We are living our lives abound with so much information...

Since the series is almost done (I'm told) I started watching the Persona 4 anime and I must say; I'm a little disappointed. Of course it's a disappointment I knew I would experience due to how compressed the game needs to be to fit it into an anime. The first episode alone combined hours of game play and storyline which is fine, as I said. I know they had to do it so we wouldn't have a 102 hour long anime everyone fell asleep in (though *I* would watch it). 


I felt a bit... I don't know... dirty, watching it. Almost the kind of feeling I get when I skip a cut scene I haven't seen before (even though I have seen all the in game cut scenes). The voice acting is fine, the animation is fine, and of course the music is exceptional. 


After four episodes now, I still have that eugh feeling. It also bothers me when they have to compress things, into anime form, because they make things happen at different points or in a different way, and that makes my OCD bells go off in an insane manner. I might want to enjoy it more, but I'm unable to enjoy it more because of these reasons. As I head into the fifth episode I find myself wanting to play the game again instead of watching the anime. I’m sure its phenomenal for others and I’m sure that others are enjoying it immensely, but... I don't know. Its just... like Persona 4 cliff notes. I feel like I'm cheating and I don't like it.

If I Had a Message For You, I'd Give It To Your Mother

Holy shit man it's been a while since I last wrote anything. A lot has happened. First and foremost, I'm no longer writing reviews. They're too time consuming and I can relay the information quicker in other ways. The only review I need from a friend is 'check it out' or 'don't check it out' and so I think it's hypocritical of me to think anyone else needs anything more. Think otherwise? Let me know.

Last time I blogged I mentioned I'd got a laptop because my comp fucked out. The laptop is great, but I find a hard time doing any kind of non-casual gaming on it. This includes MMO's and full on graphically nice games. I don't mind playing like Puzzle Quest or shit like that. I'm still playing Guild Wars and Requiem, but other than that I don't see myself playing any MMO's on it any more. Any games I want are on the consoles and handhelds anyway and I don't have to keep upgrading them every year to play the nice new shiny games.

So that being said, I've been playing quite a few games. Last time I was playing through Dragon Age 2, but other games took my time away like Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

For the most part. Final Fantasy XIII-2  surprised the fuck out of me... I thought it would be a painful, linear journey of hell... again, but it was amazing. Spectacular. Fantabulous. Voice acting, translation, graphics, MUSIC, story... it all came together in a wonderful sparkle of joy. Indescribable. Go check it out. On the same rope, I also got  Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 and traded in my 360 version. I do like it better on the PS3 as it's way nicer. Going through it again, years later, is okay. It's not wowing me, but it is still good. I mainly did it to get the extra stuff in Final Fantasy XIII-2 , but found myself actually going through it.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Man, what can I say. Ezio is fucking 52 and the daddy of the mac daddys. It just gets more and more awesome over time. Though this is the end of Ezio's journey ( but not the end of Assassin's Creed ) it lacks no joy or amazement. Altaïr gets play as well! I had an amazing amount of fun playing as Altaïr through his life, all the way to the day he dies. Of course the music was the absolute best... Jesper Kyd is a god of music and teaming with Lorne Balfe was just caramel and cinnamon together at last. Everything about the game made me squee and even I became teary quite a few times. I can't wait til the next one, seriously, when I beat it all I wanted was MORE. The series is far from over for me and I salivate at the prospect of another.

Skyrim still looms in the air and permeates the life force around me. My main file has 188 hours, but I feel I need to state I have four other save files that I abandoned before finding my true calling, as I knew I would, as a fabled Bow Mage of Tamriel. These save files have the following hours; 44, 38, 57, and 61 hours. So, I've put a considerable amount of time into this game. Trophy acquisition is going well and nearing its end. I did beat the main story, although it was a little easy. I wondered why it wasn't quite a challenge and so, after laying Alduin in the ground, I checked out a few sites. Ah ha... I needed to be around the area of level 24 when going against Alduin. This explained it... I was 55 at the time. Over levelled a bit, but the game is such that it envelopes you in questing and lore. Levelling and exploring. By all means get the fucking game and love it to bits, but make sure you finish the main story before 25 I would say... then spend the rest of your time enjoying everything else... and there is a lot more to enjoy.

