When Life explodes!

Well First and foremost, Thanks to Hailin for holding down the fort while I was off pulling out what little hair I have left. Big ups to that man! Thanks again Bro! Secondly, It feels good to be back. I really miss writing. Its been a crazy time in the Shadouwolf household, between babies being born (1 for me and a neice and nephew), The holidays, My father-in-law getting pneumonia which turned into a lung abscess, THEN he goes and has a torn retina, and my wife getting off of her pain program meds and going through withdrawls. All while trying to get shit together to try and buy a new house! Whew that was a lot just to type! So any how, Im going to make a concerted effort to write at least once a week. So on to the next post where I will discuss (at least try to remember) what the hell Ive been playing these last 6 months!

Peace, Love and ROCK & ROLL!!!

Shadouwolf

I am Ninja, You are Ninja.

Song for the post: “Arch Enemy – Revolution Begins“

Ok maybe not. Finally I have found the time and energy to spit out a post.

So what have I been up to. Hmm.

Christmas was MMO filled. My brother came over from Calgary and I promptly pulled the extra TV and plopped it down in the living room so he could play FF11. Which I recently resubbed too. I have been having a blast being tortured by the grindy difficulty of that game. It is hardcore and I love it.

As usual I have been trying to get some Skate time in but a lot of that time is being killed by FF11.

So what have I been doing in Final Fantasy 11. Hmm to much. Right now I am trying to level a ton of classes through an area called Valkrum dunes. The new expansion came out recently and I jumped right into the dancer class. I love it. Prancing around in tight leather with my little Tarutaru is a blast. But then the cold hard truth hit me. YOU NEED NINJA TO LEVEL THIS JOB, AH AH AHHHHH. Ninja is killing me. I have to level this class to do anything in Final Fantasy 11. Dark Knight/Ninja, Warrior/Ninja, Samurai/Ninja, White Mage/Ninja….. NINJA NINJA NINJA. AAAAHHHHHH!!! Sorry for the Kinison moment but it had to be said.

Ninja for those not in the know are blink tanks, or evade tanks. They use shadows to confuse there enemy into attacking the shadows instead of the ninja himself. Damn that sounds cool as hell. But it truly isn’t. You spend most of your time counting shadows and praying that your off tank with provoke (Taunt) the mob off your paper tank ass so you can recast your shadows.

Anyways that is the way my gaming time has been spent.

Just wanted to throw this little bit out there. I saw two really good music documentaries this last couple of weeks.

First was American Hardcore. A documentary about punk music threw the 80’s. It is brilliant.

Second was Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey. It follows Heavy Metal fan Sam Dunn as he tries to figure out what metal music is all about. There is also a nice little short about Norwegian Black Metal, sadly my favorite NBM was not in it Dimmu Borgir.

Anyways time for me to roll back to the life of a ninja. /sobs

Hailin signing out. Keep on Rolling.

PS to Kevin of TSisD and Brackish. Where you guys go. We all miss reading you blogs. Peace.

November Gaming

Music for the article: We threw gasoline into the fire now we have no eyebrows and stumps for arms – NoFx

Wow what a great last couple of months we have all had as gamers. This has to be one of the strongest line ups to date.

So what have I been playing this month alone? Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, and COD4.

All three games were hyped to the high heaven’s and not all of them lived up to the hype. So which one didn’t, well Assassin’s Creed didn’t. Never have I been so excited for a game of this style only to be bored to hell with it.

Yes as the reviews say it is repetitive. The most common comeback is but all games are repetitive in some way. Well yes they are. But when the subject matter that has such a wonderfully dark and interesting history as the crusades is just torn apart and shit upon I get a tad annoyed.

Let’s get this out of the way right now. Yes the US and Canada is over in the middle east. Yes I guess in some small way you could call it a modern day crusade. You have your western political mind trying to cram it’s beliefs down the throats of a country that is split by years and years of war and abuse. Just like back then it was religion now it is democracy. Whether I believe in the war over there is yah or nah in this situation. Let’s quit walking this Politically Correct fine line and just put it out there. Cause your ruining our gaming experience because you are afraid of hurting certain sides. Grow some nuts. By the end of the game it doesn’t matter because you discover all you want is peace in the end.

