I've had Dragon Age (for the 360) since..... Wednesday or Thursday, and I've already put 10 hours and 58 minutes into it. Jeez.
Today, I spent all of my time with the game trying to get the support of the Dalish Elves for the fight against the darkspawn. One thing that I kept thinking about when talking to the village folk was how different it would be if I was a human, since the elves and humans aren't too fond of each other. I liked Zathrain's disposition and calm nature, and I was happy to be helping them. Also, his First is adorable.
Ogres are intenseMost of my time was spent fighting in the woods where I encountered a wide variety of enemies including werewolves (basically the antagonist of this quest), giant trees, darkspawn, ogres (I even had to fight two of them at once), and other demon creatures. (Quick tip: Don't fall asleep in the camp site found in the woods). Problems arose when I had to get the acorn from a crazy man because a rather large tree wanted it back. First, I tried fighting him. I got absolutely destroyed. I reloaded, and decided to fight the tree instead. I got absolutely destroyed. It was then that I decided to take a break, and when I returned to the game I traded the red scarf given to me from a dying werefolf for the acorn, and all was well.
Eventually, I found the werewolf hideout and fought through it. It was here that I shamefully turned the difficulty down to Casual (I was playing on Normal) because I reached a part where a ghost child runs away and a dozen or so Skeletons appear. There wasn't any hope for my team on Normal, so I calmed things down a bit on Casual. (For those curious, I'm rolling with Alistair, Morrigan, and Sten). I was relieved when I found Witherfang because it meant that this long quest was reaching its end, but in order to finish it, I had to make a difficult choice. Whitefang (in the form of a 99% naked chick) told me about Zathrain and how he placed a curse upon them. I was told to bring the leader down for a discussion. He intended to kill them, as was originally planned. The time came for me to make a decision: was I going to kill the Elf leader or stick with the mission and kill the innocent werefolves? I didn't really understand what Zathrain had done wrong, so I quickly searched the internet and read about his actions. I decided that there was no way I was going to kill the werewolves (I'm trying to play as a good little Dwarf) and chose to fight Zathrain. He went down pretty easy (again, playing on Casual >_>) and the werewolves were turned back into humans after he sacrificed himself to remove the curse. I didn't expect the Elves to be as nice as they were back on camp, since I had basically forced their leader to kill himself.
Seriously, you bore me Back at my Party's camp, I chatted with Leliana (I'm trying to make it wit her, if you know what I mean) and decided that so far she is the most boring character in the game. The only thing she ever talks about is the Maker and this random tales from other lands. How exciting! Tomorrow when I play (if I'm not doing homework) my next stop will most likely be the Mages Tower, and because I already know what goes down here I probably won't do an entry on it. Until next time.
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As you may have noticed, I haven't done one of these in a while. That's because after putting up my last entry, I decided that there was no way I was going to be able to continue playing Dragon Age on my PC. My laptop just can't handle it. Fortunately, I received Dragon Age in the mail today from my brother for the 360. He beat it, and it took him a little over 50 hours o_O. So I'm happy to say that I'm back to my adventures and exploits in Ferelden. As always, spoilers throughout.
I decided to be a Dwarf Warrior named Farquad. My Dwarf Noble origin story was much better than my Elf Mage origin story. My
DWARVES! character was sent into a cave to retrieve a family shield that would look good on me when I'm made the King. However, I was informed by my brother Bhelen that my other brother Trian was going to kill me because he wanted to be king. After getting the shield, I ran into Trian and some of his men. I believed Bhelen's story, so I called him an idiot and attacked him. My team and I slayed him and his cronies, but after doing so my father (the King) and his men showed up. He was shocked to see that his son was dead. He asked me if I had in fact killed my brother, and I referred to Gorim. However, Gorim's testimony was invalid because there's no way he would get me in trouble. The King asked the two scouts that were with me what had happened, and the jerks told the King that I had cut down Trian in cold blood. I was sent to prison.