And now the minors... there are quite a few I've been dipping into between the heavy hitters and provide some links at the end of the blog. Requiem is a Korean F2P MMO which I have mentioned before. It's really great if you're into that kind of a game ( I love the Asian games; Korean especially ) and runs very well even on my little laptop. Guild Wars 2 steadily moves closer and closer, and even though I am aware I probably can't run it on this laptop ( hoping I can though ) I can still run Guild Wars on full settings with no problem and so I ventured back into it. Having a great time with my Dervish/Warrior. Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies squirrelled it's way back into my play time. Started a new file due to my niece destroying my previous ( 128 hours... ) save for her own amusement. About 20 hours into it and it's still as good as ever.

I also got the urge to play Resident Evil 4 again ( Wii version of course ) and so I dragged the Wii back from mum's house where I had allowed it to lay for a while. Lastly, I think, is Persona 2... which is so awesome. Although I have played Innocent Sin before, this is a remake and it was done in an incredible way. I really hope they release Eternal Sin like this as I haven't played that one yet.

Well this is such a long post so thanks for reading and happy gaming! Links following :)

http://www.playrequiem.com

http://www.guildwars.com/

A little more please!

So my computer fucked off a few months ago & it is now replaced with a laptop. This laptop can run basic games, but not the newer things coming out, but that's fine since I prefer my games on consoles & use the PC mainly for independent/casual games & MMO's. WoW runs fine. Lineage 2 runs fine. I probably couldn't play SW TOR on it, but I don't know. I have been able to get things running on less, but I don't really have the biggest desire to play SW TOR to be honest. My desire lays more in Aion being F2P in Feb & Lineage 2 already being F2P now & providing me with joy. This laptop is very awesome though & I am glad to have it. Thank you (you know who you are).

I am taking a break from Dragon Age II to write this. Doing well in this new play through. Something I didn't know would happen was not only my Dragon Age Origins plot points were carried, but also the things I did in Awakenings were as well. I saw the fruits of those labours almost right away when I got into Kirkwall. Unfortunately, it seems as though the other (Witch Hunt & Golems) were not included in the saves. That's all right I guess since they took so short a time to complete (not two hours for each of them) so it wasn't really wasted time as I had wanted to replay them any way. Well here is what was included in my imported save:

Conner was freed from the demon.

Mages were recruited into the army.

Dalish Elves were recruited into the army.

Harrowmont rules Orzammar.

The Anvil of the Void was destroyed.

Loghain was killed.

Alistair is king of Ferelden.

Alistair performed the dark ritual with Morrigan.

The Warden killed the Archdemon.

Vigil's Keep was saved from the darkspawn assault.

The Architect is alive.

Warden's Keep was reclaimed.

Shale was discovered.

King Cailan's corpse was burned.

Mostly they are all options I didn't do in my first DAII import that I went back & made a new DAO save for to try out. Odd that the king Cailan's corpse thing is on there... I wonder how that will come up in DAII.

Wow how the time flies...

OK, it's been a while I guess. A lot has been happening & I've just not been in the mood to blog. Of primary note.. Lineage 2 is now free to play. Yes... omg. And Aion in February as well. My cold, black materia heart is all a flutter with joy. We shall see how Aion goes, but for the time being I am pleased with L2 being f2p. It provides joy while I await the release of Diablo III.


Sort of jumped right into that didn't I? Well, Not just L2 to take my time, indeed. I have been playing a lot of Skyrim lately & that's going well. My main file has just over 100 hours on it & is over 11 megs in size. Needless to say, I can't play long before it succumbs to the Skyrim lag issue, which they are supposed to be fixing soon. Well... I hope so! I have some other saves which range from 20-40 hours, so I’ve put a lot of time into Skyrim.


I've also been playing a load of Dragon Age: Origins & Awakening as there are some plot choices I haven't tried out for my Dragon Age II. Have put almost 70 hours into this DA:O&A combined file, so I should have a great run of DAII coming up soon. They are such great games!


I played a lot of MW3 as well, but when I got Skyrim... well... I think we can see which would win out. I have, however, go the urge to play MW3 again so I might. Also, El got Reach so I want to play that as well. My gaming has been rather erratic lately. I've not been well & my gaming has suffered because of that.


In WoW, things are a little lax. I am not impressed with the new content at all. In fact, I had Gwyn removed from Raider & put to Social because I just don't want to do the new content at all in a normal raid setting. Having said this, I am well liking the LFR system & love doing the raids on my holy Pala & Mage (fire spec OFC). It's raiding on MY time which is going a lot better for me than raiding at night when it was always annoying.


I'll do a proper post some time in the new year I guess!

