the way--ADR processes on FUNimation's part, and my opinion on One Piece project as a whole.
The dubbing for these episodes have just simply been AMAZING! Whoever was in charge of direction and scripting in the ADR department did their job well. I have not once noticed a half-heart or poor attempt at a single part in this series yet. And the same applies to the Alabasta Arc as well. Everyone at FUNimation did an extraordinary job, and anyone who likes One Piece should buy their DVDs.
And then there is One Piece, Eiichiro Oda's most praised manga and anime series. Without a doubt, this has been one of my most favorite anime series to date. Not only is it action-packed, but it balances out the more emotional parts, and it takes a really good script writing and execution to get you to actually care about an animated character, which is quite an accomplishment. I almost cried at a few points during the series--it was THAT good.
Me talking about it doesn't do it much justice at all so I honestly think you guys should go watch it if you ever want to know why anyone loves One Piece. However, here's a few things you might want to take into consideration.
For one, the emotions are sometimes over-exaggerating--but it's still funny nevertheless--and executed quite well, in my opinion. Next, there may sometimes be a lack of physics, but in an awesome way. If you can suspend the idea of a law of realism in your mind, you can enjoy this series. There are quite a few moments where people can actually move around while in the air, or make imprints in the wall of themselves, but when these things happen, they are done really, REALLY well.
Also, if you've seen pictures of this series, you'll notice that it has a cartoon-ish look to it. I understand that there might be a lot of people who really dislike the cartoon look. If any of you can get over the cartoon-ish look of the series, I highly recommend at least renting the First Voyage.
Another thing is the little sequences that pop up before each episode, the ones that recap the last episode. The only reason these should EVER be around is if the series has disappeared for a long time and is only now just reappearing, you know, like maybe 2 years. There is no reason why I should have to re-watch the same scenes I saw last episode. And while I'm at it, it's also pointless to include a 'next-episode' sequence as well at the end of each episode. I guess I can see why it might be necessary considering it might be used for hyping up the next episode, but you don't need it. It's meaningless to have it up, especially on a DVD. Just leave both sequences out of the next DVD. They take away too much time.
And while we're talking about the DVD, the one gripe I have is that when I skip chapters, they skip over a lot of the beginning recap sequences, which isn't a bad thing, but it also skips over most of the beginning of the episode as well, which can be annoying. Meaning I have no choice but to watch the entire recap sequence if I want to watch the entire episode as a whole. This needs to be fixed NOW!
Also, one last tiny thing: this does not include the events of Whiskey Peak, Little Garden, and Drum Island. They are arcs of their own accord. Now with that out of the way, let's move on to the actual arc.
This arc is probably the longest of the series that I've seen so far. I do feel that it was kinda dragged on by certain events, even if they were meant to add to the atmosphere to the situation. Aside from that, these last 3 voyages were pretty good, if not, interesting.
Last they had just recruited Tony Tony Chopper--a human-reindeer with the ability to transform into different forms of physical abilities via Devil Fruit powers--into their crew. Now having a doctor to tend to their wounds if anything bad happens, they sail towards Alabasta in the hopes of returning Vivi to her home to stop the inevitable war that might break out between her kingdom and the rebellion, and to expose Baroque Works as the ones scheming this entire situation.
I won't say the details about everything that happens in their journey, but all I can say is that all the events involving Baroque Works will all come full-circle with the appearance of the Straw Hat crew--who traverse the desert to make their way to the main rebellion base in Yuba. They also meet tons of new friends along the way--some of whom I hope will be mentioned later in the series.
And above all else, they finally meet Crocodile--a maniacal man known as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, who wields the Devil Fruit powers of sand--the mastermind behind Baroque Works aka Number Zero. Not gonna spoil why he wants the Kingdom and it's people out of the way, but let's just say that it involves some important secret to the Alabasta King and is the precursor to a new member joining their team.
Although I did say that the episodes drag on a bit, it's still not so jarring that it'll make you stop watching it all together. And when there is action, it is done fairly well even if it does defy physics. There is even a point where Sanji hits someone so hard with his foot, that it actually causes an excruciating amount of pain within their body, forcing them to fling himself against a wall to cancel out the pain. It only gets even better when Zoro tries to cut steel and even better when Luffy figures out how to hit Crocodile.