Gorim informed me that Bhelen is going to be the next king, because both of us had been banished. He had set me up so that I would kill my own brother and then get in epic trouble with the King. And I guess the scouts were working for Bhelen because they were the reason I was sent to jail. Anyway, Gorim was exiled and I was sentenced to death. However, I was able to thankfully find Duncan and he helped me escape and become a Grey Warden. I hope I can find Gorim out there somewhere.... I'd love to reunite with him.
So that was just a quick update about what I was doing. I probably won't do another one of these until I get to Redcliff, since that's where I left off on the PC version. Next time I fire up the game I'll be joining Duncan and Alistair for a meeting with Cailan. Until next time.
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My favorites to be exact. Several people have done this in the past, but I now realize that I have yet to talk about what my favorite songs are in video games that I have played. But be warned! Spoilers throughout! This is in no particular order, since I'm awful at making Top (insert number here) Lists.
Mass Effect
Theme Song
The first thing that comes to mind when discussing video game music is Mass Effect's theme song. It is capable of giving me goosebumps whenever I hear it, and it plays at some of the best moments of the game: when you are being introduced to Shepard as he/she walks through the Normandy, and at the end when you realize that Shepard did not die after being slammed in the face with thousands of pounds of metal. The best part starts at 1:10
Modern Warfare 2
White House Battle Theme
Never before have I heard such a haunting song in a video game, and the scene it plays in makes it even better. The last part of the epic Washington DC battle is when you are storming the White House. Once you realize that the large building in front of you is the nation's capital and bullets are flying from it towards your head, you can't help but think that the world is ending. And this song really gives you the feeling that all hope is lost. Hans Zimmer is the man.
F Zero X
All Of It
I cannot find one song in F Zero X that I don't like. I remember playing this game when I was a wee little child, and one of the more memorable things about the game is the awesome soundtrack. Action packed guitar riffs always help in racing games. Here's but one of the excellent songs on this soundtrack
Modern Warfare 2
Gulag Liftoff
I could probably just put every MW2 song in this list, but that wouldn't be any fun. This one is memorable because it plays during the scene when the Gulag is exploding and you, Soap, and Captain Price are zipping up to a chopper on a rope while the place blows up around you. It's just amazing. Listen at :14 for the best part.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Theme Song
I spent so much time playing San Andreas when I was younger that I don't even feel like writing a description for this. I would much rather look back and reflect on the hours and hours of fun I got from this masterpiece. The theme song belongs in my heart, as cheesy as that sounds.
So there we have it. My favorite video game songs, off the top of my head. Any of these you would agree with? Disagree with?
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My last entry detailed my adventures in the Fade. I was nearly finished and was about to head into the Inner Sanctum. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice for batting the Sloth Demon. It was quite the fight.
You don't scare me
So after freeing my remaining teammates (how dare the demon Flemeth slap my Morrigan!) I ventured to the Inner Sanctum to kick some demon hind parts. I remember people saying that he turns into different forms throughout the fight. When I spoke, he was in a spirit form, so I thought, Well the first part of this fight should be rather easy, right? Wrong. After we finished exchanging words, he changed into an ogre and threw my team around a bit. We managed to defeat the ogre and whatever form came after that (I think it was a Burning Demon), but by the time he changed into the Spirit form, Alistair and Leliana were both dead, Morrigan was low on health, and I had no mana left. I should also mention that I was out of Lyrium potions. Not the best situation, huh? He slaughtered the two of us. Despite me feeling very discouraged from continuing, I hit Load Last Save and went to fight again. This time, I was ready. I decided to play around with the tactics menu, which I hadn't bothered with up until now. I switched Leliana to a ranged archer, but she didn't follow my orders. Probably because she doesn't have a bow or anything. Having a bow and arrows would certainly help an archer a lot. I was a bit more conservative about my mana use, and I also noticed the two Lyrium plants on the ground that I hadn't seen before. For the second attempt, Leliana was killed pretty fast, but she's almost useless in a straightup fight anyway. I spent most of the time casting frost spells and healing Alistair, while Morrigan stood waaaay back and shot a continuous barage of lighting at the demon. When the last stage came, both Alistair and Leliana were dead, and I was out of mana once more with both Lyrium plants extinguished. I started panicking, not wanting to go through that entire fight a third time. I switched over to Morrigan, who still had full health and full mana for some reason. I started casting every spell she had, and I managed to wittle the demon's health down to a very small amount. But the problem was, Morrigan had almost no health at this point, and mana was low. I did the last thing I could do: I transformed into a spider. I charged at him and was ready to trap him in a web of ownage when all of a sudden he died. Huh.