The story line is very blasted boring from start to finish I was like “FOR real?”. All I can say is Ubisoft your PC bullshit has gone to far in my mind. It’s your game but god if the rumors end up being true and it is held in feudal Japan then you just piss all over history then forget it I am not buying. And I love me some ass kicking ninja action. I do hope gamers (And I know anyone that reads this blog most certainly is.) is smart enough to know there was more to the crusades then this pile of steaming history lesson. If not start here. Hell I will say it The Christian’s wanted Jerusalem back from the Muslim’s. End of story thanks for playing. Why do you need to hide parts of history to suit your PC needs?

Jade Raymond I believe was quoted as saying “We wanted to build a new IP and new technology.” Well Jade what your team built is a TECH DEMO for crying out loud. So can we expect the next Splinter Cell to be AMAZING? As long as Jade’s team isn’t doing the mission story structure we should be ok.

Now rest assured it is not all bad. The graphics, and the animations are all stunning as hell. High five for the team for those two things. For the most part the free running or parkour is just awesome. All the review sites that gave it a 7/10 I agree with wholeheartedly. Sorry Gabe, but I got to side with 1up’s review.I still love the comics and articles though. It’s still a very worthy rental though.

Oh yah and to that little turd on the IGN podcast. Eh you lost my listener ship you mouthy ass. Google Penny Arcade Vs IGN for more info. Gabe is still the man as far as I am concerned. Pretty funny how it didn’t even phase 1up.

COD4 hmm don’t have a lot to say. It is a FPS on rails like always. It is really purty and plays really well. The multiplayer is not my cup of tea but the rainbow six and halo crowd can now meet on common grounds. Why is there no cover system? That is the only complaint I got.

On to the reason for gaming greatness in November. Mass Effect is my GOTY. It is so F’in good. I finished last week, and even today I am still thinking about it. /wipes up some drool. GOD it is good. Like the first time you saw Luke blow up the death star good. You cheered the inner geek in you came to the surface and cheered. Well Mass effect will make you cheer. Just trust me. Scary when a game is so good that you look past the glitchs and problems and still scream out for more. Everyone with a 360 needs to experience this game. It should sell systems. Mircosoft might beat out Wii and PS3 this month or maybe that is just me hoping more people will experience this amazing game. With EA buying out Bioware expect the second one to hit every platform imaginable. God it is good. Sorry just had to say it one last time. Listen to last weeks Massively Online Gamer and the Cagcast podcasts to hear some interesting Mass Effect coverage. CheapyD is so right on about it feeling like Starflight. That game kicked ass.

Hailin Signing out and apologizing for not blogging more often. /jumps into bed tired and cranky dreaming of fighting and killing Geth.

The Weekend of MMO Death (Explicit)

Song for the article= “Lady Sovereign – Love Me Or Hate Me”

Today has been a rough day for me emotionally so I need to take it out on my blog. So parental advisory should go up and stoof.

Yes one of my many whine, bitch, moan posts.

Quick real-life update. This Christmas the plan was to escape the cold and hide in Mexico, the first time in eight years we have ever done something as a couple. Tonight was the night we had to book it. Just happens that Wayne got a call from his doctor and was told that traveling was on the dangerous side because his diabetes is at a very unstable place right now. So we had to cancel out. We are upset but at the same time we know this is for the best. His health is more important to me then anything.

So like the Sovereigny one states:

Love me or hate me, its still an obsession.
Love me or hate me, that is the question.
If you love me then Thank you!
If you hate me then f%^k you!

Sometimes just turning up one of your favorite songs and singing along makes you feel better. On to the topic at hand.

This weekend I took every MMO I never plan to play again and tossed them in the trash. I have no bloody idea why I have held on to this crap so long. Eq2 went in the trash, along with WoW and Guildwars.

The reason for this is not because I they were taking up much needed shelf space. At this moment and time, this plane of existence I can not stand even looking at these games anymore. The fact that they are basically the same bullshit sub-standard fare is wearing me out. I even cleaned my hard drive of some of these games. (50 gigs+ to be exact.)

It all started with Vanguard last night. I started a new alt because I hit 21 on my Necro and I was utterly confused of what to do next. My first few quests entailed collecting stuff for the locals. I lasted a hour before I went “DAMN this is f*&king boring”. Then I thought back to the hundreds of quests over the last couple years in my MMO gaming and you know what I saw? Nasty flashbacks of my various dead sexy avatars collecting shit for villagers that we’re to lazy to do it for themselves. It was here that I had my mental breakdown and started looking at my gaming shelf and just started tossing and deleting.

Did I toss it all? Nope.

Well what survived? Well glad I asked myself that and let me explain why.

I kept CoX (City of Heroes/Villains.). CoX, to most is fun in short stints but due to it’s repetitiveness most people don’t last 3 weeks. And you know what? That is okay. Nothing evil about playing for four weeks and taking a break.