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I can't tell you how long I was glued to my television, playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution, because there's no timer or clock which records time and Raptr doesn't track PS3 playing time, automatically, for some retarded reason. If I had to estimate I'd say I've played it around 50ish hours at this point. Well then... graphics! Wow. Seeing some initial screens, I was a little disappointed, but coming into the game (which I got on the PS3 by the way) I was amazed. From the opening FMV to the actual game play, the graphics were beautiful. A lot of people complained about that bronze overtone, but I really loved it. It set a very desolate feel to the game and it got me into the setting a lot easier. Adam (lol at slew of Frankenstein references through out the game by the way) was very nicely done and all his actions and movements were fantastic. Some  commented how cardboard or messy the graphics were, especially for people, but I found them to be great. Sure some of the people were a bit rigid, but we can't do magic; there's only so much we can do with graphics right now and I think this game did them damn well. Those city scape scenes and flying over different lands... oh man. When you first come to Singapore.. my mouth was hanging open. Gorgeous. The music was great as well. I sort of felt like it reminded me of the more ambient music to a Bioshock or Fallout in that it really sort of sat behind everything, worming its way into your thoughts. Sometimes it lulled me deep, taking me 

Beautiful Cityscapes

into the story is a surreal way. In short; fantastic. I'll be getting the OST as soon as I can. I'd like to buy it, but if I can't find it, I'll download it from somewhere. It's so good and so well composed. Game mechanics and control. This is a two sided issue for me. First of all, why, oh, why do companies change the layout of well know controller configurations? It's annoying and aggravating and I hate it. Moving things like iron sights, sprint, and reload (to name a few) to buttons different than a slew of our established games is not innovative or challenging; IT'S ANNOYING. That being said, after the initial aggravation of a new controller lay out, I got into it pretty well. The interface is great, the weapons switching is smooth, hacking is awesome. I didn't run into any troubles dishing out my Praxis points how I desired and still having to deal with boss fights and hacking. In fact I ended up just putting points wherever because I had already got what I wanted. I didn't even put points in Typhoon until near the end because it just wasn't useful to my play style. I played it on normal difficulty by the way, but I want to play it on Tell Me A Story (Easy) because I have a feel I missed a lot of stuff because I was too involved in staying alive. I got 52% of the trophies on my first run, did a nice bunch of side quests (though I don't think I got them all and/or found their secret trophies). That being said, I still got a load of 

Take-downs are a thing of beauty

story from the game. I mean geez it's involved. Little things there and there which give you insight into the characters or just the life of people around you or in buildings. I read all the e-mails I could, all the e-books, all the newspapers. Talked to everyone I saw. I even found two quests by randomly talking to people. That's when it feels awesome... my manic OCD's granting me quests and game play. It is sweet caramel in my mind. Even now I've this desire to play it again. I did start my next cycle and am going to try to not kill anyone this round. It's already been very tough, to be honest. Mission one is down though; everyone lives. Saved the hostages, saved dudes wife, knocked out Sanders for the police. I'm an hero. During my first cycle I was forced to make some choices which were gnawing at me through the rest of the play. This time we'll see how the other choices colour my play. 


SPOILERS: 
Here are some of the choices I made during my first cycle. I didn't get the new chip because I remembered Elizabeth from the first Deus Ex (a game I didn't like, to be honest, but recall the information from anyway) and anything she is promoting as a 'good thing' is obviously evil. Not only that, but it's so obvious that it's going to fuck up your Christmas if you do get it. I saved Malik, but this was more that I thought it was actually what you're supposed to do. I didn't realise, until after I had beat the game and was checking forums, that you can actually

Exceptional FPS combat

hurry into the building and Malik dies. Whereas I'm curious how this colours other parts of the game, I'm not too happy about leaving her to die, so I'll save her again. I do like her. Talked Taggart's aid out of killing himself for whatever bizarre reason I was thinking of at the time (was surprised by surprise trophy of surprise for saving him) though I did reload and see what happened if he died. Nothing interesting, so I re-reloaded back to saving him save and continued on. I didn't talk to Taggart in the base at the end as I decided I wanted him to die; unfortunately this meant I couldn't see his ending so I guess I will see it this time. I did reload my before ending save to see all the others, though I went with Sarif's ending first as I do believe in his cause (in RL too actually). 
SPOILERS END.


Hmm, can't think of other critical plot points that I did, but I've been awake a while and my mind is a smoking ruin. I recommend this game wholly. It is an FPS RPG in the truest sense of the term. It flawlessly combines the FPG mode of play with the RPG interaction and story. I wasn't going to get the game at first, because I didn't like 1 or 2, but after I read some other friends' comments on G+, I decided to give it a try. I'm so god-damn happy I did because it's incredible. Totally get this game.

