Cthulad

Man this past weekend was busy. Spent a lot of time outdoors getting burnt, eating some really awesome food, and doing a lot of walking. As far as playing anything, well I have to say there was a little bit of time for that also. Spent a few hours in Dragon's Dogma, and about 20 minutes on a stupid puzzle I can not get past in Deadlight. I know there is an answer, but hell if I can figure it out.

If there is anyone that can toss me a bone how to get past the traps from the Rat on the second chapter.

*Spoiler alert*

The one where you drop down off a ladder the wall blows outward with 5 zombies shambling towards you with one trap a little space, and then 2 traps right after those. I can not get past the 2 traps. If anyone knows how to do this, that would be a big help. I figured you must roll past the first, but I can not go any further after that.

*End of Spoilers*

So how was others weekend out there?

I like this game. I have played through the first chapter, and started the second one, but I will not pass judgement until the game has been completed by me. After this weekend I might post a review of the game, or just some thoughts. No one really reads reviews from users anyways, and my thoughts are always my own. I don't mind arguing about my opinion, and like to defend it from time to time, but for the few reviews I have written (not on this site as I'm new) I know that no one has read them.

So far the game is feeling good to me. I always look for the 2D games of yore, and nostalgia really kicks in when I find them. Thsi game so far has that feeling of nostalgia. I have been into zombies since I can remember. Probably from my first scare back in the early 80's as a little tot. I used them all the time in any campaign I made in D&D as they were just a good staple monster to toss around that dank dark cave, or wandering in the forests that seemed to frequent so many adventures. Sometimes Deadlight comes off a little too Parkour for me, but if you had survived for that long I'm sure you would do anything you could to get the hell away also.

Thsi weekend wil consist of Deadlight, Dragon's Dogma, and maybe a little pinball for a bit. It starts early for me, and since it is a long weekend, I'm happy to be the hell out of here at noon. What are the rest of you playing?

I have been giving a lot of thought to this, and I think that an MMO coming out in this age competing with WOW as the biggest one in North America is kind of insane. Sure everyone of them will try and sell you that they are "different" from WOW, but who are they kidding? They are all trying to copy what WOW has done, and take some of the numbers. With the SWOTR going free-to-play in the fall, they could have maybe made a viable run for WOW if it was not priced at the same point. See in my opinion if SWOTR came out with an online monthly fee of $5 they might have been able to keep a lot of their base. I kept hearing about people playing the first month for free, and leaving because they "experienced" everything in the game. They did one class, and call that done. I think if they had a $5 dollar price point for the monthly users people would have not been so fast to cancel their accounts, and waited it out.

Now I understand there is argument that money made from this is not enough to keep the employees, and servers, and whatever maintenance needs be done, or to creat new content. I call "bulls**t". Teams are moved to other projects, and the teams are reduced after the game comes out. There are still a good amount of employees working on that project for new content, and what-not, but it is smaller. Also when you sell almost 2 million copies in the first week at a price point of $50, with the sign up of $5 a month you will keep a lot more people's subscription to the game. They will not jump ship after that free month. $5 is almost nothing in this day and age, and if you have the 2 million subscribers stay on for a few months after the game launches you are making money.

I understand that the company is in it for the bottom dollar only, and that if it is not raking in money hand over fist they will drop the game faster than I could have typed this little blog. Greed runs the world, and that will not change until people really start to take a stand. I would love to see these viable games comtinue to thrive in this time, and not go free-to-play. I hate this model, and we all know it is a death-sentence for the game. It's possible that the game might become viable, but the updates, and whatever will not appear as frequent, and will eventually stop sooner, than later.

For $5 dollars a month I would stay with the game happily providing my money to them, even if I only login for about 2-3 hours a week. Or even 5 hours a month. It almost becomes worth it. For the people out there that frequent these games $15 dollars is too much for them to stay with it, if they only get a couple hours a week to game, or like I said 5 hours a month.

Free-to-play is good, but money made from this model is not going to keep the game afloat, and it is already sinking hard into the waste of games that could not make it out there.

So here it is another Monday. Sure I had a long weekend starting Thursday afternoon, and it was a very enjoyable, if not really busy weekend,but I did get a little gaming in, and feel quite refreshed today. I still prefer staying at home on a Monday than coming into work. I wish I had a few more days of vacation like some of the people I work with seem to have. Someone can take 2 weeks straight of vacation, and still take 1-2 days off a week all summer long? I never heard of this before, and still getting paid for salary. I really need to start this up myself, but if I did that I would probably start to lose pay. That's all right. I digress.

So since I wanted to stay home but could not, I decided I would hang out on some forums, and sites I frequent just to post some thoughts. Saturday while sitting at home on my comfy "dad" chair (read lazy-boy recliner we all loved that was dad's when living with parents) I decided to start doing some drawing. I'm not an artist, but with a few dreams I have had they have been so vivid, and stayed in my mind, I decided to start drawing them, and see if I can make them look like something. So far they are not that great, but my vision is getting onto paper.

The dream I had was kind of odd, but at the same time very cool.