But lets get to why I kept it. It is fun. Plain and simple. Easy to level, easy to group up (WoW is missing the second part.). Up until crafting came in the only thing you looted was stat boosters and clickable buffs. No beaver pelts for some medieval knock off. No ancient “Shining Gloves of TP” with +5 to ass wiping. (Pulling out the blue humor I know) Sure you see the same instances, sure you see the same gangs over and over. So we know it is repetitive big deal. Who cares as long as it is fun. To me it is, in 4 week stints.

Another reason is the Cryptic sale to NCSoft for the license. There is a part of me that is really curious as to where they might take this game. I think all the game needs is some more interesting environments at this point. They should just start working on COH2, but are they going to do this? With Marvel Universe and SOE’s DC game is this even a good time to announce a new COH. Competition is always a good thing. Hell they have proven they can run and develop a game with the Lineage series. How many millions of people have played these games. Also makes me wonder when we will see an Asian side of the market for this game. Hell look closely at COH. It is easy to understand (WoW is killing in Asia, literally), It is grindy, (Lineage 1 and 2 both are), the character creator is one of a kind. (Send this game to Japan, that fashion centric society will kill for this.)

The next game that didn’t get entered in the Trash Can Raffle. Was Final Fantasy 11. Wait a minute now isn’t this part of the sub-standard BS MMO fare I talked about earlier? Hmm yes it is, no it isn’t, yes it is, no it isn’t.

Final Fantasy is different. It is difficult, challenging and over the top. You live FF11, you don’t play it. I have done all this FF11 banana riding in the past I am not going to do it again. One reason I have not mentioned before is the past nostalgia I have for this game. I love the Final Fantasy series, always have. I am dying to see number 13 on the PS3, looks hot. Every time I look at that blasted manual and box I start waxing a MMO hard-on for this game. Whether I ever play again we will have to see. Anyways ENOUGH about it.

That is it. That is all that survived my childish tossing tantrum.

I am looking at the horizon and it definitely looks like when the sun rises in 08 we have a lot to look forward. Those are the games that are going to hopefully suck me back in, not for a lusty quickie but a long term relationship.

We all know what is coming I don’t have to spell it out for you all that read this. If you don’t, please post and I will gladly lay it on the line.

Peace and good gaming all. Hailin

Eve Online on PS3?

The latest Eve Online news is that Eve Online is going to be pushing out a Linux / Mac client.

This got me thinking. Since PS3 can run certain Linux enviroments (Yellow Dog being the most popular) isn’t it possible to run Eve Online on the PS3?

I can think of only one thing that could possibly hold this back and that is PS3’s video processor. I do not believe there are any proper drivers out for the RSX. But at the same time EVE has never been a computer hog in CPU and GPU power.

Ok there is one other problem. The new Trinity upgrade for EVE how is this going to affect user performance across the board? How would this affect the PS3’s 512mb of ram?

A lot of these questions I really can’t answer  as I don’t have Linux on my PS3 yet, what I can say is I hope someone attempts this as I would love to see EVE on my plasma instead of my computer monitor.

ARGHHHH

Music for the Article : Slipknot – People=S**t (Something new I am trying here heh!)

I recently read the new Vanguard Producers letter to the community. Many important points were brought up. But one point has me all freaking pissed here. Maybe I am being childish or being a troll. Which I fail to see as this is my friggin blog.

The newest Vanguard producer PhAtHoM had this to say:

(Feel accomplished

Whether you log in and play for 30 minutes or for 3 hours, you should see and feel that you advanced your character. Now don’t get me wrong. We don’t want to create an “easy button” when it comes to leveling up but we definitely need to expedite the experience gain cycle to increase fun factor. We’ve made some steps already by adding Rest Experience and the ability to share experience within your Brotherhood, so we’ll keep those in mind when discussing the percentage increase that we should take it up to in the near future.”)

I am perfectly fine with this. I don’t have a problem with the actual quote. Let me get to what I do have a problem with. THE community!!

As soon as his really interesting producers letter was done people jumped on that statement like flames to a fire. (Now that is fast) People in the community went nuts over it complaining that it was already to easy to level in Vanguard. There must be 40 posts in the thread crying over this topic.