Dude, yes
After speaking to the depressed Niall and taking some weird scroll thing off his body, we FINALLY got of the Fade. I was overcome with joy. But there was still work to be done! I fought my way to the top of the tower to an evil man named Uldred, and I was surprised to see that Irving was still alive! Uldred himself looked like an easy opponent. How was a little bald man going to stand against me? I told him to come get some, and watched in awe as he transformed into a giant.....dragon.....beast thing! I thought, Well I'm screwed, and started battling. It was difficult trying to decide whether I should focus on his Abominations first or just go after him. My comrades seemed to be fighting the Abominations off, and I tried to get a spell in at Uldred when the chance came. It was a long and furious battle, and I admit that my heart was thumping the whole time. This was also the part where I realized that I could no longer transform into my friend Golem, since I was no longer in the Fade. Once again, Alistair and Leliana were killed towards the end of the battle. When he had but a little health left, I was out of mana and low on health. I began to retreat, when Morrigan suddenly took him down as I ran away. I ran over to Irving and walked him back down to Greagoir, who I still disliked. Irving promised to send a garrison of troops to help me in the battle against the darkspawn. And with that, my quest to secure the tower was finally over.
Oh, but there's more. Oh yes, there is more. I decided to chat with my teammates after talking to Irving and Greagoir. I chatted with Alistair about Duncan, which was nice. I then chatted with Morrigan, and was surprised to see that one of the options was [Kiss her]. Instead of immediately choosing that one, I asked her how I could get on her good side. I told her she was brilliant and amazing, and despite my stating the obvious she approved. I then chose the Kiss Her option, and SCORED. Yes! She approved by 4 and even Alistair approved by 3. lulz
So thus concludes my adventures in the Fade and the Circle of Magi. Tomorrow I shall leave the tower and try to convince another race that they should help me. Until next time.
I neglected to write a blog yesterday, but that's probably a good thing because nothing too exciting happened in Ferelden. But I am back to continue logging my adventures.
Yesterday, I explored Lothering and found it to be pretty boring. The village is full of dirty refugees and bandits. I spoke to a man in a cage that was convincted of murder, and I told him I would speak with his wife to see if I could release him. After running around the town for a solid 20 minutes, I came to the conclusion that his wife was nowhere to be found (you know Bioware, quest markers aren't always a bad thing). I decided to head into the bar and was confronted by some of Loghains men. We all know Loghain, that backstabbing jerk that caused us to loose Ostagar. Rather than converse with his goons, I immediately engaged in battle with them. They surrended after I nearly destroyed them, and I told them to tell Loghain that we're coming for him. I also gained a new party member, some religious nut named Liliana. I equipped her with some heavy armor and a GIANT shield that looks hilarious on her back, and headed off to the Mage's tower to get some help.
You can't resist those eyes
Much to my surprise, I saw Greagoir commanding authority. What is up with this guy? Nevertheless, I asked him what was up, and apparently all the mages had gone insane and they trapped them in other parts of the tower. I decided to go in and see what was up, but I was a little nervous about confronting the Abominations, because I didn't know what they were exactly. I went in, and I found Wynne with some other mages and a bunch of children. She asked me to help her, and at first I was agreeing with her. But then....... something happened. What happened? Morrigan opened her mouth. She explained to be how I would basically be wasting my time with these innocent mages, and that I should slay them all. And................. I agreed with her. All this time I tried to be a good character. But now, Morrigan's influence has corrupted me. I struck down the innocent mages and felt soothed by the terrifying screams of the children as I murdered their pathetic mentors. After I finished, I said "What did I just do..."