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Another Epic Bites the Dust

Earring of the Solstice

Well, since I've been able to play Everquest 2 again, I've been working on crafting. No surprise there I guess; that's to be expected. My project now is getting Sszchera finished with her crafting quest-line. When I previously came back, she was capped at 80 in Alchemy and working on her crafting epic. Well, I set the epic aside for a short moment and ground her up to level 90 in Alchemy. With that out of the way, I got her Earring of the Solstice yesterday. Then, shortly after, I picked up her harvesting cloak from the true Avatar of Hate, Qho. I'm now working on the Odus questing for her and it's going pretty well. Being 76 in adventuring, she is better levelled and equipped to deal with the threats of these lands, unlike Einherji who was level 32 when I finished all her crafting. I'm still working on faction for Einherji's Shawl epic, which is taking

Cloak of the Harvester

some time. Of course, I haven't been able to play in a while and I need to get back into the habit of doing the faction every day instead of every other day. I think when I've two character who need it, I'll be better enthused to do it daily and just get it done.

 

We Are All One

Well, a lot has happened since my last entry so I'll try to summarise in a coherent way. First of all, I haven't written since my previous entry because I have been, over all, sick as hell. Weak immune systems for the fail. This was doubly bad as I've had to drastically change my diet recently as well, or die, pretty much. So it went from a cold to, somehow, the flu, to a chest infection & so on. Thankfully, I seem to be on the mend now. My change in nourishment habits is going okay actually... since I started, I've lost almost two stone. Though, I did gain a few lbs back when my dad came to visit, but we went out to eat a few times & he brought American sweets so... it's to be expected. I can almost do 10 mins on my bike again; hopefully I'll be back to 30 mins in a few months.

Enough of health news. I got a Roxio game capture thingie so I can stream/record my console games & it's turning out to be pretty awesome. I've put up a loooooad of game footage on my YouTube site & have been streaming a lot as well. You can find my streams at Twitch.tv (where you should definitely sign up). Recently, I have been playing a lot of Persona 3 Portable, Resonance of Fate (PS3 version), almost the entire MegaTen library (lol), Lost Odyssey, The 3rd Birthday, & Everquest 2.

YES... Everquest 2. I finally got whatever issue it was, fixed. It was an unexpected side-effect / joy to getting a new motherboard & quad-core processor. Needless to say, it also runs a lot better than it used to. The most lovely Arkenor gave me a free month in celebration & I'll probably continue to subscribe again, now that I'm not crashing every three minutes. With Beastlord's coming up soon, Everquest 2 is better than ever & I really do enjoy my time in there. However, not being in an MMO for a while has given me reason to limit my time in there. I'm not staying in game very long & I'm making the most of my time.

I don't know if I was playing P3P during my last entry (too lazy to check) but I did beat the female storyline. Restarted it on a new cycle with the male (my favourite still) then decided to start it again on Maniac mode. I did this on the female character because there are a few items you can get in her story which will help a whole lot (Music Box anyone?).
The 3rd Birthday is unusual to say the least, but it's unusual in a good way... I think. It's a surreal mix of game-play not unlike Crisis Core & Dirge of Cerberus, actually. I'm enjoying it, that's apparent, but there is something under it which annoys me a little. Sometimes I think I'm the only person in the world who actually didn't like any of the previous Parasite Eve games. I only picked up The 3rd Birthday because the game-play looked sweet... & it really is.

Those who keep up with my reviews know that I did a review of Resonance of Fate a while ago. It's still one of the best games ever & I still haven't got the Arena achievement yet, though it's the last one to get & I'm over halfway there. Despite this, I got the game again... for the PS3. Yes, I bought Resonance of Fate for another system, while still having it for the 360. To some it might seem silly & people wonder why... why, why, why not just replay it on the 360. Maybe it's just me, but when I've beaten a game, I keep my save files. I can see the save any time I want & I know, going into the game, that I've beaten it. I've accomplished all there is (well except the Arena). When you've a new game, there are no saves. No new cycles. None of that to tempt you. Apart from subtle loading times & some graphical differences (actually I think maybe some of the clothes are different?) the game is mostly the same. In anything that affects the game play at least. I just wanted to play a game I love, clean & new on a different system. It's fabulous, by the way.

