The Road to Mel is Paved With Games 4:11

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melcene

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Edited By melcene

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Is the banner perhaps a bit much?  Maybe.  But all I had access to was an old sig and online banner creators.  Well, you know what they say.  Sex sells.  And it seems that having a banner for your blog is THE way to go around here.  So there.


Portal

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Last week or so,   wasteguru was giving away a copy of Portal on Steam.  I guess most people already have it, because no one had asked for it yet in the thread.  And I'm slow to the party and hadn't messed with the game at all myself either.  So   wasteguru gifted me that copy of Portal and I proceeded to start playing that night when I got home.  The game was quite a trip, I thought!  Although I was under the impression, because of GLaDOS talking about it being a test facility, that levels 1-19 were merely training levels for the real game.  So I was disappointed to find out that wasn't the case.  However, I was pleased that I got through the first 17 levels without any assistance, or looking up how to do anything.  Unfortunately that changed when I got to level 18.  And admittedly, I didn't finish level 19.  I died at the incinerator part (I didn't go into the incinerator, but I missed my jump and landed in the water), and when I saw the rest of the level on Youtube, I just said forget it.  But I did have fun with the game.  I'm actually somewhat excited for the Portal 2 commercials I've seen.

Two Worlds 2


I have the first Two Worlds somewhere at home.  I didn't play it very long.  It looked exactly like Oblivion, but with crappier graphics.  Two Worlds 2 was slightly better, but not by much.  One of the biggest problems I had is that I will have to fix something on my TV or 360 because the sides of the game are cut off, and I can't see what I should be pressing to do what half the time.  Made the game a bit more difficult and frustrating.  But the game also just didn't catch me.  Maybe I missed something big from the story line from the original game.  Orc genocide seems like something big, after all.  And what is with their orcs anyway?  They look like the Darkspawn from Dragon Age.   

Torchlight

Ah, finally we get to the winning game of the last week for me.  Having just recently become a Steam member, I was looking for something to play, and I hit my usual section - the RPG section.  One of the games listed there was Torchlight, and there was a demo.  Now I had heard people talk about the game here on GB, and had heard how great it was.  The hubby and I had looked at a retail box in Best Buy, but the game just looked really cartoony and kid-ish.  Really seemed like something we would buy for our daughter and not ourselves.  Well, I decided to try the demo out this weekend, cause why not?!  I had no idea I was in such a mood for a dungeon crawler.  Torchlight was so very Diablo-ish, (but different enough not to be a complete clone) which was perfectly okay with me.  Before I had even gotten to the "Thank you for playing the demo!" I had decided that I wanted the full version.  The hubby was also already hooked by this time.  So we played some Torchlight over the weekend.

I'm always big into my casters, so I started playing an alchemist.  Because of course I hadn't found out about the couple dozen custom classes available until my alchemist was level 20-something.  But when I found out about mods for the game.... Sweet!!!  So I found a site that has all sorts of mods for the game and started looking through them.  After some experimenting, and downloading and throwing away several mods, I finally narrowed it down to a few necessary mods.
  • Jarcho's Class Compilation v1.3 - Compiled 22 other class mods into one big mod that makes them all available.  Also includes about the same amount of pets (instead of just cat/dog)
  • Merchant Pack - This mod adds Map, Fish, Gem, Spell & Scroll, Potion, and Ranged weapon sellers to the town.  It also modifies the Blacksmith, General Merchant and Gem/Trinket sellers to remove overlapping inventories.
  • Better Balanced Sale Prices - Item sale prices now scale appropriately with item rarity and level.
  • Enchanter -  E nchanter capped at 2% wipe rate. You have an 80% chance for an enchantment and a 20% chance to socket an item.  Shrines capped at 1% wipe rate. You have an 80% chance for an enchantment and a 20% chance to socket an item.  A friend said to me, "what's the point, but I've still had items wiped even at these rates :(
  • Nowhere -   A cool platform with a bunch of stashes, a shared stash, a couple merchants, and a transmuter standing 



So I was close to level 30 when I left off playing last night, still working on my alchemist although there are now all those other classes available.  Although at times the game seems totally easy, at other times I find myself easily dying too.  So I guess the game has the right amount of challenge to it.  And as I said, I'm really enjoying it.  Too bad I keep getting into these games so close to the release of their sequels.