It's probably safe to say that Irving and his painful voice didn't make it
I then proceeded through the tower battling Blood Mages and Abominations (who weren't all that terrifying at all). I finally managed to reach the final spot in the tower, but the creepy demon up there put us all to sleep. I woke up in the Fade, not really knowing what was going on. I strolled up the stairs in front of me and found Duncan. I talked to him a bit, and all of a sudden he took up the voice of a demon. Because he was a demon! I struck him down and then found myself in the Raw Fade. The next few hours I spent playing, I didn't really understand what I was doing or what was going on. I was traveling to these different realms and learned how to transform into the mouse, burning man, spirit, and golem. Duders, the Golem is amazing. If I was ever having trouble battling a demon, I would turn myself into the Golem and beat them to death in seconds. Awesome! I think I had the most trouble with the Mage's realm, because I'm not used to people casting spells at me every second. It did a lot of damage, but my Golem made short work of them. Right now, I'm about ready to rescue Morrigan and Liliana, and then I'll head to the Inner Sanctum to battle the Sloth Demon. Before I head in to what could possibly be my death, does anyone have any tips for this guy?
So I got Dragon Age: Origins today and because I haven't been keeping up a blog on the site, I decided I would do it by writting about my adventures in Dragon Age: Origins. This is Part 1. This series will obviously contain massive spoilers, and please, for the sake of all that is holy, do not spoil anything if you are going to comment. I'll stab you through the computer.
I purchased Dragon Age today for the PC, which is strange because the only computer I haveis an MSI A6000 laptop. In order to play the game, I need to turn all of the graphics settings to the lowest possible.... setting, which makes the game look like a PS2 port. I also need to play the game in a separate, smaller window instead of full screen. Despite these shortcomings, I'm really enjoying the game so far. Graphics mean almost nothing to me in RPGs.
I like this guy
So I decided to play as a male Elf mage. My Origin story was hardly excited. I went on something called the Harrowing, where I talked to a spirit, conversed with a giant bear who attacked me because I got his riddle wrong, and battled a demon. Then, the mouse dude that was following me this whole time floated up into the sky. Not sure what that was about, but the Harrowing was over. This is where things got less exciting. I found myself in the large Mage's..... building, or whatever it's called. I quickly noticed how much of a jerk Greagoir was, and Irving's voice actually hurt my ears at some points. It reminded me of grinding stones. Later on, I was introduced to a gentleman named Duncan, who seems like a pretty cool guy. eh kills darkspawn and doesn't afraid of anything.
That was a terrible reference, I know. Moving on, I decided to help my buddy Jowan escape from the Circle because I felt bad about his fate of becoming a Tranquil. Those guys bore me. I got some combat experience when searching for his phylactery (which is an amazing word, I might add. Phylactery). I got accustomed to pausing the action, assessing the situation, and casting spells at out attackers. After leaving the basement, we were confronted by (surprise!) Duncan, Irving, and Greagoir. Greagoir sentenced Jowan to death right on the spot, because apparently he has the jurisdiction to do so. Jowan then lost it and took down all three of them in a whirlwind of blood. He is indeed a Blood Mage! Despite the fact that I had helped a Blood Mage escape, which lead to the near slaughter of the three most important men in the whole place, Duncan made me a Grey Warden. I knew he was alright.
We're gonna get a house on the hills with two large stallions that will pull us across the mountains of Ferelden...
Fast forward to where I meet Morrigan. I was disappointed that she couldn't join my part when we first met, because I already plan on wedding her and having children. Aha. After returning to town, I took part in the Joining. Poor Daveth couldn't resist the darkspawn blood, and that fat coward Jory got his when he attacked Duncan. I drank and lived, and became a Grey Warden. w00t!