Lost Odyssey is another game I treasure. I wanted to replay it from a new save, which is hardly different from a new cycle+ since the only thing you get from that is starting with Kaim at level 50. This time I have a very, very extensive & mapped out guide so I will finally master the Treasure Trove achievement & no longer will it haunt my nightmare realms. The game is as good as ever & I find myself switching between the Japanese track & English rack because they are both so nice. Especially Kaim... wow did they do an awesome job at his casting. He also ranks up there with most beautiful characters in a game... not hot or dreamy or gorgeous, but beautiful. His design is incredible & his story is truly a moving tale.

Lastly, I have been crazy playing some of the MegaTen games, for some reason. Persona 4, Raidou 1, Lucifer's Call, Digital Devil Saga... to name a few. I never get tired of these games & I've rambled about them before so I don't need to get into it now.

That concludes this updated wall of text. I hope to become more regular in my blogging as I'm not dying of death plague now.

Cake or Death!

So I've recently been informed that soda is no longer an option for part of my daily consumption and that over the next few weeks I'll need to remove it from my diet or die. Apparently, my system has enough to deal with and maintaining borderline will soon be moved to full-blown if I don't do something about it. So I must say goodbye to the sugary delight of my soda and find something to replace it. Now, this is going to be difficult because it's not the sugar or even the taste which is the reason (although a nice side benefit) that I drink so much of it. Coupled with coffee (which I can still consume in mass quantities), drinks such as Dr Pepper, Coke, and Pepsi also help me to exist without being a zombie. Yes, the caffeine is what I require.

Having a severe and somewhat uncommon form of chronic insomnia, I'm always, always, always tired and there is no cure or medicine to help (I'm not open to hearing your suggestions about it; I can guarantee you, there's no cure or treatment). So I need to huge quantities of caffeine to allow me to function somewhat normally. Without it, I'm a zombie... drooling on my couch in a state which is, to me, very similar to the effects of viewing time through a black hole.

OK now, what can I do to replace this caffeine which I've suddenly been stripped of due to not wanting to die from sugar. My natural reaction is to drink even more coffee every day, but my doctor already told me I drink too much, so that's out. It was suggested to me that I give vitamin water a go, however. It's always intrigued me, but it's quite expensive so I've never given it too much thought. However, now that I am not spending £40-£45 on soda every two weeks, I've some extra money to try to discover a healthier way to get the caffeine I require in order to function.

Monday afternoon I did my bi-weekly order from Tesco and decided to get one of every kind of vitamin water they offered. I must say, I was surprised at how many they had. So far I've tried two of the ones I got.

The first was Glacéau 'Revive' Vitamin Water in a Fruit Punch flavour. It was surprisingly good. Apparently, it's jam packed with vitamins b3 b 5 b6 b12, potassium, and vitamin c. It also had 95 kcal and 23.0g sugar which is a bit much, but still a lot less than the sodas and it's a natural sugar. From what I gather from the seemingly schizophrenic description on the label, it's meant for just after you wake up, which's when I drank it (yes, I'm able to sleep sometimes, just not often). It got me moving pretty well, to tell you the truth. I felt a little more alert and was able to 'get my act together' a little quicker as I was making the first cup of coffee for the day. The taste was a little lacking, but considering it's water with flavour, it wasn't bad.

The next one I drank was SoBe 'Kick' Vitamin Water in a Ginger and Mango flavour. This one was actually really delicious. It's main boasts are Ginseng, vitamins b3 b5 b6 b12, and vitamin c, though no potassium (which I'm not sure the function of to be honest). It had 85 kcal, 19g sugar, 0.5g fat, and 0.2g saturates (not too sure what those are). I guess this one is supposed to be a kick start to the day as well, but considering I always exist in a similar state to someone who's just woken up, I feel I can consume any of these at any time and feel their intended effects. I could feel it's effect, but it wasn't a big boom as the Glacéau one, though I did like the SoBe one a lot better.

Though I have many more kinds to try, I decided to go with another SoBe one, but a different flavour this time. It's SoBe 'Glow' Vitamin Water in a Pomegranate and Blueberry flavour. This one has a whole array of different things in it like Zinc, Selenium (no idea what that is though), Vitamins E and C along with weird things like carrot and burdock roots or something. This informs me that it's supposed to be an essential antioxidant and protects against 'free radicals' which damage my body... OK. Oh, and it helps my vision. It tastes OK considering I hate pomegranates, but we'll see the lasting effects of it later. The stats are 85 kcal and 21g sugar. I can really taste the sugar in it for some reason.