Overall, it's an enjoyable arc. Although it could have been shortened a bit, but I find that it progresses just fine enough to resolve the main plot points in it, and make room for new ones in the next voyage. Here's hoping that all of you would enjoy it too.
Credit to Devils-Lock for proofreading my review! You shall all now visit her DeviantART page and praise her! ^^; http://devils-lock.deviantart.com/
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Thinking about it.
I am seriously contemplating whether I should record footage from SWAT 4 and post it up here. I mean holy crap! These guys just tear the place up. Hell, their was one time a guy just tripped and he died. And another time a guy fell and his gun just started spiraling out of control towards my direction. It's hilarious! But their are a few reasons why I don't want to do this. For one, I don't have Sony Vegas, and the last trial version I installed told me I only had about 15 days to use it, so I uninstalled the program.
I don't want to seem like I rip off a very popular internet reviewer, and maybe it isn't considered ripping him off for just posting up game footage, but I still think I should probably ask before putting up a Let's Play. But in any case, I'm wondering what anyone that actually follows me might think.
I don't want to seem like I rip off a very popular internet reviewer, and maybe it isn't considered ripping him off for just posting up game footage, but I still think I should probably ask before putting up a Let's Play. But in any case, I'm wondering what anyone that actually follows me might think.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Scheduling!
Alright, I think it's about time I set up a schedule for doing text reviews. Perhaps not as enlightening as video reviews, but hey, I've gotta see if anyone will actually listen to what I have to say first. So in the meantime, I'll be doing a few text reviews each month. To me, this is just a project to see if I can keep up with my schedule, and still dish out reviews on different games. So here's the list for next week and onward!
03/23 - One Piece Alabasta Arc (FUNimation dub)
03/31 - Final Fantasy 13
04/08 - Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires
04/16 - SaGa Frontier Part 1
04/24 - Legend of Legaia
05/01 - Let's Play: Bioshock
And that's all I have planned for the moment. Now, if you will excuse me, I have DVD's to watch!
03/23 - One Piece Alabasta Arc (FUNimation dub)
03/31 - Final Fantasy 13
04/08 - Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires
04/16 - SaGa Frontier Part 1
04/24 - Legend of Legaia
05/01 - Let's Play: Bioshock
And that's all I have planned for the moment. Now, if you will excuse me, I have DVD's to watch!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Rumbling with the Big Sister
Not really much of a rumble, especially if the Big Sister's health is already 4/5th's depleted. That, and I'm not really fighting her, more or less the Big Daddy Rumbler is. Point being, just enjoy the video.
Edit: Here is an extra!
Edit: Here is an extra!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Where has the time gone?
Okay! So, where do I begin?
I've been sitting around for a while thinking of a few different ideas. But although they are okay ideas, I lack the grammar and sentence structuring abilities to write them into words. So I'm in a bit of a jam via writing. But I can do scripts. Or at least I would like to. Never been much of a screenplay writer (btw, screenplay and scripts are the same thing, aren't they? That's always bothered me), but I do know how to instruct. I'm trying to go for more of a comedic, yet informative feel to producing movie and game reviews, like what Atop the Fourth Wall does, without blatantly ripping them off. I have actually found a website that shows off drafts or completed scripts for everyone to gaze at. Kinda lost the link though. I'll probably find it via Google anyway.
So what to do? I think I'll try writing up a few text reviews soon. I have a few games I've been wanting to review for a while now. Although, as beaten to death as they already have been, I think I still want to offer my two cents. So stay tuned!
I've been sitting around for a while thinking of a few different ideas. But although they are okay ideas, I lack the grammar and sentence structuring abilities to write them into words. So I'm in a bit of a jam via writing. But I can do scripts. Or at least I would like to. Never been much of a screenplay writer (btw, screenplay and scripts are the same thing, aren't they? That's always bothered me), but I do know how to instruct. I'm trying to go for more of a comedic, yet informative feel to producing movie and game reviews, like what Atop the Fourth Wall does, without blatantly ripping them off. I have actually found a website that shows off drafts or completed scripts for everyone to gaze at. Kinda lost the link though. I'll probably find it via Google anyway.
So what to do? I think I'll try writing up a few text reviews soon. I have a few games I've been wanting to review for a while now. Although, as beaten to death as they already have been, I think I still want to offer my two cents. So stay tuned!
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