Nongaming Stuff


So some quick nongaming updates....

Had that talk with the housemate the other day.  I knew that if I got to chatting with him after I'd been drinking I'd let it all out, and I did.  Amazingly, he has offered to simply put down the pipe, and realizes that if he can't turn his life around, he won't have a place to live long.  Glad we got that out of the way.

 My female dog, who has always been the one to have health issues, threw up blood again this weekend, after me taking her to the vet recently for the same issue.  When I took her to the vet, they decided that it's most likely that she has an ulcer.  The other big possibility is that she has something lodged in her stomach lining.  We just hope it doesn't turn out to be something more serious.

     

And yeah, I guess that's it for now.  Better get back to work considering I got here nearly an hour late today thanks to the busses being on a Saturday schedule from now till July when they get cut back even further.  Stupid transit.

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melcene

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#1  Edited By melcene

No Caption Provided
Is the banner perhaps a bit much?  Maybe.  But all I had access to was an old sig and online banner creators.  Well, you know what they say.  Sex sells.  And it seems that having a banner for your blog is THE way to go around here.  So there.


Portal

No Caption Provided
Last week or so,   wasteguru was giving away a copy of Portal on Steam.  I guess most people already have it, because no one had asked for it yet in the thread.  And I'm slow to the party and hadn't messed with the game at all myself either.  So   wasteguru gifted me that copy of Portal and I proceeded to start playing that night when I got home.  The game was quite a trip, I thought!  Although I was under the impression, because of GLaDOS talking about it being a test facility, that levels 1-19 were merely training levels for the real game.  So I was disappointed to find out that wasn't the case.  However, I was pleased that I got through the first 17 levels without any assistance, or looking up how to do anything.  Unfortunately that changed when I got to level 18.  And admittedly, I didn't finish level 19.  I died at the incinerator part (I didn't go into the incinerator, but I missed my jump and landed in the water), and when I saw the rest of the level on Youtube, I just said forget it.  But I did have fun with the game.  I'm actually somewhat excited for the Portal 2 commercials I've seen.

Two Worlds 2


I have the first Two Worlds somewhere at home.  I didn't play it very long.  It looked exactly like Oblivion, but with crappier graphics.  Two Worlds 2 was slightly better, but not by much.  One of the biggest problems I had is that I will have to fix something on my TV or 360 because the sides of the game are cut off, and I can't see what I should be pressing to do what half the time.  Made the game a bit more difficult and frustrating.  But the game also just didn't catch me.  Maybe I missed something big from the story line from the original game.  Orc genocide seems like something big, after all.  And what is with their orcs anyway?  They look like the Darkspawn from Dragon Age.   

Torchlight

Ah, finally we get to the winning game of the last week for me.  Having just recently become a Steam member, I was looking for something to play, and I hit my usual section - the RPG section.  One of the games listed there was Torchlight, and there was a demo.  Now I had heard people talk about the game here on GB, and had heard how great it was.  The hubby and I had looked at a retail box in Best Buy, but the game just looked really cartoony and kid-ish.  Really seemed like something we would buy for our daughter and not ourselves.  Well, I decided to try the demo out this weekend, cause why not?!  I had no idea I was in such a mood for a dungeon crawler.  Torchlight was so very Diablo-ish, (but different enough not to be a complete clone) which was perfectly okay with me.  Before I had even gotten to the "Thank you for playing the demo!" I had decided that I wanted the full version.  The hubby was also already hooked by this time.  So we played some Torchlight over the weekend.

