Cloneslayer
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Added by Cloneslayer on Aug. 18, 2009

I'm not going to take about the downloading of the client or the hell I went through trying to patch this game with the worst patcher in history.
 
The actual game it self surpassed all my expectations. It is everything that you want from a superhero MMO, mainly, you can make whatever you want. For those of you who have used the deep character creator is City of Heroes, just times that by about a hundred and thats what you get. As soon as I saw the thousands upon thousands of options, hundreds of ideas popped into my head. Practically anything you want to make, you can make it. From humans in tights, to robots, to werewolves, the tools are there for you to get it done. Then we have to powers.
 
The powers are in simple archtypes, ranging from elemental powers, like fire and ice, to physical powers, like swords and fists, to mind powers, like telekinisis. The best part is you don't have to stick to one arch type and can pick moves from each section to make a charecter that you want. A ninja with two swords and fire powers, OK. A robot with gadgets and martial arts power, Anything you want, you got. 
 
The actual game play it self is great. Its not like WoW where you run up and stand there. As far as I have seen there is no turns, and no cooldown times on move. Basically you do moves that use energy, then you use moves that regain that energy, usually your basic attacks. Then your juggling the two to constantly use up and deplete your energy. The missions are what you expect from an MMO, collect, kill, explore. Nothing to see here. There is also some Warhammer-esque community quest, though I don't think they work the same way. 
 
(Note, this paragrah proabably contains false info as I really don't know how this works all that well).
Intead of exipment, you get expibable abilitys. They fit into offence, defence and suport (?). Three slots in each one, primary and secondary. They give you basic stat bonuses such at more strength or more damage resist. 
 
On thing that they did vastly better that City of Heroes is give you a movement power right away. Right after the first tutorial area you get it, and boy are there options. There is something like twelve of them from flight to super jump to tunneling and everything in between. Some of the options in there seem to be present just so you can fit it to the theme of you charecter (flight, jet boots, fire flight, ect. all make you fly with slight tweeks). 
 
Champions Onlines does it right. Giving you the opitons to make what you want and gives you fast paced action (for a MMO) to fight against diversed enemies. And makes you feel like a badass powerful super hero from the start. If Cryptic can fix some of the server and networking issues I can see a great game that if it can draw in a good player base, can survive more than just a couple of years even in the wake of WoW.
Related to: Champions Online


Added by Cloneslayer on Aug. 8, 2009

For me, this summer was defiantly a summer of amine. I have to do something with all these wonderful video games not coming out right? Social life you say? What's that? So Here's a brief rundown of what I watched! Mostly my opinoins so if you want a better synopsis, you can go to wikipeda.
 

Black Lagoon

A Japanese businessman is taken hostage by some modern day pirates, a transport company named Black Lagoon. He decides to join them, adventure ensues. 
I don't really know how to explain my feelings on this one. I liked it sure, but its hard for me to say why. The action as alright and I'm not a fan of series that have one-shot stories for each episode. I guess its the characters that really make it shine. The main crew is alright, but the enemies is where is stands out. From crazy maids and nuns, to vampire children and the Russian ex-military mod, a crazy cast of antagonists keeps your interest the whole way through. A good watch If you want to watch something with a little action but doesn't cram it down your throat like lots of anime tend to do.
 

Hellsing

A secret organization, The Hellsing Orginization, hunts down vampire, with the help of a very ancient and powerful one named Alucard (original, right...). However the story revolves more around a girl who he turn and join the orginization.
I enjoyed this one a lot. The action is solid and provides good charecters to set up fights with. And vampires! Remember when vampires use to be cool? This will remind you why. I like how they mention they expected powers of vampires only briefly, while Alucard dips into a pool of powers you wouldn't attribute to vampires at first, but fit in perfectly. This makes the fact that his aprintace vampire, Victoria, barley uses any vampire powers at all, very disapointing. It fits in with her reluctance to enbrace being undead, but its a little too late to go back, now isn't it! Definantly give it a watch if you haven't seen it. (I haven't seen Helling Ultimate yet, I'm waiting for the series to finish.) 
 

Gungrave

A ex-mafia hitman, Grave, is trying to enact revenge on the mob for killing him and for hostilly taking over the town with the use of mutated human mosters.
This one is hard to recommend. It's good, but it takes so long to get there. The first episode takes place in the present but then they spend seventeen episode in back story getting there to continue on. Sure the later half of the back story is interesting but it takes so long to build up! The worst part about this all is that Grave never talks. Even when he is alive, perfectly healthy and at the top of his game, he barley says anything. I've written more in this paragraph than he says the entire show. This does not make it interesting. If you can last long enough to make it to where the action and story picks up you will find a almost too similar mob story coated with some solid shooting. There is better anime out there, so only give this one a watch if you got nothing better to do,
 

Baccano

The story of a whole cast of charecters, revolving around one train ride gone horrible wrong.
This one is great. There is something like fifteen charecters and all of then are interesting and unique. The do a good job of managing all the charecters so they get mostly equal face time, and you never mind spending time with one group or another. The story is a little wacky and in the end it almost feels like it didn't go anywhere. But at the same time, they jump back in forth between the past, present (being the train ride), and future, you get lost at times. This show isn't about the story, but the people in it and they rock. Isaac and Miria are two of the best, being ecentric robbers, who never rob anything all that valuble. They really bring home the show and make this one have a place as one of my favorite. A good show if your looking for a great cast of interesting and unique charecters. 
 

Welcome to the N.H.K.

Sato is a hikikomori (shut-in) with no education or job. One day a girl, Misaki, desides that she is going to cure him of his ways and put him back into society. 
This one put me off at first. It come at you in a very... japanese way, its hard to explain. I feel like it will turn off a lot of people because of how it presents it self. You can easily tell it was not made with out society and culture in mind. Once you get past that, you get into a absolute masterpiece and find that the things they are trying to convey still apply to us across the sea. The charecters come off as very real, almost in a harsh and depressing way. It's almost hard to think that there really are people like this out there, not only in Japan, but the whole world. Its all a tale about overcoming the hradships of life, with each charecter in the shows small cast personifing life harships and failures in diffrent ways. I have to say this shows ending is one of the best I've seen in a while. I usaully don't like drama or romance anime but I really enjoyed this. If you can get past It's japanese quirks you will find a great story with well relaized charecters and find it inspriring and dpressing at the same time.
 
If you read all of this, God bless you. I know I'm not good at writing nor articualting my thoughts. I still thought I has to write all this down to justify the time and this summer I wasted watching all this.



Added by Cloneslayer on July 17, 2009

I saw it and it was great. Go see it if you have a chance. It has a limited release so hopefully you can find it near you (I had to download it, sry I'll get the DVD). Goes to show you can make a good movie without huge obviously fake explosions all the time (looking at you Michael Bay) and that characterization is a good thing. It kept me entertained through out the whole thing and for a 'ripped from the headlines' taking place in Iraq, it wasn't dragged down by politcal bullshit. Just a good movie about a bomb squad removing bombs and trying not to die.

5/5 (for those of you who like numbers) You can beat 100%!


Added by Cloneslayer on June 1, 2009

Best moment: Crackdown 2 (SO EXCITED!!!)
Worst Moment: Left 4 Dead 2 (too soon)
Biggest Surprise: Splinter Cell looks hella cool
Biggest "I knew it": Metal Gear on 360
Won't be as cool as it looks: Mo-cap controller Natal (Wii insults were a low blow, ouch!)
Will be as cool as it looks: MW2
WTF?!?!: Two halos within like 6 months of each other, Halos good, not that good.

Over all a good press conference. See you at Nintendo and Sony!