Personally I am of the frame of mind if it takes 1 hour to 50 I don’t give a crap if I had fun getting there. (Portal anyone) Who are these masochistic people that love the grind? I know in the past that I have mentioned the fact that I love group grinding in FF11. I feel that is because the combat is so fun and tactical in that game with the Renkei/Magic Burst system. In Vanguard it isn’t. It is like every other MMO whack that mole and watch your xp bar move. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

I know there is a weakness system that can be used in the combat system for more dps but for the most part they are hard as hell to follow so most groups just ignore it and go back to whack a mole. Hell I bet most people who play Vanguard don’t even know the system is there. /sigh The weakness system works the same way as EQ2 and FF11. You start with a special attack, lets call it Sparkling Strike. That starts the weakness Blindness, but to finish it off like baking soda to vinegar (Try it if you don’t understand) another class has to finish with Slash of Darkness which completes the weakness system. Next thing you know the mob is blind for a couple seconds lowering it’s accuracy.

I bet you could make the combat as difficult as hell and people would love it if every time the exploit weakness system was really easy to spot like FF11’s or even EQ2’s (which is also horribly forgotten about for the most part.) Making combat part of the game instead of having it as a barrier between you and completion of a quest, should be part of the Vision for Vanguard. It seems the devs are trying there best to cater to all the crowds and they are going to get drawn and quartered. 75% of the community even have there horses ready for the devs. In the four pages I could get through only one person made a reasonable response. That was this post by Brash Endeavors: (Who by the way is seems to be one of the resident unofficial tech gurus)

(“Apologies for copy/pasting my remark from one of the other threads, but I really really really hope they think about and discuss whether the real issue is how one gains experience and not simply how FAST one gains experience.

There is a WORLD of difference there.

Also, “Thank You” for posting this. It’s courageous to put it out on paper instead of taking the easy way of saying as little as possible in order to avoid debate and controversy.

The new proposed feedback forum is a very good thing.”)

This is the very point I am trying to make here. It isn’t how fast you gain those levels it is how much fun you had doing it. I constantly hear “It’s about the Journey to 50 not how fast you get there.”

Great so some of the MMO community gets it let’s just hope Vanguards Devs get it, and the community come up with useful posts instead of crying about the subject. PLEASE!

My idea is to raise the experience needed per level by 3%, but add a group bonus based on group members. If people knew they got a bonus for grouping you would see a lot less soloing and more grouping. And with a more visible, useful weakness system people would be more inclined to use it.

Hailin signing out, drinking gin and tonic to chill out after a stressful day. Peace!

28 Weeks Later on Planet Terror with the Living Dead MMO.

Halloween is approaching fast. Every year at this time I start getting into Horror movies. Last weekend it was Planet Terror. This weekend 28 Weeks. Both movies are a hell of a good time. But they have one thing in common. The new zombie. Gone are the days of slow lumbering zombies. Zombies in today’s movies are fast, evil, violent. They don’t want just brains they want everything. So this came to mind as I chatted with my partner Wayne. Where are the zombie mmo’s?

I know Turtle Rock/Valve are headed in that direction with Left 4 Dead. That is going to be a co-op experience with maybe up to 8 people.

The concept is so easy. If any developer at all wants the best example of how this concept works they should watch both 28’s. They are the perfect example of how this could work. Instead of being a super warrior like Hellgate:London or a cop like Resident Evil. You are a normal everyday citizen fighting for your life.

Instead of leveling up to make it to that super armor or to raid that dungeon you are trying to make it from point A to point B. Eventually trying to make it to freedom. For end game what you would do is switch roles sort of. Instead of being that ordinary citizen looking to be free. You become part of the army or rebel group trying to help other survivors to safety.

Quests could consist of fetching supplies, trying to clear tunnels and paths for safe travel. Plain out hardcore fighting for the next area. Weapons would be anything you pick up from hunks of wood and rocks to crowbars to high powered pistols.  Gameplay would have to be fast and furious supporting multiple cameras from 1st person (Halflife2) to over the shoulder (Graw, GOW) to third person.(Tomb Raider)

As you level you would become more proficient in everything from weapons to chemicals through use.  No levels, special moves could be learnt via leveling up through use. Say you have been using various objects like boards with nails and such matter.  You start at lvl1 with a common swing animation, keep using it till it falls apart and next thing you know you are 50 and using upswings and downswings, using a pistol in one hand a bat in the other. You could swing at an enemy to stun them then shoot them in head for the kill while using the bat to hit an enemy behind you. All of it flowing together to cause a room killing combo to help more survivors to get through.

I know it sounds over the top and it should be. It should look to the past as well for examples from the Night of series. While mashing with the new generation of Zombie flicks.