Fast forward to the epic battle of Ostagar. Alistair and I, with the help of two couragous guardsmen, fought our way to the top of the tower and lit the beacon. I eagerly awaited to see how the charge was going to turn out. Instead of getting a charge, I got a retreat. That traitor Loghain pulled all the troops back! Ostagar fell to the hands of the darkspawn! And even worse, it seems that both Duncan and the King were slain! Oh man. Luckily for me, I woke up in Morrigans house, which was awesome. After talking to her creepy witch mother, she reluctantly joined our party. I enjoyed listening to her and Alistair bicker back and forth. I can already tell this game is going to be great.
So thus concludes the first edition of the Dragon Age: Origins Diary. I shall resume my adventure tomorrow where I will investigate the settlement of Lothering to see what it has to offer. Until next time.
Just say no! So in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you have the option to become a vampire. This is not a choice you should take lightly, however - becoming a vampire means dramatically changing the way you've been playing, and it adds a whole new set of challenges. The reason I'm writing this is because I recently made the mistake of becoming a vampire. Here's the breakdown:
Your appearance is altered
Upon becoming a vampire, your skin gets lighter (or darker in the case of my Dark Elf for whatever reason), your cheeks appear boney, and your eyes turn a violent red. Other NPCs will notice this as well.
You need to feed regularly
And by feeding I mean biting the necks of sleeping people. This can be done by breaking into their homes, sneaking up to wherever they're sleeping, and gnawing on them. Doing so restores your appearance to a slightly less eviler look. It probably does something else, but I'm not aware of it. Feeding is something you need to do every day or every other day. If you go a while without drinking any blood, you'll look menacing and eventually people will not want to talk to you. I once had an inn owner in the Imperial City refuse to let me sleep there because I was obviously a blood thirsty vampire. All of the NPCs outside of the city also refused to converse with me.
The sun kills you No, these won't help you. This is the biggest negative about vampirism. You need to avoid the daylight, because it can and will kill you. If you're anything like me, you hate playing at night because you can't see anything. Even worse, all of the stores shut down at 8:00 PM, which is when it is safe to go out. So basically, you can't go outside until all the stores are closed. This means that it's almost impossible for you to sell and buy gear, and very hard to talk to NPCs because they'll usually be inside sleeping. On the contrary, all the stores open at 8:00 AM, and you start feeling the effects of the sun before that time.
The quest for curing vampirism is probably the hardest thing to do in the game
I'm not even joking. Basically, this is how it goes: You first need to talk to a priest/priestess at a church, who directs you to the mage Raminus Polus, who directs you to the Count of Skingrad, who directs you to a woman living out in the middle of the woods. If all that fast-traveling doesn't frustrate you, this stupid woman that obviously hates you to death will. First, she needs Grand Soul Gems. But no, not just any Grand Soul Gems. She needs empty ones. So now you need to wander around the towns visiting Mage Guilds so you can grab five of them. Once you get that, she sends you on a massive ingredient fetch quest. You need to find 6 things of garlic, 5 nightshade leaves, and 2 pieces of Bloodgrass. All three of these can be found in The Main Ingredient, which is a shop in the Imperial City. But like I said, the stores open at 8 AM and close at 8 PM, and being outside between those hours means a constant loss of health. But if you manage to get into the shop when it's open, it may or may not have everything you need; you might have to wander our into the wilderness to Please turn me back! find the rest. Once you get these, you then need the blood of an Argonian and the ashes of a powerful vampire named Hindaril. To get the blood, you need to slash an innocent Argonian with the blade, which will probably get the guards very angry. The vampire is easy to kill, thankfully. After you get all of these and finish throwing the controller against the wall, you then need to wait 24 hours for the potion to finish. However, you can't wait inside her home because you're trespassing at all times, and you can't wait outside because you'll die. So now you must fast travel back to a city, wait there, and then travel back. That's as far as I've gotten so far.
So if you plan on playing Oblivion (or you currently are), do yourself a favor by saying NO to vampirism!
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I never cared for mobile gaming ever in my life. I've never even considered the iPhone/iPod Touch as a gaming platform. Most of the crap on their is fart apps and other useless garbage.
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