I'm always big into my casters, so I started playing an alchemist.  Because of course I hadn't found out about the couple dozen custom classes available until my alchemist was level 20-something.  But when I found out about mods for the game.... Sweet!!!  So I found a site that has all sorts of mods for the game and started looking through them.  After some experimenting, and downloading and throwing away several mods, I finally narrowed it down to a few necessary mods.
  • Jarcho's Class Compilation v1.3 - Compiled 22 other class mods into one big mod that makes them all available.  Also includes about the same amount of pets (instead of just cat/dog)
  • Merchant Pack - This mod adds Map, Fish, Gem, Spell & Scroll, Potion, and Ranged weapon sellers to the town.  It also modifies the Blacksmith, General Merchant and Gem/Trinket sellers to remove overlapping inventories.
  • Better Balanced Sale Prices - Item sale prices now scale appropriately with item rarity and level.
  • Enchanter -  E nchanter capped at 2% wipe rate. You have an 80% chance for an enchantment and a 20% chance to socket an item.  Shrines capped at 1% wipe rate. You have an 80% chance for an enchantment and a 20% chance to socket an item.  A friend said to me, "what's the point, but I've still had items wiped even at these rates :(
  • Nowhere -   A cool platform with a bunch of stashes, a shared stash, a couple merchants, and a transmuter standing 



So I was close to level 30 when I left off playing last night, still working on my alchemist although there are now all those other classes available.  Although at times the game seems totally easy, at other times I find myself easily dying too.  So I guess the game has the right amount of challenge to it.  And as I said, I'm really enjoying it.  Too bad I keep getting into these games so close to the release of their sequels.

Nongaming Stuff


So some quick nongaming updates....

Had that talk with the housemate the other day.  I knew that if I got to chatting with him after I'd been drinking I'd let it all out, and I did.  Amazingly, he has offered to simply put down the pipe, and realizes that if he can't turn his life around, he won't have a place to live long.  Glad we got that out of the way.

 My female dog, who has always been the one to have health issues, threw up blood again this weekend, after me taking her to the vet recently for the same issue.  When I took her to the vet, they decided that it's most likely that she has an ulcer.  The other big possibility is that she has something lodged in her stomach lining.  We just hope it doesn't turn out to be something more serious.

     

And yeah, I guess that's it for now.  Better get back to work considering I got here nearly an hour late today thanks to the busses being on a Saturday schedule from now till July when they get cut back even further.  Stupid transit.

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JJWeatherman

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#2  Edited By JJWeatherman

Portal's one of those games that's been given out for free quite a few times, so it's not surprising that not many people went for that free copy. I love Portal though. I've beaten it on XBLA, on disc (the orange box), and on PC. I even carved a Portal inspired pumpkin one Halloween.


Two Worlds always looks interesting, but you make it seem not so. Maybe I'll finally just play it and see for myself.

I hope your dog gets well soon. I had a Golden Retriever several years ago that had to be put down due to stomach cancer. It was the worst.
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Video_Game_King

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#3  Edited By Video_Game_King

Is that actually in the Bible? I should really try to beat that game.

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melcene

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#4  Edited By melcene
@JJWeatherman: I will admit, I haven't traded in my copy of the original Two Worlds because it's a game that I'm sure I'll sit down with again sometime and give it another shot.  My father-in-law is playing the original on PC and seems to enjoy it.   I realize that people say Oblivion was totally buggy, but I just preferred that game over the Two Worlds games.  Admittedly, I'm immediately slightly put off when I can't change my gender, let alone my race or anything about my character except the cosmetics.  And the control scheme just doesn't seem natural to me.  Perhaps if I were playing it on PC rather than 360 it would work out better.  Chances are I wouldn't have that weird error with the stuff being stretched off the screen.    Thanks for the well-wishings for the dog.  At least pancreatitis has been ruled out.  The pic didn't post in the blog for some reason, but it's the one in the middle who's been sick.  She's actually our medical problem child.

My other kids.
My other kids.
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Claude

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#5  Edited By Claude

I loved the demo of Torchlight. I should have bought it when it was on sale for $5.99/US. But that time has passed, so I'm not sure if I want to play it now. Maybe when it goes on sale again.

Glad to hear the roomie is putting the pipe down. Good luck.

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Kyreo

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#6  Edited By Kyreo

You should definitely beat Portal.  It's quite an experience.

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#7  Edited By ssj4raditz

I, too, am looking forward to Portal 2. You should at least try to finish the original, it's quite the trip, especially near the end.

Also, Torchlight is great! Got it a while ago off Steam, and enjoyed it as much as I did Diablo back in the day.

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#8  Edited By FunkasaurusRex

Those are gorgeous dogs, I hope everything works out okay for her!