I was wandering in a field waiting for some other people to arrive, and discovered an old building buried behind a field of trees, tall grass, and rocks. It was fenced off, and the fence was so dilapitated you could probalby touch it and fall apart. Going through a hole i nthe fence from wher it had fallen down previously, I take a closer look, and find a window. Everything seems to be pretty sturdy around this window, and I decide to go in for a closer look. Peering inside the window I discover that there is set of train tracks at the bottom of the room, and it looks like there could have been a locomotive engine here at one time. The tracks look well worn, but covered in dust as if nothing has been here in years. There are a set of doors at one end of the room closed, and barred from this end. Through the window this is about all I can really see. It does appear to almost be a meeting place like a subway station, but in the middle of a field with no indication of how to get into this bunker. The window is the only visible "entrance". I really need to investigate more, but not before I meet up with the friends I was awaiting.

I have not finished the drawing yet, and really only started the first part of the outside bunker, but I will continue trying to get it all done in detail. I also was writing a short story, and posted it on my page http://cthulad.deviantart.com/ Called The Crimson Corrosion. I want to add this vision in to the story, and sure I will as I proceed. If you have a bit of time, and want to check out a neat little story check it out.

Now I think I should get back to my work, and stop daydreaming. I will continue Dragon's Dogma tonight, and really get involved with it. I just want to make sure that Deadlight, and Sleeping Dogs does not tear me away from it too quickly just yet. I know they will, but I must get through this game. I am loving it, and it is eating up a lot of my time so far.

So last night I went and seen TDKR, and it was entertaining. I can not say that I loved it, and I can not say that I hated it. It was enjoyable, and made the time pass without thinking that 3 hours has gone by. There are some things that I would have really prefered to see like Bane juicing was my biggest let down. The mask did not hamper my experience, I could tell what he said all the way through, but I know lots of people did not understand some lines at all. It was an ending to Nolans experience, but that's about all I can say. I prefer the second movie, but for the saviour of a city there really needed to be a lot more people in the city, or life in the city. There was a few things missing that should have been observed, but I was fine with how it folded out.

When I got home I decided to play a little more Dragon's Dogma, and killed 3 more Ogres. That was really freaking hard, but completed. I can short cut through the Ancient caverns now, and I am happy about that. I know I will need to do this in the future. Now I just need to find better weapons, and the upgrades for the armor I am wearing.

Great article. I won't play Amnesia as it is not my cup of tea, but it sounds great. I have watched others play through the game, and it was a little boring watching. Maybe one day I will play this game. As far as Blair Witch goes it was scary, but I was older when I saw it (20+), and it was a movie I could not cope with all the way through with the shaky cam. Sure scary, and great ending, but still not my cup of tea.

So tonight I am forsaking my duties, and going to see this movie. I figure why the hell not, and then I can actually talk about it with people. I hope it really lives up to the hype that I have heard.

When I get home tonight I figure that will be my que to clean up a little bit, and get my character back to the capital in Dragon's Dogma. I may have to descend into the Ancient Caverns again, but I'm okay with that if I can bypass an ass load of bandits. Since there is a way through the caverns I figure even though the Ogres in there most likely will kill me, it's a faster, and safer route. I wrote that I killed one ogre so far, and that's it, so I know another one will be a huge challenge. Those are not the easiest things to kill. Not by a long shot. I will prevail though if I have to save it right before, and after I kill it.

So is there anyone else out there looking for a mage pawn around lvl 20? I have been upgrading her as often as I can, but she is not getting a lot of RC for me. I received like 151 for the last 2 times someone has used her. Guess it does not matter that much, but I would like to hire a second pawn that is a little higher than my level if I can afford it. If anyone wants to use her she is Rehtaeh on the Xbox360. I keep forgetting to add that I am playing it on that platform. Maybe I should have grabbed it for the PS3, I have spoken to a few people that have this game for that platform, and offered their pawns. Too bad it was not a cross platform type thing. That would be truly kick-ass.

Let me know if you want to exchange info, or whatever.

So this weekend ended up to be a great time for me, and gaming. We reunited for quite a while, and I got into playing some Pinball, Tony Hawk HD, and even a few hours of Dragon's Dogma. Brought down my first Ogre in that game, and what a trial that was. Hoo-ey was he a tough bastard at lvl 19. I poisoned him, lit him on fire, and made him sleep twice with my arrows. This was after dying 8 times previously. I was determined to take him down, after that I left, and decided to go back to where I started the quest in the first place. Never made it back yet, but made it to the camp I needed to get to.

Tonight, and even more this weekend *Fingers Crossed* I will make it back to the capital, and start doing some more side quests. Maybe even hit up a main quest again. Exploring is working out pretty good so far, and with the armor I'm wearing it's hard to take me down. Unless you are an Ogre.

Tony Hawk is about the same as I remember, but I have to get better at the game. I totally forgot about some of the goals, and tricks that you have do in certain areas. I always had a problem wall riding, and getting the 5 school bells is one of those goals that will be a while to complete. Still just as fun now as it was back then when I first played. I don't like sports games usually, but this one was a little different, and I think it was because of the music. I still would like to hear the original soundtrack more, but the new one I can handle.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - It's like one of the most relevent books written for my time. So nostalgic of the time I grew up in.

The Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore - This got me into reading in the first place.

Planescape: Pages of Pain by Troy Denning - One of the best books about immortality.

Fell asleep in quite a few games while tired. Found myself spinning in spot for 20 minutes. The best one was an all nighter with a few friends. We were taking turns playing Breath of Fire 2, and I was the last to fall asleep, and the first up. It was during a battle, and it just stayed there waiting for me to finish the input for the fight. No one noticed that I fell asleep since I was awake again before anybody.