I know it is all a dream. It just sounds like such a wonderful glorious MMO wet dream.

What is your dream MMO? We wouldn’t be blogging if we didn’t have an imagination.

Cluster umm hrmm!

Yes that is right Square is releasing a new mmo in the states for free. Ign link here.

The game is called Concerto Gate. It uses a new terrain ….. Blah blah blah. Just read the link. Personally I am not all that excited or even care. So why in earth did I blog about it?

Easy it is Square and I saw MMO and as people that read here and in my personal life know I think FF11 is the greatest MMO ever. Even though I don’t play it anymore. (Just don’t have that kinda time to dedicate to the grind)

I think I just got excited due to the fact that I do know there is a new mmo coming from Square/Enix. Something that I just can’t wait for, and I figured this Concerto Gate was it. Imagine my surprise when I saw the first screen shot and went. WTF is this?

When the true next MMO from SE releases I will be the first on the SE MMO bandwagon to play this game. I will be on the SE MMO faster then Kevin, who’s server seems to be down a lot, will be on the Warhammer MMO.

Anyways enough of my SE banana riding.

Before I close out I want to mention a couple of things.

My blog buddy Brack wrote a wicked article about Tabla Rasa. Please read it. You can find him on the side bar.

Also I need to ask Jaye and Troy from Voyages of Vanguard to stop doing there podcast NOW. I am always aching for a new episode. It is slowly becoming one of the few podcasts I can actually stomach the whole way through. Your both awesome you make me want to play again.

While I am on the subject is anyone getting sick of the professional podcasts? I am really starting to get sick of these hype machines. I crave the crappy skype connections.  You listen to something to like MN, Hotspot or G4tv. Most of the time they seem to be on NPR or CBC (For us Canadians). They sound setup and fake, and of course sometimes they are.

Yet you have the other end of the scale in GFW. A professional podcast excellent audio quality yet they seem real and passionate about what they are talking about. This is just my opinion and if these podcasters come across this don’t freak out and scream.

OH and Jeff, Shawn and Ryan if you were just doing Legendary Thread I would ask you to stop STOP right now. Thank god you have GFW to save your asses. Oh question for you three. You are going to start talking about WoW at some point right? Hmm? Anyday now you are going chat about WoW related stuff on a WoW podcast?

We need more strong podcasts like the whole Virginworlds line up, MOG, and 1-up yours. Actually scratch that we don’t need anymore because I can’t keep now as is. Everything is just fine.

That is enough ranting for today.

Hailin /poof

Spoiler

Ok I had to post this. (Spoiler) This is the ending of Portal from Orange Box. If you are still playing portal don’t watch this video. If you have you need to relive it. There is a ton of buzz about this game and this closing song in general. If you haven’t picked up The Orange Box what are you waiting for. Unless you are one of those people that gets ill from FPS.

Portal is not very difficult but oh so relaxing. It is one of those zen type of puzzle experiences. Levels can be defeated a number of ways. The achievements on the 360 are tough to get.

I really enjoyed Portal and I am sure I will be checking it out again.

Hailin signing out, peace and game hard.

Orange Box

The Orange Box has landed in my 360. I have to admit it is awesome. Just awesome.

What you get in that package is phenomenal. I won’t go into the details of the packaging because everyone that reads here already knows.

I have only had time to dive into Team Fortress2 and Portal but I am extremely impressed with both. TF2 being so much fun. I am not a fragger, never been. There is just something loose and fun about how TF2 handles it all. Plus the class based system doesn’t torture you for not being a good shot, unlike Halo3, or GOW. Not that talented with the cross hairs? Try a medic, demoman or engineer. Not one of these classes will make you feel like a reject or insult you with death upon death. New to FPS? This is the game for you it is a sweet stepping stone into the more serious games. Halo, Counterstrike, Rainbow6, etc.

To put a MMO edge to it. I was cruising the forums for Valve and notice that even WoW players are taking notice of this game. I do wonder if the people from WoW that are  interested in TF2 are heavy battleground players? I would have to say most likely.

Portal is unlike any game I have played before. Part FPS, part adventure, part puzzler. The AI guiding you through the game is insulting yet hysterical. It really is an amazing experience.

For 60 bucks you really can’t go wrong whether you are getting The Orange Box on console or PC it will not let you down. I still need to put some more time into, but already I feel like I have made a worthy purchase.

Hailin signing out, peace and game hard.

PS I will be hosting TF2 games this weekend if anyone wishes to get in on the fun please add me to your gamertag list.

Hailin.