Fun Under The Sea
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Adventures in EverQuest 2

     A while back Sony had the good sense to send me an invitation back to play Vanguard for a free month, which enjoying the game, I quickly snapped up and leaped forth into my old account.  Vanguard is still a lot of fun, there is no doubt, but the unintended side effect of this return, was a renewal of my great love of EverQuest II.  The free time quickly converted to a station pass and EQ2 has returned to prominence it once held over my gaming time.  It has once again become the focal point.  Not to mention caused me to go out and purchase the last expansion, The Shadow Odyssey.

      It is nice to be back with my old friends, characters I haven't played in some months.  It is also nice to be playing again with the characters I created last time I was drawn back in last year.  A now 31st level Necromancer and a 27th level Shadow Knight.  Good times.   I've been trying to explore more of the low level content that wasn't around when I went through with my initial characters back near launch.  It's interesting to play through Timorous Deep and ButcherBlock Mountains, Neriak and Darklight Wood.  The above picture is from a recent adventure that left me hunting under the bay of the Nektulos Forest for some damn fish or other that doesn't re-spawn in nearly great enough numbers to satisfy the quest I was on. Such is the way of things sometimes.

     Anyway, while I was wondering around down there, I ran across the pictured building on the bottom of the sea.  Not sure what it is, but it was interesting to see things down there.  Guess the whole diving thing is a holdover from my days playing Morrowind and using the ring that would give my character an unlimited amount of time underwater to explore.  Exploration is really a big part of my enjoyment of these games anyway.  I love to see the world and see what the developers have hidden just waiting to be found by the intrepid adventurer.

 captainzoli

A New Adventure
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: My Final Fantasy Online

    

     So where to begin.  Oddly enough, after all this time and all the games I've played, this is my first venture in the Square Enix entry into the field, Final Fantasy XI, depite it's long running status.  I've been tempted before.  I mean I am a fan of the series generally speaking.  Have played them all to one extent or another ever since the very first one back on the NES.  Still both my NES and my original FFI cart as well.  At the time XI hit though, I was still firmly in my "I'm not paying a monthly fee as well as buying a client for full price" phase, something I occasionally still fall back on, and so FFXI went by the wayside, forgotten like so much unloved rubbish.

     Until this past weekend, that is. Let me first say, that although I have purchased the game, and loaded it up, even making a character and running around a bit, I haven't played anywhere near long enough to make even a preliminary guess as to whether I'm going to like it or not.  Also, let me speak to fans of the game and say, I know it isn't the same game it was even a couple of years ago as SE is set on making it more solo friendly and less of a grind, relatively speaking that is.

     So I was off.  First impressions are that the game has not aged gracefully from a graphical standpoint, but it has that Final Fantasy touch from the Playstation 2 era that stands out and makes it easy to overlook the shortcomings it displays in the graphical area.  Aside from that, its quirks are many, and I'm sure they will become less of an issues as I go along.  Its focus on the Playstation 2 as initial platform is surely responsible for some of these issues.  Especially since I'm playing the PC version currently, although I do intend to try out the 360 version in the not too distant future.

 captainzoli

Review: AB-Negative
Topic: Movie Reviews

Title: AB-Negative

Year: 2006

Genre: Horror

Format Reviewed: Netflix Streaming

Brought to us by writer, director and producer Lary Banning, AB-Negative is officially described on the official blurbs as follows:

"Wooster Carneal always does the right thing. But when he loses his wife, his job and his home, a desperate Wooster is extorted into harvesting human organs for the black market. While hunting down his unsuspecting victims, he also takes revenge on those who ruined his life. But to save himself, Wooster must stay three steps ahead of police, savvy news reporter Claire DuBois, and the organ brokers."

and for better or worse, that pretty much sums up the plot of this low budget movie. Officially classified as a horror film, I would have classified it more as a drama, or suspense type film and not so much horror.

Continued...

captainzoli

torchedthreads.com

Tags: movie, review, reviews, ab-negative, ab, negative, horror, film, dvd, streaming, entertainment

 

Return to Hyborea
Topic: My Gaming

And so it came to pass that I couldn't stay away anymore. Yes, it's sad but true, faithful readers, that I have returned to Age of Conan, for at least a month, to look around and to try and level up to 40 so I can finally ride my war rhino thing. Ha ha ha. Finally, after all this time.

Now some may remember my bittersweet love-hate relationship with Age of Conan, and how it finally came to an end some months ago when the fun stopped out weighing the bugs. It is also important to not that I did say I would be back to see how things were going, even as I was walking out the door. I so I figured at the one year anniversary, the time was right to return and see how things are on the ground.

First thing that is to be noticed is that there was a server merger. My character, previously on Thog, is now on Wiccanna, and from what I can tell just with my playing since I've been back, this hasn't really helped population that much in the lower level areas, or at least not the areas meant for play by 30 something characters. This isn't to say that other MMORPGs are not plagued by this whole top heavy thing as well, but most not as quickly and completely as Age of Conan. Really, this issue was becoming pervasive in Age of Conan within a few short weeks after it's release. Guess that's what happens when developers don't bother to complete and test the game prior to launch.

That's all water under the bridge though. My goal in returning to the game was not to be bitter about my experiences with the launch product, even though it was clear to everyone in beta that when it launched, it still needed at least a year more dev time, at least. It was also obviously that the powers that be at Funcom were not going to let that happen, and that pre-order sales were going to drive the game into the wild way before it was ready to actually sustain the player base that purchased those copies of the game. Really too bad, because the game could have been a great success instead of the abysmal buggy mess they released.

To continue though, there will be alot more posts regarding Age of Conan in the coming days as I explore the content that is there, search out new bugs, and the ones that have been fixed, and generally just see how things are in Hyborea at the one year anniversary. Now that the storm has passed, is there a rainbow for the returning player? We shall see.

captainzoli

torchedthreads.com

Tags: age of conan, mmorpg, rpg, gaming, games, pc, conan, hyborea, adventures, game, gamer

X-Blades - All the Hacking You Can Stand
Topic: My Gaming
     I had pre-ordered X-Blades at the same time as the binkini zombie slayer game who's name I don't remember right off, while in a fit of hack-n-slash enthusism that probably would have best been waited out. :lol:  Now that it's here, and in my 360, I'm kinda sorry I did.  It's a compentent hack-n-slash action game to a degree, but not nearly as much fun as games like God Of War or Conan.  The box to box, or room to room, style isn't particularly fun, and hasn't been in a decade, and to call these rooms "levels" is absurd.  Stil, I've only just begun to play it, so I don't want to shit on it too soon.  Who knows, maybe the best is yet to come.  I'm not holding my breath on that, but you never know.  Oh, and the cut scenes will give you that warm, nostalgic feeling because it looks for all the world like it was ripped straight from the old FMV games from the early ninities. :lol:  Provided you enjoyed that kinda thing.  If not, it's fucking horrible. :lol: